2013 Heritage & 1964 Topps – Variations

2 05 2013

One of the big things for the Topps Heritage product is all the card variations. It’s always done in a way also a throwback to the relevant set (in this case 1964).

Error variations

An apostrophe where it doesn’t belong – card #4

In 1964, card #4 was the AL victory leaders, and this error was the one correction made in the middle of the print run back then (the rest of the cards below are uncorrected errors).

Card #4 is again AL victory leaders in 2013 Heritage. The 2013 Heritage set has a rare variation where the apostrophe is added as well. These error variations come 1:1,567 packs, which is basically one every 3+ cases.

Born in 1942 – card #125

Pete Rose’s 1964 Topps card is fairly iconic; it’s the hit king’s first 2013 card, and it showcases the All-Star Rookie Team trophy. This was the second year in a row the previous year’s NL Rookie of the Year had something wrong with his card. Ken Hubbs had won the award the previous year, and his card omitted his position. Rose’s card says he was born in 1942, but he was actually born in 1941.

Yu Darvish has card #125 in 2013 Heritage – an interesting match. He’s on the All-Star Rookie Team, but wasn’t the second baseman, isn’t a Red and certainly isn’t the reigning NL Rookie of the Year. He got the 1942 treatment as well. In fact, Topps put his birthdate at April 15, while his actual birthday is August 16, 1986.

…Or 1932 – card #325

Card #325 had a similar error – with Hector Lopez showing a birthdate of 1932 as opposed to his true birth year of 1929.

Rafael Betancourt has card #325 in 2013 Heritage and has the same super-rare error variation, again with him also getting the birthdate and not just birth year corrected.

…Or 1930 – card #335

The famous (to card collectors) Don Mossi got an uncorrected birth year error as well. His card says he was born in 1930, but like Lopez he was also born in 1929.

Johnny Venters is the equivalent in 2013 Heritage.

…Or 1931 – card #355

And the last of the 4 birthday errors was Vic Power, who was 4 years off (shown as 1931, actually born in 1927).

The Orioles’ Chris Tillman got the 1931 treatment in 2013.

Pittsburfh!

Card #440 in 1964 was the great Roberto Clemente, and Topps misspelled his team’s city, fat-fingering the g in “Pittsburgh”.

Topps really reached here to get their poster boy another variation in Heritage.

The correlation here just doesn’t make sense. In 1964, they misspelled his 1960 season (not the most recent one on the statline). And they misspelled the name of the city Clemente did in fact play for, whereas with Harper, they changed his team and then made the misspelling the same. Oh well.

Senators Variations

Topps also created four variations where the photo was different for players on the Nationals; the cards still say “Nationals” on the top, but the players are shown wearing old school uniforms of the Washington Senators. The 4 players with these cards are Ross Detwiler, Ian Desmond, Ryan Zimmerman, and (of course) Mr. Harper. Supposedly there were supposed to be Colt 45 variations but those were scrapped.

Senator Variations – 4 cards (1:13,058)

Swap Variations

Topps also created two different variations – one that plays with the 1964 card design, and another that switches the photo used.

Action Image – 25 cards (1:26, hobby only)

The first swap variation were 25 action image variations where the player photo was changed to an action shot. To be honest, though, they didn’t even do the greatest action shots, as the Cano demonstrates. But it is much better than his regular card which is just a big time closeup.