2006 Topps Heritage baseball Cards

2006 Topps Heritage Baseball is patterned after the extremely popular 1957 Topps baseball set, which was the year that set the first set the standard for modern card sizes (2.5"x3.5"). The 1957 Topps set is so popular due to the extra clean, simple design, with a photograph taking up a majority of the front of the cards, along with the players name, team name, and position. It's for these same reasons that 2006 Topps Heritage proved once again to be a favorite in the hobby.

Topps released the Heritage cards in February of 2006 with a suggested retail price of $3.00 per pack.

Topps included manager and team cards in the 2006 Heritage set, and also brought back all the popular insert cards from previous Topps Heritage years. The "chrome" parallels have become hobby favorites, and are back again in 3 tiers:

Chrome (Limited and #'d to 1957)
Refractor (Limited and #'d to 557)
Black Refractor (Limited and #'d to 57)

Topps also randomly inserted two different "1/1 cut signature" autographed cards. One featuring Mickey Mantle and the other featuring Ted Williams. They also included a one-of-a-kind "Clubhouse Collection Signature Cut Relic" of Mickey Mantle.

One of the more interesting cards in the 2006 Topps Heritage set is card #255 Alex Gordon. MLB instituted new guidelines regarding what cards the manufacturers could call "rookie cards". To make a long story not as long, Topps had already printed some Alex Gordon cards and the manufacturing process was so far along that they were unable to pull the Alex Gordon cards from production, but were able to make sure they were all "cut up". Topps cut a square out of each #255 Alex Gordon card, and some found their way into packs. The cards still sell for a decent amount of money.

2006 Topps Heritage #255 Alex Gordon cut-out

Short Prints

1 David Ortiz
2 Mike Piazza
10 Barry Bonds
18 Pedro Martinez
20b Andruw Jones w/Seats
23b Derek Jeter Blue Letters
25 Randy Johnson
35 Wily Mo Pena
55 Derrek Lee
70 Bobby Abreu
76 Jason Bay
80b Tim Hudson Blue Letters
91 Chris Snelling
95a Alex Rodriguez Fielding
95b Alex Rodriguez w/Bat
99 Brian Jordan
106 Bengie Molina
123 Humberto Cota
127 Joe Nathan
165b Albert Pujols Red Shirt
200b Roger Clemens Red Shirt
212b Rocco Baldelli Blue Letters
265 Jose Contreras
266 Tadahito Iguchi
267 Mark Loretta
268 Ray Durham
269 Neifi Perez
271 Troy Glaus
272 Matt Holliday
273 Kevin Millwood
274 Jon Lieber
276 Jeremy Reed
277 Garrett Atkins
278 Geoff Jenkins
279 Joey Gathright
280 Ben Sheets
281 Melvin Mora
282 Jonathan Papelbon
283 John Smoltz
284 Jake Peavy
285 Felix Hernandez
286 Alfonso Soriano
287 Bronson Arroyo
288 Adam LaRoche
289 Aramis Ramirez
290 Brad Hennessey
291 Conor Jackson
292 Rod Barajas
293 Chris R. Young
294 Jeremy Bonderman
295 Jack Wilson
296 Jay Payton
297 Danys Baez
298 Jose Lima
299 Luis A. Gonzalez
300 Mike Sweeney
301 Nelson Cruz
302 Eric Gagne
303 Juan Castro
304 Joe Mauer
305 Richie Sexson
306 Roy Oswalt

"Real One" Autographed cards.

The popular Topps Heritage "Real One" autographs return this year boasting a checklist of 28 different players. Once again, each card is signed in either blue or red ink, with the "red ink" variety being the most limited at only 57 hand numbered copies of each of each.

• ROA-BC Bob Chakales
• ROA-BW Bob Wiesler
• ROA-CT Charles Thompson
• ROA-DC Dick Cole
• ROA-DK Don Kaiser
• ROA-DS Duke Snider
• ROA-DR Dusty Rhodes
• ROA-EOB Eddie O'Brien
• ROA-EB Ernie Banks
• ROA-EO Ernie Oravetz
• ROA-FR Frank Robinson
• ROA-JC Jerry Coleman
• ROA-JCR Jack Collum
• ROA-JD Jack Dittmer
• ROA-JSN Jerry Snyder

"Flashbacks" autographs

Limited edition of only 25 numbered copies of each card.

• #FA-DS Duke Snider
• #FA-EB Ernie Banks
• #FA-SM Stan Musial
• #FA-FR Frank Robinson
• #FA-BR Brooks Robinson

"Flashbacks" autographed Seat Relics

Limited edition of only 25 numbered copies of each card.

• FRA-DS Duke Snider
• FRA-EB Ernie Banks
• FRA-SM Stan Musial
• FRA-FR Frank Robinson
• FRA-BR Brooks Robinson

"Flashbacks" Seat Relics (non-autographed)

*The Stan Musial card is the most difficult to obtain from this set. It's estimated that only 140 copies of the Stan Musial card were made.

• #FR-BM Bill Mazeroski
• #FR-FR Frank Robinson
• #FR-BR Brooks Robinson
• #FR-AK Al Kaline
• #FR-MM Mickey Mantle
• #FR-YB Yogi Berra
• #FR-BRI Bobby Richardson
• #FR-WF Whitey Ford
• #FR-SM Stan Musial
• #FR-EB Ernie Banks

Flashbacks" (non-autographed)

Topps stated odds of pulling a "Flashbacks" insert card at 1 in 12 packs for both hobby and retail.

• FB-BM Bill Mazeroski
• FB-FR Frank Robinson
• FB-BR Brooks Robinson
• FB-AK Al Kaline
• FB-MM Mickey Mantle
• FB-YB Yogi Berra
• FB-BRI Bobby Richardson
• FB-WF Whitey Ford
• FB-SM Stan Musial
• FB-EB Ernie Banks

Clubhouse Collection Autographed Relics

These are supposedly limited and numbered to only 25 of each card. I don't think I've ever seen one. I'm not sure if they were redemption cards or were actually issued in packs.

• CCA-1 Bill Mazeroski
• CCA-2 Frank Robinson
• CCA-3 Brooks Robinson
• CCA-4 Al Kaline
• CCA-6 Stan Musial

Clubhouse Collection Relics (non-autographed)

• #CC-AD Adam Dunn
• #CC-AJ Andruw Jones
• #CC-AK Al Kaline
• #CC-AP Albert Pujols
• #CC-AR Alex Rodriguez
• #CC-AR2 Alex Rodriguez
• #CC-AS Alfonso Soriano
• #CC-BB Barry Bonds
• #CC-BM Bill Mazeroski
• #CC-BR Brian Roberts
• #CC-BR2 Brian Roberts
• #CC-BRO Brooks Robinson
• #CC-CB Clint Barmes
• #CC-CC Carl Crawford
• #CC-CJ Conor Jackson
• #CC-CS Curt Schilling
• #CC-DL Derrek Lee
• #CC-DO David Ortiz
• #CC-DW David Wright
• #CC-DWI Dontrelle Willis
• #CC-EC Eric Chavez
• #CC-EG Eric Gagne
• #CC-FR Frank Robinson
• #CC-GS Gary Sheffield
• #CC-JD Johnny Damon
• #CC-JD2 Johnny Damon

Clubhouse Collection Dual Relics

Limited edition of 57 numbered copies of each card

• #CCDR-BR Brooks Robinson / Brian Roberts
• #CCDR-MR Mickey Mantle / Alex Rodriguez
• #CCDR-MP Stan Musial / Albert Pujols

"New Age Performers"

Topps stated odds of pulling a New Age Performers card at 1 in 15 packs for both hobby and retail.

• NAP-BB Barry Bonds
• NAP-AR Alex Rodriguez
• NAP-GS Gary Sheffield
• NAP-RC Roger Clemens
• NAP-I Ichiro
• NAP-AP Albert Pujols
• NAP-MT Mark Teixeira
• NAP-GM Mark Prior
• NAP-DL Derrek Lee
• NAP-VG Vladimir Guerrero
• NAP-DO David Ortiz
• NAP-MR Manny Ramirez
• NAP-PM Pedro Martinez
• NAP-CL Carlos Lee
• NAP-MC Miguel Cabrera

"Then & Now" insert set

Topps stated odds of pulling a New Age Performers card at 1 in 15 packs for both hobby and retail.

• TN1 Mantle / Rodriguez
• TN2 Willams / Young
• TN3 Mantle / Giambi
• TN4 Aparacio / Figgins
• TN5 Williams / Rodriguez
• TN6 Musial / Lee
• TN7 Musial / Lee
• TN8 Schoendienst / Lee
• TN9 Podres / Clemens
• TN10 Labine / Cordero

Checklists

Each checklist also has 2 variations, one coming from hobby packs, and the other being found in retail packs. The variation is that the retail found checklists do not include the 1/1 cut signatures or any "hobby only" issued sets.