2008 Topps Mayo Football
The Titanic.....Thomas Edison.....Terry Bradshaw.....Brett Favre.....Matt Ryan. What do these all have in common? They are all part of the 2008 Topps Mayo set. A blast from the past as this set is designed after the 1894 Mayo card set. Set builders are licking their chops with this release as it is a beautiful and large checklist to put together.
Set Features:
Each box includes 24 packs of 6 cards, 1 mini, and 1 Super Bowl insert each in a 330 card set. Each box contains either 2 relic cards or 1 relic and 1 autograph. Parallel sets: Harvard mini (1 in 50), Yale mini (1 in 13), Princeton mini (1 in 24), mini SPs (1 in 12), 1894 mini (1 in 250), Famous Ships mini (1 in 12), and Horse mini (1 in 48). You also have a chance to pull a cut signatures from a past iconic figure or a 1894 original Mayo card.
Here's what was included in the the 2008 Topps Mayo Football Break:
The base set is a solid black border, with brand logo, name, and team along the bottom of the card. Each card has a painted style design, instead on an actual player photograph it has the feel that the card was painted. The cards are not of a high gloss, so this set would be excellent for in person or through the mail autographs. Also included in the base set along with players are legendary figures in the art, music, and political world, among others. This a perfect set for someone who like building sets of various interests.
The rookie cards follow the set design, with the term "Rookie" depicted along the bottom right of the card. We pulled most of the top rookies, including: Darren McFadden, Chris Johnson, Jake Long, and Joe Flacco.
Minis and Parallels:
The mini cards are inserted 1 per pack and are designed in the same style as the base set. Along with the standard mini inserts, there are also 5 parallels to set: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Ship, and Horse. We pulled, the Titanic and Pinta ship minis, American Miniature Horse mini, Chad Pennington & Norman Rockwell Yale minis, and Erik Ainge Princeton mini, along with other various regular minis.
Topps Mayo puts the pack decoys to good use, making an insert set of the past Super Bowls and their winners. We pulled 21, including Super 38, 41, and 42. The back of each card has information from that particular Super Bowl, which is pretty nice.
Autograph:
The autograph we pulled is of Donnie Avery, WR for the St Louis Rams. The autograph is a mini enclosed in a framed fullsize card. The design of these are similar to the Allen & Ginter set in baseball.
Game Used:
The game used we pulled were of Wes Welker, WR for the New England Patriots and Jake Long, OT for the Miami Dolphins. The game used are also a mini enclosed in a framed fullsize card with a swatch included. One interesting thing I noticed was that when you run your finger along the swatch, the swatch moves inside of the card, which I thought was pretty neat.
Final Thoughts on 2008 Topps Mayo Football:
As far as football goes, this set is pretty innovating. We have seen similar products on the baseball side and on the basketball side, but not really the football side. WIth all the SPs and variations on this set, Topps will have set builders constantly searching for those hard to find cards that they need to finish or get closer to finishing their set. That to me is the thrill in set building. The design on the autographs and game used are different than what we have seen in previous football sets as well and is a welcome changed. The mini cards with the auto or swatch in a framed design are wonderful looking and would be a great insert set to build and display. Topps Mayo is a higher end product that I hope to see more of in future years.
Here's how I would rate this product :
- Value = 4
- Innovation = 5
- Fun and Experience = 5
- Rebuy Value = 5
I rate this product an "A" for Topps!
I would like to thank Topps along with Trader Retreat for giving me the chance to review this new product.
NPN Information
NPN 2008 Topps Mayo Football
P.O. Box 5177
Avoca, PA 18641
Postmarked by April 1, 2009 and received by April 8, 2009
Support the sponsors that support Trader Retreat.
