Product Review: 2012 Topps Tribute

Let me start off by saying 2 things: 1) There is no way I can buy a whole box of this stuff. 2) My wife is awesome for letting me snag two packs instead of just the one I was thinking about doing. Hotwit, you are awesome!!!

Alright so I stopped by my local card shop this afternoon to pick up the (10) sets of Prime 9 Redemption Home Run Legends cards for the Trade Bait Draft! And we got them all (actually he has about 75 complete sets, and knows he'll never get them all redeemed, so that's why he didn't mind using them as incentive to join the draft!!!) So it is confirmed, all participants will get a full 9 card set!!!! YAY!!!

 I digress... there was a box of 2012 Topps Tribute on the shelf with 2 packs left. I was tempted, I gave in and figured since I've never opened even a pack of this stuff (let alone own even a base card from the set) I'd give it a shot! The wife, as previously mentioned, indulged me and told me to snag them both.

Here are the base cards from the first two packs!

 Pack 1: Schmidt, Upton and Utley. WOW, great looking cards! If you get the whole base set collected, that'd be one hell of an impressive looking binder!

Pack 2: Jeter, Gonzalez and Feller. Can't complain about a Hall member, a future member and a current star for the Rockies. Again, I'm REALLY impressed with the quality of the cards and subjects for the base set. Maybe I got lucky, ok, yes I got really lucky, as you'll see...

Here are the parallels I pulled from each pack:

 Pack 1: DROOOOOOOOL...... WOW, the GOLD parallels are disgustingly AWESOME!!!! 45/50! Gehrig! Awesome! It's a sweet looking card that should help me recoup at least half of my pack cost!

Pack 2: Another HOF player for my parallel! This Sandberg will make any Cubs fan drool with it being a blue parallel /199!

Now for my two encased hits.... before I show them off, let me say that I LOVE the fact that Topps is putting these in magnet hard cases with a sticker seal! Awesome job Topps. Now, I didn't pull a Darvish auto, oh but if I did I'd be ordering my own case of 2012 Topps Gypsy Queen! Haha! Onto the hits:

Pack 1: A SWEEEET Ozzie Smith relic card numbered /99! The relic is not from a World Series game (thanks for clarifying that Topps) but a very nice card nonetheless! Again, this should help me recoup about the cost of half a pack on eBay!

Pack 2: WOW!!! A blue parallel /50 Don Mattingly autograph! Again, I have no complaints whatsoever with this card! It's amazingly shiny and a great auto of the Yankee legend and current Dodgers coach. Based on currently sales, I should definitely expect to make a pack-worth of money plus some for this card.

I only mention the value in this review because this is a higher end product. Sometimes you get burned on this product and sometimes you beat the house. I think I beat the house on these two packs and just wanted to show my readers that it is possible. Now, did I get incredibly lucky to get both the Mattingly and the Gehrig? Of course! But thems is the breaks!

I hope you all enjoyed this little review. I will be posting the parallels and hits on eBay to help me recoup some cost. So the base cards are definitely for trade, and if you have a monetary offer on the parallels/hits, then I'd definitely rather sell to a reader off eBay, but I do need cash for these, as I bought them with the sole intention of running this little experiment to see how much of the cost I can recoup from a high end product. Anyways, again I hope you enjoyed, these are some GREAT cards!