There you go. That's all of it.
If I lived in the US, I'd probably buy a hanger pack or a blaster or something, but in Japan, Heritage tends to run around $6 per hobby pack. For $6, I can wait a few months and buy between six and twelve cards on COMC for my type collection.
I'm a set collector, but Heritage just quite isn't my cup of tea. I mean, I get it: a classic design with modern players. Throwbacks to the quirks of the original release. A challenging short-print set for those with deeper pockets and super-short printed variations for those with even deeper pockets. One or two throwback insert sets plus a series of Heritage mainstays.
I get the News Flashbacks set each year and my type collection singles and call it a day. I do enough throwback sets each year (Gypsy Queen and Allen & Ginter), and while I haven't gotten around to the 1960s (1973 is the earliest set I've finished), I do collect the original Topps sets. I would probably think differently if they used the old design without deliberately lowering the printing quality. I don't want Stadium Club-level quality, but it feels photoshopped. Or Instagram-filtered. So as cool as it is to see the old designs become accessible, I don't have a connection to the old cards (I wasn't born until 1978, and I didn't start collecting until 1989 - I'm a late bloomer) so there's nothing that appealing. I'm not knocking those of you who do collect Heritage. It's just not my cup of tea.
So enjoy your Topps Heritage. I'll get mine eventually. And I'll have a cup of tea while I wait.
Ouch. Paying $6 fora hobby pack is rough... especially if you are just after a few things.
ReplyDeleteAre cards just generally more expensive in Japan due to it being an import? Is it very popular there?
Yes. Cards are definitely more expensive at the base level - import and Japanese. A couple stores around Japan have 30 yen singles (about 25-30 cents). But the selection is quite limited and those locations are limited too. Most shops start around 50 yen, and the biggest chain of card shops (Mint) start their common singles at 100 yen (around $1) each.
DeleteThe fun starts with the inserts and hits, though. A few big names draw premiums, but I've found $10-20 serial-numbered hits in the 100-yen bins at card shops. So it's much cheaper for me to buy most singles through Sportlots (which get sent to my mother) or COMC (which just sit in their warehouse) than in shops. But it still pays to sift through the MLB cards in a few of the card shops, since they often have oddly-low-priced parallels, inserts, and hits.
And to answer your second question, baseball is pretty popular here. NPB (the Japanese professional league) draws large crowds, especially on the weekends, Japanese players in the MLB are on the news every night, and there are lots of collectors of both NPB and MLB cards.
Awesome information. Thanks! I knew baseball was pretty big there, but I wasn't sure how popular sports cards were.
ReplyDeleteBaseball cards are to a big degree something very personal. As an older guy I do connect to 1968. Very understandable that they're not that exciting to you.
ReplyDeleteYeah, very few people collect anymore for anything other than personal reasons. Back in the 1980s and 1990s there were plenty who did it for the money.
DeleteAnd with a personal connection to the year, I certainly understand.
Honestly, if I had been collecting in 2001 when Heritage first came out, I might have started going after the set run from the beginning.
Overall... I like Heritage and what it brings to the hobby. I just don't NEED it. I picked up the 2005 set, because it featured the 1956 design and one of these days I'll grab the 2014 set. I'll also pick up cards for my teams & player PC's... as well as their autographs if the price is right. But I'll save the pack busting and box breaking to everyone else.
ReplyDeleteA pack or two would be nice, but yeah, I know what you mean. The old Topps All-Time Fan Favorites sets were pretty neat though!
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