Heavy stuff as of late. How about some cards instead?
Topps Heritage is the stuff that everybody loves and I, for one, don't have much to add to that. However, I do not collect Topps Heritage because I am intimidated by it. You see, I got back into collecting at the end of 2006, when there were already years of Topps Heritage sets available. If I starting collecting Heritage, I would have to go back and collect Heritage from previous years. With A&G that was no problem, I started in 2008, with only a 2 year backlog. Goudey was even easier with only one year. But Heritage had years and years that I needed to catch up with, add in the SPs and my massive catch-up with regular Topps. What can I say, I was scared. So, as much as I would like to, I have never started collecting Topps Heritage. That doesn't keep me from racking up the Granderson cards though!
In 2008, Topps Heritage only featured one Granderson card. #34 "Pitchers Beware" with Magglio Ordonez (up top). It also came in a Black Back short printed version that looked like this.
I love everything about the card, have no particular qualms with the short print and was able to leave 2008 Topps Heritage happy as a clam.
Oh! In 2008 Topps Heritage also did something that it had never done before, it released an update set. Topps Heritage High Numbers was much more Granderson heavy, and features great cards. His base card is #535 and is paralleled into a Chrome (#/1959), a Refractor (#/559) and a Black Refractor (#/59). I'm short on all but the refractor seen here:
A "Real One" Autograph Card is Granderson's first autograph for Heritage, and On-Card at that! It comes in regular and red ink (#/59) flavors.
A "Clubhouse Collection" relic has a similar look and features a game used swatch of...Pants! Sure it looks the same as a normal swatch, but Pants! An autographed version (#/25) also is alleged to exist
The real catch of this series is the
prescient teaming of Granderson with All-Time Great Al Kaline for two beautiful cards. The first is a dual relic card (#/59) that you may recognize from an earlier post.
I love this card very much, but have yet to see it sell on eBay for less than $80. For a dual relic card. Geez. The other card is a Dual Autograph card (#/25) of Granderson and Kaline. I have seen this twice--once as a redemption card and one as a redeemed card in hand. Also too rich for my blood and sadly, I don't have a picture. Suffice to say that it is wonderful.
So, to make up for the low Granderson content in its first release, the High Numbers series is loaded with tremendous Granderson cards. I'm sure that I'll be chasing those Kaline cards for years to come and alas, with Granderson's star rising I'm unlikely to see prices fall by much, if at all.
A final note, hand numbering the cards (except the refractors) is a great touch. Sure, they could be numbered by intern Steve over at Topps, but they give that extra personal feel and uniqueness that just adds to these cards. I'm a big, big fan.
