2012 Topps Heritage Relics and Autographs

The 2012 version of Heritage is full of relics and autos of different variety.  Below is a brief description of each of the possible pulls.  Note – I included the JFK Special relics in the “variations” post I did earlier.

’63 Mint Coins – 20 cards (1:288 – Hobby only)

These cards have a coin embedded into them – note the coin is covered by a plastic seal on both sides.  The coins include:

• Penny – 2 players born in 1963
• Nickel – 2 players whose rookie year was 1963
• Dime – 2 events showcased in the 1963 News Flashbacks insert set
• Quarter – 14 players with significant achievements in 1963
• There were no Half-Dollar Hall of Fame inductees in 1963 (Eppa Rixey, Sam Rice, John Clarkson, Elmer Flick were inducted, but didn’t get cards)

I’ve been stalking this Joe Morgan on eBay, but to no avail.  There’s also a Paul O’Neill penny (birth year) on there as well.  Funny, both guys are shown in their “other” uniforms.

Clubhouse Collection – 4 levels

Clubhouse Collection – 71 cards (1:29)

This is the most common relic – you’ll basically get one of these per hobby box, unless you get one of the better pulls.  These cards have either a jersey swatch or a bat square of a current player.  I pulled Madison Bumgarner from my first box, but am shopping around for cards of Aroldis Chapman, Brandon Phillips, and Jay Bruce relics.

Clubhouse Collection Dual – 5 cards (1:9,280; #/63)

After that, the pulls are much more difficult.  This set pairs a current player with a star from 1963, with a jersey swatch from both players.   No Reds here this year – I grabbed a scan of a Posey / Mays to show here.  The older player almost always has a bat from what I’ve seen.

Clubhouse Collection Autograph – 11 cards (1:11,850; #/25)

These cards are even rarer.  There are 5 cards of current players, and 6 cards of 1963 players.  The cards are numbered to 25, and with an on-card autograph in addition to the relic.  From the Reds, Frank Robinson had a card in this set, too – but it’s inserted as a redemption.

Clubhouse Collection Dual Autograph – 6 cards (1:14,833; #/5 or #/10 – Hobby only)

These cards have a current player with a player from ’63 on the same team.  Most of these actually weren’t packed out – I’ve seen the Holliday and Gibson shown below as well as a cards of Sandoval/Cepeda and Castro/Banks.  There is a Robinson/Bruce, but it’s also been inserted as a redemption.

Flashback – 3 levels

Flashback Stadium Relic – 12 cards (1:1,459)

These single player cards all come with 1963 players with relics inserted.  Most of the guys featured have cards in the Baseball Flashbacks insert.  These aren’t jerseys or bats that the players – they are “stadium relics”.  Mostly, I think that means they are cut-ups of the seats from the stadium.  That’s pretty cool considering these tend to be old stadiums.  The card below is the Yaz that I pulled in my 2nd box – quite a good hit!

They also had autograph and autograph relic versions.

Flashback Autograph – 5 cards (1:23,480; #/25)

Flashback Autograph Stadium Relic – 5 cards (1:23,480; #/25)

Real One Autographs – 3 levels

Real One Autograph – 51 cards (1:289 – blue ink)

There are quite a few more of these this year than last year, when there were 37 autos.  Koufax, Aaron and Musial also signed for this set – those 3 are back from last year.  The biggest addition here is Willie Mays, but his card was unfortunately only packed in as a redemption.  This set is mostly older players whose 1963 cards are reprinted.  There are 2 Reds – 3rd baseman Eddie Kasko and reliever Jim Brosnan.  The one I like the most, though, is the card of Eli Grba.  As I noted in the variations post – this card actually pictures Ryne Duren on the main photo, not Grba.  But Topps got Grba to sign a reprint of the card!  Can’t you just picture him saying “That’s not me?  Wait – that is me in the corner.  OK, I’ll sign it”:

There are also about 6 or 7 current players who signed a “Certified Autograph Issue” of their base card.  Clayton Kershaw and Adrian Gonzalez are the most notable.  I found Jesus Montero’s card particularly interesting – he signed a card picturing him as a Yankee, while his base Heritage cards is photo shopped to show him as a Mariner (see the Red signature version below).

Real One Autograph Special Edition – 51 cards (1:738; #/63 or #/10)

Each of the Real One auto’s has a Red parallel numbered to 63 – except for the Koufax, Musial and Aaron red autos, which are numbered to 10.  I wouldn’t be surprised if the Mays is out of 10 as well, given that those are kind of a “Big 4″ as far as living legends go in the hobby.  I know first hand that another Hall of Famer signed 63 of these bad boys in Red!  Because I pulled a Juan Marichal in a retail pack, no less!

Real One Dual Autograph – 9 cards (1:5,215; #/25 – Hobby only)

These cards are designed to play off the Rookie Stars design with the floating heads.  No Reds in this set, but there are some pretty cool combinations here.

Just imagine if the MLB ban didn’t keep Topps from working with Pete Rose.  A Reds 2B combo (Rose / Phillips) card like this would be incredible.

Other Autographs

1963 Cut signatures – 10 cards (1:250,000; #/1)

Finally – the rarest pull out there.  There are 10 cut signatures from the set #’d to 1/1.  I saw one of these on eBay thus far.  Ralph Houk’s cut auto sold for $200.  Casey Stengel and Mickey Mantle are headliners here.

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