Pack of the Day 93: One Target Blaster Box of 2015 Heritage

I needed some razor cartridges and shampoo, so I went to Target specifically to get those things, and while I was there I just happened to wander by the card aisle. I knew that for this product I would just be buying a set from an online seller, but I had to get some of the new 2015 Topps Heritage in my hands to see what it looks like. I decided to grab an 8-pack blaster, although the store I went to also had a gravity-feed box and hanger packs. It looked like the local pack searcher had already gone through the loose packs, so I figured my best shot at unmolested cards was something that came in a sealed box. 

 I am not extremely familiar with most vintage Topps designs (my parents were 4 years old in 1966), but I like this design well enough. I really like that cap George Springer is wearing in this photo. I have an Astros cap that I wear sometimes, but it features the 2000-2012 logo that I don't really like all that much.

I was happy to pull a few Astros in this box, although Dexter Fowler was traded to the Cubs in January after playing one year for Houston. Nice to see Pat Neshek in his Houston garb, as he is a card collector himself and thus a bit of a hobbyist fan favorite.

Three short-prints came out of the box, including one Astro in the form of Jose Altuve. Miguel Cabrera and Josh Hamilton are my other SPs. I think I am still missing Cabrera's SP card from my 2014 set. I'll get it eventually. I didn't get any of the parallel inserts like Chrome or Refractors, and I also did not pull any of the rare action photo variations, trade variations, gum-stained back variations, or stuff like that. The odds on most of that stuff are pretty astronomical.

I guess the Target-exclusive cards for this year are a Nolan Ryan retrospective set of 15 cards. I got one of them. The New Age Performers set returns this year, with Chris Sale being the representative from these packs. It's an okay design, I suppose.

Then & Now also continues the theme of Old Guy / New Guy, with the familiar pairing of Sandy Koufax and Clayton Kershaw that has been featured on 95,000 OG/NG cards over the last couple of years. News Flashbacks was the last insert set that showed up in my 8 packs, with this card highlighting female pilot Sheila Scott, who broke a bunch of records for flying and became the first British woman to fly around the globe.

And that's about it as far as the highlights go. Heritage is a pretty formulaic product and this year's offering doesn't stray from what's gone before. I guess the gum-stained variation is a new thing, but with those only falling a few per case it's not something that most of us are going to run across all that often.