2014 Turkey Red Joe Kelly Autograph

I have spent a whole bunch of time working on the Topps base set during the last month that I have not really gotten into the two other 2014 Topps releases.  Since the base set dropped, Topps has also issued their Turkey Red and Tribute sets.  They are both pretty nice looking products, but I passed on opening any of these cards myself.  Instead I am picking up cards from these two sets from other collectors who busted open these boxes.  Yes, it's less fun.  However, it's also the right thing to do with both of these products. 

Tribute is the more obvious set to pass on in terms of opening a box.  Atlanta Sports Cards is currently selling boxes of the Tribute product at $240 per box with six hits.  Yes, there are some nice autographs in the product and some great looking relics.  However, I am not sure there are $240 worth.  Not that I expect to get my money out of every box, but I am not going to take a beating either.  Stroll through the autographs listed on Ebay and there are way way to many autographs and relics from this product under $10.  Tribute looks like a box you'd spend $200 plus on and could conceivably walk away with less than half it's value.

Turkey Red is not as bad.  It's a $20 box sold on Topps.com, but it has one autograph.  Again, there are lots of inexpensive autographs in the product.  With both the Tribute and Turkey Red products most of the Cardinals and Rays cards are fairly inexpensive.  The Tribute has a Yadier Molina autograph which has been selling for more than $50, but the rest of the autos and relics from those two teams are cheap and probably not worth the risk of busting some wax.  I think Heritage and Donruss will probably be my next two boxes.  In the meantime, here's my first Cardinals card from the Turkey Red set:

 

Kelly had several autographs in 2010, but has had few since.  Of all the Cardinals young pitchers, Kelly is probably the cheapest of the group.  This card cost me a shade under $10 shipped.  Yes, it's a sticker autograph, but I still like that Topps got a Cardinals player other than David Freese and Lance Lynn to sign something this year.  I suspect that Kelly will probably end up in the bullpen again as the long reliever, but would probably be most team's third starter.  Maybe one day his cards will creep up in value when he's not mopping up games.  

2013 Topps Turkey Red Steve Cishek Autograph

The World Baseball Classic needs to be revamped or done away with.  Something.  I honestly went into the spring looking forward to having a little bit of extra baseball on television this spring, but could not muster much past the Brazil vs Japan opener.  The highlight of the game was Barry Larkin managing the Brazilian national team.  I watched parts of other games, but most importantly it reminded me that I needed to find a Steve Cishek autograph.  I know that I do not publish my want list in this space, but I assure you that the cards that appear in this space that I trade for or purchase or generally not random and that I actually have a method behind my madness.  So, why a Steve Cishek autograph?  Let's go to the video....

I wandered into a whole bunch of Marlins games last year living in the neighborhood of a few National League East teams and really enjoyed watching Cishek pitching last year.  He's not an automatic shutdown relief pitcher, but I like the sidearm delivery and the frisbee like pitches he throws.  It's a little bit like Pat Neshek or Kent Tekulve minus the cool glasses.  

2013 Topps Turkey Red Steve Cishek Autograph

The best part about snagging an autograph from the Marlins closer is that this card cost less than $5 delivered on Ebay.  Sure it's a sticker autograph, but considering Turkey Red was a pack per box product, you cannot complain about finding any cheap autograph out of a high end set on the secondary market.  I am looking forward to watching Cishek pitch again this summer for the Marlins and maybe some good things out of this card in the future.  

A Quick Glance: 2013 Topps Turkey Red

Topps released it's second product of this year this week in the form of their Turkey Red product.  This is a relaunch of a product for Topps who used this brand name in the mid 2000s and dropped the label after a few years before picking it back up this year with a couple of changes to the line.  The first few Turkey Red releases by Topps featured a mid range price point with the possibility of an autograph per box along with about two relics.  The base set wasn't hard to assemble, nor difficult to buy on the secondary market.  The mid 2000 Turkey Red releases were also available at retail outlets which greatly increased the number of cards produced and drove down the price on the secondary market.  This year's Turkey Red is completely different.

2013 Topps Turkey Red Adam Wainwright

The boxes of 2013 Turkey Red cost around $40 give or take depending on where you find the box.  Each box is essential one pack with ten cards and one autograph.  It's a high end formula, one pack per box, with a slightly lower than normal price.  The base cards are nicer than the mid 2000s issues of Turkey Red, but you can tell from my Adam Wainwright above that they are essential a very similar card.  The base set is composed of 100 cards which means it will take a minimum of 10 boxes, or $400, for a shot at a complete set.  The price point and limitations on completing a base set have actually made the base cards pretty valuable on the secondary market.  However, the real key to opening a pack per box product is always the autograph.  There are always some good and not so good cards that can come out of these boxes that can make or break your purchase. 

2013 Topps Turkey Red Felix Hernandez Autograph

In my box of Turkey Red cards I was able to pull a Felix Hernandez autograph which made this product well worth my $40.  The card has a print run of 20 and is selling nicely on Ebay.  Haven't seen any for trade yet, but I think this one might stay right here with me.  My only suggestion for improving the product would be to have the autographs be signed on-card.  Turkey Red used to be a $70-$80 box, or a $2.50 retail product with on-card autographs.  Now it's a $40 pack per box, one autograph product and we get sticker autographs?  Charge me $50 and get the players to sign the cards.

2013 Topps Turkey Red Zack Greinke 

Overall, this is a really nice product and given the value of the base cards at the moment collectors can easily break open a box and get their money back if they desire, or feel justification for their money spent if they are adding to their collection.  For collectors trying to build a set, a box might be a good starting point to a good challenging set to assemble.  I really like these cards and Topps is 2 for 2 in my book for the year.