Heisman Heritage: The Express

With football season officially over now (Congratulations Kansas City Chiefs) I wanted to look back at some famous black athletes who impacted the NFL.  This will be done each Sunday for the rest of the month.

Today's black card as part of my new monthly series for Black History Month is a 2011 Topps Heritage Black Chrome Refractor.

 Black Refractors of Pirates players are an annual treasure hunt for me each year in Topps Heritage.

The 2011 Heritage product is based on the 1962 design.

1962 was a significant year in that it saw the first African-American athlete to win a Heisman Trophy to be drafted in the NFL.

 Ernie Davis attended Syracuse University and was the first Heisman Trophy Winner to not be white.

 In 1961 the Elmira Express lead all college backs in yards.

The following year he was drafted 1st overall by the Washington Redskins then was traded to the Cleveland Browns.

During the summer of 1962, Brown was diagnosed with Leukemia.  He past away in 1963 at age 23 without ever appearing in a game.

The Browns have retired his number 45 jersey.

Today he is forever enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame.

 A statue was resurrected as a remembrance for the great and courageous Brown.

A feature length film starring Rob Brown and Dennis Quaid was created to tell the tragic and inspiring story of Ernie Davis.

Back In Black

With the 3 Day absence from the blog, I can safely do my Save Second Base Event, it's recap, and World Series recap without interfering with my 1,000th post EVEN IF I post an entry each day.  I feel a lot better about this and am sure that there will be a day or two I skip as I get closer to October anyway.

By now I am sure everyone has read about and heard about the trimmed card scandal that has been going through our beloved hobby.  I don't buy cards as an investment.  I strictly buy them to collect.  Because of this I tend to not get overly hyped about the grades of cards.  PSA 10 or PSA 9 on a modern card? Doesn't really matter to me.

For vintage cards a PSA 3 with good looking colors on the front and no tears is jist as cool as a PSA 8.  I am more about the collecting of those vintage cards than caring about value 20 years down the road.

One of the biggest consigners in the hobby has been front and center for selling cards that have been known to be trimmed and authenticated by PSA with higher grades.  I buy from the big consigners (PWCC and Probstein) on multiple occasions.  Do I understand that there is a risk that I am getting shilled and prices are going up on the other end by the original owner trying to get a few extra bucks? Yup, I understand that.  And I am ok with it.  That's why there's something called a max bid.  I am willing to go up to "X".

Recently PWCC posted two cards on auction that I REALLY WANTED.  I didn't have an official wants list, but I knew of 5 cards that I coveted more than others.

Nate knocked one out a few weeks ago when he sent me my Eleanor, a 2014 Topps Opening Day SSP Photo Variant of Cutch.

Another was bartered for with a best offer of a 2010 Topps Heritage Black Chrome Refractor to 61 copies.

Topps Heritage and Archives are my two favorite releases now that Gypsy Queen has become absolute garbage with their hits and lack of minis. I have been piecing together all the Topps Heritage Pirates team sets since the initial release.  There is something really awesome about current players on vintage designs that I love.

One of the most achievable cards (cards with print runs greater than 50 copies) that I have always wanted to own is the 2009 Topps Heritage High Numbers Black Refractor to 60 copies.  Like my Eleanor Photo Variant, it doesn't pop up often. Only one copy was sold in 2018.

This brings us back to PWCC. They offered an ungraded copy for sale....

AND I WON IT!!!

To celebrate my incredible addition of adding this 10 year old cardboard to the collection, I am going to show off all my Topps Heritage Black Refractors.

2010 Heritage

2011 Heritage

2012 Heritage

2013 Heritage

 2014 Heritage

 2015 Heritage

2016 Heritage

2017 Heritage
(blue replaced black for the "burlap" year)

2018 Heritage

 2018 Heritage High Number

 2019 Heritage High Number

A Huge Addition For The PC

I have been showing off a lot of Allen & Ginter over the past few weeks, but my favorite base set year after year is Topps Heritage. Topps Heritage High Number should be coming out soon and hopefully Andrew McCutchen is part of the set along with a few inserts to chase.

Heritage has kept a simple formula since it's original inception; create a checklist of everyday players for each team and keep the parallels to a minimum.  Over the past few years we have seen Topps get away from this slightly by adding parallels like flip stock, action variants, nickname variants, and throwback uniform variants.  Something that hasn't changed over the years though is the chrome stock parallels.  The original release in 2001 had a chrome version numbered to 1952 (the design that 2001 Heritage was based on).  It also had a refractor version that was numbered to 552 copies (giving another homage to the 1952 design). There were black parallels numbered to 52 copies (yet another homage to the 52 design), gold Refractors (5 copies), and Superfractor (1 copy).

This formula stayed in place each consecutive year with the chromes, refractors, and black refractors getting one extra card produced each year to give homage to the design it was based on. In 2013 the base chrome cards began being numbered to only 999 copies instead of 1964 which would have been the numbering that would have been assigned under the old system.  Refractors and Blacks continued the theme of /5(YR) and /(YR) respectively.

I often get commented on "I can't believe you didn't have card X in your collection" or "I'm surprised there is a Cutch card you don't have" but with over 5K Andrew McCutchen cards on the market (and that doesn't even include the 5x7 or 16x20 Topps Shop exclusives) there are still plenty cards I need for the collection.

That doesn't mean there aren't cards that I value more for wanting in my collection than others though.  I recently secured not 1 NOT 2, but 3 cards I needed and have had on the want list for a long time.

Let's begin with 2010 Topps Heritage Black Chrome Refractor

The 2010 Heritage design is based on the original 1961 Topps design, one of my favorite designs from the 60s.

This card is incredible.  I was reluctant to submit such a high offer on it because the seller didn't have much feedback, but considering this is the first one that has popped up in 5 years, I knew I needed to make an honest attempt at getting it.

It went super smooth and within 2 days of paying for the auction I had it in hand.

This 2010 black refractor is numbered to only 61 copies (numbering is based on the 1961 design).

I will show off the two other cards I have wanted for long periods of time over the next few weeks.  One is coming in as part of a monster trade. The other is coming from PWCC.

The Archer's Quest: 4 New Additions

I picked up four new Chris Archer cards recently.  One is from Hits Memorabilia and features the E in ARCHER from a Rays uniform (top right).  The other three are from 2019 Topps Heritage.  I have the mini (top left).  I also picked up the black border and black chrome.

Finally!!!

Before I began super collecting Cutch there were a bunch of low numbered parallels that I didn't attempt to win.

I have been slowly chopping down the Topps Heritage Black Refractor cards I need.  2009, 2010, and 2011 have eluded me for years.

I can finally cross off the 2011.

 Only 62 copies exist because it is based on the 1962 design.

I came close to getting the 2009 too, but got sniped by a Giants fan.  You have no idea how much that stings.

Broken home

My parents are divorced. They have been that way for over a decade. I was fortunate enough to live through my teen years in a true family setting. My youngest brother was not as fortunate. After suffering a major leg injury playing basketball on the varsity team (as a Freshman mind you) my family began to seperate. It makes the holidays very hard now.

I began this new blog to share more about myself and what makes my super collecting habits tick.

Right around the holiday season, I started to make arrangements with someone looking to sell off their Cutch PC. One particular card I was interested in was a 2005 Bowman Sterling (his draft year) Black Refractor Autograph Jersey card.  The card is already slabbed as a 9.5 with nice Sub Grades and a 10 autograph.

Only 25 of these exist.

The ones that have been slabbed 9.5/10s typically sell for $600.

I was able to get this for a small fraction of the price.

The reason?

It has a broken home.

The slab has been absolutely crushed
I am not sure if I resubmit the card it will receive the same grades.

I hope you all have a blessed day.