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Tuesday, September 27, 2011

2012 Topps Heritage: Is there anything really exciting about it?

First, real quick: when is the last time you've heard of a manager being traded? Ozzie Guillen was traded to the Marlins for a couple minor league players yesterday.

Now, on to Heritage.
 This isn't a hate on Heritage. I'm this close to collecting the annual throwback set. What's stopping me? The set is just this close to being right. I have no beef with Heritage. I'm not going into that, though.

Topps released "early sneak peek" preview images on Twitter today for next year's issue. The 1963 design is one of my favorites, but I have to wonder: is it really necessary to post preview images of a design we already expect to see?
 Did anyone really think Topps might decide to skip a year or two? Or perhaps throw out one of its best sellers? Were they afraid people might think Topps would go all gold-crazy and foil up the card?

I'm just wondering. I ain't hatin'. What I really want to see is the follow-up to the '62 Mint cards from this year's set (which, by the way, I still can't get my hands on). I wouldn't mind seeing a couple of the inserts get replaced or revised (Throwbacks and News Throwbacks need sprucing up, especially).
I am guessing the throwback insert will be Peel-Offs, which were stickers that looked somewhat similar to the rub-offs of later years. I suppose we'll see in a week or so when they drop the sell sheet.

It's good to see Ryan Braun getting recognition. He would be my choice for NL MVP this year - Matt Kemp has mostly better numbers but Braun's contributing to a contending team. Seeing a Willie Mays autograph is no shock to me, given the announcement of his deal with Topps.

Is anyone really surprised by these previews? Is it really that thrilling and exciting to know that, hey, the design is going to look just like it's supposed to?

6 comments:

  1. OK, so we're a bunch of card geeks. Mea culpa. It's the first time seeing them so, yeah, it's a little exciting. If it weren't, why would we buy them at all?

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  2. Re: Manager being traded....Lou Piniella (along with a prospect) was traded from the Mariners to the Rays for Randy Winn after the 2002 season.

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  3. When did Topps announce a deal with Mays? i know that last year they signed Aaron and Koufax to deals, but missed the Mays announcement.

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  4. Mays announcement was about a month or so ago.

    My first thought of a manager being traded goes back to Chuck Tanner.

    I haven't been much of a fan of the '63s, even though it paved the way for one of my all-time favorite sets, the '83s. The black-and-white inset hurts the card.

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  5. Braun was the poster boy for the flagship preview image too. Maybe we'll see him on a wrapper, which will be fun for this Cubs fan to tear.

    It only gets me excited in the sense that it means a new card release is coming up. You're right that there's no surprise factor, but it's something to look forward to in 2012.
    --Jon

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  6. From the comments it looks like some good comes of posting the previews - such as getting the Mays message out there, and some expectation as to a couple of the big autographs. I think part of my frustration when writing this post was some site (Beckett, Topps, or one of the other news-focused blogs) really hyping it up.

    I also continue to be amazed by how many products are being teased before the season is over - maybe to get the buzz going while baseball-focused collectors are still active in the sport.

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