Product Review: 2012 Topps Five Star Baseball

So you want to go big? Than go 2012 Topps Five Star! This is the products first year in Baseball coming from a successful 2011 stint with their Football product. This Baseball product is different from the Football and carries a heavy price for it. First off, if your purchasing this product you are buying one pack containing Six cards. Yes only Six cards are in this packaged product. And the price tag has been around the $475-$525 tag at pre-sale, so your ending up with paying $100 per card (give or take). This is a big gamble to take on for Six cards and might be the reason we haven't seen this for this sport in some time.
2012 has been a big year for Topps in Major League Baseball. They introduced some new products, loaded up on relics and autographs, and brought back in grand style the Bat knobs. This all while leaving the biggest product till last with Five Star. Of course this had a lot to do with having every autograph signed on-card, but it might also have to do with the amount of content going into this product. It will include Relics, Jumbo Relics, Patches, Batter Logo Patches, Bat Knob, Bat Plates and Jersey Letters. All this coming along with Autographs all on-card and could have anywhere from Singles, Cuts, Dual, Triple, Quads, Five, Six and Eight autographs all on one card or booklet! This product really packs it in there, and why shouldn't it for a price around $500 it should.

 Not to scare anyone off of this product but unless your willing to let go of $500 for a chance of a few really great cards I don't see you buying into this product. This is mainly due to the cost aspect and not the product itself. The product looks great and has everything you would want from a high end brand, however the price is the sticking point for a lot of us. Even myself thought about holding onto the $500 and waiting for the cards to be sold online and spend it there on 1 or 2 cards I really would want. However the gambler in me decided to order 1 box/pack of this high end product to bust open and take a chance on maybe something cool coming out of it.

So here are my results from the bust:
Base Card: Robinson Cano Rainbow Parallel #/10
Autographed Active Player: Ryan Zimmerman #/150
Autographed Retired Legend: Al Kaline #/208
Autographed Relic: Giancarlo Stanton Silver #/97
Jumbo Jersey Relic: Carlos Gonzalez Gold #/25
Autographed Jersey Book: Don Mattingly Gold #/10


So first thoughts? Wow that is a lot of money for these pulls. Now of course I knew this going in and had very low expectations on this break. Even my LCS owner Glen was a little sorry I didn't pull a big card out of this box. However I must say I did not too badly compared to other breaks I've seen. The Cano Rainbow #/10 is very nice and was a surprise to pull out since we fully don't know the entire parallel ranges yet. The Gonzalez Jumbo is nothing special and reminds me of the Museum Collection, but was nice to be a lower number than what I've seen online. The Stanton and Zimmerman are a little disappointing but again not the worst players I could have pulled. Kaline has a nice autograph and is a popular player within the community. And finally the Mattingly, when I saw the booklet saying signature triple booklet with the Yankees logo on it a million things came to mind. Jeter, Cano, Arod, and on it went. I was happy to pull the Mattingly booklet and for it to be numbered low at #/10. The jersey pieces are the away grey but still a nice card overall.

As for the quality of the cards I was a little sad to say they are a little dinged up. Knowing that Topps has sent these out to players to hard sign them gives me reason to believe that all players aren't collectors nor would take care of them the same way you or I would. I do believe it is hard for Topps to police this from happening but could have maybe took a little extra time in reviewing them before sending them out in a $500 hobby box. For myself I noticed the Cano with a ding that I wish wasn't there, but at least the other cards aren't too bad with some chipping and the back of the cards having some wear. Looks like this product was handled a lot between Players, maybe their friends/teammates, and Topps employees.

 I do hope this product continues on for the next few years. As you know I love hard card signed autographs and this product packs it in there. I'm sure Topps had a heck of a time getting this all resourced out in order to provide us this product and I thank them for it. With all new things in life everyone has their flaws, and this product would be in the Mint side of the product. The designs and concepts of a product this type really is great and I can look away from the small dinged card that I received and appreciate the other aspects on what Topps took to provide this to the collectors. Baseball being my main sport of collection I truly love the cards I've seen live of this product and will continue to buy this product in the future. The Fun Aspect of this product is lower compared to other products because of the amount of money your paying for a gamble of cards in this product. Seemed more nerve racking than fun for me at least.

Gambler Overall Rating: 4.1 out of 5
Cost: 3.5/5
Autographs: 4/5 
Memorabilia: 4/5

Design: 4.5/5

Concept: 5/5
Fun Aspect: 3.5/5