2005 Topps Heritage baseball cards

Following the order of the previous Topps Heritage years, 2005 is designed in honor of the very popular 1956 Topps set.

This set was released in February of 2005. The "hobby" issued boxes were supposed to contain some 1956-style MLB felt pennants as box toppers, but cancelled that idea at the last minute after being told by MLB that the pennants would need to be manufactured by the MLB officially licenced pennant maker. Rumor is that these pennants were indeed produced, just not inserted into the product. Maybe one day they will find their way on to the market?

Unlike 2004 products, 2005 Heritage features Barry Bonds, who signed an exclusive contract with Topps for them to print his cards. This years set also features great looking team cards in the fashion of 1956 Topps.

The base set consists of 475 different cards, as well as all of the great insert sets that Topps Heritage collectors have grown accustomed to.

Some interesting similarites in the 2005 Heritage set and 1956 Topps is that both John Smoltz shares the same card # as Warren Spahn did in the 1956 set (both stars for the Braves). Kaz Ishii and Sandy Koufax, both stars for the dodgers, also share the same card numbers. Also, Alex Rodriguez and Mickey Mantle cards are the same number in each set.

Once again this year, there are 3 different chrome sets that are parallel to the base set. Each Chrome set is made up of 110 different cards:

Chrome (Limited and #'d to 1956)
Refractor (Limited and #'d to 556)
Black Refractor (Limited and #'d to 56)

All three of the Chrome sets continue to maintain their popularity amongst Heritage fans. The very limited Black bordered refractors should continue to bring good prices, with more collectors discovering Topps Heritage every year.

Short Printed cards

SP's or "short prints" are base cards that were printed in less quantity than the other base cards, causing them to be more difficult to find. There are 100 different "short printed" cards in the 2005 Topps Heritage set. Card #'s 398-475 are all SP's, as well as the cards listed below with the SP designation.

This is also a list of the variations that can be found in the 2005 Topps Heritage baseball set. Remember, cards #398-475 are ALL short prints.

• #3 Alfonso Soriano (Running)
• #5 Todd Helton
• #6 Jason Bay (1956 Uniform "P")
• #7 Ichiro (On Deck)
• #20 Jim Edmonds
• #30 Hideo Nomo
• #31 Albert Pujols (Red Hat)
• #31 Albert Pujols (Blue Hat)
• #33 Vladimir Guerrero
• #50 Jim Thome (Fielding)
• #69 Mark Prior (1956 Uniform)
• #78 Edgardo Alfonzo (1956 Uniform)
• #79 Kazuhisa Ishii
• #82 Torii Hunter (1956 Uniform)
• #101 Ivan Rodriguez
• #110 Jorge Posada
• #118 Magglio Ordonez (1956 Uniform)
• #125 Nomar Garciaparra (1956 Uniform)
• #130 Andruw Jones
• #135 Alex Rodriguez (Batting)
• #135 Alex Rodriguez (Fielding)
• #155 Eric Chavez (1956 Uniform)
• #260 Cesar Izturis
• #261 Carlos Beltran (Batting)
• #273 Chipper Jones (Blue Background)
• #286 Hank Blalock (Fielding)
• #292 Ryan Sweeney
• #296 Johan Santana (1956 Uniform)
• #300 Sammy Sosa (Blue Jersey)
• #312 Lance Berkman (Fielding)
• #353 Tim Hudson (1956 Uniform Sleeve Patch)
• #389 Curt Schilling (Looking In)

#398-475 are ALL short printed.

Gray Backs / White Backs

In 1956 cards #1-180 had either gray or white backs. Similar to the 1956 Topps set, which also had color variations on the backs, Topps repeated the enigma with the 2005 Topps Heritage set. I've read various rumors of people getting different answers from Topps about how this happened. I feel certain that it was done deliberately, and I'm glad they did it. I think it was a good idea to add another resemblance to the original 1956 cards.

#10 John Smoltz
#12 Darin Erstad
#13 Chad Tracy
#14 Charles Thomas
#18 Derrek Lee
#19 Juan Uribe
#21 Kenny Lofton
#22 Brad Ausmus
#23 Jon Garland
#24 Edwin Jackson
#25 Joe Mauer
#26 Wes Helms
#27 Brian Schneider
#29 Flash Gordon
#34 Nick Green
#36 Kevin Youkilis
#37 Billy Wagner
#38 Terrence Long
#39 Kevin Mench
#41 Reed Johnson
#42 Reggie Sanders
#43 Kirk Rueter
#45 Tike Redman
#47 Damian Miller
#48 Zach Day
#53 Juan Cruz
#54 Byung-Hyun Kim
#55 Carlos Zambrano
#58 David Riske
#59 Carlos Guillen
#61 Barry Bonds
#62 Chris Woodward
#65 Scot Shields
#66 J.D. Drew
#67 Erik Bedard
#68 Scott Williamson
#74 Ricardo Rodriguez
#75 Carlos Delgado
#83 Odalis Perez
#84 Scott Podsednik
#86 Jeff Suppan
#87 Ray Durham
#91 Bengie Molina
#92 Danny Bautista
#93 Eli Marrero
#94 Larry Bigbie
#96 Merkin Valdez
#97 Rocco Baldelli
#98 Woody Williams
#99 Jason Frasor
#102 Joe Kennedy
#104 Armando Benitez
#106 David DeJesus
#108 Phil Nevin
#109 Cristian Guzman
#114 Alex Cintron
#117 Placido Polanco
#120 Bobby Abreu
#122 Dallas McPherson
#123 Rodrigo Lopez
#124 Mark Bellhorn
#127 Ronnie Belliard
#128 Tom Goodwin
#131 Roberto Alomar
#132 John Buck
#133 Jason LaRue
#136 Nate Robertson
#138 Morgan Ensberg
#139 Vinny Castilla
#141 Chan Ho Park
#143 Jason Isringhausen
#144 Dustan Mohr
#145 Khalil Greene
#147 Vicente Padilla
#148 Oliver Perez
#149 Brian Giles
#150 Shawn Green
#152 Casey Blake
#154 Orlando Hernandez
#156 Chase Utley
#158 Adam Eaton
#160 Michael Tucker
#161 Kevin Brown
#162 Bobby Crosby
#165 Tony Womack
#168 Ted Lilly
#170 Matt Morris
#173 Jeff Weaver
#174 Tony Graffanino
#176 Carl Pavano
#177 Junior Spivey
#178 Carlos Silva
#180 Brett Myers
#181 Mike Mussina
#183 Nick Johnson
#189 Guillermo Quiroz
#190 Mark Hendrickson
#191 Jeremy Bonderman
#192 Jason Jennings
#194 A.J. Burnett
#195 Ken Harvey
#197 Joe Mays
#200 Randy Johnson
#201 Jeff DaVanon
#202 Paul Byrd
#204 Kyle Farnsworth
#205 Keith Foulke
#206 Joe Crede
#207 Austin Kearns
#209 Shawn Chacon
#211 Luis Castillo
#215 Brad Fullmer
#218 Ryan Klesko
#219 Octavio Dotel

"Real One" Autograph cards

There are 23 different "Real One" signature/autograph cards that come in either blue or red ink. The "red ink" versions are the rarest, each being hand-numbered to 56. It is estimated that approximately 200 of each "blue ink" autograph card are in existance.

Consists of all retired players.

#RO-AS Art Swanson
#RO-BT Bill Tremel
#RO-BF Bob Feller
#RO-BN Bob Nelson
#RO-CD Chuck Diering
#RO-DS Duke Snider
#RO-EB Ernie Banks
#RO-FM Freddie Marsh
#RO-HA Hank Aaron
#RO-JM Jake Martin
#RO-JB Jim Brady
#RO-JG Jim Greengrass
#RO-JA Joe Astroth
#RO-JS Johnny Schmitz
#RO-JSA Jose Santiage
#RO-LP Laurin Pepper
#RO-LPO Leroy Powell
#RO-MI Monte Irvin
#RO-PM Paul Minner
#RO-RM Rudy Minarcin
#RO-SJ Spook Jacobs
#RO-WW Wally Westlake
#RO-YB Yogi Berra