Even More High-lites

Let's delve a little deeper into the world of 2015 Heritage High Number.  Here's another 12-card sampling from the pair of blasters I grabbed a couple weeks ago.  I already showcased most of the important highlights, but when it comes to Heritage, every card matters!

In the leadoff spot is card No. 520, A.J. Burnett.  The former Mets draft pick has thrown his final pitches in the big leagues, as he rides off into the sunset at the age of 38 with 164 wins over 17 seasons.  You'd have to figure this will be A.J.'s final Heritage card.  But, you  never know with Topps!

501

Walker has the distinction of being the first card in the High Number series.  Christian has appeared in a grand total of 13 major league games, including seven this past season for the O's. Last winter, MLB.com ranked the former fourth-round selection seventh among first base prospects across both leagues.

502

The lefty-throwing Cecil last appeared in a Topps Heritage set back in 2011.  He has also appeared in the Heritage sets from 2009 and '10 -- the former also being of the High Number variety.  The Maryland native went 5-5 with five saves for the AL East champs this year.

505

This is Chavez's third-ever Heritage card.  He also popped up in last year's 100-card High Number box set. Prior to that, his rookie card was featured in the 2009 High Numbers series.  Chavez set a dubious career high in 2015 with 15 losses--a total that was second-highest in the league.

519

In each of the prior three years, the speedy Maybin appeared in the regular 500-card Heritage checklist as a member of the San Diego Padres.  The former first-round draft choice found himself in Atlanta thanks to the Craig Kimbrel trade.  His ten home runs and 59 RBIs for the Braves in 2015 were both career bests.

536

Urena saw action in 20 games for Miami in 2015, posting a 1-5 mark with an ERA of 5.25 as a part-time starter. His first big league start occurred on May 26 versus the Pirates.

539

Joyce became an Angel in December of last year when the club acquired him via trade from Tampa Bay.  The Tampa native had a card in this year's regular Heritage set, as well (#117), pictured wearing his prior team's uniform.

589

I guess I'm not as good of a baseball fan as I thought, because this is the first I've heard of Mason Williams. Quick research tells me he was one of the young outfielders called upon to be a stopgap when Jacoby Ellsbury got hurt early in the season.  Williams clouted a homer in his major league debut--a two-run shot off Baltimore's Ubaldo Jimenez on June 12.

590

I knew about this guy because I had him on my injury-depleted fantasy baseball team earlier this summer. Jungman, a former first-round pick, has huge upside for the Brewers.  He went 9-8 with a 3.77 ERA for Milwaukee in 21 starts this season.

656

Here's ex-Met Mike Pelfrey.  New York drafted Big Pelf out of Wichita State with the ninth overall pick in the '05 draft.  While he didn't make the main 500-card checklsit this year, Pelfrey has been featured five times in Heritage sets during his career, including last year's main edition.

669

After serving as an integral part of San Diego's bullpen for so many years, Gregerson was dealt to Oakland a couple of winters ago before joining Houston via free agency last December.  He led the Astros staff with 31 saves this season.  This is Gregerson's second Heritage card; his first came in 2013's main set.

700

Quite by coincidence, this post has featured the first card of this series and now it also included the omega card (of the non-SP checklist, anyhow).  Card No. 700 features former-Blue Jay Casey Janssen who joined the Nats as a free agent last winter.  Casey appeared as a member of the Jays in this year's regular Heritage issue, as well (#77).

That's all for now.  I will probably throw another dozen onto the barbie before I get tired of this theme.  Then again, who knows.  If my blogging history has shown anything it's that there is no rhyme or reason.

Til next time.  Let's Go Mets!

MK

More High-Lites

I felt like scanning some more of the Heritage High Number cards since they're still fresh and new to me.  Plus I wanted to add some images to the Zistle library.  Hey, it's a nice set, so why not?

I grabbed a dozen more cards that came out of the twin blasters I picked up recently.  So, let's check 'em out!

Leading things off is card No. 504, former Met Ike Davis who is shown in his green 'n gold Oakland A's uniform. Since he departed Queens in early 2014, Davis has slugged just 13 home runs in 550 ABs.  It would seem the Mets made the right call when they chose to keep Lucas Duda over the Ike-ster.

544

A former Yankees prospect, Solarte wrapped up a nice season for the Padres, hitting .270 with 14 homers and 63 RBIs.  Seems like a solid piece moving forward.  Then again, I'm not the person to talk about the future of the Friars.  Better leave that to my buddy Marcus.

567

Pham, a former 16th-round draft pick, appeared in 52 games for the Cards during the regular season, collecting 22 extra-base hits in 153 ABs.

571

Another Padre?  What's going on around here??  Along with his teammate Yangervis, Odrisamer is absolutely on the All First Name Team for 2015.

599

As far as I know, he's the only active Archie in the big leagues.  On April 11 of this past season, at the age of 22, Bradley hurled six innings of one-hit, no-run ball versus the Dodgers to earn a 'W' in his major league debut.

605

One of my favorite cards of the set so far for various reasons.  McCullers, the son of a former big leaguer by the same name, fashioned a nice 3.22 ERA in 125 2/3 innings during his freshman campaign.

608

Orlando is a former world-class sprinter from Brazil.  I was working for the Class-A Wilmington Blue Rocks in 2008 when the Royals acquired Orlando from the White Sox organization.  The speedster had been playing with Wilmington's intra-league rivals in Winston-Salem and joined the Blue Rocks midway through the '08 campaign.

616

This guy always seems to come up with a huge hit against my Mets.  The stats bear it out.  The former George Mason Patriot compiled a blistering .359 average with four homers and 11 RBIs in 13 games against the Amazins this past season.

632

Marlon seems to be a fan favorite no matter where he's played.  He has hit at least 23 home runs in each of the least three seasons which included stops in New York, Pittsburgh Philadelphia, Cincinnati and San Francisco.

647

A first-round pick of the Rangers in 2012, Gallo debuted in the bigs with a bang on June 2 when he hammered a round-tripper and collected four RBIs.  In 26 games for Texas, Gallo smacked six homers in 108 ABs.

675

Peterson is a nice looking player who should factor into Atlanta's long-term plans.  He compiled 34 extra-base hits, 52 RBIs and 12 steals while playing in 152 games for the Braves.

691

The first "Slade" in major league history.  He saw limited action for the Bronx Bombers this year, appearing in just 17 games with only 25 at-bats.  He connected off Kansas City's All-Star closer, Greg Holland, for a two-run shot on May 25 for his first major league homer.

That's all for now.  I'm sure I'll scan-and-share some more later this weekend.  I have a few late nights ahead of me since Major League Baseball continues to cater to the Left Coasters with these start times.  A 9:45 p.m. EDT start time for my first Mets playoff game in nine years?!?  Pfffffft.

Enjoy the games.  And, Let's Go Mets!!!

MK

I Wanna Go Higher

It's 2015 Topps Heritage High Numbers.  I found a pair of lonely blasters at one of the local Walmarts a week or so back.  Naturally and impulsively, I snatched up both and hurried to the cashier to part ways with my hard-earned dough.

I'm very conflicted about this year's High Number offering.  On one hand, I'm excited for an expanded checklist that features 225 cards as opposed to just 100.  But, on the other hand, it's not being released in boxed set form with a guaranteed auto and all the cards in one fell swoop.  Making matters worse, it's got 25 short prints, including Kris Bryant.  I'm so sick of chasing SPs that I can't even begin to tell you.

Anyhow, let's take a look at some of the highlights from my two blasters.

Blaster One...

First, all the Mets:

512

569

600

612

618

630

643

This box was top-heavy with Mets!  Good thing I decided to get both blasters, as I'm sure this is the one I would have left behind.  My first Mets cards of Gilmartin, Robles, Matz (times two!) and Torres.  Of these, Alex Torres is the only one who didn't last the whole season for the club.  It's a shame the photo doesn't feature him wearing his big, awkward-looking safety hat.  You know the one...

This is one of the reasons I found it curious this set came out so early:  You get guys who ain't even there any more.  On top of that, I thought they should have waited longer to allow for deadline-deal guys to appear in their new unis.  What's the point of a high number or update set, after all?  Oh well, still cool to get a card of a guy like Torres who was only a short-time Met.  Might be his one and only card as a Met.

Oh, and how about this curious case:

543

On every checklist I've seen, it lists this card of Clippard as a Mets card.  But, this very much looks like an Oakland A's card to me.  Until we turn it over...

So which side is right?  Is this really a Mets card?  Should I really be including this with the rest of the Mets from this set?  Well, I don't know what proper etiquette is in this case, but I'm passing.  It says ATHLETICS on the front and he's shown in an A's uniform.  That far outweighs some tiny size-2 font on the card back.

Okay, how about the SPs from Box One...

718

720

Just these two, which I guess is okay since there are eight packs per blaster and the odds are 1:3.  Neither is Kris Bryant, but I can't hold that against them.

And now some inserts to wrap up Blaster One...

I guess this was an Addison Russell "hot box."

Apparently a Cubs hot box, as well.

Last year's World Series MVP.

This one is ticketed for Rhode Island.

A chrome refractor of Evan Gattis wraps up the highlights of Blaster One.

Onward we go to Blaster Two...

Mets are up first.

557

562

580

Three more Mets!  Between these two blasters, I netted all but two of the Mets base cards in the set.  I'm only missing Kevin Plawecki and Eric Campbell.  All in all, a pretty solid job by the cardboard gods!

As for short prints, I did slightly better than Blaster One...

705

715

723

Three SPs instead of two.  I bucked the odds by a hair, and that is a good thing.  Still no Kris Bryant.  That is not such a good thing.

Inserts ahoy!

A rip-off of Mr. Met and some sort of Elmo-Cookie Monster hybrid.  The Reds' mascot game needs work.

Many aren't fans of the Heritage inserts, and I mostly agree.  But this one I like.

No comment.  Okay, maybe one:  Ugh!  Although, I'll miss him in Washington since he was such an ally to the Mets (and any other team opposing the Nats).

These guys from Houston are still having some fun, eh?

And yet another chrome refractor.  Two for two in the regard.

These were the first packs I've ripped in a very long time.  For the most part, pretty satisfying given the yield of Mets cards.  From here, however, I'm not sure how to proceed with this set.  I want to complete it, but I'm not sure what the best angle is.  Do I just opt for a reasonably priced master set?  Do I knock out the remainder of the base set via dime boxes and look for cheap SPs on eBay?  Do I keep buying packs?

None of these options are appetizing.  Like I stated before, I miss the boxed set.  At least I could throw those on my Christmas list and forget about it.  Mostly, I'm just annoyed about having to devote more time and resources to short prints.  It's bad enough to have to do this for the regular set each year.

Anyone out there having any luck and/or fun with High Numbers?

MK