[Baseball Nut]

For collectors who concentrate on minor league baseball alone, Topps Pro Debut was the only game in town. The set did a good job of condensing the complexity of the entire minor league system down to one attractive set. Now there is another set for fans of the MiLB to chase, 2011 Topps Heritage Minor League Baseball. For the most part, it is very much like this year’s Major League set, but there are some noticeable differences.



This set falls under our classification of trading cards. Hobby Boxes contain 24 – 9 card packs and feature two autograph cards and one relic card.


Here is a look at some of the cards we pulled from our hobby box.

Bryce Harper base, front and back

Jesus Montero, Aaron Hicks, Yasmani Grandal

Gary Brown, Matt Moore, Manny Machado

Mike Trout, Michael Burgess, Michael Choice

Jurickson Profar, Jesse Biddle, Shelby Miller


Short Prints

Starling Marte, Gary Sanchez, Mike Trout

Alex Wimmers, Derek Norris, Austin Romine


Green Tints #/620

Daniel Fields and Dimaster Delgado


Blue Tints #/620

Chevez Clarke, Alex Wimmers and Danny Duffy


Red Tints #/620

Kyle Higashioka, Brett Lawrie and Nate Baker


Black Border #/62

Anthony Gose


Memorabilia

Adys Portillo Red Tint #/99


Autos

Brad Chalk #/861, Francisco Martinez #/861 and Robbie Shields Blue Tint #/99

Overall Look

Same design as this year’s Heritage, which is based on 1962 Topps Baseball cards. The big difference between this set and the MLB edition is the photography. While the MLB Edition had specific photography that mimicked the 1962 release, this MiLB edition does not. That is not to say there is something wrong with the photography, in fact the photography is excellent, but it is not stylized. Inserts, for the most part, work nicely and hits are attractively laid out. The tint cards, especially the red series, do not have the finesse of the MLB edition, but they are numbered which is appreciated.

Quality and Variety of Players and Subsets.

There is a different checklist from the Pro Debut release earlier this year, so there is even more to collect from this set. Just like Pro Debut, there is a tight mix of quality players and new talent.

Do the hits hold up?

Really nice group of hits here. The auto cards seemed to have been designed for on-card autos, but the clear stickers work well.

Will you want to collect them all?

Set builders will find this very collectable. If you have a minor league in your back yard, these cards are great for autograph hunters, even better than the Pro Debut cards.

Rating


4 1/2 out of 5

2011 Topps Heritage Minor League Baseball takes its place as the premiere MiLB set to collect this year.



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