Monday, June 10, 2013

2013 Topps Tribute Baseball Box Break Recap And Review


The secret to good years for Topps Tribute can be found in the checklist.  But it is not just the presence of the biggest names in the sport, but the ratio which the appear in comparison to other lesser players.  For 2013 Topps Tribute Baseball the checklist is deep and wide but the ratios are a little unbalanced.  All of this leads to the possibility of pulling a huge hit being very good but the probability of doing just that is not as good.But if you are going to hit it big, Tribute has some great card to do that.

2013 Topps Tribute Baseball fits into our Premium Cards category.  This Hobby Exclusive comes with 6 packs per box, 5 cards per pack and 1 autographed card or relic card numbered to 99 or less in every pack.  Collectors should expect 3 Autographs and 3 Relics per box.

Here are some of the cards we pulled from our box.


Base Set
 Ty Cobb, front and back

Reggie Jackson, Miguel Cabrera, Johnny Bench
 Ryan Braun, Billy Williams, Joe Mauer
 Ryan Howard, Robin Yount, Dylan Bundy

 Base Set Parallels



John Smoltz Blue #/99, Gary Carter Green #/75,

The Hits

 Giancarlo Stanton Commemorative Cuts #99, Dave Kingman Famous Four Baggers #/99
 Willie Stargell Tribute to the Stars Blue #/50
 John Kruk Autograph #/99, Justin Upton Tribute to the Stars #/24
Tom Glavine Autograph Blue Parallel #/50 
  
Overall Look
The base cards are great looking again this year and look even better in their numbered color versions.  The relic cards are a departure from previous year's designs, which works very well.  Short of a few Auto/Relics, Topps has gone to all on-card Autographs with bold signatures on nicely designed cards.  The encasing of the hits is gone which is a shame because it added to the premium quality feel.

Quality and Variety of Players
This year there is a wide variety of hit and some truly monster hits to be had, but there is a large percentage of great but not spectacular hits, like the John Kruk auto we pulled.

Do the hits satisfy?
Some will get lucky and pull a fabulous card from their box.  Others will not, but for the most part the hits satisfy.

Will you keep coming back for more?
This is a tough one.  The base set is nice enough that collectors will want to complete the series.  For hits, there are some incredible cards to be pulled. This becomes a judgment call based on your budget.  Secondary market finds should be readily available with Tribute.

Rating
4 out of 5

2013 Topps Tribute Baseball adds some incredible its to be had but still retains a high risk versus reward ratio.


Review box provided by Topps

3 comments:

  1. You did really well on your box... especially the relics and autos.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You can never go wrong with a Glavine Auto card !!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have a John Kruk autographed numbered 1 out of 15 I noticed the same John Kruk card I have number out of 99 that you have.

    ReplyDelete