Figuring out Topps Heritage

2008 Topps Heritage is out, and its got some variations and SP's that need elaboration.

There are 75 Short Prints in the set. Short prints were seeded 1 in 3 packs. Here's the list:

11 Luke Scott
231 Kevin Gregg
315 Jacque Jones
381 Casey Blake
409 Jon Lester
426 Kyle Lohse
427 Doug Davis
428 Ian Snell/Matt Capps/Tom Gorzelanny/Paul Maholm
429 Miguel Batista
430 Chien-Ming Wang
431 Jeff Salazar
432 Yadier Molina
433 Adam Wainwright
434 Scott Kazmir
435 Adam Dunn
436 Ryan Freel
437 Jhonny Peralta
438 Kazuo Matsui
441 Emil Brown
442 Gary Sheffield
443 Jake Peavy
444 Scott Rolen
445 Kason Gabbard
446 Aaron Hill
447 Felipe Lopez
448 Dan Uggla
449 Willy Taveras
450 Chipper Jones
451 Josh Anderson
452 Chris Young/Justin Upton/Eric Byrnes
453 Braden Looper
454 Brandon Inge
455 Brian Giles
456 Corey Patterson
457 Los Angeles Dodgers
458 Sean Casey
459 Pedro Feliz
461 Chone Figgins
462 Kyle Kendrick
463 Tony Pena
464 Marcus Giles
465 Augie Ojeda
466 Micah Owings
467 Ryan Theriot
468 Shawn Green
469 Frank Thomas
470 Lenny DiNardo
471 Jose Bautista
472 Manny Corpas
473 Kevin Millwood
474 Kevin Youkilis
475 Jose Contreras
477 Julio Lugo
479 Tony LaRussa
480 Jim Leyland
481 Derrek Lee
482 Justin Morneau
483 Orlando Hudson
484 Brian Roberts
485 Miguel Cabrera
486 Mike Lowell
487 J.J. Hardy
488 Carlos Guillen
489 Ken Griffey Jr.
490 Vladimir Guerrero
491 Alfonso Soriano
492 Ichiro
493 Matt Holliday
494 Magglio Ordonez
495 Brian McCann
496 Victor Martinez
497 Brad Penny
498 Josh Beckett
499 Cole Hamels
500 Justin Verlander

Beyond the standard short prints there are 110 cards that also have a black back variation. Here's that list:

2 Placido Polanco
3 Eric Byrnes
5 Javier Vazquez
7 Joey Gathright
8 Philadelphia Phillies
9 Andre Ethier
12 Curt Schilling
13 Billy Wagner
14 Gary Matthews
16 Ichiro
18 Dontrelle Willis
21 Troy Tulowitzki
22 Brian Fuentes
23 Robinson Cano
24 Felix Hernandez
28 Ivan Rodriguez
34 Magglio Ordonez/Curtis Granderson
35 Adam LaRoche
40 Tim Hudson
41 Kelvim Escobar
42 Jason Jennings
45 Chris Ray
49 Bill Hall
52 Omar Vizquel
54 Justin Upton
57 Brad Lidge
58 Paul Lo Duca
60 Andy Pettitte
61 Brendan Harris
62 Chris Young
65 Jason Giambi
67 Rich Hill
69 San Francisco Giants
71 Trevor Hoffman
78 Josh Hamilton
79 Mark Loretta
81 Torii Hunter
82 Carlos Beltran
83 Jason Isringhausen
84 Brad Penny
90 Hideki Matsui
91 Matt Garza
92 Phil Hughes
94 Chicago White Sox
98 Jon Garland
102 Moises Alou
116 Wladimir Balentien
117 Daric Barton
122 Ross Detwiler
126 Dan Giese
127 Alberto Gonzalez
129 Luke Hochevar
130 Chin-Lung Hu
135 Mitch Stetter
150 Albert Pujols
155 Johnny Damon
173 Ronny Paulino
174 Mike Cameron
175 Jeff Weaver
176 Preston Wilson
177 Robinson Tejeda
178 Adam Lind
179 Austin Kearns
180 Jorge Posada
185 Brad Hawpe
186 Rickie Weeks
187 Carlos Silva
195 Carlos Quentin
196 Jose Valverde
197 Derrek Lee
198 Jerry Owens
210 J.J. Putz
211 Mike Sweeney
224 David Wright
225 Pedro Martinez
226 Rich Harden
227 Shane Victorino
228 Andrew Miller
262 Chad Billingsley/Derek Lowe/Brad Penny
263 Melky Cabrera
264 Shannon Stewart
265 Aaron Rowand
266 Matt Morris
267 Xavier Nady
283 Miguel Cabrera
284 Luis Gonzalez
285 Chad Billingsley
286 Tony Gwynn
291 Matt Chico/Jason Bergmann
301 Ronnie Belliard
321 Randy Winn
322 Richie Sexson
323 Juan Encarnacion
324 Rick Ankiel
325 Dan Wheeler
330 Ty Wigginton
332 Howie Kendrick
333 Kevin Kouzmanoff
334 Matt Holliday
335 Brandon Phillips
336 Ian Kinsler
337 Lyle Overbay
338 Justin Verlander
347 Chuck James
350 Jimmy Rollins
360 Magglio Ordonez
370 Justin Verlander
371 Pedro Martinez
372 Ryan Howard
415 Freddy Sanchez


Here's where it gets tricky. The green back version of all cards that have a black back variation are "semi" short printed. The entire run of cards combining black and green backs equals the entire run of green backs for those cards in which there is no black variation. (basically: instead of making black backs in addition to the green, they replaced some of the green) So, if a card is listed as having a black back variation there are fewer of the green backs produced. While not as hard to find as the true SP's, these green backs are harder to find than the standard green backs.

This green/black issue is apparently causing some chaos on ebay. There was a TON of pre-selling of master sets, base sets, etc, on ebay in the weeks up to the release. Now there is a lot of arguing over what is included in the base set with the buyers wanting the green-back variants included in the base set, and sellers insisting they are SP's and are not included. My take is that the base set is the 315 green backs in which there are no black back variations. Lesson to be learned: Never sell Heritage sets until you know what is in the set. Topps can be tricky with this one.

Other oddities and minutia:

There are two Jerry Owens cards in the set. #198 and #310. Neither is a short print. Not sure what happened there.



There are two versions of the Johan Santana card. The base version is a Twins card. There is an incredibly hard to find Mets version. The Mets version, because it is so hard to find is not part of a complete set, even one advertised as including SPs.





There are two versions of the John Smoltz #440. One spelled John, the other spelled Jon. The card also shows him with his glove on the wrong hand. This is to parallel card #440 in the 1959 Topps set in which Lew Burdette tricked the Topps photographers by wearing Warran Spahn's glove. Topps also mispelled Lew's first name as "Lou". The "Jon" version is very hard to find.



David Wright Dick Perez sketch. I don't know much about this one yet, but there has been one completed Ebay Auction. ($99) It's a David Wright card done by Dick Perez. This has to be one of the rarest cards in the product. It's a stinking wal-mart exclusive. I hate Wal-Mart Exclusives. (thank you commentor) Its not listed on sell sheets, checklists, Beckett.



I'll post more as I find out about them.


Edit: Apparently some people are displeased with these hard to find variations.