2007 Bowman Heritage hobby box #2

Eight cards per pack/24 packs per box

Base set completion: 111 of 251 (44%)
Short print set completion: 7 of 45 (16%)
Prospect set completion: 48 of 100 (48%)
Rainbow foil set completion: 14 of 251 (3%)
Rainbow foil short print set completion: 7 of 45 (16%)

Overall set completion (two hobby boxes)

Base set: 174 of 251 (69%)
Short print set: 14 of 45 (31%)
Prospect set: 72 of 100 (72%)
Rainbow foil set: 30 of 151 (12%)
Rainbow foil short print set: 21 of 45 (47%)

“Hits”

Impressions

It sure is a pain in the rear to finish a set these days. Two boxes, lots of cards, even more duplicates. Given that there’s only a possible five base cards per pack, I suppose I should be happy with where I am. Five base cards per pack x 48 packs fives me 240 total possible base cards. I now have 174 of them, or a little more than 2/3 of the way.

Obviously what Topps wants the buyer to do here is to put down for another box. Fortunately, I’ve now managed to acquire a decent-sized piled of doubles that I can hopefully cash in for the remainder of the set.

Still, the point I made in the last post remains. If Topps, UD, and everybody else continue to devalue the hobby box, while maintaining ridiculously high prices, buyers will simply wait. They’ll wait like I did until retailers are forced to discount them, or worse yet, sell them at a loss. Keeping up this process will eventually force retailers to reconsider, or in the worst case, close up shop. We already see this happening on a large scale — shops are closing all the time.

There is no incentive for me to buy wax at full MSRP, knowing it’ll be discounted in due time. I assume Topps/UD are fully aware of this, but the way it’s been, it sure doesn’t feel like it. Nonetheless, I’ll probably end up buying 2009 Topps as well as Heritage on or around their release dates, but anything else is likely going to wait until discounts come.

This will also likely be my last box break until the 09 product comes out, unless of course I run into some extra cash.

Oh, and by the way, Curt Schilling’s middle name is Montague? Didn’t see that one!

2007 Bowman Heritage hobby box

Eight cards per pack/24 packs per box

Base set completion: 105 of 251 (42%)
Short print set completion: 7 of 45 (16%)
Prospect set completion: 48 of 100 (48%)
Rainbow foil set completion: 6 of 251 (3%)
Rainbow foil short print set completion: 15 of 45 (33%)

“Hits”

Impressions

This is the second of three boxes I recently ordered from DACW. I had wanted to do the final Bowman Heritage for some time, but never quite made it around to doing so. And now that prices for 07BH are much more reasonable, now’s as good a time as any.

As you know, the Heritage set is split up into a few different subsets: Prospects, Short Prints, and Rainbow Foil. In this instance, the SPs are truly a subset. They’re variants of the base cards, only without the facsimile autograph — even noted on the checklist as the “B” variation, with the regular card as the “A” variation. So one can complete the base set and not be short any cards from the checklist. This is a welcome change, particularly from Topps Heritage, with its usual load of 75 or so short-prints, all of them part of the main checklist. I really wish that Topps would do this for Heritage and Allen & Ginter — make the SPs a variation rather than an additional card.

The cards themselves are a faithful reproduction of the original 1952 Bowman set. Given my appreciation for all things vintage, it’s no surprise really that I’ve wanted to complete this set for some time.

The checklist is a very manageable 251 cards. Although as you can see here, a single hobby box will yield only half the set, especially with all the inserts included. Still, I can’t complain that the box didn’t produce a single double.

Topps sold these boxes with a guarantee of two relics and one auto per box. This box delivered that, and added a blue printing  plate and a black-border variation as well.

A couple of parting thoughts …

Dude. Bartolo. Seriously, you’ve let yourself go. And Mike Piazza in an A’s jersey? I totally thought this card was of Nick Swisher. But seeing Piazza in an A’s jersey makes about as much sense as seeing Rickey Henderson in a Dodger jersey.