Today I purchased my first pack of Topps Triple Threads baseball. This is my first venture into the premium memorabilia market. Each box of Triple Threads cards comes with two packs in it. Each pack contains 3 base set cards that are numbered to 1350 or less, 2 base cards numbered to 559 or less, and a Triple Relic Autographed card numbered to 99 or less or a Triple Relic card numbered to 36 or less. These packs aren't cheap of course. At my local card shop they are running $100 a pack. I only bought one pack and was pretty happy with what I got. The base set cards are decent, although I think there are far more attractive base sets out there this year. Of course when you are shelling out $100 for six cards you aren't really in it for the base cards, are you? Where this set really stands out is it's inserts. I pulled out a Ralph Kiner Autographed Bat card that is numbered 6/9, which I find to be a pretty lucky pull. Overall this product is definitely geared towards the thrill-seeker type who is willing to take the risk that his hundred bones is going to yield him an autographed Darryl Strawberry and a handful of common base set cards (No offense to Darryl, I just assumed that this won't be one of the more valuable cards in this set). One of the coolest things about this type of set in my opinion is the attention that it gives to some of the great players of the past. It is pretty cool to pull an autograph of a Ralph Kiner or Mickey Mantle from a pack of modern cards.
So, now for the grade. I haven't really opened enough of these to get an accurate view of how likely it is to get the great pulls. I was really happy with the results of my purchase, but I have to think that the results aren't always so rosey. When you buy one of these premium products you know that you could either walk away with a card that is worth significantly more that what you spent, or you can get hosed on your premium card. That being said, I think that when you look down the checklist on this set, the number of players that would send you spiraling into buyers remorse upon seeing come out of your pack are relatively small. There are also enough cards that are far better than the one that I pulled that the possibility of getting the miracle pull will keep people, including myself, coming back for more. There is a good mixture of past and current stars and some really intriguing combo cards (Clemente/DiMagio/Mantle anyone?) The set does seem to have the rookies you would want it to, with Andrew Miller, Daisuke, and the usual suspects making an appearance and having some damn fine inserts. On a scale of one to ten, I would probably rate this product about an 8. If the base cards were a little more impressive it would definitely move that score up a little. Overall a great product.
