I have had a push from some of the readers to focus a bit more on more of the other sports than football, and for the most part I am happy to oblige. Realize, my focus as a collector, as well as my scope of knowledge is much more football friendly, but I definitely do pay attention to just about everything that isnt hockey. Hell, even hockey catches my attention some times.

Recently, we got a first look at Topps Tribute baseball, a brand that has recently come back on the scene to mixed reviews. Its very much at a price point like Bowman Sterling in Football, so its becoming tougher and tougher to justify the cost of breaking boxes of it. However, with the addition of Hank Aaron, Sandy Koufax, and fan favorites like my guy Joe Mauer, they are trying to beef it up. Unfortunately, there is only so much you can do for a product of this nature, in a sport that doesn’t embrace high end like Football and Basketball.

I really like the on card autos that are being added en masse to this product, as I think it is an absolute necessity. The bright colored rainbow stock doesn’t do this many favors, and it is something I would NEVER touch. However, it looks better than it has in previous years. The Black versions look awesome, especially for that Koufax they are previewing. If one of these cards were included per pack, there would be a lot more excitement I would believe.

Moving onto the other cards, we arent getting much at all to get excited about. Triple Threads die cuts and single jersey cards should not be a pack hit in this product, or really even a focus. Although I think its cool that the swatch is located in the flags of the world series trophy, unless these are world series jerseys, im not that interested. Because Baseball has so few living stars like Michael Jordan in Basketball or Tom Brady in Football, it becomes essential to rely on the history of the game, and I don’t know if this product does it the way it is needed. Plus, with every Ruth relic we saw over the last few years, there were other seat relics and stadium relics, along with junk jersey cards that watered down the hits. Its not a good situation to be in when you have the boxes cost what they do.

Again, Baseball tends to be a set collector focused group of people, and unless you can wow the pants off people, its going to be very, very tough to have a successful high end product. Of course, prospecting products are almost a different sport all on their own, but the rules still generally apply. Marquee and Tier One have juries out on whether they will be what everyone is hoping them to be, but only time will tell.

As for the final word on Tribute, im not really thinking im even going to look for the Mauer auto if it is included, I just don’t see this as up my alley. In fact, when Tribute football came out last year, I don’t think I even looked at a base card. It was that forgettable to me, and other than selected on card offerings from this, its going to be the same.