2007 Topps Heritage Team Emblem Box Toppers

Even though Topps has not issued any team logo stickers since 2002, they did issue one more team logo set in 2007. The set consisted of fleece patches that were issued as box topper inserts in boxes of 2007 Topps Heritage (which paid tribute to the 1958 Topps set).


They are replicas of the felt team logo emblems that were available via a mail in offer back in 1958.

Here is the original 1958 insert card with the offer for the patches:


as well as the back of the card:

It looks like it only took one gum wrapper and a SASE to get a felt emblem. Not a bad deal!

The 2007 version of the patches are also 5 inches (just like in 1958), and are only for the teams that existed in 1958. I haven't seen any of the original emblems, but based on comparing the 2007 patches to what is shown on the 1958 card, the designs appear to be close replicas.

The one odd thing that I have never seen explained is why all the teams that were playing in 1958 are not in the set. There were 16 Major League teams in 1958, but there are only 13 patches in the set. It does not appear that patches were made for the Cleveland Indians, Detroit Tigers, or Milwaukee Braves. They are listed on the back of the patches, but apparently they were never produced:


If anyone has seen a Braves, Indians, or Tigers patch, I would like to hear from you since I've never seen one.

Here is a look at the entire set:


As shown above, I've got them displayed in 2 pocket pages, so this should give an idea of how big these are.

I always liked this vintage White Sox logo.


Notice they are the Cincinnati "Redlegs", not Reds. Back in the 1950's, the team switched the name to Redlegs to avoid the association with Communism as "Reds" is sometimes used to describe Communists (which was a very sensitive issue back in the days of McCarthyism).

Also, we've got the old Kansas City Athletics, so Topps is being historically correct going with the team city and logo from 1958 as opposed to modifying the original patch to update the city to Oakland.


As we saw on the 1958 offer card, the Dodgers and Yankees appear to be close copies of what was originally offered. I like the "N.Y." on the Yankees logo - that is something you don't typically see on their logo, but it does match what was on the 1958 card. If you look closely at the 1958 card and the 2007 patch, there are subtle differences in the Yankees patch as the "Y" and "s" connect to the circle around the logo whereas the 1958 patch did not. It appears in this case they took the current logo and added the "N.Y" to try to replicate the earlier logo.




Once again, we've got a team that no longer exists (as the Senators moved to Minnesota to become the Twins), but for historical accuracy, they are properly shown as they would have been in 1958.

The patches came in a wrapper inside boxes of 2007 Topps Heritage:



I really like this set, and am glad that Topps decided to maintain the retro theme and used the logos from 1958 even in cases where the teams no longer exist. My only complaint is the 3 missing teams. I could almost see leaving out the KC A's, Milwaukee Braves, and Washington Senators from the standpoint that those teams no longer exist in those cities, but leaving out the Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Indians makes no sense.

All I can figure is that there must have been a licensing issue with the logos that were being used back in 1958 and Topps decided to just leave those teams out. Here are the logos in question as they appeared in the 1958 set:



Perhaps MLB Properties does not have the rights to these logos and could not license them to Topps, so Topps decided to just leave them out of the set. If anyone has any information on why these teams are missing, please let me know.

Now if only Topps had done a similar box topper in the 2008 Heritage set for the 1959 Felt Pennant Offer!