2002 Topps Heritage Want List

I can't complete all the Heritage sets, but if I put my mind to it I bet I can complete this one. A bunch of the cards on this list are already in the FrankenSet so I can scrounge them if needed. I'm probably also going to go for the 2013 set as well but I'm not putting together a list until I get some more of that stuff.

10 Randy Johnson Night SP
*17 Tom Glavine
25 Rafael Furcal Night SP
*36 Mark McGwire
37 Chipper Jones SP
53 Alex Rodriguez SP
63 Jeff Cirillo Night SP
*77 Tino Martinez
92 Johnny Damon Night SP
*101 Boof Bonser
*109 Rich Aurilia
*128 Jermaine Dye
*145 Frank Thomas
*168 Rondell White
*186 Gookie Dawkins
*221 Steve Sparks
*231 Orlando Cabrera
*269 Mark Buehrle
*276 Chris Carpenter
292 Joaquin Benoit
*293 Ken Caminiti
299 John Smoltz
*310 Brian Jordan
*355 Jason Bay
*364 Albert Pujols SP
371 Mike Piazza SP
*373 Todd Helton SP
375 Mariano Rivera SP
377 Tony Gwynn SP
379 J.J. Trujillo SP
380 Brad Ausmus SP
*393 Luis Gonzalez SP
*397 Nomar Garciaparra SP
398 Jason Schmidt SP
399 David Espinosa SP
400 Steve Green SP
402 Chris Tritle SP
404 Josh Towers SP
*406 Brent Butler SP
413 Shawn Estes SP
*423 Casey Fossum SP
425 Laynce Nix SP
*431 Roberto Alomar SP
433 Tim Wakefield SP
434 Robert Fick SP
436 Jose Mesa SP
*438 Jose Hernandez SP
440 Brian West SP
441 Barry Zito SP
*443 Marlon Byrd SP
444 A.J. Burnett SP
446 Carlos Delgado SP

New Age Performers
*NA-4 Ken Griffey, Jr.
NA-5 Ichiro
NA-6 Sammy Sosa
*NA-7 Andruw Jones
NA-8 Derek Jeter
NA-9 Todd Helton
NA-10 Alex Rodriguez

Then and Now
TN-3 Carl Furillo/Larry Walker
TN-4 Minnie Minoso/Ichiro Suzuki
TN-5 Richie Ashburn/Rich Aurelia
*TN-7 Duke Snider/Sammy Sosa
TN-10 Billy Pierce/Hideo Nomo

Classic Renditions
CR-3 Roger Cedeno
CR-5 Albert Pujols
CR-7 Cristian Guzman
*CR-8 Jimmy Rollins

Cards with a * means those are in the FrankenSet, but I'm greedy and want another one

Joy of a Completed Page - 2002 Topps Heritage

This is what I post when I want to post something but don't have the energy/inspiration to write anything. I've got 5 really good posts in the draft folder all imaged up and everything but I just can't type anything coherent right now. So enjoy the best page from my very nearly filled '02 Heritage binder.

This is a pretty kickass page though, you have to admit.

'53 Nights

We all know Night Owl really likes Night Cards. Last night he posted his favorite night card, a 1972 Topps Stan Williams. In the post he wonders if that is in fact the first night card ever made. the answer is no. Wrigley Wax found this 1969 Topps Del Unser with the lights on. So is that the first one? Not even close. Check out this wonderful beater:

1953 Topps Dick Brodowski. Pitch black, lights-a-blazin' with a funky halo effect around Dick's head. Now, technically this isn't a photo, but it is most definitely a night card. Most of the paintings were based on photos from what I've heard so it's very possible that the original photo was taken under the lights. Night games weren't all that uncommon by 1953, every team had played under the lights at their home park except the Cubs by 1947. It's one thing to play a game under the lights, it's quite another to take decent photography at night. Is this the first night card? I'm not sure. I'll bet if I looked hard enough I could find another one, but this is the oldest one I know about.

In 2002 Topps Heritage created a night variation short print for ten cards in the set. They listed the backgrond from Dick's card and put it behind 10 players' cards. Here's Dodger fink Rafael Furcal posing with a night background as black as his soul:

The full set of night variation cards are as follows:

10 Randy Johnson
25 Rafael Furcal
63 Jeff Cirillo
69 John Olerud
92 Johnny Damon
99 Ben Sheets
100 Preston Wilson
104 Jorge Posada
184 Adrian Gonzalez
205 Pokey Reese

There's actually one other card in the set that might be a night card as well:

No light standards in the background, but it's awfully dark. It can't hold the title of first night card (assuming that Brodowski is the one) because Dick is from series one and Wayne is from series two. Still a pretty nifty couple of cards.

Can anyone else find an older night card? There have been baseball games using artificial light in the majors since 1935 and in baseball since the 1880s, there's bound to be one out there somewhere.