by Rich Klein
On “paper” and in appearance, 2011 Topps Gridiron Legends might look to a collector like a product built around retired players. When I received the box in the mail and saw that the box featured Hall of Famer Joe Montana, I assumed I was in for a trip down memory lane. While there was plenty of that, there was also a nice mix of current players included as part of the set.
Each box consists of 18 packs per box with eight cards in the pack. In addition, the box promises four hits in every box. My local store has the unopened boxes at $87.50 while leading online retailers are currently in the $60-70 range. The local store (Trip
le Cards in Plano, TX) says he has sold two cases of this product of the four he ordered with one collector opening up a full case.
How did we do with our box?
Base Cards: 114 out of 165 cards with no duplicates. 23 of these cards were “retired” players (AKA Legends)
Blue Parallels: (One per Pack, except for packs with Jersey Cards) : Champ Bailey, Jerome Bettis, LaGarrette Blount, Anquan Boldin, Terry Bradshaw, Len Dawson, Jermichael Finley, Arian Foster, DeSean Jackson, Chris Johnson, Ray Lewis, Marshawn Lewis, Aaron Rodgers, Steve Smith, Y.A Tittle. Michael Turner
Bronze Parallel (#d to 299): Steve Johnson
Aspiring Legscies: Jerrel Jernigan, Daniel Thomas, Shane Vereen
Gridiron Legacies: Chris Cooley, Brett Favre, Larry Fitzgerald. Art Monk, Ken Stabler
Legendary Combos: Mikel Leshoure, Titus Young
Aspiring Legends Jersey: Torrey Smith
Aspiring Legends Jersey Red (#d to 99: Randall Cobb
Rookie Autograph: Dwayne Harris
Rookie Autograph Red (#d to 50): Blaine Gabbert
Our box did produce the promised four hits with a very nice hit in the limited Blaine Gabbert autograph which just about covers the current cost of the box. However, my primary disappointment and from what I was told by the owner of Triple Cards, is that there was a low percentage of “legends” hits in the boxes despite picturing Joe Montana on the box.
I would have loved to see the player selection for the hits deepened. There are a ton of players out there who may not be legends but whose autograph would be welcome additions to collections. Thus, in my opinion, Topps Gridiron Legends, with a few tweaks, could become a very successful product in the Topps line.
Rich Klein can be reached at [email protected]
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