you better watch out because i'm gonna say...kudos?

so far my 2022 topps heritage experience has been limited to seeing cards on ebay and ordering them from sportlots. i wasn't sure if i was going to be interested in the set to be honest, but then i saw this card:

and decided that i needed to add some 2022 heritage cards to my collection. i think topps was smart about this card. assuming that a barry bonds card was not an option, topps chose to recognize the active home run leaders rather than ignore the iconic number 1 card from the 1973 set that recognized the then all-time home run leaders. one could argue that the purpose of the 1973 card was to recognize the two active players who were still hitting homers in 1973, so the active player angle here works well, too. there are no active players in the top 3 all-time home run hitters, so had topps gone with bonds/hank aaron/babe ruth, that aspect of the card would have been lost.  so, i was thinking "good job topps!" until i turned the card over:

i guess they couldn't be bothered to change the heading on the back from the 1973 version. sigh.

still, i am happy that there are no longer action variation cards! as strange as it is to see action photos on designs like the 1969 cards

it was much more common in 1973, so i was happy to see topps recognize that fact. i added that 2018 topps heritage matt kemp card to the collection recently, by the way.

of course, there are now "image variations" that aren't necessarily action. that's dumb, but i added a few of the regular base cards featuring action shots to my double play collection. here we have nicky lopez:

the lopez card also features a 1973-esque element in that the player sliding in has been photoshopped in to a new uniform thanks to the cleveland name change. with heritage high numbers, i doubt there is much non-guardian photoshopping happening in heritage, but this card reminded me of 1973, no doubt.

here's ketel marte's card:

disembodied player appearance is definitely 1973-esque.

the dodgers didn't have very many action shots on their cards in 1973. i can think of wes parker, willie davis, and steve garvey as players with in game action, and you could argue that frank robinson and bobby valentine were also dodgers "in action" in 1973. so, it was weird an wonderful to see some dodger pitchers in action, like walker buehler

and julio urias

the urias features largely empty seats which also reminds me of 1973.

unfortunately, the other dodger cards i picked up feature spring training shots. not that there weren't a lot of spring training shots in 1973, but a max muncy card parroting garvey's would have been cool.  here's muncy:

a few weeks ago i wrote a post about topps bringing in backgrounds to studio photos. this is one example of that, as the card uses a photo from 2020 spring training with the all-star game patch removed.

same for a.j. pollock's card:

that is another 2020 photo, and i would bet that this mookie betts card

features another 2020 shot, although i didn't see this pose on getty's site. the background on all three of these cards is the same shot, although it is zoomed in on muncy's card. you've seen it on other dodger heritage cards in the past, too.

the backs are pretty good, although the text is hard to read 

i think the font was bolder in 1973. it's somewhat strange to see "wins above replacement" on a 1973 style card.

there is no clayton kershaw card (i suspect topps was expecting him to sign with the rangers), and the dodgers have a number of high number short print subjects as well. one of them is cody bellinger, but i did pick up this bellinger card

in my sportlots order. it's a most unexpected card, since the dodgers lost the nlcs. its number, 202, matches the nlcs card from the 1973 set that featured george foster and pete rose of the reds who won the nlcs in 1972. anyway, the card references bellinger's 3-run homer in the bottom of the 8th in game 3. the dodgers were down two games to none in the series, and bellinger's homer was eventually followed by a mookie betts rbi double, and the dodgers were right back in the series. it looks like there are actually three nlcs cards in heritage this year. weird.

i haven't checked other cards from 1973 against their counterparts in 2022 heritage, but this fernando tatis jr card

sort of reminds me of dave roberts' iconic card, just without the rookie cup and with a (slightly) less garish uniform. for the record, tatis' card is number 88 while roberts was 133. yes, i bought a fernando tatis jr card - he's still my favorite non-dodger!

i've mostly been keeping an eye out for buybacks. all three dodger infielders featured in the 1972 set were high numbered subjects and i did not see any of their cards issued as buybacks last year. nor did i see the team card, which was a semi-high card in 1972. in fact, i have had a hard time with buybacks for the infield so far. i have bill russell's 1970 and 1971 cards in heritage buyback form, but never saw a steve garvey rookie in 1971. i do have the 1971 dodger team card from 2020 heritage thanks to captain canuck, and that card sits in my garvey collection thanks to his presence in the team photo. 

this year, i saw a garvey buyback (after it sold) and haven't seen one since. i've seen a couple of russell cards, but both ron cey and davey lopes are on rookie cards and i doubt there will be a cey buyback thanks to the presence of mike schmidt on that card. i am hoping to eventually land buybacks of garvey, russell, and lopes, but in the meantime i was able to get the team card:

unlike other years, it looks like topps has gone with just one stamp placement for all cards. in the past, most landscape cards had the stamp rotated to match, but this year, all cards have the stamp in a spot that would sit just above the name on a portrait card. this means that most managers have the stamp right over their faces.  here's a better look at the card:

this one goes in the garvey collection, and i hope it is someday joined by his base card buyback. 

finally, while i don't have any of them yet, i do plan to complete the all-time leaders subset just like i did for the 1973 version (a second set outside of my complete set). let me know if you have any to trade!

all in all, i like this year's heritage more than i thought i would. you can tell because i didn't even mention the continuing stupidity of the 50th anniversary thing.