2008 Topps Mayo Football
What I pulled--
Princeton Mini – Ernest Wilford
Yale Mini – Mike Vrabel
Harvard Mini – Javon Walker (#8/25)
Ship Minis – RMS Carpathia, Andrea Gail
Framed Jersey Relics – Glenn Dorsey red, Larry Fitzgerald red
Review:
Call it the football version of Topps Allen and Ginter.
Topps Mayo Football is a nod to the oldest football set known to exist – the 1894 Mayo set that highlighted
athletes from Princeton, Harvard and Yale. With a minimalist design of black photos and simple,
old-fashioned looking photos, Mayo is, first and foremost, a set builders dream set. And yes, the
comparison to Allen and Ginter is extremely appropriate.
Like Allen and Ginter, each pack comes with one mini-parallel card, with multiple parallels among the
minis. Also like A&G, there is a way out of leftfield subset, this one of historic ships. Each pack also has a
thick card in the middle, with the set being made up of cards that, when put together with other specific
cards, will create a triple card showing the two teams and Super Bowl logo from each of the championship
tilts. And, like A&G, each relic and autograph is on a mini-card that is framed inside a standard sized card. The only thing that
is missing is the rip card…everything else looks and smells like Allen and Ginter.
Will this product go over like the now revered Topps line that garners “Best Of” awards every year? If the same sector of the
market that loves A&G comes forward, then yes. This is a set that is created with the set builder in mind. The hits are nice, but
are most definitely secondary to the base cards. There are plenty of short prints to create the necessary challenge, but the
price point is low enough to make the chase reasonably attainable at the end of the day.
Because this is a new type of set for the football market, I imagine the response to be polarized. I know which side I’m on
though. This is collecting the old-fashioned way. The way I like it........................
B+
What I pulled--
Princeton Mini – Ernest Wilford
Yale Mini – Mike Vrabel
Harvard Mini – Javon Walker (#8/25)
Ship Minis – RMS Carpathia, Andrea Gail
Framed Jersey Relics – Glenn Dorsey red, Larry Fitzgerald red
Review:
Call it the football version of Topps Allen and Ginter.
Topps Mayo Football is a nod to the oldest football set known to exist – the 1894 Mayo set that highlighted
athletes from Princeton, Harvard and Yale. With a minimalist design of black photos and simple,
old-fashioned looking photos, Mayo is, first and foremost, a set builders dream set. And yes, the
comparison to Allen and Ginter is extremely appropriate.
Like Allen and Ginter, each pack comes with one mini-parallel card, with multiple parallels among the
minis. Also like A&G, there is a way out of leftfield subset, this one of historic ships. Each pack also has a
thick card in the middle, with the set being made up of cards that, when put together with other specific
cards, will create a triple card showing the two teams and Super Bowl logo from each of the championship
tilts. And, like A&G, each relic and autograph is on a mini-card that is framed inside a standard sized card. The only thing that
is missing is the rip card…everything else looks and smells like Allen and Ginter.
Will this product go over like the now revered Topps line that garners “Best Of” awards every year? If the same sector of the
market that loves A&G comes forward, then yes. This is a set that is created with the set builder in mind. The hits are nice, but
are most definitely secondary to the base cards. There are plenty of short prints to create the necessary challenge, but the
price point is low enough to make the chase reasonably attainable at the end of the day.
Because this is a new type of set for the football market, I imagine the response to be polarized. I know which side I’m on
though. This is collecting the old-fashioned way. The way I like it........................
B+
