Ok, I did some digging around last night and I think I've figured out what the deal is with the "Black" variation cards in 2008 Heritage.
The good news: I found a scan of the back and they look like the original '59 high series cards. They have black and red ink on the back instead of green and red. The ones I saw were also on lighter stock, again just like the '59s. Good job getting the details right on this one.
The bad news: They are not high series SP cards. The card numbering is all over the map and I've seen a couple of examples where there is a green and black back for a card. This is definitely a stealth variation just like the 2005 heritage white/gray hobby only cards. From what I've seen among the rumors and innuendo (still no hard facts anywhere on this stuff, even the message boards are devoid of hard information) there are 110 cards with the variation and they are seeded 1 per hobby pack. Yeah, I know. Who needs another lousy parallel in a product that is supposed to be designed for set builders?? My guess is that this is a hobby only thing, so if you absolutely can't stomach it, then wait for the retail blasters and go to town.
Topps gets a +1 for getting the historical detail right, but loses it again by making a parallel. I'm not going to specifically collect the black back set (you're looking at a minimum of 5 boxes to complete it) but I won't put them in the shredder either. I'll treat them like regular cards and if my set has a couple black backs, so be it. This kind of thing infuriates a few of you out there, so I thought I'd better warn you since this stuff hits the stores today.
On a happier note, while rooting around for Heritage tidbits like a pig rooting through slop, I found this little beauty. Spahnie cut auto. Man, I'd like that card. I already have Spahn's sig on a ball, but that's still nice. He's not in the pre-sell checklist either so there might be more surprises from Topps in this thing. They should have held back a couple of candidate autos to sneak in.
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