Funny you should mention that one. It was the first baseball set I truly collected and probably bought more of that year than any other. Sold my complete set in '88, but used my doubles to cobble together another full set. I love it when Topps does retro sets with old designs as the '78 ones are always ones I want just for the design itself (even if that design is pretty ordinary, it is seared into my memory).
I think the use of classic Topps card designs in the Heritage sets speaks to the power that those designs had (which we were discussing earlier) which is partly due to them being the "only game in town" with regard to baseball cards, and the fact that there was only a single set and design used each year. Beyond that, I've long felt that starting with the age of the first Upper Deck sets, when cards became full color back-and-front and had clean white border designs, so much of the fun was removed from the cards. Part of the fun was the unique and creative border designs used each year. The same cannot be said for card sets in the 1990's (though I'm sure there are exceptions - I can think of a few).
I think, along with everything else (the move to chase cards and many "sets" each from each manufacturer ever year) this idea of well-defined and fun new unifying and unique designs for each set, each year was discarded. And that changed how you look back on sets.
There's a reason why Topps continues to get so much mileage out of those old border designs - because even when they weren't the coolest, they were strong designs. I love me a good 1975 Topps border design, myself. And I adore the 72 borders, although I don't know if my love for them is universal. Is there anything in the post 1990's Topps card world to compare?
Similarly, look at how they use that classic 1970's Topps Star Wars border design over and over. It's nostalgia, sure, but it's also just so much more distinctive than anything they've done in the last 25 years.
