Back in February I wrote my first ‘Heritage Collector Blog’ with the intent of continuing to track my collection and share my thoughts and finds with whomever was interested in reading. Then, my baseball season came and went, as did the school year, but then I had another encounter with COVID which for whatever reason kicked my butt for a week. But now I am back, and finally have the time to collect my thoughts and share what I have been doing for the last four months as the Heritage Collector.
Because life has been pretty crazy over the last four months, I haven’t gone crazy with purchases (which has pleased my wife), but I was able to buy some good stuff, including a 2023 Heritage Hobby box which allowed me to score a Josh Jung rookie auto! Now even though it's a great card, and a great score with Jung being one of the favorites to win AL Rookie of the Year, I have been trying to sell that card from the moment I ripped it.
While the card is a beauty, and I do like the promise of Josh Jung, especially on the Texas Rangers, I only focus on three players from each class. That makes the collecting game for me more obtainable, from a price standpoint, but it also makes it incredibly difficult to make the choice as to who to collect. Jung, a promising prospect and now a promising player to become a fixture at third base for years to come, but he unfortunately did not make the cut.
So who has made the cut? In the past four months I had made those decisions for both the 2022 and 2023 class of Heritage rookies and have been able to secure some of their cards. But every now and then I get spontaneous and purchase something outside of those classes, and I made some of those purchases as well. But before we begin here is who I focus on for each year:
The 2022 Class
When Topps Series One came out last February of 2022, the checklist was anything but impressive. Wander Franco was the headliner but outside of him and O’Neill Cruz it was not the most attractive group of rookies. But as the year unfolded, and new rookies emerged, as well as new products, the 2022 class ended up becoming one of the stronger rookie groups to date. By the time Heritage High Number was released, all of the top rookies including Julio Rodriguez, Bobby Witt Jr. and Spencer Torkelson, who were all featured in the Topps Chrome Update series, saw their Heritage rookies as well.
These additional rookies as well as the clean look inspired by the 1973 set, made for what I believe to be, one of the best Heritage products since 2019. That class was also headlined by great rookies like Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Pete Alonso, and Fernando Tatis Jr., and that too also had an excellent design inspired by the 1970 set. But the 2022 rivals that great set with their own stacked list of excellent rookies. Julio Rodriguez, Wander Franco, Bobby Witt JrJeremy Pena, O’Neill Cruz, and others promise to be fixtures in the game for years to come and collectors should be pursuing these gems. I know I have been.
It was difficult to try and narrow down the three players I would go after, especially because of my love for O’Neill Cruz, and while I know the age old notion of “collect who you enjoy” I just couldn’t pass up the big three in the 2022 class: Julio Rodriguez, Wander Franco, and Bobby Witt Jr.
The 2022 Class
1) Julio Rodriguez
2) Wander Franco
3) Bobby Witt Jr.
As you can see I focused on Wander Franco quite a bit on the 2022 class for a couple of reasons. After a disappointing 2022 campaign, Wander’s prices fell significantly this winter and I was able to swoop in and snag a couple of gems. The most expensive was his Chrome /999 as a PSA 9, but I was able to work out a deal at the Westchester Card Show, sponsored by JP’s Sports & Rock Solid Promotions back in February. I was able to purchase it for $75, which is unfortunate because for some reason that card has continued to fall in value. I just saw 2-3 sales on Ebay for less than $50! Wander is having an all-star year, even though he was picked to be an all-star for whatever reason, and there is a legit argument that I am going to continue to make that he should be considered the best shortstop in the game.
Now while defense does not excite collectors, I have to point at the fact that Wander’s WAR is higher than everyone else on this list because of his defense, and at age 22, three years younger than Bo Bichette, Franco has already reached the upper echelon of shortstops in the game. While the power numbers may not be there yet they are comparable to other great shortstops in the game like Corey Seager, Trea Turner, and Dansby Swanson.
The purpose of this comparison is to continue to convince myself that Wander’s value is crazy low, and I am going to continue to try and snag some more Wander’s if I can. But what would also be great if more people bought Wander to try and drive up his value again! I spent $75 on that Chrome!
Nah well…
The 2023 Class
I am going to go out on a limb here and say that the 2023 Topps Heritage set, may be the best Heritage set ever. The 1974 design is outstanding, the parallels are not oversaturated and the image variations have made up for the lack of action variations in the set. But aside from the makeup of the cards, the set list, and more importantly, the rookie list makes this ‘the year of Heritage’. Corbin Carroll, Adley Rutschman, Anthony Volpe, Gunner Henderson, and so many others should entice collectors to go hunting for the future stars of the game. The question for me once again, would be who are the three I am going after.
This class was much easier for me to decide on, not because of the lack of talent because the 2023 class is even deeper than the 2022 crop, but because I am able to be incredibly biased this time. This year’s class features two prominent Met rookies, two I have been clamoring for, for quite some time, Francisco Alvarez and Brett Baty. Alvarez and Baty have had a marginal year to say it nicely, but the fact that other rookies have exploded and Alvarez and Baty have gone through what I am hoping for is just normal rookie struggles, their card prices have been incredibly affordable. Which I love. But I do have one high priced guy I am going after Corbin Carroll. As a fellow sub 6’0’’ guy, any player who can garner MVP consideration who is challenged by height, I am all about it!
The 2023 Class
1) Francisco Alvarez
2) Brett Baty
3) Corbin Carroll
My young Met cards are beauties, and I am looking forward to continuing to add to the collection. Their autos are still a little too pricey, I might have to explore a purchase in the winter time when their prices start to fall again, but Alvarez is the one I really want to pursue. Right now the cheapest one on Ebay goes for around $190, but maybe come December or January I can snag one up for less than $100. Until then I am going to submit these guys to SGC to get them graded and hope for the best. Since I am collecting, I am not going to go nuts about it being a 10, but anywhere from an 8-9.5 will suffice for the collection.
As you can see, I don’t have anything to show off in the Corbin Carroll collection because I have yet to find some good deals on his cards. Carroll has been riding high as the early favorite to win NL Rookie of the Year, and with the Diamondbacks in playoff contention, Carroll’s value could continue to rise if the Diamondbacks make a push in October. As of now, his heritage cards have finally started to fall in price, which hopefully means I will be picking a couple up in the next couple of weeks or months.
Other Pickups
So there is a bit to unpack here…
First thing’s first, the 2014 Jacob deGrom rookie card is a true rise and fall story. I purchased that card (not that exact one, but another one) back in 2019 for around $60 dollars. Then in 2021 when deGrom was having one of his last great Cy Young years I was able to sell that card for $180. While I was predominantly collecting deGrom that year, I felt I couldn’t pass up selling the deGrom as it provided seed money for other purchases.
But over the last couple of years I really thought I would be able to buy the card back, at a much cheaper price. But then, it didn’t happen. Buyers still wanted over $100 bucks for his base PSA 9, and it seemed that it would be years before I got that card back. Well one month ago, I went hunting again and I was able to secure it for just $36 bucks. While I was ecstatic I had it back in my collection, I was also incredibly disappointed to see the fall of deGrom. But to make up for my disappointment, I was also able to get his 2015 Collection ‘51 Auto which is one of the nicest autographed cards I have ever owned. That too will be going to SGC for grading!
I also focused on getting some gems from my favorite, the 2018 set. The Fernando Tatis Jr. action is one of my favorites from the set, the Shohei is my first and only Ohtani so for in the collection, and the Kelenic auto was something I was able to get for cheap that fits in really well into the collection.
That will do it for my second blog, I have a couple of things coming in the mail that I am looking forward to talking about and another card show I am planning on attending in August. I will be back sometime in August with another blog to fill you all in on my latest acquisitions and thoughts.
Thanks for checking out the blog!
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