2024 Topps Heritage High Numbers

 

This set came as a bit of a surprise. Released in March 2025, the 2024 Topps Heritage High Numbers set is a bit late to the game. It's a nice surprise, but this unfortunately pushes the boundaries of a set for a particular year. At the time of release, the next year was already roughly one-fourth of the way through.

With that unpleasantness out of the way, let's get into this release.

Since 2008, the Topps Heritage set has had a high numbers release later in the year.  It originally threw me for a loop. I had committed myself to collecting the entire 2008 set, not just the White Sox cards. I had come really close to completing the set and then a whole bunch of new cards were unleashed onto the public.

I still haven't completed either the regular of the high number set from 2008, but I'm inching closer every year. I still haven't found either of the name variations for 2008. I've pretty much given that pursuit up and have been concentrating on completing the set. This is just another in a long line of uncompleted sets from the overbearing glut of releases from 2008. My grandiose ideas of collecting that year really bit me in the butt.

In other words, the multiple releases have become the standard for the Heritage line. Not that I need another set to chase, but I think it's probably time to resurrect the Bowman Heritage line. Enough time has passed and after the fifties sets are completed, they can jump right into 1989.

This set borrows from the 1975 Topps flagship set. It's simple, bold and distinctive. The original set is one that really stood out when I was exploring older sets. I started my collecting journey in 1983 and was born one year after this sets design. This was also a really fun card to create in my Birth Years project. There were so many color combinations to choose from. It was never a boring endeavor.

The White Sox have six cards in this set.

554 - Andrew Vaughn
616 - Jonathan Cannon (multi-rookie)
622 - Zach DeLoach (multi-rookie)
627 - Garrett Crochet
647 - Nick Nastrini
694 - Gavin Sheets
716 - Jordan Leasure

Gavin Sheets has a throwback image gimmick in this set.

There are eight parallels to the set. White border, aqua border,  green border (blasters only), dark blue border (hobby only), black and white image, mini, black border (/50) (hobby only) and flip stock (/5) (hobby only). Important note: all borders are marked as "white border" above the number on the back of the card. Who knows why. It just makes it more frustrating to identify the different types of borders.

There are also chrome cards of each card numbered to 699. Along with refractor (/225), black refractor (/75) (hobby only), gold refractor (/5) (hobby only) and superfractor (/1).

A little late to the game, but welcome anyway. That's my general impression of this release. If you like the Heritage line, you know exactly what to expect here. Probably the most exciting for me is the mini cards. Those were always fascinating to me when I was a young collector, so it's a sense of nostalgia, which is what these type of releases are meant to conjure up.

A solid, yet not super exciting set. If you love the vintage feel with a few modern twists, you really can't go wrong with this one. If you're lucky enough to find an autograph in your pack, rest assured, it will be on card.

1963 Jello

 

Kids today will very rarely know the joy of finding a baseball card in an unexpected place. It still does happen from time to time, but the chances of this materializing is slim to none. Some of this has to do with our mint obsessed culture, where every card needs to be pristine and everything else is just garbage. Some of it is the switch to digital. Some of the blame is on kids growing up with different expectations than previous generations.

There are some things I will never experience again. Carnation breakfast bars (not those abominations that came out in the 90s and later), tuning in to MTV at anytime to watch a music video and finding baseball cards on food packaging. There have been a few food issues in the past decade or so, but they are mostly packaged in plastic and slipped into the packaging. We have to keep everything in gem mint condition, or at least the illusion of it.

Oddball and food issues used to be everywhere. Boxes of mac and cheese, cereal and gelatin mixes had cards that you could cut out. Convenience stores had their own cards, coins and other paraphernalia. Sometimes they were regional, so you couldn't collect the whole set, unless you traveled. Hmm. That almost sounds like a tactic the companies would use today.

Now, Post cereals had the exact same checklist for their 1963 set. The only difference is that the Post cards have a wider red line than the Jello counterparts. In fact, the album where you could collect your cut out cards encouraged you to complete your set by collecting from both brands.

 The Jello set has 200 cards, and the White Sox have eleven cards.

35 - Joe Cunningham
36 - Nellie Fox
37 - Luis Aparicio
38 - Al Smith
39 - Floyd Robinson
40 - Jim Landis
41 - Charlie Maxwell
42 - Sherman Lollar
43 - Early Wynn
44 - Juan Pizzaro
45 - Ray Herbert

 Especially if you don't care about condition too much, these cards can come relatively cheap. Mickey Mantle was never a White Sox player, so you won't find any extremely high priced cards for the Pale Hose in this set. Nellie Fox and Luis Aparicio will probably be the highest priced on the secondary market. Even then, you can find decent copies for well under $10. 

I'll admit it. I miss cards on the boxes of Jello and other groceries. It was just another way to stay connected to the game and to the hobby. I don't anticipate ever returning to these glory days of food issues, but it would be cool if it did.

1985 Topps 3-D

It's baseball, COMIN' AT YA! in 3-D!!!!

As an eight year old during the summer of 1985, I would go to my local drug store (which has since turned into a liquor store) and I would scour the spinning rack of comic books and pick out a few. This was when the price of a regular comic book was just seventy-five cents. If it was an annual, it could have gone as high as $2.

After my excursion into the land of mostly Marvel and DC, I would head over to the candy aisles. Yes, I said aisles. There were three glorious aisles of candy and candy related items. I would pick out something guaranteed to put me on a sugar high, then it one of those aisles were sports cards. A pack of baseball cards were either thirty-five or forty cents for a regular pack and fifty or sixty cents for a cello pack. I don't recall the year that they went up to forty cents. It was somewhere in the mid-80s. I just remember that they were forty cents in 1987.

 But in 1985, I was collecting Topps, Fleer and Donruss. Of course, I was looking for White Sox players, but I had other interests too. The father/son cards were always a welcome find. The USA team cards were on my radar. Any Fleer in action or multi-player cards were treasured. Donruss All-Stars looked cool and futuristic (nowadays they look very dated). Cards of Eric Davis, Cal Ripken Jr., Tippy Matrinez, Roger Clemens, Tony Gwynn, Alfredo Griffin, Tim Raines, Rickey Henderson and a plethora of others would elicit excitement every time I unearthed one in a pack.

I also collected the Topps stickers, Topps rub ons, Topps Super. Basically any weird baseball related merchandise, I was a sucker for at that time. The weirdest set I remember buying was Topps 3-D.

I had absolutely no clue as to how to store these cards. They were rigid, bumpy and oversized. They were truly bizarre, but I enjoyed opening each pack. As a kid I was puzzled with this set. As an adult, I'm still puzzled by this set.

The White Sox have one card in this set.

30 - Tom Seaver

 I'm showing the front and back images for this card, so you might get the full effect of this misshapen cad. Not only did the White Sox have a card in this set, but it is a Hall of Fame player, who is best remembered on another team, but it happens to coincide with the year he won his 300th game. It's just a mess of circumstances that make this an even stranger release.

This is definitely a unique set that never made it past a trial release. It's a beautiful and clumsy set. The rose tinted glasses of nostalgia are especially on for this one. This card has more attachment to the memories that it conjures rather than the card itself. I guess that could be a true test of this set. It's awkward, but makes me think of wonderful days in my past. I suppose that's all you can ask out of a card.

Good job, Topps 3-D. You've made me think of G.I. Joe and Spider-Ham comics. Looking for the discontinued Summit cookie bar (it ceased production in 1984, but I had no idea) in the candy aisles. Riding my bike to the drug store and taking the secret way past two parks. For me, this could be one of the ultimate nostalgia cards.

2025 Topps Series One

 

Topps flagship is always anticipated (by me anyway). I feel that it marks the beginning of the new trading card sets for the new year. There always seem to be a few late straggler sets from the previous year that get released in January. This is my signal that the new year has begun.

This design reminds me of some of the Topps designs from the early to mid-2000s mixed in with a little bit of Donruss from the same time period. Is it an homage to that time period or a coincidence? Does it really matter? Not really.

The 2025 design is pretty sharp. Geometry in baseball seems to be the general theme on the card. Baseball diamonds, warning tracks nice photos, blueprint-like outlines of words and team emblems. Sorry Panini, the team emblems really do make the card. I wish that you had both licenses.

The white borders lend itself easily to many parallels, which there are many. My word. There are so many. For those who love to chase rainbows, you are in luck. There are sixty(?!) parallels of each card.

Ready?

They are as follows:

Rainbow Foil
Diamante Foil
Holo Foil
Topps Pattern Foil
Silver Crackle Foil
Pink Holo Foil
Sandglitter
Confetti
Pink Diamante Foil
Aqua Holo Foil
Aqua Rainbow Foil
Tinsel
Gold (/2025)
Purple Rainbow (/250)
Purple Holo Foil (/250)
Blue Rainbow (/150)
Blue Holo Foil (/150)
Green Rainbow (/99)
Green Holo Foil (/99)
Vintage Stock (/99)
Independence Day (/76)
Gold Rainbow (/50)
Gold Holo Foil (/50)
Gold Diamante Foil (/50)
Canvas (/50)
Orange Rainbow (/25)
Orange Holo Foil (/25)
Orange Diamante (/25)
Wood (/25)
Memorial Day Camouflage (/25)
Black Rainbow (/10)
Black Holo Foil (/10)
Black Diamante (/5)
Clear (/10)
Red Rainbow (/5)
Red Holo Foil (/5)
Red Diamante (/5)
FoilFractor (/1)
Platinum Holo Foil (/1)
First Card (/1)
Printing Plate Black (/1)
Printing Plate Cyan (/1)
Printing Plate Magenta (/1)
Printing Plate Yellow (/1)
Spring Training
Spring Training Green Foil (/99)
Spring Training Gold Foil (/50)
Spring Training Orange Foil (/25)
Spring Training Red Foil (5)
Spring Training Black Foil (/1)
Holiday
Holiday Flowers (/50)
Holiday Eggs
Holiday Rabbit
Holiday Umbrella (/10)
Holiday Watering Can (/5)
Holiday Birds (/1)
Golden Mirror Image Variation
True Photo Variation
Team Color Border Variation

There is also a Tokyo Series Murakami Variation. Luis Robert Jr., Brooks Baldwin and Drew Thorpe have cards in this limited parallel, numbered to ten.

The White Sox have no player number variations and no big head variations.

The White Sox have nine cards in series one.

95 - Gavin Sheets
121 - Andrew Vaughn
189 - Robert Luis Jr.
190 - Michael Vargas
249 - Brooks Baldwin
257 - Korey Lee
280 - Ky Bush
320 - Drew Thorpe
344 - Andrew Benintendi 

Yet another very good design for Topps flagship. They can usually be counted on for a solid look. There are very few years that would be considered a classic design anymore, but a consistent output of very good to great can usually be expected. 2025 is no different.

I usually enjoy chasing the parallels, but sixty (and in three cases, sixty-one) is a little like Lone Star demanding ludicrous speed It's a great way to get there. You might see some pretty colors along the way, maybe even plaid some years. In the end, it's a bit ludicrous.