All right, the High Number box has been busted. And I might as well just extinguish the suspense from the get-go, I didn't get a red ink Bryce Harper. Or a Yu Darvish. Or even a Jordany Valdespin.
I got the above Brian Dozier blue ink auto. Hey, at least it's a rookie card. Maybe he'll become the next Derek Jeter or something. Being frank, I've never heard of the guy prior to seeing his name on the autograph checklist.
A little disappointed, BUT don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining based on two factors: 1.) the baseball card gods have already spoiled me with the Mantle auto, and 2.) the rest of the goodies in the box well made up for an autograph of a rookie who may never even become the next Joe McEwing.
It's probably not very competent writing to pop the balloon before the party has even started. But I figure if I saved the auto for the end you'd just skip all the crap in the beginning and middle anyhow. I know I probably would!
Okay, onward we go. I have chosen 27 of the 100 cards to display, and I've broken them up into three categories. We've got the top rookies; the guys who switched teams; and then there's the guys who didn't switch teams but just didn't make the cut for the 500-card regular (and SP) checklist.
Rookies first? Sure, why not. This is the part I was most excited for, too, so why wait?
H600 -- Yu Darvish, Crafted 16 wins and sub-4 ERA, lived up to hype I think.
H603 -- Drew Smyly, Fanned 94 in just under 100 IP as starter/reliever.
H619 -- Zack Cozart, Jacked 15 homers for NL Central champs.
H642 -- Andrelton Simmons, Great looking card & a bright future.
H650 -- Byrce Harper, Has anyone heard of this guy?
H651 -- Will Middlebrooks, Was hitting .288 before broken wrist in Aug.
H652 -- Yoenis Cespedes, That's a silly face he's making, eh?
H657 -- Trevor Bauer, First player from the '11 draft to reach the bigs.
H673 -- Drew Hutchinson, Had 3.86 ERA in three June starts before getting hurt.
The we've got the guys who changed teams:
H605 -- Jamie Moyer, Insert "old" joke here. Okay: He taught Cy Young how to pitch.
H606 -- Ichiro, Sigh. I still can't adjust to this man in that hat.
H631 -- Raul Ibanez, The only Yankee who brought his bat into postseason.
H639 -- Andy Pettitte, His former team was "retirement".
H643 -- Johnny Damon, I dig the shades, Johnny!
H647 -- A.J. Burnett, A return to the NL was the right tonic.
H656 -- Brandon Inge, A .234 lifetime average, but he's good dude.
H669 -- Bobby Abreu, Not the most flattering picture of ol' Roberto.
H670 -- Marco Scutaro, The NLCS MVP.
And finally, some young players and vets who didn't make it into the regular Heritage issue:
H576 -- Adam Wainwright, Won 15 games (incl. playoffs) coming off Tommy John.
H592 -- Brandon Morrow, Impressive numbers despite injury-spiked season.
H597 -- Jake Peavy, Former Cy Young recipient won 11 games for ChiSox.
H601 -- Philip Humber, Mr. Perfect...at least he was on April 29.
H608 -- Bruce Chen, What's a set without Bruce Chen?
H615 -- Pedro Alvarez, Bronx native cracked 30 homers for Buccos.
H621 -- Chris Davis, Safe to say he's found a home in Baltimore.
H637 -- Daisuke Matsuzaka, 2008 was a long, long time ago.
H661 -- Rafael Furcal, It feels like he's been in the majors for 20 years.
Some pretty nice cards included here. Good rookie crop, some essential veterans and a handful of guys who are on the up-and-up. I'm pretty happy with 'em all.
Oh, I nearly forgot! What sort of Mets fan would I be if I didn't show the four Amazins who were included in this set?
H585 -- Jonathon Niese
H628 -- Andres Torres
H641 -- Jordany Valdespin
H646 -- Kirk Nieuwenhuis
Not sure how Niese didn't find his way into the regular set, but at least Topps made good. And, as far as head shots go, the Valdespin card is awesome. They really captured the essence of the vintage cards with that one.
Well, that concludes my little run-though of the High Numbers box. Though steep in price, this was a very worthwhile purchase and I'm glad I own this set. I love the look of the '63-inspired cards, and it's great to have Harper, Yu, Ichiro and the rest for my Heritage '12 binder.
What can I say, I'm a Heritage lifer.
MK
Nice lookin' set. I'm hoping someone will have some singles from these available at the cards show I'll be attending next weekend. I really want to get my hands on a copy of that Ichiro.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the pics. This set is pretty cool looking. Also, no recent photo could make Bobby Abreu look pleasant.
ReplyDeleteHa! True enough!
DeleteThanks for the recap. At least this Dozier kid signs legibly.
ReplyDeleteYou think that's in his scouting report?
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