I talked earlier this week about how important it is for the card companies to continue to expand the online market, and that these exclusive online products would definitely serve a great purpose. Last year, Topps gave football its first taste of this new opportunity, releasing Turkey Red football in limited quantities. After releasing 2013 Mini Football earlier this year, Topps has announced that they will be bringing back Turkey red for their second internet product of the season.

Here is Last Year’s Turkey Red:

2012 Turkey Red Box – 10 Cards + 1 Auto

2012 Turkey Red Andrew Luck Auto Red 3/10

2012 Turkey Red Russell Wilson Auto Red 3/10

2012 Turkey Red Nick Foles Auto Red /10

Here is what this year looks like:

When done correctly, I think that there are a lot of people who will continue to buy into products done in this fashion, as I mentioned before. These packs are 10 base cards and 1 autograph, which elevates the cost of the box, but it still works because of the quality of the cards. I wish it were the entire set with an auto like we have seen with Heritage, but Topps is looking to sell a few more packs this way, and it’s a good plan. For collectors its going to leave people a little upset I would guess.

This year’s design is updated, as prior Turkey Red sets have all had the look based on the original pre-war version of the baseball cards. The cards continue to look really nice, as I think the designers really did a good job updating the layout while not destroying what the product stands for. I would have gone with a different filter to preserve the “painted” look of the previous sets, but I think the photos should still stand out.

Bottom line, buying this product with an autograph checklist of 70 people is going to be very difficult to stomach. The good autographs are extremely low numbered, and the bad ones are everywhere. I would check out some breaks before diving in on 10 packs.

Turkey Red is set to be released at 12pm on Black Friday, and I would expect they will sell out VERY fast. I would have the page loaded and ready to go close to that time, as the site tends to slow down with the added traffic.

Here is the link:

2013 Topps Turkey Red at the Topps Store