Sunday, October 9, 2016

A Few Boxes of 2016 Heritage Minor Leagues

I've got to get this out: I hate the Blue Jays. For numerous reasons. I cannot stand them. Their fans are pretty awful - I've already received a handful of hateful/threatening tweets since the game ended just a few minutes ago. Stay classy, you keyboard warriors of Toronto.

Okay, I feel slightly better, but not a lot.

On to something that will make me feel better. This year, my box opening has decreased dramatically. This is due to a combination of being on a tighter budget and the fact that Topps products are becoming more and more disappointing.

However, when I saw that Heritage Minor Leagues would have an on-card auto and a relic card in each box, I knew that I was in. The best part? A box only runs about $50. So I set aside some money to purchase two boxes, as I thought that would guarantee a full set. Spoiler alert: it didn't.

I bought my first two boxes at my LCS in Lubbock. My relics weren't bad - at least I've heard of these guys:


My autos? Well, they were a different story. I haven't heard of either of these guys:


I also pulled a few of the blue-border parallels:


And I even snagged a peach-parallel (can we please call it something else???) numbered to 25:


However, the "big hit" of my two boxes was this:


The Tyler O'Neill "green bat" variation (thanks to eBay for the photo - I'll explain momentarily). So far, only three of these types of variations have been found. It's cool to pull one.

A few days later, I was back in DFW and I decided to stop in and visit with Duane of Duane's Sports Cards. After the initial hand collation of my first two boxes, I had only about 66% of the set. So I decided to buy another couple boxes.

My relics were decent:


I've heard of these guys, too. How about the autos?


Wait - another Jackson auto??? Okay, that sucks. What about the blue-border parallels?


That Blandino looks familiar...oh yeah, I pulled the same card in my first round. I also pulled a peach parallel (still sounds stupid):


Hey, that isn't too bad.

And I also noticed that one box had two autos in it. You may have seen the tweet:



Sweet! One of the "SSP" no team name autos of Phil Bickford!!!! I didn't realize Bickford was traded to the Brewers earlier this year, but this is still a sweet card.

When I returned to Lubbock, I stopped by my LCS and dropped off the Bickford and O'Neill to be sent into PSA for slabbing and grading. I don't care so much about the grades (I expect both to be 9's), but I love seeing a Heritage card in a PSA slab. I guess it's an OCD thing.

I also collated my new boxes to finish off my set. But wouldn't you know, I am STILL a few cards short. Most annoyingly, I need card number 107. I shouldn't need ANY base cards after buying four boxes. Ridiculous. Beyond that, I need three short prints: card numbers 203, 206 and 212. If you have any of those, let's talk!

Lastly, each box comes with two cards that offer chances at winning a day to "make your pro debut." Each card has a code that is revealed by scratching the coating and entering the code on the website www.topps.com/promotions. The card looks like this:


I had eight of these cards. I never win anything, so I threw the cards away. Then I decided, what the heck? I pulled the cards from the trash bin next to my desk and scratched them and began entering them one-by-one into the system. Loser after loser. On the sixth entry, though, I actually won! The system said I was a winner and then asked me to answer a few short questions about my love of baseball. Sweet!

So, what exactly did I win?


It appears as if I won either a hat or a pin! Cool deal! I seriously doubt that I will win the grand prize, so I will take whatever I do win and be extremely happy!

So, overall, I love the set. Heritage in all of its variations is one of my favorite product lines. However, this set is a major disappointment in its collation issues. I shouldn't have to buy four boxes to put a set together, and if I did buy four boxes, I should have the entire set! I was not so fortunate. Receiving the same autos and parallels was just a coincidence - or at least that's what I'm telling myself.

Anyway, I am off to bed. Hope everyone is well!

12 comments:

  1. Sorry about your Rangers. :( I was rooting for them for you.

    Sweet Bickford auto. You need to get him IP to cross out "Giants" and write in "Brewers" LOL.

    I'd definitely be down for the Espinoza auto (Padres swiped him from the Sox for Drew Pomeranz) if you'd want to put it aside for me.

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  2. Awesome pull on the O'Neill variation card. I can't wait to see him in the lineup in Seattle in a couple of years.

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  3. The Blue Jays are such a tough lineup to pitch to. At least the Rangers will have most of the core back next year.

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  4. Four boxes and you're still a card short in the non-SP base set? That's just another reason I've decided not to build a hand collated set this year. What a downer.

    I was looking at those odds for your prize, you know, because I'm a math nerd and something doesn't add up.
    1:25 + 1:25 = 8% of the prizes. Besides the grand prize, where we get to see Judson dressed up like a Chihuahua, where is the other 92%?

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    1. I didn't get the math either, but I am not a math person, so I figured I was wrong. hahaha

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  5. Sad...frustrated...not enough words to explain it. Congrats on your good hits!

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  6. There's a dealer at the Expo on Tor....Mississauga next month that always seems to have base from recent sets. If you're still looking for them then, I'll add them to my wantlist for the show.

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  7. If you have any extra Lugnuts, I'd be happy to trade for them. Shoot me an e-mail later and I may have some cards for you.

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    1. John, tried searching your Google+ profile for your email address, but I can't seem to find it. Shoot me a note (judsonmeeks AT gmail DOT com) with your addy and I'll see what I have!

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  8. Would be interested in any doubles you have of this product. I'm sure I have some Rangers to fill out your team sets. Email me at ttorcato AT aol DOT com

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  9. As you may know I am a die hard Blue Jays fan and I thought that you should know that I am one of the "respectful" fans (seems to be less and less of us each year) and it's just retarded that people would tweet that kind of stuff to you. They obviously only have an IQ of about one above plant life and I'm sorry to see you are receiving those kind of hate tweets.

    Secondly, you may member (south park member berries reference-haha) Drew Jackson's older brother Brett has been tossing around in the minors and was a big prospect for the cubs at one point. I would hold onto a Drew auto till next year as this guy has some potential.

    Thirdly, Topps has always seemed to have collation issues. How would like to pull 4 Jared Abbrederis autos from 2 boxes of Platinum football....ugh!

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