Spring break in paradise, Pt. 2: Heritage in review

If you read my post this past Friday, you know that one of my primary goals for Saturday's show was to pick up some 2014 Heritage.

Though I went to my local Target on multiple occasions in search of the new product, I was shut out each and every time.

Heritage is always cause for excitement around here, but this year's offering was extra-special to me for one simple reason.

Of every design ever made, 1965 Topps is my absolute all-time favorite.

I've said this before, but when I think of a baseball card, '65 Topps comes to mind. The vivid colors. The team name pennants. All of it. They are as close to perfect as baseball cards can come.

It's insane to think that this year's Heritage could come even close to the original, but I was itching to get my hands on some at Saturday's show. I even had a specific part of my budget earmarked for Heritage.

As you can see from the photo above, I absolutely scored.

But I almost didn't.

After walking through the entire show, my dad and I found exactly one vendor with Heritage for sale.

And even that was limited to a couple cards from a dollar box.

In an odd twist of fate, the first Heritage card this so-called "low-end" collector picked up was one of those rare action-image SPs of Hyun-Jin Ryu. Not a base card. Not an insert.

An action short-print.

I'm not sure if the vendor knew exactly what he had with this one, as I'd imagine these fetch a little more than a buck.

I plunked down my dollar without a second thought.

The second Heritage card I snagged was an insert of some guy named Puig.

This was also in the dollar box. With the Puig-mania that's been sweeping the nation lately, a dollar for anything of his is a pretty fine deal.

I don't buy Heritage for the inserts, but I do like the look of this year's "New Age Performers" series.

About four hours after I bought these, my dad and I reached the last aisle of the show. Ryu and Puig were still the only Heritage cards in my bag at that point.

With a decent amount of cash left over, we went back to see if I'd missed anything the first time around.

Someone had to have some Heritage in that giant convention hall.

We retreated to one of the dime box vendors I'd dealt with earlier in the day.

This time, I noticed something behind the counter that I hadn't seen the first time. It was a huge box with the 2014 Heritage logo on it, packed with singles from this year's release.

Since the cards weren't out on display, I asked the guy if they were for sale. He said they were and retrieved them for me. Because none of the cards were priced, I was a little worried at first. The vendor said he'd give me a deal on whatever I picked out, so I started digging.

From what I could gather, this guy must've busted a few cases of Heritage. He had uber-rare SPs, autographs, refractors, and just about everything you could think of in his glass case.

In the box I raided, there were multiple copies of nearly every base card and insert. If this were earlier on in the show, I would've been more careful about what I picked out. But, since this was the last table of the day, I went nuts.

I picked out nine of the ten "News Flashbacks" inserts (I somehow missed the Gateway Arch one if anyone has an extra available)...

The complete ten-card "Baseball Flashbacks" series...

All four pieces from the new "1st Draft" insert set...

And every single one of the 141 Heritage base cards I needed from this guy's spares.

Total cost?

Thirty-five bucks.

To recap, I got every single base card and most of the inserts I really wanted from this year's Heritage for less than half the price of a hobby box.

That's a Heritage conquering if I've ever seen one.

Since I obviously won't be picking up any packs of this stuff now, this card show post will double as my official Heritage recap for the year. (If you're Heritaged out by now, I apologize.)

One of the first things that caught my eye was the beauty of this year's World Series subset. I've always liked these, but I don't ever remember them being this nice.

More on that later.

I really only have one problem with 2014 Heritage.

Just like last year, Topps shrewdly placed many of the stars in the SP checklist. I don't see how a move like that is anything but a cash grab for the company. It's also a big slap in the face/middle finger/whatever you want to call it to set builders and general low-end collectors like myself.

This vendor did have nearly every single Heritage short-print available, but I didn't bother with them. They're too rich for my blood. And it's no thanks to Topps. (Let's not even get into the absurd prices of this year's throwback SPs.)

If there's a light at the end of the tunnel, Topps at least threw us a bone by inserting Mike Trout and Bryce Harper into the standard base checklist.

Yay.

All in all, though, that's basically the only gripe I have with 2014 Heritage.

Everything else about this set is absolutely beautiful.

These stay about as true to the original more than any Heritage offering I can remember. Almost everything about the design and photos Topps used remind me a lot of the actual 1965 release.

Another thing I enjoy about Heritage is that we get to see a lot of the big offseason acquisitions in their new uniforms for the first time.

In an era where we've come to expect lazy or downright awful photoshopping from Topps, the ones used in Heritage are anything but.

I'm pretty sure these aren't actual photos of Fielder as a Ranger or Pierzynski as a Red Sock, but you'd never know that from the awesome job Topps did here.

Seeing as how Topps omitted them from their Flagship checklist, I assumed Roy Halladay and Lance Berkman wouldn't get true "sunset" cards.

Wrong.

Both are present with complete career stats on the back in 2014 Heritage.

Speaking of the backs...

These are flawless as well.

Aside from all the jibber-jabber at the bottom, I probably couldn't tell the difference between Heritage and the original backs.

I give Topps a whole lot of props for that.

Still, Topps didn't stay completely true to the original.

As you'll see in a bit, this year's Heritage is extremely beard-heavy. I'm on board with the menacing facial hair, but fuzz like this didn't exist in 1965.

Not on big league ballplayers, anyways.

It was an absolute treat to go through every single Heritage base card I needed in one sitting.

I've never done that before. I usually bust a few packs here and there and then trade for the rest. Because of that sporadic accumulation, it sometimes takes me a while to fully absorb a lot of sets.

Not this time, though. After a few travels through my budding stack of Heritage and repeated viewings of beauties like Greinke and Ramirez, I know exactly where I stand with this set. And I have no reservations about saying the following.

For the first time since (probably) 2008, I think 2014 Heritage is better than this year's Flagship release.

There's no doubt about it.

With that in mind, let's close out this Heritage recap with...

A LIST!!!!

Yes, sir. With every Heritage card I needed in hand, I knew from the start that I'd have to make one of these.

More specifically, we'll be counting down my personal "Top Five from 2014 Topps Heritage".

An honorable mention goes to Coco Crisp and his flattened-out 'fro.

He just missed the top five.

#5 -- 2014 Topps Heritage #103 Alex Gordon

This was the dark horse candidate for my Heritage countdown.

I wasn't that taken with Mr. Gordon when I first pulled him from the guy's extra singles. Upon more and more viewings, though, I came to love this card.

That big "KC" in the backdrop couldn't have been framed any better.

#4 -- 2014 Topps Heritage #134 "Oddball Ending to Third" WS

As I said before, Topps knocked it out of the park with this year's World Series subset.

Since the 2013 Fall Classic was among the better clashes in recent history, I guess that's fitting. Game 3 certainly had the craziest ending to any game I've ever seen.

Though I was the only one in the room at the time, I still found myself yelling "INTERFERENCE?!?!" at the TV when this play went down.

Topps perfectly captured one of the wildest moments in World Series history with this beauty.

#3 -- 2014 Topps Heritage #197 Josh Reddick

I'm a little surprised we hadn't seen a card of "birthday boy" Josh Reddick with a full beard yet.

Thankfully, Heritage was there to fill that void.

Like I already said, this year's checklist was very beard-centric.

Still don't believe me?

#2 -- 2014 Topps Heritage #135 "Gomes Knots It Up" WS

Try this one on for size, then.

Looking back, 2013 was a very beard-crazy season for baseball. After all was said and done, the team with the so-called "Magic Beards" wound up winning it all.

I've never grown or tried to grow facial hair in my life, but I'd imagine someone pulling on it must not feel too pleasant. Nevertheless, the Red Sox did so whenever one of the bearded ones popped a homer.

Here's Mike Napoli giving the facial hair of Jonny Gomes a nice tug after his crucial homer in Game 4.

In any other year, this one might've taken home top honors.

#1 -- 2014 Topps Heritage #312 Munenori Kawasaki

But not in 2014.

Though last year was Munenori Kawasaki's second big league season, Topps had yet to issue a card of the energetic fan favorite. I was quite pissed off about that.

Come on, Topps. You can grant not two, but three spots in a checklist to a guy like Puig in, but giving one to a guy like Kawasaki is out of the question? What kind of crap is that? How can you even begin...

I let bygones be bygones as soon as I saw this card.

It may have come about a year too late, but this is a perfect cardboard debut for Mr. Kawasaki.

Everything you need to know about the fun-loving infielder is summed up in this shot alone.

Thanks, Topps.

We can be friends again now.

Spring break in paradise, Pt. 1: Living the dream

To many, the idea of a college student on spring break probably brings images of wild partying and beaches to mind.

I'd like to assure you that there's at least one person left who doesn't feel the need to partake in that type of action. Call me old fashioned, but my idea of spring break paradise is as simple as a card show.

That's exactly where I spent the waning days of my vacation this past Saturday. My dad and I were at this show for a good four hours, in fact. And, with another generous grant from pops, I think we did a good deal of damage this time around. (Thanks again, Dad!)

My dad was even nice enough to snap this picture of yours truly "in the zone" digging through some dime bin treasures. For those of you who still aren't convinced that dime boxes exist, here's proof. Maybe one day we'll plan a blogger field trip to the Midwest so everyone can enjoy a good dime box.

However, I will say that there didn't seem to be as many dime boxes at this gathering as there have been in the past. Still, the ones that were present seemed to have some real goodies.

The boxes you see in the picture above had cards priced at a dime each or 12/$1. This vendor has been at this show for as long as I can remember and always seems to have new cards to dig through.

I never know what to expect.

I always seem to walk away from his table with a huge smile on my face, though.

I've previously gone on record by saying that 1984 was far and away the best year in the history of Donruss. I love the nice, clean photos and the "shooting star" team names.

Trouble is, '84 Donruss isn't all that easy to find. I've heard rumors that Donruss printed less of this set than they had in the past at that point.

For that reason, I've long fantasized about an entire dime box devoted to 1984 Donruss.

And, wouldn't you know it, that's exactly what this guy had on Saturday.

Reams and reams of '84 Donruss, as far as the eye could see.

I walked away with a few dozen of these things after all was said and done. That probably more than doubled the existing number of '84 Donruss I owned before this weekend.

I was living the dream.

That wasn't even all I found from this guy's table.

His 12/$1 bins are usually packed with a whole bunch of good stuff. But what sets his stock apart from most other dime boxes I've dug through, however, are the oddballs.

As I've said before, I've developed a tremendous appreciation for anything and everything odd since joining the blogosphere. I try and scoop up as many oddballs as I can at every show now.

That includes wonderful pieces like this Hideo Nomo hologram, courtesy of the good folks at Denny's.

The oddballs just keep coming every time I'm at this guy's table.

He even has oddballs that weren't intended for widespread release.

You can clearly see a "For Promotional Use Only" label on the side of the movie-themed Clemens there. Still, it somehow found its way into this guy's discount bins.

I'm no Roger Clemens fan, but I couldn't pass up something like that for eight cents.

Sizes of oddballs may vary.

Neither of these will fit in any of my nine-pocket pages. I'm actually thinking about doing the unthinkable and trimming down the "Mr. Turkey" Ozzie Smith so it'll fit into my binders.

Am I crazy?

Though that guy probably had the best overall dime bins, I nabbed a ton of other cheapies from various vendors throughout the day.

Numbered dime cards aren't exactly common, but you're sure to come up with at least a few with a little digging. The Hart rookie even forced me to find nine other singles from what was otherwise a fairly thin discount bin. (I try to end up with even numbers when it comes to dime boxes.)

If I ever get around to making a banner for this blog, it'd almost certainly feature a Bo Hart card.

I'll do anything for him.

What would a card show be without Vlad?

This treasured new addition (also courtesy of Denny's) uses the 3-D technology that was sweeping the nation in the '90s market.

While we're on the topic, here's another 3-D issue I found on Saturday.

Because of the "autograph" shot, this Delgado is also a treasured mini-collection hit.

For any future bloggers out there, here's a neat tip I learned pretty early into my time around here. Scan your 3-D cards sideways and them flip them right-side-up.

They always come out better that way.

Also present in the dime box depths were hits to my "anthemic" and "bat barrel" mini-collections.

I could probably make an inappropriate joke about the Conger, but I won't.

One particular dime box had a ton of 2008 Upper Deck singles available.

Though the set often gets overlooked, it really was one of the better base sets UD's history. If you've been ignoring these, you're really missing out on the fun.

The full-bleed photos and relatively simple name plates really make these things pop.

As these "pitcher at the plate" and "double dip" shots might indicate, it's also a great source for mini-collection hits.

That same dime box also held a decent amount of 2005 Leaf.

The design isn't all that memorable, but I have noticed that the set seems to feature more throwbacks per capita than any other checklist I've ever seen.

I landed a good seven or eight new "throwbacks" from just a couple stacks of these puppies.

Quarter boxes seemed to be in big demand at this show.

I found quite a few more than usual on Saturday. Though I wholeheartedly prefer dime cards, the quarter boxes just kept calling my name. 

I don't usually go too crazy with quarter cards since they eat up more of my budget, but that doesn't mean they can't result in a few gems.

These two neat North Side stars came from a quarter bin, although the guy basically gave them to me for free. I had 20 dimers and 15 quarter cards ready to go, but the vendor only charged me two bucks for the lot.

Though I had opportunities to pick up some 2014 Donruss throughout the day, the Sandberg was the first and only one I bought during my four hours at the show.

I'm not big on what I've seen around the blogs thus far, but I'll admit those "Power Plus" inserts are pretty cool.

One vendor had a good dozen 5000-count quarter boxes on display.

I didn't go through all of them, but I set a limit of 20 quarter cards for myself at this guy's table. That turned into 25. And then that turned into 30. Maybe it's just me, but I find myself doing that sort of thing a lot at card shows.

One of the more interesting pickups was the Bobby Bonds you see above. It's way thicker and heavier than your normal baseball card, and it appears to be made out of tin.

I'm still debating on whether or not I should put it into my binders or just keep it as a display piece.

I'll probably end up going the binder route.

I always do.

I've been wanting to pick up one of those special retail boxes of Update for a while now.

In a shrewd bit of marketing by Topps, they come with a couple special Chrome Update packs that you can't find anywhere else. 

That is, unless you wait for them to show up in card show discount boxes. I found the Harper for a measly quarter.

Marketing or not, I don't know if anything can ever make me pick up another pack of Gypsy Queen. While I'm not a fan of the base cards, those beautiful framed parallels sure make it tempting.

Luckily, the Gordon came home with me for a quarter as well.

I have a confession to make.

I'm an absolute sucker for parallels.

As much as I might want to bag on Topps for making a zillion different parallels every year, they really can make for nice cards. Not to mention how cool they look in binders.

That's why I had something of a card-gasm (if there is such a thing) when I saw a stack of blue Flagship parallels during one of my quarter box digs. Blues from of each of the past three years of Topps were present, and couldn't resist plunking down a few quarters for some of the best ones.

I think there's a little parallel mania in all of us.

This, however, was the unquestioned quarter find of the day.

Golden Age has been responsible for a lot of great things lately, but nothing beats their inclusion of the Bad News Bears in last year's checklist. As one of my favorite baseball movies ever, it certainly feels good to own real, actual baseball cards of Engelberg and Rudy Stein.

What I didn't know was that the Bears actually flooded out into Golden Age's insert checklists as well. This outstanding Kelly Leak is part of the "Tip-Top Bread" throwback series.

I let out an audible "Wow!" when I first discovered this beauty.

You can ask my dad for proof.

I did a bit of dollar bin digging at Saturday's show as well.

While I'll show more of those finds in future posts, I dug up some more modern dollar treasures as well.

This Cracker Jack Hank Aaron oddball has to be the only popcorn-bordered card in my collection.

I didn't have to think twice about dropping a dollar on it.

However, the discount bin find of the day was probably this one.

Landing for a single dollar was an absolute steal. I would've payed double or triple that without blinking an eye.

As you can probably tell, this isn't your standard Ryne Sandberg card. It's an oddball, for one thing. From what I can gather, these were probably given away as part of the VIP package at the 2007 National.

What made it such a must-have piece for me, however, was the fact that it features Sandberg during his brief six-game stint as a Philadelphia Phillie. This is just the fourth Sandberg card in my Phillies binder, and two of those come from the 2010 National Chicle checklist.

Sandberg was one of the best players in Cubs history, but it's his cards with the Phillies that really get me excited.

Even if these discount treasures had been my only finds of the day, I would've walked home a happy man.

As you'll see in future posts, however, they weren't. We still have a lot more to cover.

People can head down to Florida and enjoy their spring break there if they want. If that's your scene, then I'm perfectly fine with that.

As long as I have a card show, I'm in paradise.

The dime box frankenset, Page 20: Numbers 172-180

I don't know about the rest of you, but the reason I've always gravitated towards binders is basically for the aesthetics.

Though I've never tried it, I could probably keep my collection just as clean as organized if I did the box-sorting method. I don't think it makes too much of a difference either way.

Binders, however, offer a beauty that you can't get out of a plain white box. Pages like these are what I'm talking about.

Three horizontal cards on top, six vertical cards on the bottom. Simple, yes. But perfect.

I didn't plan it to be that way, but it's certainly an welcome bonus to an already terrific frankenset page.

Completion status: 9/9...completed page!

Numbers needed: None.

The card: 2012 Topps #172 Reed Johnson

Why it made the cut...

Today's page begins with one of the best cards of the decade thus far.

As most Chicagoans probably know, seagulls have been residents of Wrigley Field for a while now. Topps did an awesome job of capturing a few of them "in-action" with this beauty.

It's the only seagull cameo I've ever seen on a baseball card.

The card: 2013 Topps Opening Day #173 Zack Cosart

Why it made the cut...

Here's another fairly new frankenset find.

Though great, Cosart's regular Flagship issue didn't make the binder. Still, that left the door open for his Opening Day issue to make the cut.

As one of the better action shots in recent memory, this is a fantastic "play at the plate" shot.

Let's not forget the precious Rookie Cup, either.

The card: 1995 Upper Deck Minors #174 Fletcher Thompson

Why it made the cut...

Double dip!

As these '90s minor league cards always seem to get me to do, I went to research whether or not Fletcher Thompson ever actually made it to the bigs.

Sadly, he didn't. In fact, he never even made it above Double-A.

Still, he'll always have this neat double play card to his credit.

The card: 1993 UD Fun Pack #175 Jerald Clark

Why it made the cut...

If this card is any indication, 1993 UD Fun Pack is a rather underrated set.

The design has a very Saved By The Bell feel to it. I especially like how Mr. Clark appears to be climbing the frame of this card in order to chase down a long fly ball.

It earns extra points for the Cub logo cameo, of course.

The card: 1998 Donruss #176 John Jaha

Why it made the cut...

I think that's obvious.

Mr. Jaha here is one of the better inductees in my "cards with kids" mini-collection.

The card: 2002 Topps #177 Brian Anderson

Why it made the cut...

Pitcher at the plate!

For anyone who cares, Brian Anderson was a .137 career hitter.

The card: 1992 Upper Deck #178 Charles Nagy

Why it made the cut...

Charles Nagy is part of a rare breed when it comes to this mini-collection of mine.

He's a rare post-DH/pre-interleague American League "pitcher at the plate". I'm guessing that even in the post-DH era, AL pitchers had to hit in spring training, which most likely explains the basis for this shot.

You don't find cards like these too often.

That alone makes it a terrific frankenset nominee.

The card: 2011 Topps #179 Armando Galarraga

Why it made the cut...

To most fans, Armando Galarraga will always be remembered as the guy who lost his perfect game on a blown call.

I'm one of them. As far as on-field action goes, I have no other lasting memories of him.

If we're talking cardboard, though, the name "Armando Galarraga" instantly brings this one to mind. It's a terrific "throwback" shot that features some nifty Negro League duds.

Galarraga may have enjoyed his fifteen minutes of fame, but he'll always be remembered for this beautiful baseball card.

At least to me, anyways.

The card: 1997 Topps #180 Rey Ordonez

Why it made the cut...

We close out today's page with one of the more confusing cards in my frankenset.

Maybe it's just me, but I don't know of many other shots that feature guys going back to a base they had previously occupied.

Pickoffs are the most common scenario for that sort of action. However, judging from Ordonez's awkward stretch, this doesn't appear to be one of those.

My only guess is that Brian McRae was forced out at second after a line drive to the first or second baseman. It would explain the emphatic leap back to the bag and Ordonez's odd positioning.

It's always nice when a baseball card makes you think.

I guess that's part of the reason why I collect in the first place.

Prep work: March edition

I've been living the collector's dream lately.

After attending a card show a few weeks ago, I've had a steady stream of awesome trade packages trickling in since.

On top of that, guess where I'll be tomorrow!

That's right. Another card show.

The big tri-annual gathering will be making its 2014 debut tomorrow. I haven't missed one of these puppies in at least five years or so. Unlike the show I attended a few weeks back, my dad will be in attendance for this one.

Between the Dodgers-Diamondbacks opener in Australia and this gathering, I'm going to have a lot on tap tomorrow. In what can often be a hectic and awesomely random few hours, I've found it helps to at least do a little prep work before a big card show.

The last time around, I did something that I'd never done before. I actually sought to track down a couple specific cards. The suspects were a '71 Topps Denny McLain and a '75 Topps Hank Aaron. And, wouldn't you know it, I found them both for reasonable prices.

It was a joyous day.

So joyous, in fact...

Goal #1 -- Dig the '75s

...that I'll be trying it again tomorrow.

This time, I'm setting my sights on a couple '75s.

Though I own quite a few cards from this set, "Yaz" and Mr. Bench are two that have always eluded me. Since they don't go for too much, I thought I'd have found copies by now.

Nope.

The best I've done is finding a Bench Fan Favorites issue with the '75 design and a reprint of the "Yaz".

Tomorrow, I'll be on the hunt for the real deal.

Goal #2 -- Kellogg's barrage

I used to be kind of apathetic about Kellogg's when it came to card shows.

I'd always wanted to track a few down, but it wasn't a big deal if I didn't. That all changed with the oddball extravaganza I lived through in November.

Now, I don't want to leave a card show without finding at least a couple Kellogg's.

I need my 3-D fill for the day.

Goal #3 -- Remember the non-sports

With the overdose of cards from about every sport imaginable at shows, it's easy to forget about my non-sports collection.

Lots of vendors don't even bother with cards like these, which is why I often come up short in this department. Still, I can usually dig up at least a couple non-sports additions at every show.

Disco or otherwise, they always make for cool finds.

Goal #4 -- Heritage and the originals

This is probably my biggest hope for tomorrow's show.

I haven't busted a single pack of 2014 Heritage yet. Instead, I've had to jealously live vicariously through everyone else's posts on the matter. I've been staring at my bogus 2003 UD Vintage singles lately to help cure my Heritage longing.

Though I'll probably buy some from my local Target at some point (if they ever have them in stock), I'd love to find that case-breaking vendor with a huge dime box of Heritage singles ripe for the picking. Most shows I've attended usually have a guy or two with this type of setup.

I can only pray for one tomorrow.

In honor of this year's Heritage, I'll even make it a mission to pick up a couple original '65s this time around.

It is my all-time favorite set, after all.

Goal #5 -- Proxy shopping

One thing I've learned since becoming a blogger is how fun shopping for others can be.

That's taken on a whole new meaning recently. In case you missed it, I went proxy shopping for Ethan of "Playing With My Cards" at that show I attended a few weeks ago. He sent me a little cash and I did the best I could to find cards I thought he'd like.

We'll be doing it again tomorrow.

On top of that, I'll partake in my usual shopping for Dodgers, Mets, Red Sox, Pirates, and all the other teams that some of my fellow bloggers collect.

Who knew proxy shopping could be so much fun?

Goal #6 -- Dime box magic

All of these "prep work" posts seem to end on the same note.

In the end, I simply let the dime boxes work their magic. Whether it be "double dips", "bat barrels", or other fun pieces of cardboard, they've left me satisfied at the end of each and every show I've ever attended.

I will forever be indebted to the world of dime boxes.

Naming this blog in their honor was the least I could do.

It's shaping up to be yet another fun-filled day of cardboard tomorrow. I'll even try and remember to take a few pictures in order to make the card show experience all the more real for my readers.

Wish me luck.