i mentioned last week that i bought a hobby box of 2025 topps heritage while i was on the west coast recently. i wound up opening it in my hotel room one night and then scanning some of the cards when i returned home. it was a pretty good box for this dodger collector, even if topps got rid of the box toppers (i was hoping to strike gold with a nice buyback). here's what i found
pack 1
the lone insert is the royal blue joc pederson parallel, but i did also get a double play card. yes, i am collecting all of the second basemen in the set for my double play collection just as i have done for the original 1976 cards thanks to the player position icon design. welcome to the collection brooks baldwin!
from here on out, i will just show highlights (to me) from each pack.
pack 2:
yordan alvarez
which is also a short print
this is my first look at the all-star cards, and i like it very much. the star works really well with the design, and alvarez's card is just a flat-out winner.
otto lopez
another second baseman, and it's worth noting that this is a deviation from the color scheme used for the marlins in 2015 archives.
pack 3:
jhoan duran chrome parallel
these are unnumbered for what i believe is the first time in heritage's history. i've seen these referred to as "white border" chrome which is understandable.
ty madden chrome light blue sparkle parallel
also unnumbered
roki sasaki rookie card!
which is surprisingly not a short print.
pack 4:
marcus semien
topps is squeezing in the "second" text in the all-star star. back in my day, they called it "2nd" and we liked it.
cody bellinger
decent photoshop job to get belly into a yankee uniform.
cade smith dark blue parallel
this turned out to be a decent box for guardians collectors.
stan musial
i am collecting this subset, just as i collected the all-time leaders in 2022 heritage and the mvp subset (even though it was highly disappointing) in 2024 heritage. enough has been said about how topps did some strange things with these all-time all-stars, but i'm mostly ok with what they did.
pack 5:
yoshinobu yamamoto
dodger #1 of the pack
shohei ohtani (record breaker) chrome refractor parallel
not a bad card to get a refractor parallel of.
tyler glasnow
three dodgers in this pack, and glasnow's card is a short print.
gunnar henderson
i briefly considered collecting the all-star subset. they are really hitting the mark for me.
pack 6:
justin wrobleski
doing more damage to my dodger want list
curtis mead chrome parallel
this one goes into the dp collection. i won't chase the chrome parallels of second basemen, but i will keep them if i pull them.
brandon nimmo dark blue parallel
the color works pretty well with the mets cards.
pack 7:
corbin carroll 1976 redefined insert
this design looks like what a vintage 1976 design might look like if topps treated heritage like the flagship release. i'm not sure if the player icon is an improvement as i could convince myself that it is a first baseman stretching and receiving a high throw.
gavin stone
he's got some of the most piercing eyes on cardboard since gil hodges. this one is a short print, too.
orelvis martinez
contributing to the dp collection. nice to see topps give the blue jays the same color scheme that the expos had in 1976. they used a different color scheme for toronto in 2015 archives.
shohei ohtani record breaker
another good dodger pack. here's the back:
gcrl favorites matt kemp and vladimir guerrero are noted on the back, both of them so close to 40/40 immortality.
pack 8:
this was a pretty decent pack, so i scanned the whole thing
the mays and altuve (second baseman) cards are keepers. the jake mccarthy card in the middle is the '76 border parallel that is numbered to 76, and the yordan alvarez next to it is the foil parallel of a regular player icon insert.
pack 9:
nl stolen base leaders
it's good to see a dodger on this card, even if ohtani isn't in the top spot as davey lopes was back in 1976. here's the back:
the list goes back far enough to give lopes his due. i see dodgers dee strange-gordon and trea turner also listed.
w.e.b. du bois notable americans
du bois lived to be 95 and he filled his lifetime with work related to social advocacy. he died the day before the march on washington, although he was out of the country and not planning to attend.
yariel rodriguez chrome light blue sparkle parallel
pack 10:
daniel harris dark blue parallel
adael amador
i believe the rockies have three second basemen in the set, and i like the color scheme. not sure why topps didn't figure it out for the 1976 design in 2015 archives though.
pack 11:
aaron judge (record breaker)
i like the record breakers this year, too.
luis garcia jr
there are a few cards that look like they may have the fake heritage backgrounds of a few years ago, and this might be one of them. topps let the nationals keep the expos' color scheme from 1976 which is a good move on their part.
gustavo campero chrome parallel
campero was just called up and is now injured. not sure which team goes through players at a higher rate - the dodgers or the angels.
pete crow-armstrong
this one is a short print. here's the back:
interesting that he and masyn winn were in little league (i assume) together and now are in the nl central together.
pack 12:
andy ibanez
nick yorke
back to back second basemen
adley rutschman chrome light blue sparkle parallel
this one might be the closest in terms of photos between the all-stars in this set and the all-stars in the 1976 set. thurman munson was also turned this way, but he was looking at the camera. where are people like pat neshek who are willing to recreate some of those poses from yesteryear?
pack 13:
teoscar hernandez
nice to see a dodger card with the all-star star. in the 1976 set, there were three dodgers (steve garvey, ron cey, and andy messersmith) so honored, plus jim wynn who was shown as a brave on his card. there were only two nl all-star outfielder cards in 1976 (wynn and lou brock) as both ron cey and pete rose (who started in the outfield for the national league) were listed as "3rd base"
andrew walters chrome parallel
max scherzer dark blue parallel
that may be a true background behind scherzer but i don't trust topps at this point.
pack 14:
nl home run leaders
it's not often we see a dodger on top of this leaderboard
jhonkensy noel 1776-1976 bicentennial parallel #/200
more guardians goodness
mookie betts
yes, three dodger short prints in my box!
pack 15:
richie palacios
this is a good color scheme for the rays, but it's different from what topps used in 2015 archives.
john d. rockefeller notable americans insert
noted as the founder of standard oil, he spent most of his later years as a philanthropist supporting medical advancement and the arts. standard oil had such a large monopoly at its peak that it was broken up into 34 different companies to comply with anit-trust laws. he was a rich dude.
matt olson chrome light blue sparkle parallel
pack 16:
nicky lopez
bryce harper
looks like a phanatic bat
jurickson profar
i forgot what a great season profar had last year. and now he's suspended.
ketel marte dark blue parallel
there's the national league's all-star at second base. i should note that topps changed up the color scheme for the dbacks from what they used in 2015 archives.
michael kopech
this was definitely a box made for me
pack 17:
adley rutschman
angel martinez chrome parallel
like the curtis mead above, this one goes to the dp collection
bryan woo short print
here's the back:
he is off to a pretty decent start this year.
pack 18:
paul skenes
there is some synchronicity here, as pirate jerry reuss was one of the all-star pitchers in the 1976 set
ichiro through the years insert
i am not sure what to make of these. i would much rather have had topps continue with the 'now & then' and baseball flashback inserts then produce these generic looking cards.
bailey ober chrome light blue sparkle parallel
i assure you that there is no second "bailey" on the back of this card
yogi berra
one of the few non-outfielders in this subset
pack 19:
mel ott
one of the many outfielders in this subset
luis peralta dark blue parallel
i liked the rockies' city connect uniforms. i guess they weren't selling enough so it was time for a rebrand.
vaughn grissom
grissom is in the minors at the moment. looks like the braves were the winners in the trade, although grissom is only 24.
pack 20:
river ryan
ryan will still be a rookie next year when he returns (hopefully) from tommy john surgery.
bob gibson
oh so close to a final tribute. it is gibson in a 1976 design, but it's not the base design with stats on the back, unfortunately.
zack gelof
yilber diaz chrome parallel
dylan cease chrome light blue sparkle parallel
pack 21:
al stolen base leaders
jazz chisholm shouldn't be on this card. he had 40 stolen bases, sure, but only 18 were with the yankees. the other 22 were from his time in the national league with the marlins. by topps' reasoning here, eddie murray should have won the national league batting title in 1991.
jose iglesias
aaron judge 25th anniversary insert
a couple things here - we are getting deep into the box and i had not yet seen my "hit". when i first saw this card, i thought that it might be an auto, but it's not. instead, it's a card celebrating the 25th anniversary of topps heritage. however, it should be celebrating the 25th year of topps heritage. the 25th anniversary comes next year.
edwin diaz dark blue parallel
another mets color match
nl batting leaders
i didn't find the rbi leader card in this box, but this card reminds me of just how close ohtani was to a triple crown.
pack 22:
this pack was chock full of good stuff, so here's all eight cards
the dusty/darren baker father & son card was my most wanted base card in this set and there it is. of course, i already had the card at home but didn't know it yet thanks to a mailer from rod (thanks rod!). the brayan bello and jesse winker cards would be great for the memorials collection, but i will stick with my previous choices for the tim wakefield, bud harrelson, and jerry grote patches. winker's card is a short print, by the way.
three dodgers in this pack, plus a double play is nothing to sneeze at, and then there was that upside down card. here's the front:
it's a photo variation of tyler fitzgerald. for the record, here's the regular photo
that i found in a mega box that i opened a few days ago.
pack 23:
mike trout
corey seager chrome refractor parallel
chris bassitt short print
nico hoerner
pack 24:
francisco lindor clubhouse collection single relic
my "hit" was in the last pack. could be worse.
nl home run leaders chrome light blue sparkle parallel
another nice dodger parallel featuring ohtani
freddie freeman
this was the last card of the box, so i went out in style.
i really do like this set. a lot. however, seeing the 1976 design and the bicentennial themed inserts makes me, once again, feel some regret on topps' behalf that they didn't either start the heritage series with the 1951 design in 2001 or wait until 2002 to debut this series. had they done so, 2026 heritage would feature this design, and we could have some semiquincentennial themed inserts numbered to 250 and the 50th anniversary buybacks would truly make sense.
speaking of which, i've been diligent (but not diligent enough) in my annual pursuit of buybacks featuring the infield of my youth. a ron cey buyback was snapped up on ebay before i saw it, but i have claimed bill russell's card
as well as one of three cards featuring davey lopes
who is a little beat up.
i would love to find the lopes record breaker in buyback form, and i hope to share that card and some of the others i find in the near future. stay tuned!
was the last one i needed for that dodger team set of parallels.
and i am sure i will be finding vargas dodger cards in bargain boxes for years to come. will i buy them? time will tell. adding tommy edman and michael kopech in the trade that sent vargas to the white sox was a great move by the dodger front office, so i hope that vargas finds his way in chicago and lives up to a bit of the hype that surrounded him in his earliest dodger days to pay back that championship level deal that is currently a bust for the sox.
and landon knack, shown on his 2025 topps gold parallel
are still dodgers as of now. they are both on the injured list, and who knows what will happen once they are healthy. there's not a lot of room on the pitching staff at the moment, so it's possible that these two become trade bait once they prove themselves healthy. i hope not, especially knack who i like, but i get it if it is the case.
his 2025 panini donruss card is one of many that i already have of him, and who knows how long he will be a dodger? blocked by his fellow university of louisville alum will smith, who is signed to a long-term deal, and too good to be in triple-a, he's not getting a lot of playing time. so far this year he is playing very well when he does play, but is it just enough to entice another team to make an offer that fills a different dodger need later in the season?
