2014 Turkey Red

 Another year and another Turkey Red set from Topps. This year, again, the set is an online exclusive through the Topps store website and has a limited run of each base card. The set consists of one hundred base cards and thirty-eight autographs. Only sold by the box for $19.99, each box contains ten base cards and an autograph. Black parallels are numbered to ten. Red parallels are numbered to one. Printing plates are also numbered to one.

As always, the product sold out quickly in the Topps store, so you'll have to get cards on the secondary market.

The cards themselves have a different design than previous years. It looked fine in pictures, but up close, the quality seems to have been drained from this release. The effect was supposed to be shoddy old cardboard (I'm assuming), but the results remind me more of a printer that's nearly out of ink. There is a clear division, where there shouldn't be, right below the black inner border. It's almost as if someone laid a slightly lighter piece of paper on top of the bottom portion of the card. It's not a good look and looks cheaply done. The poorly thought out borders betray the bright and colorful picture, which really pops against the muted colors of the border. It's a shame that the borders look so bad, as the border colors do complement the picture.

The White Sox have one card in this one hundred card set.

14 - Chris Sale

The White Sox also have one autograph in the thirty-eight card autographed set.

TRA-8 - Andre Rienzo (/499)

The inclusion of Rienzo is a nice touch, but this still feels like a sticker dump product. I am happy that Rienzo is there, but I'm disappointed in the feel of the set.

I feel that the set would have benefited from a actual textured cardboard rather than fake printed texture. The thinning stock is also another concern. It's slightly tragic that such nice pictures can find there way onto inferior cards. This is not something I would think of when buying something limited.

Topps had something here and fumbled the ball. I'm glad that I bought my product on the secondary market. Both cards were under $5.00 together, with free shipping. I could live with that. Buying a box or two of this release for $20.00 each, just to get two cards, is not.

Turkey Red needs to retire for a few years and Panini needs to get fully licensed.