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Tuesday, 11 September 2012

Info Post

Yesterday, Topps released this image of next year's Heritage set on Twitter. Among the people in my timeline -- which I admit is not very advanced at this time -- it received a small amount of enthusiasm from some diehards.

On the blogs, I saw exactly one post about it. On Beckett. Where I almost never go.

I'm not sure what that says.

Here's what I think it says: The card blogosphere is bored by hobby news. The card blogosphere is bored by Heritage. The card blogosphere is bored by the 1964 Topps design.

Taking each sentence by itself would not produce a true statement. The blogosphere certainly jumped on the news of the 2013 Topps base design. It certainly went through a Heritage love-fest back in March. And, there's at least one blogger who thinks the '64 design is very cool.

But collectively, I'd say all those sentences have some truth to them to create one larger truth. A lot of the "hobby news" people have migrated to Twitter or have given up their enthusiasm for collecting baseball cards, for reasons that I really don't know or understand.

The excitement for Heritage isn't as strong as it was back in 2008, when I first started following blogs. Granted, '08 Heritage had one of the best designs Topps ever made (1959), but the fever with which collectors waited for Heritage was something palpable. I don't sense that anymore.

And, really, the '64 set is not that great. I'm not a fan of a lot of the Topps designs of the '60s  -- 1965 and 1967 excluded -- so you should consider the source when reading that sentence. But I've heard more than one person say that the '64 set is slightly above "meh."

You can agree or disagree with any or all of the above three paragraphs, but this fact remains: Three years ago, we would not be seeing just one, single, solitary post on the release of next year's Heritage design.

So, here I am, a guy who isn't all that into the '64 set, who doesn't want this blog to become a card news blog, giving my thoughts on the 2013 Heritage set.

Here's what I think:

I like it. It's cool. I don't know how Topps did it, but it made the 1964 design look fresh and clean. It's a simple design that's bold at the same time. And somehow Topps didn't make it look dated.

I know the Darvish card is just one card and there could be disasters waiting to strike. One of the things I don't like about the '64 set is how many up-close, in-your-face, giant heads that are in this set. If Topps can take a step back with all of the cards, like the Darvish card, I will be most impressed.

Now, they have a lot more work to do trying to spruce up those crazy orange creamsicle backs.

And what about the scratch-off quiz on the back? Are they going to let collectors DEFILE their 2013 Heritage cards by scratching a coin on the back of the card???? (That is sarcasm, you serious, serious people).

So, there you are: your newsflash from night owl about 2013 Heritage.

Oh, you want to hear about "price point" and "odds" and "pack out" and "hits per box" and all that stuff?

You'll have to find another card blog.

If those kinds of blogs exist anymore.

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