7 Reasons To Celebrate 2025 Topps Heritage!
Coming soon, we got back in time, with a modern checklist on a bicentennial design!
Each Happy Hobby Sports Card Newsletter For Collectors has a handful of great sports card subjects, helping sports card collectors working with limited budgets!
This Week’s Newsletter Highlights!
⚾ 7 REASONS TO CELEBRATE 2025 TOPPS HERITAGE!
⚾ A CLOSER LOOK: 1976 TOPPS BASEBALL
⚾ BASEBALL CARD TRIVIA!
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⚾ 7 REASONS TO CELEBRATE 2025 TOPPS HERITAGE!
On April 30, 2025, Topps is set to release the 2025 Topps Heritage Baseball set in a couple forms, from hobby boxes to megas, with more types of boxes to come. While there are obvious great things we love about Topps Heritage, like the Real One autographs and the huge checklist that makes set building fun, we found even more reasons to like this particular set.
Remember that it commemorates a Topps design from 50 years ago, and in this case, it’s the 1976 Topps Design, which had some great features in its own right.
1. 4 Great New RCs We Didn’t Get in 2025 Topps Series 1
Let’s face it – we here for the rookie cards. While there were a ton of new rookie cards that came in Topps Series 1 of this year, there was still a little leftover for us to enjoy in Topps Heritage, with their first Topps pro cards.
Card No. 177 - Thomas Saggese, St. Louis Cardinals RC: Get excited about this infielder! The Cardinals aren’t doing a great job of finding spots for everyone to play, which might have stunted some player’s growth (see Jordan Walker and Nolan Gorman). But Saggese hit very well in a short stint already this year, coming into the season as the team’s fifth-best prospect. But at 23, he’s ready to play now.
Card No. 224 - Roki Sasaki, Los Angeles Dodgers RC: The Dodgers’ latest Japanese import is having some control issues, but he’s striking out close to a batter per inning, and he’s keeping hitters guessing.
Card No. 274 - Luisangel Acuña, New York Mets RC: The last name has us excited, but Ronald’s little brother doesn’t have the same power as big bro. Even so, Luisangel should be exciting on the basepaths, and he does make good contact.
Card No. 389 - Jackson Jobe, Detroit Tigers RC: Collecting pitchers ain’t fun, but this son of a PGA golfer started the season as the favorite to win the 2025 American League Rookie of the Year Award. That gets collectors interested!
2. 10 SP Rookie Cards – With 2 Yankees!
Each year, Heritage puts 100 cards in the 500-card checklist as short prints, and 10 of those short prints are rookie cards! Two of those 10 are rookie cards of Austin Wells and Ben Rice, two Yankees who have certainly had some exciting moments already this season! Yankees RCs are loved by all, even if Yankees players aren’t!
3. Topps All-Time All-Stars – Second Team!
While America was celebrating its bicentennial, Topps was celebrating the 100th anniversary of Major League Baseball, by naming its All-Time All-Stars!
This time, though, they named even more superstar legends that played before 1976. I wish they did an updated All-Star team, which would ostensibly include players like Babe Ruth again, along with maybe Mike Schmidt, Johnny Bench and Mariano Rivera!
But here’s who they went with instead:
344 Yogi Berra, New York Yankees
350 Stan Musial, St. Louis Cardinals
346 Hank Aaron, Atlanta Braves
343 Ernie Banks, Chicago Cubs
348 Mel Ott, New York Giants
341 Willie Mays, San Francisco Giants
347 Tris Speaker, Boston Red Sox
349 Mickey Mantle, New York Yankees
345 Roberto Clemente, Pittsburgh Pirates
342 Bob Gibson, St. Louis Cardinals
You can bet that the Aaron, Clemente, Mantle and Mays cards will be the ones most people try to grab!
Half-Century Later: 1976 Topps All-Time All-Stars Subset!
Each “Happy Hobby Sports Card Newsletter” pack has a handful of great sports card subjects, helping sports card collectors working with limited budgets – like me!
4. 25th Anniversary of Topps Heritage
Since debuting in 2001, Topps Heritage has become one of the more beloved sets released each year by Topps, partially because of its nod to history, its difficulty in set-building, and the alternative rookie cards.
In celebration of Year 25, Topps has inserted some pretty cool autograph series, like 1976 Baseball Cut Signatures, with players like Brooks Robinson, Hank Aaron, Tom Seaver, Willie Stargell and Yogi Berra in there.
There’s even a ’76 Celebrity Cut Signatures of celebrities from that era, including Burt Reynolds, Clint Eastwood and former President Jimmy Carter!
Throw in the Bicentennial Autograph Relics of ’76 superstars like George Brett, Mike Schmidt, Nolan Ryan and Reggie Jackson, and you have a pretty awesome auto checklist to hunt.
5. Notable Americans Inserts
While not super difficult to pull (1:13 hobby packs), these inserts highlight… well, a notable American. You have your former presidents, like George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Franklin Roosevelt and John Kennedy, and you have your American History studs, like Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Amelia Earhart, and Samuel Adams. Then there are the cultural superstars, like writers Ernest Hemingway and Edgar Allen Poe, and sports legends, like Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson and James Naismith.
It just feels like a pretty cool insert set to complete!... for a history nerd, like myself.
6. Pretty Great Sophomore Class of Stars
Second-year cards of players like Junior Caminero, Jackson Chourio, Elly De La Cruz, Jackson Holliday, Jackson Merrill, and Paul Skenes? Yes, please!
7. The Sweetest All-Star Card Design of the ‘70s
Some other sets from the ‘70s can make their argument (I hear you, 1975, 1977 and 1978), but I’m fully convinced these big fat yellow stars on the ’76 Topps set make an otherwise meek design really stand out!
Are you buying any 2025 Topps Heritage this year? Tell us in the comments below!
⚾ A CLOSER LOOK: 1976 TOPPS BASEBALL!
Happy Hobbyist Alan Camuto is a graphic designer who once worked on Topps set designs. He agreed to share his design insights on older Topps flagship set designs with us every couple weeks!
In 1976, Americans celebrated the nation’s bicentennial. That same year—coincidentally the year I was born—Topps released its 26th Flagship edition set of baseball cards. While not the most iconic release of the decade, it had its own distinct charm. The previous year's set, with its bold borders and unmistakable early '70s vibe, often overshadowed it, but the 1976 edition still had much to appreciate.
The design wasn’t flashy, but it embraced a clean, classic look, incorporating team colors for the name bars. Some hues were altered unexpectedly, like the Mets’ secondary color shifting from bright orange to more of a yellow, but these variations gave each card its own character. Even the Yankees, depicted in a combination of light blue and seafoam green—colors that seemed an odd choice—were ultimately embraced by collectors.
A standout feature of the 1976 set was the return of small corner silhouettes, first introduced in 1973. These refined black-and-white line drawings gave a detailed look at each player’s position. I loved how the illustrations spilled into the player’s photo, adding dynamic energy to the design. My favorite was the shortstop silhouette, capturing the action of a tag play at second base. This concept would later return in the 2004 Topps Baseball set.
Meanwhile, the All-Star player cards featured a yellow, black-outlined star to make them stand out. The Sporting News All-Star cards, which celebrated baseball’s All-Time All-Stars with a bicentennial headline and stripes, were also a special find in packs.
The card backs were equally well-designed, featuring a player’s full Major League stats with the card number centered inside a baseball icon. A baseball bat illustration along the left border resembled the iconic Louisville Slugger, a small but thoughtful design detail. The inclusion of a player’s full MLB stats made the back feel complete and informative.
The 1976 set was released as a single series and included key rookie cards of Dennis Eckersley and Willie Randolph, as well as notable second-year cards of George Brett and Gary Carter. Topps has announced that the 2025 Heritage set will feature a long-deserved tribute to this set, which I cannot wait to collect!
Alan, a dedicated Mets fan, designed trading cards for Topps, Fleer, and Rittenhouse from 2000 to 2007. After a 35-year break from collecting, he recently returned to the hobby, reconnecting with the cards and players he once helped showcase.
⚾ BASEBALL CARD TRIVIA!
Send me the answer to this question – you could win this free card from me: 2010 Topps Jackie Robinson Vintage All-Time Legends #VLC12 in that classic 1976 Topps design!
Since Bowman had the rights to baseball cards with gum in the packs in 1951, Topps believed they could avoid a lawsuit if they packaged their 1951 Topps cards with what other type of candy?
Email your answer to gonoscards@gmail.com and you can win this 2010 Topps Jackie Robinson Vintage All-Time Legends #VLC12 Card! Rather than take the first person who answers it right, I’m going to do a random drawing of all the people who answer this question before midnight, Friday, April 25. The winner will be announced in the May 1 newsletter.
From April 10 newsletter: Which year’s Topps flagship checklist is the only one set to have cards of Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams and Stan Musial? Prize: 1976 Topps Robin Yount card! Answer this question before midnight, Friday, April 18. The winner will be announced in the April 24 newsletter.
From April 3 newsletter: Which year had a Topps baseball set that denoted three All-Star outfielders from the same team? (In other words, all three of one team's outfielders made the All-Star team, and all three had an "All-Star" designation on their card in that flagship set.) Prize: 1993 Fleer Ultra Ken Griffey Jr. #619. The answer: 1980 Topps – Boston Red Sox with Jim Rice, Fred Lynn, and Carl Yastrzemski. The winner: Adam Smith wins again! Congrats, Adam!
Coming Next Week!
🏈 TOP 15 FOOTBALL ROOKIE CARDS SINCE 2015 NFL DRAFT!
⚾ BASEBALL CARD TRIVIA!
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Great work as always fellas! I am even more excited to get my Hobby box, hopefully a little before the official release. Alan, thanks for the insight on the 76 design, it will no doubt have me going slower and looking closer at the cards.
Great Heritage write-up fellas! Excited to hear they are doing the All Time All Stars again, even if I agree with you, David, that they should have done an updated team. The star on the front of the All Stars is really awesome, I do think it may take the cake as the best of the 70’s.
Alan, it was really nice to hear some love for the ‘76 design. I feel like it had always been a little underappreciated by many (including myself), definitely overshadowed by ‘75, as you astutely pointed out. However, I do feel like that sentiment has changed in recent-ish years. I know I certainly appreciate it moreso now, and actually consider the Bench and the Brett (and others), amongst their respective best looking cards ever. Well done, thanks.