2011 Topps Tribute Group Case Break

2011 Tribute Group Case Break Results 

2011 Topps Tribute Nolan Ryan Autograph

I have written about the 2011 Topps Tribute Albert Pujols Rookie buyback autograph already.  I was so interested in the lottery pull, that I was actually thinking about buying a case to rip myself.

Well, instead I joined a group break on Blowout Cards forums.  I had the Cardinals, Rays, Astros, and the (coff coff) Diamondbacks.

Of course the Cardinals included the lottery pull (Pujols buyback), but the team also had various autograph and relic cards of Albert Pujols, Stan Musial, Ozzie Smith, Johnny Mize, Bob Gibson, and Lou Brock.  Other than the Yankees and maybe the Dodgers, this is the best team to have in the break.

The Rays only had two players in the entire set: Evan Longoria and Jeremy Hellickson.  The Rays are PC though, so that is definitely a good team to have.

The Astros only has one good possibility: a Nolan Ryan autograph or relic.

The Diamondbacks… well, they had zip, zilch, nada.  Did I pay money for this team?  Yes.  Yes, I did and thank you very much for pointing that out for me.  (Jerk.)  I guess the question here is a simple one:  why?  Why the hell did you buy a team in a break that has NO hits?  Well, let’s just say that you should never listen to a friend talk about the amazing Randy Johnson card from Tribute without actually verifying that said card truly exists.  Learned THAT the hard way.

So, how did I do?  If the Nolan Ryan image above is any indication, I would say that I did pretty good.  I already have a Ryan auto though, so I will be selling this one.  It is numbered 17/20 too – so that is great since I will be selling it.

2011 Tribute Ozzie Smith Autograph

Obviously what I was really hoping for was a Pujols or Musial auto.  I came up dry there.  I was 0-for on Pujols altogether – not a single card.  I nearly struck out on Musial too – fortunately I did get a base card.  My Cardinals hit though wasn’t too bad.  Ozzie Smith triple relic autograph numbered 25/75.

Sadly, I think I will probably sell this one too.  Cardinals are not really my PC team – just Pujols is my favorite player.  Even if I had a hit a Musial auto, I think I would have sold that too.

I may have even sold a Musial/Pujols dual auto – just so that I could take the profit and then buy a Pujols base auto and pocket the change.  I don’t know though – it would have to be a game time decision.

I already mentioned that I also had the Diamondbacks.  Man, there wasn’t even a base card.  How do you produce a set – a full set of baseball cards – and completely leave out an entire team?  What’s up with that?  I will tell you that I only spent $6 on the team – and not much more than that for the Astros (which netted me the Ryan triple relic auto above).  So overall, I did ok at least.

The Rays are my PC team and even though they only had two players in the set, I was really hoping for an autograph.  I would have been happy with a Jeremy “Hellboy” auto – but I wanted the Longoria the most.  I do not have either yet.

2011 Topps Tribute Evan Logoria Autograph

Well, as you can see, I pulled the Longoria – a dual bat relic auto numbered 43/99.  I don’t care about the two pieces of the bat or the serial number; I just wanted the auto for my personal collection.  I was actually more excited about this card (easily worth the least of the three) then I was about the gold Nolan Ryan auto.

That is it for my Topps Tribute fix for 2011.  I doubt I will bust any more of  this product this year.  However, I have considered purchasing some of the many HOF autos available from this set online – you can actually get some autographed cards for $20 or so on eBay of HOF.  Granted, the Hank Aaron, Sandy Koufax, and Stan Musial autos will still set you back a few dollars, but Joe Morgan and Andre Dawson (among others) can be had for almost nothing.  Definitely worth the money if you have it.

Oh, hey, I also almost got the DizzyDean rainbow:

2011 Topps Tribute Dizzy Dean Rainbow

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