In what's become an annual tradition, Topps Heritage Baseball gives collectors their favorite MLB players on designs from Topps sets of the past. For 2007, Heritage goes back to 1958 to get its inspiration, complete with card variations like those from the original set.
Sealed hobby boxes of 2007 Topps Heritage Baseball contain 24 packs of eight cards (seven if the pack contains a relic card) plus one box topper pack.
Base Cards and Variations
The heart of Topps Heritage is a 495-card base set that mixes head shots and some posed photos of today's players against the solid color backgrounds of the 1958 Topps Baseball design. Player names are at the top with position and team information at the bottom.
Card backs are also true to the original, with a short write-up, a cartoon that gives a few quick facts about the player and a small stat line. Along with veterans and cards with the MLB Rookie Card logo, the base set also throws in team cards (that also serve as checklists), combo cards with multiple players and All-Star cards.
Just like previous Topps Heritage products, the 2007 set has short printed cards that are found 1:2 packs. With 110 SP's this year, collectors are only going to turn up 12 per box, and it's up to each individual to determine whether that makes putting the set together a fun challenge or an annoyance.
Another nod to the '58 set is the inclusion of variation cards with yellow player names or team names. Not all of the cards with yellow printing are variations - some cards come only in that color - but the ones that are can be found 1:6 packs. Topps has released a list of all of the variations and short prints to help people assemble this year's entire run.
The base cards also have chrome parallels numbered to 1958.
After unwrapping an entire review box, I came up with 173 of the 495 base cards, including 12 of the 110 short prints, plus 3 chrome parallels. The only duplicates were 3 of 17 yellow name variations and 1 of the 17 team name variations.
Relic Cards
Both the past and present are represented in Heritage's memorabilia inserts. Clubhouse Collection cards have player swatches from either 1958 or 2007, while Flashbacks contain pieces from stadiums that hosted MLB games 49 years ago. Collectors can also find dual or autographed versions with low print runs.
The About.com sample box produced one relic, a Flashbacks card depicting Detroit Tigers legend Al Kaline and featuring a piece of an authentic stadium seat from Briggs Stadium.
Autographed Cards
Randomly inserted Real Ones autographs have signatures from current MLB players plus others who made their last appearances on 1958 Topps cards. Collectors can also pull red ink versions numbered to 58.
Flashbacks Autographs offer more ink from yesterday's stars on cards numbered to 25.
No autographs made their way into my review box.
Insert Cards
Topps says collectors can expect to pull nine regular insert cards per box on average, which is exactly what I found in my sample box. The 1958 American League Home Run Champion cards celebrate Topps favorite Mickey Mantle with one card for each of the 42 homers he hit that season. Alex Rodriguez's Road to 500 continues as well, with a card for career longballs 51 through 75.
New Age Performers compare the accomplishments of today's stars to their 1958 counterparts, as do the dual player cards of Then and Now. The regular version of Flashbacks features 10 different players and their highlights from, you guessed it, 1958.
