The 2023 /1974 version of Heritage came out last week. I've got my cards in hand already, compliments of Brentandbecca, who was back in the game, at least for Heritage.
The set has 500 cards, with the last 100 being short prints. At this point in Heritage the short prints should have disappeared. The 1974 set the first by Topps to be released all at once. There were no high number series or short prints in 1974. But historical accuracy is tossed aside when money can be made, so 2023 Heritage has short prints and there will be a high number set coming later.
There are 22 Cubs players on the checklist with regular cards. One All Star card would be considered a Cubs card and Cubs are included on four of the rookie cards.
Among the regular player cards, several are off-season acquisitions that were Photoshopped.
These two are head-scratchers. Frank Schwindel was released on September 12, 2022. If players picked up in the off-season can be included, why did they not remove Schwindel from the checklist. They could have given his slot to Kyle Hendricks, who was not included. And Ben DeLuzio gets a card? Really? He's a guy with 20 career ABs, was signed as a free agent over the winter, cut in spring training, and is now with his third organization in 2023.
These are the cards of guys that are either with the team right now or are in AAA.
And this final card is of a guy no longer with the team, having been traded to the Tigers at the end of spring training.
These are the rookie cards. Topps made a card that included four Cubs players. That is not something that was done in 1974. All the rookie cards in '74 were by position, like the final three.
This is the final Cub card, I guess, since it shows Contreras as a Cub, though, he is no longer with the team.
The addition of DeLuzio and Schwindel really bothers me. This type of laziness or lack of attention to detail would drive me crazy if I was still collecting and paging up my Cubs team sets.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the photo selection and lack of centering for the Estrada card is a bit of a headscratcher for me. I know Topps didn't have the best selection of photographs back in '74, and I think I remember similar photos, like Estrada's, used in older sets. Any thoughts?
I heard the Estrada was supposed be be a nod to the '74 Milt Pappas card.
Deletehttps://www.tcdb.com/ViewCard.cfm/sid/74/cid/31557/1974-Topps-640-Milt-Pappas
Thanks for sharing the link. Very cool. This is the kind of effort I like to see from Topps!
DeleteThe Pappas card looked so much better. Don't see a homage to Billy Williams unless it is Morel.
ReplyDeleteWhere is my Jerry Morales - It should have been Cody
I can kind of understand the DeLuzio card because they always want more rookies in the set, but the Schwindel makes no sense at all. It's not even a particularly nice photo.
ReplyDeleteIt's very weird to me that the rookies say "'22 Rookie Stars". The ones in the original said "'74 Rookie Stars" or, often ""1974 Rookie Stars". Having it give the previous season doesn't match. I understand these players debuted in 2022, but they're still rookies, I would think. Also, I have yet to see any cards from Heritage which give the full year, which would be historically accurate. Hmmm...I wonder what the High Numbers will say. Of course they might just not have any multiplayer rookie cards in the High Numbers.