Richard Nixon was president, Led Zepplin’s IV came out and gas averaged less than 40 cents a gallon. As for baseball cards, 1971 Topps Baseball delivered a set known today, perhaps, as much for its condition sensitivity than the rookies and stars within. It’s that notorious black-border design that 2020 Topps Heritage finds its foundation.
The configuration and set up is largely the same with one autograph or memorabilia card per hobby box as well as a deep list of other inserts. But more than anything, this is a product where nostalgia reigns.
2020 TOPPS HERITAGE BASEBALL BASE SET BASICS
The base set has a total of 500 cards. This is consistent with the 2019 release, including the 100 short prints that bookend the checklist. SPs land 1:3 packs.
While the design is inspired by 1971 Topps, the players are current. Multiple designs are in the main set, including a dualplayer Rookie Stars. Yordan Alvarez, Aristides Aquino and Bo Bichette are among the RCs collectors can expect.
Hobby packs have a pair of exclusive parallels. White Border cards have just 50 copies each. Tough-to-spot Flip Stock cards are back for another year. Limited to five copies each, these are done so that the cards are printed on the opposite side of the sheet. That means that fronts are more dull and textured like backs usually are, while the reverse side is more slick.
Chrome cards are partial parallels covering 100 of the base cards. These have additional Refractor (/571), White Border (/71), hobby-only Gold Border (/5) and Superfractor (1/1) versions. Hot box-exclusive parallels are also randomly inserted in hobby and retail blaster boxes.
Select base cards also have Mini (/100) versions.
VARIATIONS
Variations have long been one of the key elements in Heritage Baseball. 2020 is no different, bringing multiple themes to offer different takes on base cards.
This story is from the December 2019 edition of Beckett Baseball.
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This story is from the December 2019 edition of Beckett Baseball.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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