Heritage is Live, Kinda

Just got back from the hobby shop and a certain mega retailer.

Per the owner, Heritage is delayed but it might be in tomorrow. One dude has a box up on eBay with picture. Forums are starting to pick up on it too. I still don't see a single solitary card on eBay though. Maybe by tonight.

However, it wasn't at my card shop at 3:00pm today so IT'S DEAD TO ME.

The rest of the trip to the card shop was a wash. There was no T51 Murad. They didn have Spectrum, but the price on the box said 7 something a pack. I didn't catch the exact price, because I saw the 7 and my brain started laughing so hard it couldn't process rational thought any more. To provide extra context, the display case the box was sitting on has several 'celebrity' autograph cards from last year's Spectrum deeply discounted on the bottom shelf. So yeah, that wasn't happening. There wasn't a T206 screwdown for Mark either. Today was the first time in forever that I went into a card shop and left with all the money I came in with.

I said I wasn't coming home empty handed though and I meant it.

2009 Topps Wal-Mart Blaster.

Live Break.

6:00pm Eastern.

BE THERE

Topps fesses up

Via Stale Gum:

"Topps is confirming that it randomly inserted special “BLACK” cards (the entire front of the card is black except for player image) in 2009 Topps Baseball Series 1 $19.99 value boxes found at Wal-Mart.

"The exclusive limited edition set includes each of the 330 subjects found in the 2009 Topps Series 1 Base Set."

Ok, so they are a stealth retail parallel. Ok, I can see that. There have been plenty of retail exclusive parallel cards in the past with every manner of border and foil color and gimmickry. This is what I don't understand.

WHY THE SMEG ARE THERE ENTIRE BLASTERS OF THE STUFF??!?!

Seriously, dude! Insert one per pack! Maybe a special 'bonus pack' of all black cards! But the entire freaking blaster?!? What are they thinking???

I'm heading to the card shop for some recon work. Heritage is pushed 'till at least Friday but I will not come home empty handed.

2009 Topps Heritage and other random stuff for a Wednesday morning

Big day today. Ash Wednesday. Spring Training games kick off. Topps Heritage is scheduled for release. I've been keeping an eye out for singles on the Bay and I have bad news:

No 2009 Topps Heritage singles on eBay yet. This isn't a good sign, as the new products are usually distributed to the big boys a day early and ripping parties ensue. I did some poking around and it does look like it may be delayed until Friday. Also noted here and here. I'll do some recon at the card shop today and file a full report. But wait, there's worser news:

2009 Spectrum is live. I wasn't crazy about this set last year, but I did buy a blaster for the hell of it. Not this year. I have six new sets I'm far more interested in buying instead of this shiny junk (In order: Heritage, Upper Deck, Topps, T51 Murad, American Heritage, and Mayo(and I don't even like Mayo all that much)) and I can't be dropping cash on this stuff anymore. I might pick up a retail pack just to show off the mediocrity, but hobby packs were 6 dollars a pack and up last year and there ain't no chance I'm paying that. You shiny hit chasers can go rip some boxes of that, I'll eagerly await the scan of the Lita Ford auto you pull. But wait, there's gooder news:

T51 Murad is live. If I could get a box for $60, I'd buy one of them tomorrow and wait a few weeks on the Heritage. They will probably be closer to $75-$85 at the card shop so don't worry about that happening. T51 Murad is basically Topps' version of an Allen & Ginter style retro set. They are based on a very colorful Tobacco card set from 1910 that featured college sports subjects. The set had the very first basketball themed card so Topps chose that design to swipe. I have been pestering my card shop for this set for weeks, so hopefully there will be a box there tomorrow as a consolation prize for the delayed Heritage.

Finally, BlackBorderGate is spreading, I found a couple more Wal-Mart blaster breaks on The Bench, both with black borders. Apparently the cards have a Chrome finish to them as well? No chrome finish, that poster ate too many strange mushrooms. I honestly have no freaking clue what the hell is going on with this. I'm torn between avoiding Topps altogether now because of this stupidity and hunting down a blaster just to get some damn information on what the hell this stuff is. We'll see. There might be a box break one way or another tomorrow. It just seems inconceivable that Topps would have all their Wal-Mart blasters have completely different cards in them. If you're going to do a black border early Chrome set, put a big red label on the blaster that says warning! lark's vomit black border Chrome! I've already got about 150-200 cards from the set, if I bought a Wal-Mart blaster in order to work on finishing that set and I got a completely different product I'd be pissed.

As your reward for all that wordiness, here's something very cool I found while working on that 1960 Topps post. Here's the back of that Al Lopez card I showed off:

All cartoons, just like I said. I can't freaking wait for Bobby Cox's cartoons. The toons looked familiar though, so I pulled out a card from 2009 American Heritage:

Hmmm... notice anything similar?

Al Lopez
Gettysburg Address guy

Topps recycled the cartoons! I have half a mind to abandon 2009 sets altogether and search through all my vintage stuff for cartoons. If Topps buggers up their base set anymore, I just might do that...

WHAT IS THIS DEMONRY

Lots of all caps titles today.

I checked in on Old School Box Breaks and checked out his review of an '09 Topps blaster. The image on the post nearly caused major bowel malfunctions. Here it is, lovingly swiped and reposted.


WHY ARE THE BASE CARD BORDERS BLACK?!? Someone please tell me they bought a blaster with white border cards in it. Please tell me this blaster just had a ridiculous amount of numbered black border parallels. Please tell me Topps put Opening Day cards in the box by accident. Please tell me Keith Olbermann is on the way to John's house with a briefcase full of cash so Topps can kick off their 2009 Target black border 'error' gimmick to boost sales at Target. Please tell me that this is just an elaborate hoax to get back at me for my mean Heritage trick.

Anyone have any info on these things?

UPDATE: It happened to Nachos Grande too! Topps has caught the Black Death! Fungus blasters at Wally world!

Oh man... Oh God... Oh man! Oh God!



Oh man!!!

Oh God!!!

GIIIIIIIMMMIIICCCCCKKKKSSSS!!!!!111

UPDATE #2: They've spread to eBay!!!!!

The PLAGUE is SPREADING!!!

Hide the children!

Get your shotgun!

Aim for the head! They'll just keep on coming if you don't get 'em in the head!

PANIC!!!!!*

UPDATE #3: Noooooooooooooooo

JayBee has gone over to the Dark Side. How many more innocent souls shall this evil scourge claim?

Why, Topps... WHYYYYYYY

* don't panic.

HE SIGNED

Thank the Maker, he actually signed. He didn't use the offer to squeeze half a million more out of the Angels. He didn't decide to start anew in Japan and sign with the Nippon Ham Fighters at the last second. He didn't completely reassess his life and run off to become an organic goat herder in the Ukrainian steppes. The dotted line is autographed and the physical is passed.

Thank you Garret Anderson for being professional and not causing another embarrassing debacle for my team.

Garret's no Manny, but then again he's no Manny. He goes out and produces and plays a solid left field and does it with class. I'll be happy with a line like this from Anderson in 2009:

130 games - .280 average - 15 homers - 25 doubles - 80 RBIs - .770 OPS

We also might get to see hit #2500 in a Braves uniform. I'll take it. Maybe Frenchy can look over to left field and learn a little about leadership. Just as long has he doesn't take any tips about drawing a walk from Anderson. Welcome to Atlanta Garret!

UPDATE: Captain Canuck, a fellow Brave-obsessed fan, posted a legitimate question in the comments.

are we really excited about a clean up guy who will maybe hit 15 homers?

It's interesting that you ask that. Here's why I like the move or at least don't hate it. First, go here. Take a look at the regulars in the Braves outfield last year. Frenchy, Kotsay, Blanco, Jones, Diaz, Infante, Norton, Anderson, Perry.

Now you tell me. Does penciling in a .280 - 15 - 80 line sound good to you? I'd rather have a second Kelly Johnson in the lineup than Blanco or B. Jones looking lost again. If the kids end up putting it together, then we have more depth and an outfield competition for 2010. If not, GA puts up steady numbers and we wait for Schaefer and Heyward to develop. Plus we don't trade off prospects for Swisher or Nady. Win-win. It's not the best move ever but if you think back to what the roster looked like in late October, picking up Lowe, Vazquez, Anderson and Kawakami wasn't too bad. Time to let things shake out in Spring Training now.

1960 Topps Primer

2009 Topps Heritage is almost here, so let's take a look at the set it is ripping off, I mean paying homage to. This is a great looking (and rather quirky) set that has a bunch of different unique designs for each of the subsets. It's the last horizontal set for Topps as well. The original set consists of 572 cards, with the high series (507-572) being significantly tougher to find than the lower numbers. Here's a base card:

Wes was the first Brave I ever had from this set, and it's been one of my favorites ever since. As you can see there's a small black and white action photo on a solid color background on the left, a full color portrait on the right, a team logo in the bottom left corner and the player's name in alternating colors and the team name and position on the bottom with a different solid background color. Depending on the color combination, the card can look really good or cause headaches. There are three different back variations:

White colored stock,

gray stock with the player's name in white letters,

and gray stock with black letters for the player name. If there is not some sort of parallel in the 2009 Heritage set with either different stock color, black lettering or both, I'll be shocked. The white and gray stock seem to alternate series with cards 375-440 being found in either color stock.

There are two rookie subsets:

Sport Magazine picks a group of promising rookie stars that are featured on cards 117 to 148. Carl Yastrzemski is the key rookie in the subset, with Jim Kaat and Frank Howard being the other two rookies of note. In place of Season's Highlights on the back (since they're rookies, duh) The editors of Sport Magazine wrote up a paragraph on the player. According to the presell checklist, (which I'm a still a little dubious of after the Mayo debacle) cards 117 to 148 are all RCs in the '09 set, so expect to see this design in Heritage.

The other Rookie subset is the Topps All-Star Rookie team at cards 316-325. This design got a lot of attention from Topps for their 50th anniversary insert set. The old style Rookie trophy is displayed on the card for the first time. The only actual rookie card in the subset is a doozie, Willie McCovey. Again the checklist indicates that cards 316-325 in '09 Heritage have all won that cup, so I'm looking forward to a Evan Longoria card with this design.

There are several combo cards sprinkled throughout the set. They have a four pointed star design with the subjects' names in a black triangle on the bottom and the card title on top in bold red type. The backs have a paragraph on the players with some cartoons on the bottom. Tim Lincecum and Bruce Bochy are featured on this combo card in Heritage.

The Team cards have the same design as the combos. They also double as checklist cards, showing the checklist for a series on the back.

Managers are found on cards 212-227. These cards and the cards featuring the coaches are all vertically oriented. There is a team pennant on top with the logo and the manager's name on the bottom with alternating colors for each letter. The back has several cartoons illustrating different facts about the manager. The checklist shows managers in the same cards 212-227. Where the other 14 managers are, I have no idea.

Coarches are found on cards 455-470. There is a card for each team with three or four coaches apiece. Floating disembodied heads on a colored background make this subset one of the stranger looking ones. The back has a line or two about each of the coaches. It looks like Topps included these as well, and there's even a Braves card so I'm happy.

Cars 385 to 391 feature the 1959 World Series between the Dodgers and the White Sox. The front shows a key play while the back desribes the play and has the game box score. The '09 preliminary checklist shows these players in the same spot: Chase Utley, Eric Bruntlett, Carlos Ruiz, Ryan Howard, Jason Werth, BJ Upton, Brad Lidge. I think it's a good bet that you'll see these if that checklist is to be trusted.

The last cards in the set (553-572) are all Sport Magazine 1960 All-Star selections. The player is shown with a shadow in front of a huge two-color 60. I'm hoping for the 2009 set they just flip the 60:

Topps included All Stars to finish up the set last year and it looks like they will again this year. Expect them to be short printed though.

There are no errors or variations in the 1960 set, however there are three proof cards that differ from the regular cards of the player. The proofs show the team logo of the player before their late 1959 trades, and Topps updated the regular cards to reflect the new teams. The three rare variations are:

56 Gino Cimoli (Cardinals logo)
102 Kent Hadley (A's logo)
436 Marv Throneberry (Yankees logo)

These cards are rare as hell. The Hadley sold for $13,500 in 1999 and the Marvelous Marv card wasn't even confirmed to exist when my price guide was printed. Now, we all know Topps will gimmick this set up somehow so don't be surprised if you see a card or two of a high profile player that changed teams over the offseason with a super short printed logo variation. Maybe a Teixeira card with an Angels logo or Captain Cheezburger with a Brewers logo (I'm hoping not, Thorzul). That would be the most authentic gimmick Topps could create for this set.

I've got the 2009 Topps Heritage auction ticker going on my home page, as soon as the American Heritage and wrestling cards start getting bumped by the casebusters' baseball hits I'll let you guys know. In the meantime, enjoy the originals.

Super Incredible Serious Question

I just found out my wife had three packages of cards in her trunk for the past two weeks. Oops. I opened 'em up and found something extraordinarily interesting from reader Todd Querry. I found this:

This, is a 1982 Topps Sticker Album. It's well known that I love stickers and I love sticker albums and I love putting stickers in sticker albums. Now, along with the album there were...

Stickers. Forty-two different ones. Very Adamsy. Some of them are regular stickers, some are 1982 Topps inserts with the "Coming Soon" ad on the back. The condition of the stickers range from near mint to eeeccch. Stars like Rickey Henderson are in the pile along with journeymen like Juan Eichelberger. I also know for a fact I have a bunch more of these things hiding in my collection somewhere. So... here's my question:

STICK 'EM

or

DON'T STICK 'EM

I really need help with this one, folks... That 1980's kid inside me is yelling at me to stick those suckers in the album, but the rational part of my brain (such as it is) is insisting that this ain't 1982 and I need to grow up. There's a poll over on the side. Vote and decide the fate of these stickers.

If you vote yes, I'll dig up the rest of 'em, paste them all in and do my best to find a cheap box to rip to (hopefully) complete the set. I'll even give away the doubles and unopened packs once I'm done.

Vote no, and I'll find the rest, seperate the regular stickers from the pack inserts and store them all away with the rest of my Topps oddballs. Then I can focus on my '88 Panini album instead.

Help me out guys, this one is really gnawing at me...

(note: if Todd leaves a message saying to stick 'em, they are stuck. He gets the deciding vote in this)

2009 Topps Braves

These are the 2009 Topps Braves cards I've gotten so far. All of these came from Mario at Wax Heaven except for the Vazquez. I had a few already, but the actual cards scanned came from Mario. I'll add new ones as I come across them, I am not sure if this is a team set or not. Once I have the team list confirmed I'll update the post. I plan to do a Braves gallery for each 2009 set.

TTT21 Chipper Jones ToppsTown

So whaddya say guys, do I enter the code?

Gold version

TR34 Kelly Johnson Turkey Red

Ah, the classic Turkey Red design looks great. If that bat slips though, Kelly will tumble down 18 rows of seats. Be careful Kelly!

17 Bobby Cox

WHY DOES TOPPS INSIST ON SHOWING BOBBY IN THE RIPE TOMATO JERSEY

black version

42 Jeff Francoeur

Frenchy better remember how to hit, and fast.

57 JoJo Reyes

black version


93 James Parr RC

I hate how Topps only put in one line of minor league stats for the rookie cards in this set.

136 Tim Hudson

I hope we can see him pitch sometime this year.

203 Jair Jurrjens

Fingers crossed to avoid a soph slump.

236 Kelly Johnson

black version


258 Casey Kotchman

262 Mike Gonzalez

306 Javier Vazquez

So many questions about these guys going into '09... I'm wavering between hopeful and terrified.

Honorable Mention: 287 Greg Maddux

He's still a Brave to me...

TOPPS HERITAGE AT TARGET!

This week is like Christmas for baseball-loving card collectors. Spring training games kick off on Wednesday and 2009 Topps Heritage is scheduled to be hitting hobby shelves the same day. I had to do the grocery shopping today though (gotta have milk and bread) so I went to the local Target and just possibly may have poked around the card aisle for a bit. Still no Upper Deck at all. The double wide Topps feeder was getting low but still had plenty of packs in it. There was my first confirmed sighting of a 2009 Topps blaster, but I didn't really want the patch card that badly. That stuff will be sitting on shelves till June anyway so no hurry at all. Topps Mayo, nah. Black Diamond Hockey, nah. iCarly cards... maaaaaybe... Then I saw it. Just sitting right there in the box. I never expected to see this at all in there. Topps Heritage!

No not that Topps Heritage, I just told you it's arriving in hobby shops on Wednesday. This Topps Heritage:

$1.59 cheapo packs, baby!

Ok, so that was a dirty trick to get you all to click on this post. It was a fun dirty trick and I regret nothing.

Nothing!

So here's some '08 Heritage packs to tide you over 'till tomorrow when the case breakers will likely start getting busy.

Pack 1:
269 H. Ramirez
152 B. Bannister
400 Man Ram
20 J. Kent
419 Braves
140 B. Sardinha
339 I. Snell
C54 Tim Lincecum Chrome Refractor #195/559

I was all set to mail this card out but can you believe Bailey has the refractor already but not the regular Chrome? Oh well, I wanted to keep this card anyway.

Pack 2:
376 R. Johnson
289 B. Myers
208 B. Butler
313 K. Igawa
399 T. Lilly
267 X. Nady
BF2 Luis Aparicio Flashbacks
370 Verlander No Hitter black back

Woohoo! I actually needed the Nady card for my set. the rest are all doubles though including the insert and parallel. If anyone needs this stuff send me a wantlist, I've got a few hundred doubles.

Pack 3:
410 M. Buehrle
68 D. Jeter
258 BJ Upton
420 N. Lowry
361 J. Borowski
71 T. Hoffman
174 M. Cameron
436 Ryan Freel SP

I pretty much bought these for a shot at a short print so the Freel is a welcome sight.

Pack 4:
148 H. Pence
70 C. Guillen
123 S. Fuld
416 A. Cabrera
41 K. Escobar
12 C. Schilling
482 Justin Morneau All Star SP
57 Brad Lidge black back

The Morneau SP is sweet, but I've got it already. Escobar is another pesky base card I needed though.

Pack 5:
182 M. Cain
390 R. Braun
237 Run Preventers
345 C. Carpenter
387 J. Bonderman
369 Buchholz No Hitter
3 Eric Byrnes
324 R. Ankiel black back

At least I am pulling exactly one card per pack that I actually need. This was a fool's errand to begin with, but that one Eric Byrnes card that I didn't already have makes me feel better about this pack.

Pack 6:
271 A. Phillips
375 Manny HR
110 H. Bailey
277 M. Teahan
413 E. Jackson
311 J. Suppan
226 R. Harden
NAP6 J. Peavy New Age Performer

And the streak dies. A solid pack of dupes, including the Peavy. More cards for the doubles box. If anyone needs some for a set just let me know. That box is getting pretty full and I need to start clearing it out for the '09 stuff.

Quickie Salty auto

Got this from Bailey at The Nennth Inning in exchange for some '09 Tim Lincecum cards. It's an autograph from 2007 Sweet Spot of Jarrod Saltalamacchia.

I was watching the MLB.com Draft Tracker at work (shame on me) when Salty was picked by the Braves so I've always been interested in his development since then. Even though he's a Ranger now I'm still rooting for the guy. This card is kind of ridiculous looking with about three times the real estate set aside for the plastic helmet thing than is alotted for the actual signature. Good thing Jarrod doesn't sign out his full name, or it would be a little squashed in that corner. Still, I'm a sucker for a goofy Braves relic and the helmet is pretty neat looking. It's actually a square piece of plastic with the helmet part pushed up and outlined by the die cut. This would be a neat card to dissect in a few years if one of the prospects doesn't pan out. Hopefully Jarrod can nail down a job in Arlington this year.


Bailey's always on the lookout for Lincecum cards so this one will be on the way to California soon. Thanks again bud!