2012 Topps Tribute Review

Product: 2012 Topps Tribute!!
Box Price: $280+
Distribution: 6 Packs/box 5 cards/pack
Hits: 6 Hits per box (3 Relics and 3 autos)

My Grade: B+ 
   This is product that my collector friend Jon and I get the most excited about after seeing the product in 2011 our minds were blown by the quality of the cards and uniqueness of the set. The 2012 set followed up 2011 with another great design and more unique cards. However there is one big difference in the cards this year. Topps decided to put each of their autos and game used jersey cards in non-circulated  sealed cases almost as if to say, "keep your grubby hands off of this card you just bought, we cant trust our collectors to care for a card properly." Now this may be because Topps didn't want to compromise the integrity/quality of the cards, but I like to think up my own little dialogue that I think a Topps executive might say.
    Since I can't personally afford to drop 300$ on a box of baseball cards. Jon and I split a box to open. what we pulled was NOT fantastic, however the product looked great. just to give you an idea of just how bad our box was. Logan Morrison and Adam Lind made up 2 of our 3 autos from the box. as great of players as they are to their respective teams, thats NOT who we wanted to see come out of those packs. Here we go. Here are some hits that I have picked up along the way from this years' Tribute.

First of all here are the base cards. Each card has a rainbow finish on the surface of the card and is printed on thicker stock cardboard. The Eddie Mathews card on the bottom right of the picture is one of the serial #'d parallels. There are #'d parallels from /299 /199 /99 /60 /25 /10 /1. Very cool looking and collectable cards. Lets get to the fun stuff.

 I have never really been a fan of redemptions just because they take FOREVER to get back to you, but I was actually pretty excited to see this redemption come out of our box and somewhat save it.... I am still waiting on it from Topps.

After Tribute had been out for a couple weeks I bought a single pack and pulled this little Gem. It is a Mike/Giancarlo Stanton Gold autograph serial #'d /15!! I love seeing cards like this just because there are so few of them available, and it looks Amazing!

After Jon and I managed to get some money for the bad pulls we had from the box we had just enough to buy 1 more pack each... this is what my pack contained... NOPE, MOVING ON!!

I love the aesthetics of this years set so I have been looking for good deals on Ebay and managed to find these Tulo Game Used cards for pretty cheap so I scooped them up. On the left is the Superstar Swatches 'Tulo Time' card, and on the right is the Positions of Power 'SS' variation card. you can see how unique the cards are with the jersey swatches and card designs.both of these are serial #'d /99. 

These are a couple more of the cards that are available in the set on the left is the Carlos Gonzalez Debut Digits '28' card, and on the right is the Miguel Cabrera Positions of Power '1B'. Both of these are serial #'d /50 and are really cool looking cards. Overall I am pleased with the look of this years set but what could be better with a high end collector/hit seeker set is the selection of players included. there aren't too many collectors that I know that get excited about spending 50$ for a pack and pulling an Alexi Ogando or Adam Lind auto #'d /99. Oh yeah and get rid of these uncirculated sealed cases, these cards aren't made of gold or anything. anyways, This set is for the select collector that can afford the high dollar card. if you have the money laying around I thing that Triple Threads or Museum Collection might offer a better option but Tribute does have some very unique designs that aren't found anywhere else. Thanks for taking the time to read my blog and as always...
Peace and Baseball Cards!!