2002 Bowman Heritage Baseball

2002 Bowman Heritage is a baseball card set produced and distributed by Topps. The card set is based on the 1954 Bowman set.

Distribution[]

The cards were distributed in boxes that came 10-cards per pack and 24 packs per box. Hobby boxes are still available for $80-$125.

Master Set[]

2002 Bowman Heritage Base Set

The master set of 2002 Bowman Heritage is made up of 324 base cards and an additional 116 short prints that were inserted 1 per 2 packs. There are no special subsets within the base set. It should be noted that two versions of the card number 66 exist, one of Pedro Martinez and the other of Nomar Garciaparra. This was done on purpose as homage to the original 1954 set that also had two versions of card #66 (Ted Williams and Jimmy Piersall). A full color, grainy photograph is surrounded by a white border is displayed on the front of the card with either the player’s name in block letters or a facsimile signature on the bottom of the card. The back of the card features player biographical information and some 2001 and career statistics. The main change from the original 1954 Bowman design was a resizing from the original card dimensions to the modern card dimensions. Additionally the Bowman Heritage logo printed on the card front.

Key Cards[]

This set includes rookie cards of David Wright, Jason Bay, Jose Bautista, and Joe Mauer. Both the Wright and Mauer cards sell for around $10.

Parallel Sets[]

There were three partial parallel sets inserted into packs. On avarage a single box will yield 12 Black Box and 2 Chrome Refractors.

Black Box[]

Black Box Checklist

A 55-card partial parallel set was inserted 1 per 2 packs. The card front differ from the base set with the black box containing the "signature" of the player. But the card backs are identical to the base set.

Chrome Refractors[]

Chrome Refractors Checklist

There were two Chrome partial parallel sets also produced for the 2002 Heritage set. Each set had 110 cards featuring the same players and checklist. The Chrome Refractor set was seeded at 1:16 packs and had a serial numbered print run of 350. A gold refractor set was also produced, seeded at half the rate and half the print run; 1:32 packs and a serial numbered run of 175 copies per card. The Chrome printing process did cause these cards to warp over time if not encased in a semi-rigid case.

Inserts[]

1954 Reprints[]

1954 Reprints
1954 Reprints Autographs

The main insert set was a series of 20 reprints from the original 1954 Bowman Set. Berra, Snider, and Mays are the main highlights. The cards were resized to standard size otherwise they would have been oversized for the packs. The card number shown in the baseball in the lower right hand corner of the card box is the original card number from the 1954 Bowman set.

Following the tradition set in the 2001 Bowman Heritage set, a number of the players in the reprint card set signed some copies of cards for insertion. The base Reprint Auto set featured 6 players (including Yogi Berra) and were seeded 1 in 26 packs. Approximately 815 of each card were printed. A Special Edition Autograph (signed in red ink) was also released serial numbered to 54 and seeded at 1 in 1910 packs. It should also be noted that the Don Mueller, Johnny Logan, Del Crandall, and Dave Williams autographs in this set are notable as there are very few autograph cards of each player.

Autographs[]

Autographs Checklist and Gallery

A group of current players (mostly prospects) also signed cards for insertion. 13 players including Pujols, Mark Prior, Roy Oswalt and Lance Berkman all signed cards. Overall odds were 1:45. It should be noted that the Albert Pujols and Joe Mauer cards are in high demand, but are available on the secondary market.

Relics[]

Relics Checklist and Gallery

A number of current players (veterans) were also featured in a Relics insert set. Jerseys and Unis were inserted into packs at overall rates of 1:47 and 1:75 respectively. There were four different Uni groups and 7 different Jersey groups at differing rates. Most of these jersey and uniform swatches are single color swatches, but occasionally one is discovered with a pinstripe.