Rarities

On May 23, 2002, Shawn Green had one of the greatest offensive days in baseball history. Green hammered four home runs (tying a major league record), going 6-for-6 with seven RBIs and setting the major league record for total bases in a single game (19). 

In 2015 Topps released "Rarities" and insert set in Update Series that chronicled Green's phenomenal perfomance.

But it's not the first card (and certainly not the last) to record Green's performance. Just take a look at the backs of these cards. 

These three Shawn Green cards came to me via Nick over at Dime Boxes, and they'll fit nicely into my Green binder. I haven't taken a look yet, but I'm sure I'd be able to find at least a few more cards capturing Green's four-dinger game.

Alongside the Green cards, Nick also sent along one of my Most Wanted cards: 2006 Topps Brad Penny. There's nothing special about this card, though it was one of the two cards remaining from the 2006 Topps set I was missing. With this added to the binder, I'm now just missing the Dodgers Team Card (#612)--it has been added to the Most Wanted list on my sidebar. 

Nick also kindly included a handful of Heritage Dodgers which I can now mark off my lists. The Connor Joe and Josh Sborz are new to my eyes (I've seen the Kelly and Barnes cards elsewhere on the blogosphere), and I had no idea these guys were even featured in the set. I find Joe the most interesting card here, as he's actually never suited up for the major league Dodgers. The Giants selected him in the Rule 5 draft last year, and he totaled 16 plate appearances up in the Bay Area, notching just one hit. The Giants cut bait and he returned him to the Dodgers where he played for Triple-A OKC for the remainder of the season. Anyone know if he ever received a card as a Giants player?

With the exception of the Lux, all of the above cards were sent via a very full PWE after Nick claimed Trade Pile #2. A couple of weeks earlier, Nick sent another PWE (equally packed with cards) which included one of the first Gavin Lux rookie cards in my collection (it joins his base card from S1). I dig the design on these "Spring Has Sprung" cards. 

Since we're on the topic of rookies, I had better mention this beautful Cody Bellinger from 2017 Heritage. I'm including this in my Topps Heritage binder, so I will definitely need to add another to my Bellinger binder. His rookie cards are priced fairly high, so I'm not thrilled that I'm still missing  three (!) of his four base cards from 2017 Update, too. I try not to spend too much money on modern cards, but I think I'll need to take the hit to pick up his rookies sooner rather than later. 

I'm much more willing to spend money on vintage cardboard, but with guys like Nick around I may be able to save a few bucks here and there. He sent me a few fantastic vintage pieces, including this 1968 Topps Game Claude Osteen. It's the first card from this set in my collection, and gosh does it look good. I've long been a sucker for floating head cards (I have no idea why), and the colors on this card are tremendous--not to mention they coincide with the Dodgers color palette perfectly. I had no plan to chase the Dodgers from this set, but that may change. 

A pair of 1981 Scratch-Offs also dropped out of the PWE, featuring Dusty Baker and Steve Garvey. I don't have too many Scratch-Offs, and the early-80s are still underrepresented in my Dodgers box, so these are a nice addition. 

My favorite card to come from these PWEs has got to be this 1959 Solly Drake card. Before opening up the envelope, I'd never even heard of Solly Drake. Though he didn't have a long MLB career, he and his brother Sammy were the first African-American siblings to play in the Majors. That's a pretty cool accomplishment. 

The reason this Drake card stood out to me, however, is becuase it is in absolutely phenomenal shape. The corners and sides are sharp, it's crease-free, and it doesn't have that sort of flimsy feel you get with well-loved vintage cards. I initially thought is was some sort of reprint, but as far as I can tell it's the real deal. 

I don't really care about condition on vintage cards all that much--send me all of your well-loved, creased, and ripped vintage!--but when a 61-year-old card feels as if it just came out of a pack, it feels like a bit of a rarity. 

Some Quick Notes on 2019 Heritage

Heritage has always been a hit-or-miss type of set for me, largely dependant on how I view the original set. I've enjoyed the last few years of Heritage and those designs from the late-60s, but I've never really been a fan of the 1970 set which really makes 2019 Heritage a bit lackluster for me. Despite this, I still wanted to join in on the fun and picked up a couple of packs from my local LCS. 

I've always felt the 1970 set was one of the most boring ever created, which is particularly frustrating as it fell right in the middle of a string of tremendous Topps designs. There's just something about that drab gray border and lack of color that turns me off from this set. 

Of course, that's not to say that it's not a quality product with some fantastic cards. Just take a look at that Pat Neshek card below. It pays tribute the Lowell Palmer card from the 1970 set and seems to be an early favorite for Card of the Year for many collectors. 

It's pretty fitting that Neshek is the one to pay tribute. After all, the guy is a huge collector himself. It makes me wonder whose idea this was: did Neshek come up with the tribute idea and pitch it to the photographer? Did Topps plan this and ask Neshek to recreate the Palmer? Either way, it's a sweet card. 

Though this year's Heritage isn't in my collecting plans, I do appreciate the variety in photos. With the exception of Stadium Club, the photos in most other products have been a bit stale and a tad over-filtered for the past few years. Of course, photos in Heritage are exclusively posed (with the exception of variations and inserts), and I doubt we'll see many posed photos slip their way into Flagship anytime soon. But that won't stop me from appreciating a great close-up of Strasburg and his huge grin (and beard) or a great shot of Piscotty in one of the quintessential poses for a dude playing baseball.  

Despite a strong showing from this year's Heritage, I don't plan on chasing the complete set. I'm still hoping to track down the Dodgers, none of which I found in my two packs, though it's not at the top of my to-do list. 

Nope. 2019 Heritage isn't quite for me. But it does mean we're finally approaching 2020 Heritage: the set I might be most excited about.