Some very interesting, albeit disheartening news from the Topps camp, as reported by the folks at Beckett News: Heritage High Numbers is ditching the expensive box set and returning to the expensive pack/hobby box format.
Click this link to read the full account over at Beckett: STORY
For everyone who bitched and moaned about the $99 100-card box set from the past three seasons, I hope you're happy.
On the one hand, it's great to have a meatier checklist, as the 2015 High Numbers offering will consist of 225 cards as opposed to the 100 cards of the past few years. And, because it'll be released in pack and hobby box format, it looks like there will be parallels and chrome and inserts, etc.
More players, more shiny cards, more relics/autos. Okay, that's all fine and good.
Now the bad news. The two most evil words in card collecting: Short prints. As in, the last 25 cards of the checklist will be short printed.
At least with the over-priced 100-card box, I could just throw a hundred bucks at the situation and be guaranteed all the cards in one shot (plus an autograph). That meant I didn't have to devote valuable time to pouring over eBay listings trying to track down the 2012 Harper rookie or the '13 Puig. Never mind the part about kowtowing to the price gouging sellers or insane auctions.
Now, with a 24-card hobby box, which I'm going to guess will be in the neighborhood of $80, I'll come close to a non-SP complete set. I may even knock it out from one box, who knows? But, if I'm lucky, I'll maybe get 8-10 of the 25 short prints. Not good.
In other words, you better pray your hobby box contains the Kris Bryant rookie, or God help you.
This whole thing truly sucks, in my opinion. It's enough of a pain in the arse (and mighty expensive) trying to put together the regular 500-card Heritage set with SPs from packs and online vendors, etc. And Lord knows I'm still a ways away from completing 2011, 2013 and 2014. Oh, and of course this year's. But, this High Numbers mini-beast is just exhausting to think about.
Sure, it's all well and good for you non-set collectors who might just want to pick off a pack or two of the stuff or maybe just chase your team's players. That's cool, and I get it. But, when it comes to Heritage, I'm a set collector, darnit, and I know many of you out there are in the same boat. And, once again, Topps does us no favors whatsoever.
Am I overreacting to this? Thoughts?
MK
I didn't mind the boxed sets. Plus they would always get marked down if you were patient looking for them. Like you said Heritage is one of the tougher sets to put together and this just made it that much harder.
ReplyDeleteI like it from a pack-busting perspective (I loved the 2008/09 editions of High Numbers), but it must be a nightmare for set builders.
ReplyDeleteThis is making me even happier that I decided not to build the 2015 Heritage set.
ReplyDeleteI'm frankly getting overwhelmed by all the cardboard. I never had intentions of completing the Heritage set, but I was planning on completing two team sets as well as a whole bunch of players that I collect, all while accumulating whatever I get in the process... But I was also thinking about getting a box of either Pro Debut or Heritage Minor League, and a factory set of the Topps base set, and maybe a blaster of Archives and...........
ReplyDeleteEven if I could fit all this stuff in my budget, it's frankly just way too much cardboard for my attention span. Prioritization will become more important than it's been in a while.
That being said, if I were attempting to complete the set, I would be orbiting at this news.
At least they didn't mix it in with another product that everyone already has.
ReplyDeleteWhile it's easier (and just as expensive) to kill the high number set in one shot, it's more fun to build it. This way you can trade for your remaining needs after a certain point of buying packs.