i hope topps continues to pay attention

the 2019 topps heritage pat neshek nod to lowell palmer was great to see, and topps has continued to pay homage to some iconic cards in this year's release. many have posted about the gary sanchez/thurman munson card, along with other examples.  one of my favorites is the vada pinson

franmil reyes

attempt. both even have yankee catchers in the frame! anyway, no such luck for me with card number 341, as steve garvey's rookie card received no like tribute (it's indian pitcher mike clevinger's spot in heritage), and garvey himself is absent from the 'real one' autograph checklist as well as he appears to continue to align himself with panini exclusively.

in addition to the garvey, i was hoping for a cookie rojas tribute,

and topps gave us this whit merrifield double play turn at card number 118 instead

not quite as dynamic, but there is some effort there. it's a royal double play turn in yankee stadium, at least.

ken boswell also had a nice double play shot in 1971 topps, too,

and topps gave us this jeff mcneil card at bowsell's number 492.

that's better.

i was also hoping for a joe morgan type card

because of its different view of the action. card number 264 in this year's heritage is an astro second baseman, but the photo is not at all the same. back in 1971, art shamsky had a similar looking card,

and topps matched his number 445 slot instead with this j.d. davis card.

i actually like the davis card a bit more because it fits in my tatooine collection.

i bought those and a couple of other cards, along with a few packs of heritage recently.  i was happy to find a dodger among the two short prints i pulled.

i was also pleased to find a carlston charles card

as it is his final tribute.

i figure he will make it to cooperstown eventually (i still see 3000 strikeouts as a sure thing), so i've added this card to my minicollection.

one card i was sure to track down was the don sutton baseball flashbacks insert

the dodgers weren't doing too much in the early part of the decade, so i didn't expect to see any inserts. as a result, this sutton was a welcome surprise. topps might've stretched a bit here as a way to add more sutton to the set as he has signed on for a number of releases in recent years. i'm hoping steve garvey comes back to topps in time for his chance for a then-and-now insert in 2023 heritage.

until then, i just hope topps doesn't forget about chris short

or rich allen

in the 2020 heritage high number release. it would be great to see card number 650 featuring mookie betts in dodger stadium with the photographer's knee in the frame.