2008 Topps Heritage Baseball Preview



Posted: Sunday, January 06, 2008

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The long anticipated release of 2008 Topps Heritage is almost upon us. The expected release date from Topps is the end of February. I've seen the date range from February 26th, to February 28th. Sometimes the release is delayed, but it should be the end of February or the beginning of March. The 2008 Topps Heritage cards will be based on the 1959 Topps set, which is generally considered to be one of Topps more visually appealing vintage sets. Let's take a look at what kinds of cards we can expect to see in the new edition of Topps most popular vintage style set.

As usual, Topps will release Hobby boxes and Retail boxes. Both boxes will contain 24 packs. The hobby boxes will have some features that the retail boxes will not have, such as box topper inserts which are described as advertising panels. The hobby boxes will also feature an original 1959 Topps card which will be inserted at a rate of one 1959 card per two hobby boxes. Cases consist of 12 boxes this year, so a case should get you six original 1959 Topps cards on average. These original 1959 cards will most likely have some type of stamp on them indicating that they came from Topps Heritage packs, although I don't believe Topps has confirmed this.

The base set will consist of 425 cards, and there will be 75 short printed cards as well. This is a smaller amount of short print cards than in recent years. The short printed cards will be inserted at a rate of one in three packs (96 per case).

Chrome parallel cards have been a staple of the Topps Heritage product, and this year will not be any different. There will be three different chrome parallel sets--the standard chrome parallel cards which will individually numbered to 1959, the chrome refractor inserts which will be numbered to 559, and the hard to find black chrome refractor inserts that will be numbered to 59. I have not seen a 2008 chrome checklist yet, but the chrome parallel sets usually consist of between 100 and 110 cards.

2008 Topps Heritage will feature the three traditional insert subsets consisting of the 15 card New Age Performers set, the 10 card Then and Now set and the 10 card Flashbacks set. There will also be a new fourth subset called the News Flashbacks set. The news flashback cards will feature prominent news stories from 1959 such as Alaska and Hawaii becoming the 49th and 50th states and NASA introducing the first astronauts.

The 2008 Topps Heritage autographed cards will consist of 46 Real One blue ink autographs featuring vintage players from 1959 and current stars. There will be 37 Real One red ink autograph cards which will each be hand numbered to 59, plus there will be 5 different Flashback autograph cards which will be hand numbered to 25. A new type of autograph card is being introduced this year as well--10 Real One Dual Autograph cards. These will only be available in the Hobby boxes. Last but certainly not least, there will be ten one of one cut signatures cards highlighted by Mickey Mantle.

Relic cards from the 2008 Topps Heritage set will be comprised of 40 Clubhouse Collection relic cards, 5 Clubhouse Collection Dual Relic cards which will be hand numbered to 59, 10 Flashbacks Relic cards and 5 Flashbacks Dual Relic cards which will be hand numbered to 10. There will be 10 Clubhouse Collection Autographed Relic cards which will be hand numbered to 25 and 5 Flashbacks Autographed Relic cards which will also be hand numbered to 25.

It's shaping up to be another fantastic year for Topps Heritage. Get ready to rip wax and trade!
For additional information on 2008 Topps Heritage cards visit 2008 Topps Heritage Baseball
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