where it is with heritage

i have had this 2003 topps heritage kazuhisa ishii short print black background variation card

in a draft post for over a year. i picked it up in early 2022 and figured i would share it at some point. with 2023 heritage out on the streets, now seems to be a good time. in fact, i've decided to take a deep dive in to the status of my topps heritage collection at the same time. here we go!

i often wonder if whomever decided to kick off the heritage brand regrets not starting with 1951 topps back in 2001. there would have been actually symmetry to the 50th anniversary buybacks had that been the case. at any rate, 2001 used 1952 topps and away we went. i've had the dodger team set completed for over 20 years, but just recently decided to add this kevin brown card

it's one of the pre-production sample cards

complete with missing stats. there were three of these cards, with the other players featured being andres galarraga and roger clemens. 2001 was a long time ago.

i recently completed my 2001 heritage non-high number short print set. some of the last cards i picked up inlcuded a barry bonds low numbered short print

and the last card i needed to complete the set from 1-310 was eddie perez' card

also a low number short print. these two cards weren't actually short printed, but the print run was split between red and black backs so they get treated as such by most sellers.

one of the final cards i picked up threw me for a loop - this brad fulmer card

clearly doesn't belong given it is a game action shot, but it's in the set anyway. this was before topps introduced the action image variation gimmickry.

i do have some of the high number cards, including this cal ripken jr

that slots in at number 316. i found it in a bargain box at a card show last year, thankfully. i will keep an eye out for more high numbers, but they aren't the sort of thing that show up too often at shows or in shops these days.

2002 moved on to the 1953 design, and this alex cora short print

was the final card i needed to complete my team set. two years in, and the dodgers only had one true short print card!

in 2003 with the 1954 design, topps upped the ante for dodger collectors and included three short prints plus the ishii variation up top. to date, i have two of the three short prints in my collection. those would be shawn green

whose card back mentions his four homer game in milwaukee that i attended

and brian jordan

i am missing the adrian beltre card and hope to pick it up someday soon.

2004 went horizontal with the 1955 design, and topps went further with the short prints. there are five dodger short prints in all, and they aren't all at the high number end of the set. shawn green's card

is a short print at number 210 in the set. the other dodger short prints are ishii (not pictured), brian jordan,

adrian beltre,

and edwin jackson

because you gotta short print those rookies.

like many collectors, i was really looking forward to 2005 and the 1956 design, and, like many collectors, i was underwhelmed. it was about this time that i recognized that heritage was never going to live up to the hype or the original cards, but i still collected. with five short prints again, i am still shy of completing my dodger team set. i have the hee seop choi

jose valentin

and hideo nomo

short prints, but not the ishii or cesar izturis ones.

in 2006, topps really stumbled in my opinion with the 1957 design. i remember buying a couple of packs and being so turned off by the washed out coloring. it took me a long time to get back to the dodger cards from this set, but i do now have the full team, including short prints of yhency brazoban

eric gagne

and brad penny

topps had still not initiated the action image variation, so the yhency and gagne cards are just regular ol' short prints.

the 1958 design wouldn't accommodate action images, but some of those sorts of shenanigans began in 2007 when topps pulled some things like a text color variation on this rafael furcal short print.

furcal's regular card, with "los angeles dodgers" in white text is a short print as well.  so is eric stults' card

and brad penny's all-star card

derek lowe has a short print, too, which i have had for a while now. with the addition of the furcal variation, my team set was completed last summer.

my 2008 dodger team set is complete as well (including the inaugural high numbers release), with the team card short print

being the last card i needed. the only other short print cards wer another brad penny all-star card and mark loretta's high numbers card, both of which i may well have pulled from packs back in 2008 as i've had them for a long time.

(i am going to gloss over a few heritage sets that i haven't had to pick up any cards from here, so no images to share).

i took a shot at completing the full 2009 heritage set back when it came out, and so my dodger team set (with one short print in the initial set and one more in high numbers) was complete early on. i abandoned that full set quest but still hold the 2009 issue as one of my favorites.

2010 heritage arrived with only one dodger short print - a matt kemp dice game back - that i don't really consider to be part of the team set. i still need that card, however.

2011 heritage really chapped my hide. there are three dodger short prints in the traditional sense (high numbers) including a kenley jansen rookie parade card, and i have all of those. however, i only have two of the ten "jackie robinson story" short print "b" card variations. the original 1962 set did not include a jackie robinson story subset so i don't know why topps did this. i really don't seek out the other eight cards i need but maybe someday i'll add a saved search for them.

2012 heritage was one that i was looking forward to, as the 1963 design is a semi-favorite of mine. this set brought three dodger short prints (dee gordon, jerry hairston, and aaron miles) that were relatively easy to track down, plus two tim federowicz rookie cards for some reason. there were also big gimmicks like this matt kemp image swap variaiton

which i picked up a few months ago. this team set is complete, short prints and this variation - not the target border parallels though (still need a clayton kershaw target parallel). i also am missing all of the heritage high number dodgers as topps brought the set back as an online only release. i don't plan to ever track those cards down.

i was pleasantly surprised with how much i enjoyed the 2013 heritage set. 1964 topps was never a favorite of mine, but i liked the heritage version it turned out. four of the dodgers were short printed, and this hanley ramirez card

was the last of those short prints i needed to complete the "non-variation" team set. i am missing the clayton kershaw and matt kemp color swap variations, as well as the matt kemp action image variation.

prior to the release of 2014 topps heritage, i was certain i was going to attempt to complete the set. shortly after it was released, however, i decided against it. still, i sought out the dodgers and nearly completed the team set. unfortunately, i am missing the hanley ramirez short print, along with the yasiel puig short print. i did track down adrian gonzalez' short print

last fall. i also added the matt kemp action image variation

to go along with that of hyun-jin ryu, although i am missing the same variations of clayton kershaw, ramirez, and puig. puig also has some sort of logo variation that i am missing. and, just like 2012, i have no plans to track down the high numbers online only set which included four dodgers.

there were no dodger variations in 2015 heritage, but there were a few short prints. the last two i needed to complete my team set were zack greinke's

and adrian gonzalez'. 

shown next to the gonzalez is yasiel puig's action item variation from 2016 heritage. that team set is complete as well (including a traditionally released high numbers set), with the only variation missing is clayton kershaw's color swap nonsense.

from 2017 through 2022 my team sets are complete with base, high numbers, and short prints. i only have a few variations from these years, but that's ok. i still consider the team sets complete. oddly enough, i was missing a 2019 topps heritage high number drew jackson card

until i entered my collection in tcdb last year and discovered the oversight. it was quickly corrected.

now 2023 heritage is out and i joined a group break for the dodgers so i expect to eventually have a complete set. i did pick up some cards at target last weekend and found a few dodgers, including julio urias

who is given the same dumb fake background we have seen for the last few years. it's really frustrating and diminishes the fun of seeing these designs that i knew from trading with kids in my neighborhood back in the late 1970's.

i was happy to see the all-star cards, and even happier to find clayton kershaw's

among the packs i opened. the back tells the story of the 2022 all-star game at dodger stadium

which is not unique to this card. i think all of the all-star cards have this back. the 1974 set had puzzle backs of the game's mvp bobby bonds except for the catcher all-star card which featured the game summary. no giancarlo stanton puzzle this year!

there are some other 2023 heritage cards (and thoughts) that i have, but i'll save those for another post. to summarize this one, i still have a couple of pesky short prints from the last 23 years to track down, but i'm close to having my dodger team sets completed!

bonus stuff - i have mentioned previously that my favorite thing about heritage has been the "then & now" insert sets. i've made it a point to collect all of the dodger appearances in these sets, and am looking forward (hopefully) to seeing guys like andy messersmith and davey lopes show up on these cards in coming years. anyway, i was missing a couple from 2002 that i tracked down last year. these feature carl furillo

and duke snider

who led the national league in batting average and runs scored, respectively. this is the good that heritage does - connect the present with the past, and not just with card design.

alex wood double dipped and got that ring

the last three seasons have seen the return of three different dodger players for a second go-round with the club - a phenomenon i refer to as double dipping: they played for the dodgers, they left to play for a different team, and then they returned to play for the dodgers again. i had a whole running series of posts highlighting all of the dodger double dippers in their history over at my old blog. in 2018, it was matt kemp. in 2019, russell martin took a second tour. and, in 2020, alex wood returned to the fold.

wood's first tenure with the dodgers lasted from the trading deadline in 2015 through the 2018 season. he is probably best remembered by dodger fans for his 2017 season in which he went 16-3 with a 2.72 era and made the all-star team. he also started game 4 of the world series that year, and had thrown 5 and two-thirds innings of no-hit ball before george springer took him deep on his last pitch of the night. the day after that game, i ordered an autograph parallel of the topps now card highlighting the occasion:

the dodgers wound up winning that game (as they did every even game of the series), but wood got a no-decision for his efforts. of course, he also received no ring that year.

after the 2018 season, a year in which wood was 9-7 with a 3.68 era, he was dealt to the reds along with the aforementioned kemp and yasiel puig (plus kyle farmer). the first card i saw of him in cincinnati duds came from 2019 topps heritage high numbers:

injuries kept wood out of the lineup for most of the 2019 season, and he wound up making only seven starts. he signed with the dodgers as a free agent prior to the 2020 season, and wound up with one of the few legitimate update cards in 2020 topps update:

he was injured after one start early in the shortened season, but was back in the bullpen for the month of september. although he didn't pitch particularly well in the regular season, he made the postseason roster for the nlcs and world series, and finished his season with two scoreless innings in game 6 of the fall classic against the rays. at the end of that game, wood was one of the first players out of the dugout to celebrate near the mound, and one of many dodgers who missed out on rings in 2017 and 2018 only to be rewarded in 2020.  i'm glad he was able to be a part of it as i hope he fails to win another ring since he will be pitching for the giants in 2021.

as for the next dodger double dipper, it looks like brandon morrow has a shot. if so, i hope his 2021 season turns out slightly better than his 2017 season with the dodgers. we will see!

it's hammer time, but just not at the right time

it took me a while to become aware of some of the insert sets and parallels from 2019 topps heritage high numbers. that's probably because i didn't pay much attention to the release of that product, ultimately hitting up sportlots for some of the dodger base cards that hadn't shown up in trade packages.

at some point, i saw some of "the hammer's greatest hits" cards, and noticed a couple that i eventually added to my collection.  this first one

features a fantastic photo of hank aaron at ebbett's field with roy campanella behind the plate. it gives a great look down the third base line all the way to the mennen ad on the left field fence. so what if the card is celebrating aaron's first big league hit that took place on 4/15/54 (jackie robinson day!) against the cardinals in milwaukee? a simlar card with del rice squatting there wouldn't be as nice, in my opinion. what a great add to my lurker collection.

the other card from that insert set that i picked up was this one

it is celebrating hank's 1000th career hit which came against the dodgers on 6/6/59. my first thought was that the image would fit in my tatooine collection, but that it also showed a bit of john roseboro there behind the plate.  it turns out, roseboro was indeed catching that day when aaron reached the 1000 hit milestone with a single off of sandy koufax, but this image does not reflect that moment. first of all, aaron is wearing the away grays, and the game in question was played in milwaukee. i did a quick getty images search and found that the photo comes from 8/24/57. that is indeed john roseboro behind the plate, but he is playing for the brooklyn dodgers in the photo. aaron is actually hitting a home run on the pitch, which is impressive.

don't get me wrong - i'm not mad that the photos don't match up with the milestone given the fact that images of those actual events may not even exist and the images topps did use work in my collection's favor.

one more card from that release that i didn't learn about until much later was russell martin's throwback photo variation

i wound up picking up a couple of the online exclusive 5x7 versions rather than the actual variation as the only one i could find was priced way beyond what i was willing to pay. the image comes from jackie robinson day pre-game festivities on 4/15/19. it's a great looking card with martin in the foreground and dave roberts, sharon robinson, and david robinson visible on the scoreboard in the background. we also get a good look at the don newcombe memorial patch on martin's left sleeve.

i have one copy of the 5x7 card in my dodger collection, and the other in my dodger stadium collection. if i ever find a regular card at a reasonable price, i'll move one of these to my "42" collection.

there were no games on 4/15/20 (although jackie robinson day was celebrated over the last weekend in august with the dodgers on the road), so there shouldn't be any dodger throwback parallels in this years high numbers. still, i will plan to take a look at the inserts to see if there are any other hidden gems out there for my collection.

highly fresh and completely mojo!

the cards you are about to see came to me by trade from brian at highly subjective and completely arbitrary. they have already been lapped by the in person trade we completed at a card show a couple of months ago, but the cards were too good to be ignored.

the note brian included with the package mentioned that he had got his dodger-pulling mojo back, and he wasn't kidding.  case in point, this 2019 topps chrome update will smith xfractor autograph

all of a sudden, the dodgers have some depth in the catcher prospect pipeline. here's hoping that they choose wisely when dealing from this perceived strength to bolster other aspects of the roster.

next up is a 1995 mother's cookies dodgers raul mondesi card

i had requested this card after brian posted a bunch of mondesi cards a while back. i have the team set in my dodger collection, but this card makes a great addition to the dodger stadium binder.  around the same time that this card came out, phil nevin was making his big league debut with the astros. i recall that he received a lot of flak prior to that for wearing these oakley shades as a collegiate player. it's true! rauuuuuul doesn't care. he's the guy who once sat down along the right field line rather than go all the way back to the dugout for the bottom of an inning. i guess he knew he wasn't going to bat.

transogram time!

i had the cody bellinger card from 2018 topps heritage, but not the seager. this one us actually from the heritage high numbers release.

more from 2019 topps chrome update!

koufax has a few different cards in the 150 years greatest moments/players/seasons set. i personally don't like the way topps spread this set around the different sets. in my mind, it should have stayed with flagship and update only. for example, don sutton's card is only available in signed versions through the clearly authentic release. on the other hand, i'm not trying to collect all of these, so whatever.

more koufax, along with clayton kershaw and jackie robinson

thanks to the faces of the franchise insert. i'll assume that this is the base version and not a red parallel. i missed noticing some of the color parallels of 2019 topps inserts earlier in the year, which prompts the question of why make them if folks don't recognize them?  this card brings to mind the "mt. rushmore" debates that were prevalent in sports media a couple of years ago. these three dodgers are solid candidates and appropriate franchise representatives. one could argue that tommy lasorda belongs as well.

this 2019 topps heritage high number david freese card

is the only card in my collection featuring the 2011 world series hero as a dodger. i was disappointed that he chose to retire because he hit really well as a dodger - .328 in the regular season and .400 in the postseason across 2018 and 2019.

last but not least, brian hooked me up with some mini-collection needs. this 2019 topps heritage whit merrifield card

is the dupe i needed to put in my tatooine collection (the only copy i had previously is in my double play collection), while this 1995 score pat meares card

fills a previously unknown double play need. i'll have to keep an eye out for another copy to add to the tatooine collection.

thanks brian!  keep up the dodger pulling mojo!