Topps Heritage is one of the most anticipated sets every year for the set building crowd. The prices on some of the inserts can get in to the crazy range. This years set design is based on the 1960 Topps, which had possibly the first Baseball card I really wanted, Yaz’s rookie card. I loved how the rookies in this set looked like that card and really was hoping to get a Michael Bowden like that. Unfortunately I did not hit the Bowden, but SchmidtFan20 who was in our UStream chat did say he would send me one out. He was a great resource to have in the chat room and hopefully he can write up some stuff on the Heritage line for us in the future. But let’s get on to the review.

The Look - It’s a classic design, so if you like the original you like this set. I love the look of the All Star and Rookie Cards. Like I said above I am definitely biased on the rookies since one of my all time white whales, which for some reason I still do not have, but there is a reason why Heritage sets are popular. The mix of the classic design with new players does well every year, and garners as grade of A.

The Value- This is a set that to the naked eye probably baffles a lot of collectors, but year after year is one of the sets that has the highest odds of making you money back between the Heritage Chrome, Refractors and Black Refractors. Add in the Game Jersey or autograph hits, and the super SP cards such as the John Smoltz Red Sox variation, you can do great with pulls in this set. Some people may critisize the autograph checklist this year but with the first autographs of such prospects like Mat Gamel, plus fan favorites like Jay Bruce, Justin Masterson, and Ryan Howard it can do fairly well. If this is a set that you are looking to the autographs to make you’re money, it’s the wrong set. But if you are looking for a set with a good chance to either get great cards for TTM autographs or trade with set collectors it does great. I’ll rate this release a solid B+.

The Total Package – In this break we hit 3 Chromes, 8 SP’s, 1 1960 Buyback, 1 Jersey Relic, and 1 Ryan Howard Refractor. I did not hit any Super SP cards but those do fall aproximately one per 5 cases, so can’t complain there. The box price online falls around 80 dollars per box. This is one of, if not the most popular set every year for set builders. So most when they buy this buy a lot. That speaks to how the public reviews the value, so I have to give this an A.

I enjoyed opening Heritage 2009. I also did get 24 pieces of Gum in the packs, and this is a great set for fathers and sons, or even Grandfathers to go through and get a glimpse of the past mixed with the current MLB stars.

I have to admit, I may have been slightly biased on this review with the box topper being Larry Bird. It put me in a good mood for the box, but I do like the Allen and Ginter style cards. They are great for TTM autographs, set builders, and people who like classic designs. This set does fill those needs. Unfortunately I hit a redemption for my autographed card in Darrell Arthur, which I found out after opening most likely is a sticker so that is disappointing. I did hit a printing plate of Hedu Turkoglu which I will be giving out to one of our Twitter followers.

The Look – It’s based on a classic design. It’s hard to critique these sets because they are entirely based on an older set. But collectors love these designs, these sets sell well for Topps. The set builders are all over this product, and with the relics and autographs in it you can’t help but like this set. The checklist cards which feature painted versions of in game highlight action shots look fantastic. I give the checklist cards an A+ looks wise, the rest of the set to me was a little too gaudy, but still garners a B, this would have been higher if not for sticker autographs. I’ll give this set a B.

The Value – These sets are stacked. The SPs always do well on the secondary market, you can hit great relics that are SP’d and sell for crazy amounts, or the autographs include such legends as Larry, Magic and Bill Russell. I personally hit a rookie redemption autograph, but also hit a Rodman Relic and a plate. So I can’t complain and over all on these products they hold their prices for the most part, and are a solid A value for a set builder.

The Total Package – This is your standard retro release. Huge with set builders and that builds in great value. This is also the kind of set that is a TTM fans dream, it is a shame that the autographs especially being mini cards that are the smaller get taken up by a sticker. But the relics and plates look great as well as the silk cards. Overall it’s a great set that my one huge gripe is the sticker autographs in a set I was expecting to be on card. It’s a shame but with the Panini monopoly on liscensed cards that Topps won’t be able to build on this release year after year like they have with Allen and Ginter. It is a fun break, and I have already sent a few cards from it out for autographs. So I give it a solid B effort from Topps.

You can see the images above of what we pulled. I hit one of the big autographs in Georges St. Pierre. I also beat the odds and hit a 1 of 1 of the Top Fights of 2008 Subset. This has been a pretty popular set so far with boxes on Blowoutcards.com going for 129.99. The sales of the St Pierre or Gracie autographs has been close to $100.00 each.

The Look – Topps had some obstacles with this being the first set and having to rely on some photography from UFC’s early events that may not have been up to todays card standards. The Gracie card from UFC 1 is a perfect example of the lackluster older pictures. The Georges St. Pierre autograph however is a fantastic photograph, and the pictures from recent events are fantastic. The full bleed design slightly reminds me of the older non-sports images from Topps, but work in the context of the UFC. I give the look a solid B.

The Value – If you are buying this you are a UFC fan, with only a 100 card base set, you do well with that. You also get six nice hits per box, and with the clear stickers even the autographs do not look bad. The relics are pretty nice looking, and I know my UFC fan friends were pretty impressed seeing pieces of the Octagon on cards. If you are dropping the 130 on this box you love UFC, and you can not do much better value wise than in this set. I give it a solid A.

The Total Package – This is a set that a lot of hardcore sports collectors may scoff at, but think back to when people first heard that Basketball cards were coming out from Fleer and laughed at that value. This is a set that as UFC’s popularity builds could be an enormous success. You get a design that is what UFC fans want, you get a good deal of hits from a box, and the sale values on the cards are doing well. I give this set a solid B+ overall. There is room for growth with the product, but for a first release from Topps this is a very nice looking set that should hold, if not increase in value over the years.

I will be adding to this review later with the ammount I got for the base set and the number of hits for the parallels.

Topps released a set that sprinkles a little bit of everything in for a basic collector. If you are a die hard sports fan, this probably isn’t the set for you. But for a historical buff, or an enormous gambler, this is the set for you.

The Look – Topps included the designs from 1953 Topps for writers, 1955 Topps for Explorers, Military Heroes were represented by 1956 Topps. The Revolutionary War cards looked fantastic with the 1962 Topps design. 63, 68, 73, 74, 75, 83, 61, 71 and the classic 1952 Topps designs were also used for the set.

There are little things that I really liked with these designs. Having the facsimile autograph much like the original cards was a very nice touch on a lot of the cards. It’s hard to mess up looks wise when you are using classic designs. I did find it funny that the parallels are numbered to 76 or 1776 and the 1976 set was not represented. “Why are these cards etched and Bowman Chrome is not???!??” Was a question I heard on UStream when we broke these boxes. I have no answer for this. Bring Back Etching!!! The cards look great, but since they are all older designs I can’t do any higher than a very solid B.

The Value – You have the potential with this set to get some insane hits. One of the biggest, if not the biggest, was already pulled but there are still some insane cards in this product including a Ted Williams / Theodore Roosevelt Dual cut, Michael Phelps second autographed card, Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, Cy Young, and from my own town of Falmouth MA, Susan B. Anthony.  My personal box did pretty poor on autographs or relics. I hit no autographs, and a relic of Rip Torn and a Rudy Gulliani Yankee Stadium seat piece. I did beat the odds and hit a refractor though. But I like to rank the total potential of a set and for the hits you can get, this set definitely ranks an A.

The Total Package – This is not the set for a typical sports card collector. However, it does include some of the best cut signatures of any product in recent memory at this price point. If you look at this set from a different point of view of a sports card collector it is a very cool set. If I had children, or was a teacher this set could be used as a good learning tool. Taking all these things in to consideration this set is an A+ in it’s niche market, but overall with collectors I would give it a B.