Thursday, August 20, 2009

2009 Topps Heritage High Numbers...They're Doing WHAT Again???

As probably seen on other blogs everywhere, Topps is bringing back Topps Heritage High Numbers for 2009 (or as I like to call it, Topps Heritage Traded...). The set continues where Topps Heritage left off (501-750 are the card numbers) with 75 new rookie cards to boot. And it's a safe bet that this product will include the usual inserts, chrome parallels, and the other bells and whistles that make this product a "must have" for set collectors.

If you recall, every pack of 2008 Topps Heritage High Numbers included two cards of 2008 Topps Updates and Highlights, a completely separate product that really had no reason to be included with HHN unless they wanted to make it even more challenging (or make more money...you decide). Meaning that if you didn't collect the regular Topps set, and just worked on the Heritage set, you were going to be inundated with cards that you don't need (albeit two per pack), thus making it harder to complete your intended set (possibly not being able to complete ther 250 card Heritage set in one box).

Guess what Topps has decided to do with this year's Heritage High Numbers??? You guessed it...add two cards of 2009 Topps Updates and Highlights in every pack. AGAIN!!!

While the sell sheets are coming soon, I just have to ask...

WHY TOPPS??? WHY???

To collectors of Topps Heritage (and I know you're out there), I just want your opinions and answers to a couple of questions:
  • Are you happy that Topps has begun creating an update set for it's Heritage line? Give a couple of reasons why or why not.
  • Are you happy that Topps is inserting two cards from 2009 Topps U & H? Give some reasons why either way. Is it really a good idea to add U & H cards to the HHN product?
  • Am I overreacting? I mean, I'm not even going after the set, but I feel sorry for those who will.
At least the design for 2009 Topps is great. It's a lot easier on the eyes than last year's model.

Oh well...

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

8 comments:

Jeremya1um said...

I like the update set, although I will only probably buy a few packs of it. I think Topps is ripping people off by putting U/H cards in Heritage. If people wanted U/H cards, then they would buy U/H packs. Why don't they start putting Bowman cards in Allen/Ginter packs? It would be the same as what they are doing with the Heritage packs. Why don't they put Heritage cards in U/H packs? I could see that working, because more people collect Heritage than U/H.

Anonymous said...

I'm done buying wax precisely because of stuff like this. I'll buy the handful of cards I want from both sets on eBay and be done with it.

Collecting sets used to be fun when I was a kid. You'd spend your 50 cents on a pack, which had around 15 cards in it. You were bound to get at least one star or rookie that was "worth" at least a quarter, and it was easy to believe the commons were worth a cent or two. And they were all from the same set.

Now, you get fewer cards for more money and with parallels, cross-product inserts and cards from totally different sets, they aren't even all useful. And even if you're lucky enough to pull the box hit, it's not necessarily even "worth" the price of the pack you found it in.

Card collecting is just not fun anymore.

madding said...

To question one, I say no, because I'm broke. I'm nowhere near finished with the regular Heritage set (or last year's for that matter).

And to question two, again, no. Nothing against U&H - I will buy some of those, too, and collect the Cardinals and Turkey Reds - but I feel like I'm getting short-changed when I get U&H cards in my Heritage packs.

night owl said...

I already made the decision not to collect the regular Topps Heritage set just because the short-prints are so maddening. (By the way, I like Topps Heritage a WHOLE BUNCH -- so that'll tell you how much the short-prints have annoyed me).

Pulling this with the High Numbers, which has short-prints, too, is just garbage. Who in their right mind would try to complete this thing?

JD's Daddy said...

uh-oh. so is the high numbers set considered stand-alone, or is this like the Turkey Reds, which I now officially have a partial set again?

Dean said...

My answer on the High Numbers is "it depends who is in the set". I usually enjoy the traded cards, unless there is a bunch of no names. If the quality is there, then I like the cards.

I have always considered the insert cards as a bonus - meaning that you are not receiving these cards instead of Heritage cards, but as a bonus. Clearly, Topps is trying to cross-sell their products and take advantage of the popularity of the Heritage cards.

unclemoe said...

I enjoyed the 08 High Numbers. Totally stoked about these too!

moe.

fiftyfiftycentering said...

I agree with you. The UH should be kept seperate.

I think its a way of ripping you off, so they can cover their profit if the demand of UH is low for that year, while they know demand for heritage will always be high.

I am drawn to the heritage sets every year, as I love the throwback look from the great days of yesteryear, and the challenge of creating a great set with SPs.

Imagine my irritation when I get a couple of handfuls of dull UH cards, whenever I rip open a box.I am not going to do it again this year.

The same goes for the inserts, they can go straight into the catbox. I like to collect cards with baseball players on them.

Im with Pauls random stuff and will just buy the base set on ebay, and hunt the sps there too.

Topps is losing the plot. They need a few pointers from UD-like the 2009 OPC. Beautiful.