The MLB regular season is in the home stretch and the Zion hype has begun to pull some collectors’ attention to the upcoming basketball season, but Topps isn’t quite done with its 2019 baseball releases. The youth movement and skyrocketing values of the 2018 and 2019 rookies have made Bowman Chrome and Topps Update into highly anticipated releases, and the popular Heritage set gets an update of its own! 2019 Topps Heritage High Number continues using the 1970 design to once again provide another 225 card set which includes a first Heritage card for several rookies and a card in the new uniform of several other players who were traded throughout 2019.
The first 200 cards, numbered 501-700 have a standard print run and contain the highly sought after rookie cards of Pete Alonso, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Fernando Tatis Jr., Michael Chavis, Nick Senzel, Austin Riley, and Eloy Jimenez. Cards 701-725 are short printed and fall approximately one in every three packs. Ichiro, Andrew McCutchen, and Victor Robles are a few of the bigger names found in the short print checklist.
This box delivered two action variations, a rookie auto, and a nice chrome rookie!
Several photo, color swap, and error variations provide a popular chase element to Heritage and are actually where much of the “value” in this product comes from. In the past, many breakers who were new to Heritage didn’t realize this and focused on the traditional autograph and relic cards. They sold off the rest of the case contents as if they were all standard base cards, and astute collectors could scoop them up in bulk purchases and walk away with a ton of value. Now, Topps labels most of the variations on the back of the card under the number. That makes it easier to identify what you have, but the days of picking up the errors and variations on the cheap are long gone. Each hobby box also promises either an autograph or a game used relic card. It seems a twelve box case will yield 3 - 4 autographs with the remaining boxes containing relics.
Several insert sets are included in the release including a tribute to Hank Aaron. Fifteen more Scratch Off inserts continue the set that started in the main Heritage release in February, and the Retail exclusive Candy Lids, Cloth Stickers, and Player Story Booklets also get the High Number treatment. The Award Winners, Combo Cards, Rookie Performers, and Now & Then sets are a mainstay of Heritage High Number and are back again to provide an opportunity for Topps to release additional cards of some of the season’s biggest rookies and stars.
Box Break
I preordered three boxes of High Number and had a blast opening them up. I got two autos out of three boxes, and getting rookie action variations of two of the biggest rookies was a big win! You can check out the results of one of my boxes below!
This is the second straight year where the rookie class is very strong. Despite the rookie content we typically see, the prices of Heritage High are typically pretty soft on the secondary market. Last year we saw the standard drop throughout the fall, but over the winter and 2019 season, 2018 Heritage High prices continued to climb. It will be interesting to see if 2019 follows the same pattern. Currently, sealed boxes of 2019 Heritage High are selling for almost 50%-75% more than wholesale cost. If we see a drop into the low 60s during the Black Friday sales window, I’ll be scooping up some more boxes. If not, I’ll be happy with my current set for the PC!
Do you like the late season releases like Topps Update and Heritage High, or are you just ready to move onto the other sports at this point of the season?
Checklist
501 Michael Chavis RC
502 Charlie Morton
503 Michael Brantley
504 Vladimir Guerrero Jr. RC
505 Nick Markakis
506 Yasmani Grandal
507 Nick Senzel RC
508 Brendan Rodgers RC
509 Derek Holland
510 Lonnie Chisenhall
511 Phil Ervin
512 Keston Hiura RC
513 Kurt Suzuki
514 Eric Stamets RC
515 Sam Gaviglio
516 Eloy Jimenez RC
517 Fernando Tatis Jr. RC
518 Bradley Zimmer
519 Pete Alonso RC
520 Manny Machado
521 Andrew Miller
522 A.J. Pollock
523 Carter Kieboom RC
524 Griffin Canning RC
525 Justus Sheffield RC
526 Yusei Kikuchi RC
527 Jorge Alfaro
528 Joe Kelly
529 Brian Dozier
530 Patrick Corbin
531 Taylor Clarke RC
532 Richie Martin RC
533 Jon Duplantier RC
534 Bryce Harper
535 J.T. Realmuto
536 Trevor Cahill
537 Austin Meadows
538 Tyler Glasnow
539 Byron Buxton
540 Alex Verdugo
541 Yasiel Puig
542 Nicky Lopez RC
543 Sonny Gray
544 Daniel Murphy
545 Troy Tulowitzki
546 DJ LeMahieu
547 J.A. Happ
548 Adam Ottavino
549 Zack Britton
550 Brian Goodwin
551 Ian Kinsler
552 Josh Harrison
553 Marwin Gonzalez
554 Tim Beckham
555 Jurickson Profar
556 Jake Bauers RC
557 Jed Lowrie
558 Wilson Ramos
559 Jeurys Familia
560 Robinson Chirinos
561 Lance Lynn
562 Wade Miley
563 Danny Salazar
564 Tyler O’Neill
565 Matt Davidson
566 Jonathan Lucroy
567 Alex Wood
568 Nathan Eovaldi
569 Cody Allen
570 Josh Phegley
571 Kendrys Morales
572 Clay Buchholz
573 Matt Shoemaker
574 Craig Kimbrel
575 Freddy Galvis
576 Elvis Luciano RC
577 Max Fried
578 Alex Jackson RC
579 Brian McCann
580 Brandon Woodruff
581 Zach Davies
582 Ben Gamel
583 John Brebbia
584 Adam Wainwright
585 Alex Reyes
586 Daniel Descalso
587 Victor Caratini
588 Brad Brach
589 Eduardo Escobar
590 Wilmer Flores
591 Christian Walker
592 Carson Kelly
593 Greg Holland
594 Merrill Kelly RC
595 Corbin Martin RC
596 Russell Martin
597 Austin Barnes
598 Kevin Pillar
599 Gerardo Parra
600 Jeff Samardzija
601 Drew Pomeranz
602 Connor Joe RC
603 Tyler Naquin
604 Nate Lowe RC
605 Adam Cimber
606 Domingo Santana
607 Omar Narvaez
608 Braden Bishop RC
609 Curtis Granderson
610 Neil Walker
611 Sergio Romo
612 Trevor Richards
613 Cal Quantrill RC
614 Austin Riley RC
615 Skye Bolt RC
616 Jorge Lopez
617 J.D. Davis
618 Matt Adams
619 Jeremy Hellickson
620 Dwight Smith Jr.
621 Drew Jackson RC
622 David Hess
623 Rio Ruiz
624 Francisco Mejia
625 Nick Margevicius RC
626 Eric Lauer
627 David Robertson
628 Jason Martin RC
629 Melky Cabrera
630 Jung Ho Kang
631 Adam Frazier
632 Francisco Liriano
633 Delino DeShields
634 Asdrubal Cabrera
635 Logan Forsythe
636 Yandy Diaz
637 Ji-Man Choi
638 Avisail Garcia
639 Jose Alvarado
640 Blake Swihart
641 Matt Barnes
642 Curt Casali
643 Jose Iglesias
644 Derek Dietrich
645 Tanner Roark
646 Amir Garrett
647 Josh Fuentes RC
648 Mark Reynolds
649 Ryan McMahon
650 Homer Bailey
651 Martin Maldonado
652 Richard Lovelady RC
653 Kyle Zimmer RC
654 Ian Kennedy
655 JaCoby Jones
656 Jordy Mercer
657 Matt Moore
658 Tyson Ross
659 Grayson Greiner
660 Jake Cave RC
661 Kyle Gibson
662 Michael Pineda
663 Brett Gardner
664 Domingo German
665 John Means RC
666 Jesus Sucre
667 Brandon Kintzler
668 Leury Garcia
669 Kelvin Herrera
670 Kevin Plawecki
671 Max Moroff
672 Brandon Brennan RC
673 Hansel Robles
674 Matt Harvey
675 Tommy La Stella
676 Ryan Pressly
677 Brett Anderson
678 Billy McKinney
679 Aaron Sanchez
680 Clayton Richard
681 Cole Tucker RC
682 Charlie Culberson
683 Junior Guerra
684 Pedro Avila RC
685 Anthony DeSclafani
686 Shelby Miller
687 Scott Oberg
688 Jake Marisnick
689 Terrance Gore
690 Scott Alexander
691 David Freese
692 Nick Anderson RC
693 Renato Nunez
694 Ryan Brasier
695 Raimel Tapia
696 Josh Sborz RC
697 Travis Bergen RC
698 Joe Harvey RC
699 Caleb Smith
700 Nick Kingham
701 Victor Robles
702 Andrew McCutchen
703 Chris Paddack RC
704 Hunter Pence
705 Adam Jones
706 Daniel Vogelbach
707 Dominic Smith
708 Clint Frazier
709 Gio Gonzalez
710 Cameron Maybin
711 Johnny Cueto
712 Hunter Strickland
713 Chris Devenski
714 Franklin Barreto
715 Thomas Pannone RC
716 Alen Hanson
717 Ryan Helsley RC
718 Erik Swanson RC
719 Tayron Guerrero
720 Anibal Sanchez
721 Mychal Givens
722 Hector Neris
723 Dominic Leone
724 Luis Cessa
725 Ichiro