With the release of 2018 Topps Heritage just a few days away, I've decided to share my thoughts on the checklist as well as what I plan to buy from the set.
I did this same type of post for 2018 Topps Series 1 a week before the set was released due to how popular the set is and that it's the first release of the year. I'm not going to do this for every single set that's released, just the ones I'm excited about, like Topps Heritage.
Topps Heritage has always been my favorite set that Topps has put out. While there have been certain years that I've liked other Topps products more than Heritage, the consistency of the product combined with how well Topps is able to recreate its past sets makes the product a hit in my eyes year after year. In 2018, Topps is taking a trip back to the Summer of '69 and honoring a simple yet nice 1969 Topps set. Topps is once again going for a 400 card base set with 100 short prints along with the usual inserts. I just pray that the set doesn't have borders that are as gigantic as they look on this card.
When I talk about the usual inserts, I'm referring to the 4 inserts that are consistently included in basically every Heritage set I can remember. One of these inserts is Then & Now where they compare legends of the past to the star players of today based on similar performances and stats. I'm a pretty big fan of the idea, but Topps has been using a lot of the same players over the last couple of seasons so it's getting kind of stale. Still, with relatively new players like Tom Seaver and Rod Carew on the checklist this year, it's looking a bit different than years past.
Another personal favorite insert set of mine is the New Age Performers set that features an extremely colorful and interesting design this year. It's another set that has been somewhat lacking over the last few years, but the 2018 insert looks the best it has in years. I might have to change my mind about collecting the set after seeing what these look like, or at least collect the New Age Performers inserts because of how fantastic they look.
Baseball and News Flashbacks cards are the last 2 of the standard inserts and are once again separated into 2 sets instead of 1 Flashbacks set. The News Flashbacks are going to be exciting as they include cards for Apollo 11 and Woodstock while the Baseball Flashbacks include the stars from 1969 like Willie Stargell and Hank Aaron.
Just to point out, Craig Kimbrel has just 1 card in the set, and that's a simple base card. He has no New Age Performers card or a Then & Now. He doesn't even have a chrome variation card but somehow Elvis Andrus does. I wish he'd be represented a bit more, but I think Topps is hesitant to do it because he's a relief pitcher. Either way, it makes my job of collecting his cards a lot easier.
As for what I'll be buying, my dad and I have a tradition going back years of buying a hobby box of Heritage and opening it together. It's always been both of our favorite set, but with prices soaring to around $100 or more this year, we might have to think twice about it, especially since you get 1 hit per box and that's usually a relic. No matter what, I'm still going to buy some 2018 Topps Heritage, I'm just now sure what that will be.
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