2010 Topps Tribute

At least one of my morning blog readings mentioned that 2010 Topps Tribute is live on eBay. I decided to investigate.

I found zero base cards of White Sox players. ZERO! I'm not holding out hope that the Ryan Braun listed is the White Sox minor league pitcher.

In a 90 card set, which includes 75 base cards and 15 "tribute to the stars" cards (I'm not including the additional 10 non-sport greatest rivalries cards that make up cards 91-100), do the Yankees really need over a dozen cards? Four of the Yankee players have two cards! While it is a base card and a "tribute to the stars" card, that's a bit of overkill in essentially a 90 card set. Did the tributes to George Steinbrenner and Bob Sheppard not make it in time for the print run?

Since I am a Carlton Fisk collector, I'll be seeking out his base card from this set, and if I'm lucky, maybe a parallel or two.

A supposedly high end set would not be complete without oodles of ridiculously priced autograph and relic cards. Here's where the White Sox start to show in this product. There are very few of these cards on eBay right now, so I have to assume nothing and everything all at once.

The only card that I am sure is a White Sox card is a dual relic of Gordon Beckham. There is a relic card of Jermaine Dye. I would assume that he is on the White Sox, but without picture verification, it could be a card of him on the Kansas City Royals for all I know.

Hoyt Wilhelm could be with the White Sox, Giants or Orioles on his relic card. With my luck, it could be the Cubs, Angels or Cardinals. Could Luis Aparicio's relic card be on the White Sox or the Orioles? Or could Luis be a Red Sox? I have no clue without visual confirmation. Could there be a Fisk White Sox relic? No idea. Will Early Wynn's relic card be on the White Sox or the Indians? For that matter, maybe he's on the Senators. Can't quite tell yet. I highly doubt that Steve Carlton or Tom Seaver's relic cards will be of the White Sox variety. Does the Bo Jackson dual relic feature him in a White Sox uniform?

These questions will likely be answered in the following weeks as more images make their way onto the internet.

I am slightly disappointed that there are no White Sox cards in the base card set, but I'm not that surprised. The design reminds me too much of 2007 Bowman's Best, which in turn reminded me of earlier Topps Tribute sets. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it's not wholly original either.

Releases like this are almost always a disappointment for the team collector, unless that team is the Yankees or a team that was New York based at some point.