From the Pedro Binder

2003 Topps Heritage

Heritage is an interesting line of cards. It takes current players, and puts them in designs from the past. When they first came out, the idea of seeing today’s stars in the design of the classic 1952 Topps set was pretty fantastic. It was a novel concept that really appealed to a lot of people. But, now that we’re several years into the concept, is it really any different than any other card design? Do I look at this card any differently than some of the Fleer designs that mimicked classic design elements?

Do people buy this card because they like the design, or because they like 1954 Topps?

Assuming my scanner knew what the edges of a card looked like, this is a nice little card. Obviously the side of me that loves photos is severely disappointed. But, the rest of it is there. Pedro’s name is written nice and clearly on the top of the card, and I don’t need to turn my head to read it. (I promise, it’s all there on the actual card.) It has a color team logo…even if this one appears to be scratched somehow. I’ll have to go double check the card itself at some point, because if the scratch is really there, I missed it until now. It has Pedro position, and team name. The Topps Heritage logo is nicely hidden in the corner, and even more obscured by being an opaque watermark type of image. Wonderful.

I do like the artistic design of the card too. It’s colorful, which is always a plus. Especially when it’s not colorful to the point of distraction. I like the large head shot, with the smaller full body post. It makes for a nice contrast in the images. I even like the facsimile signature, even though it makes it distracting if you get the card autographed. That’s actually too bad because otherwise, the bold green background would present a signature very well.

It’s a nice design, and I enjoy it. But, do I enjoy it because it’s a nice design? Or do I like it because it reminds me of 1954?

Or is it a little of both?