2010 Leaf (Shoeless) Joe Jackson

Set Size: 15 cards

Design Notes: A very simple design - the Leaf logo is in an upper corner, and a banner at the bottom identifies the player - Shoeless Joe Jackson. A sepia photo fills the rest of the card. The backs have brown ink and detail his career and quotes.

Parallels and Similars: None.

Distribution: Cards were randomly inserted into 2010 Leaf Sports Icons Cut Signature Edition Update packs - one card was found in each pack.

Thoughts: Shoeless Joe is a legend, but Topps can't use him in their products because of the ban. However, companies like Leaf have taken up the slack and produced some modern cards for him. I like the basic design of this card, and it's great to see some photos that rarely see the light of day.

2010 Sportkings National VIP Promos Duke Snider

Set size: 25 cards

Front Design: An artistic sketch of the subject is placed in the upper left, with the Sportkings Series D logo along the right border in a black banner. The player's name is printed just beneath the sketch, followed by a gold-colored 2010 National VIP logo.

Back Design: The card number is at the top with a VIP prefix, followed by a box with a congratulatory/advertisement message, the Sportkings name, and copyright data.

Parallels and Similars: None known.

Distribution: Cards were distributed at the 2010 National to visitors who purchased VIP ticket packages. Each VIP gift bag held five of the 25 promos.

Thoughts: I enjoy the pencil sketch images used in this set, and wouldn't mind a full set done in this style at some point. Perhaps when Topps brings back Gallery or Panini brings Diamond Kings back, they can do a "pencil sketch parallel" which would be the same image as the painting, done in a pencil sketch. Now that is a parallel idea. While we're at it, they could get those caricature artists from amusement parks to do goofy sketches too for a third parallel. I'm sure there are tons of art students who'd love to do this for cheap and turn out some relatively good work.  As far as a set issued only for the purpose of distribution at the National, this is a pretty decent one. Since Sportkings didn't just take cards from their sets and foil stamp them and call them National Exclusives, this set has its own importance (ahem, Panini/Donruss).

2010 Topps Series 2 Attax Code Cards

Set size: 27 cards

Front Design: The fronts are set up to play the Topps Attax game, with a player photo over a grayscale background, his team logo in the upper-right corner, and the player's name on the left-hand margin. The bottom of the card contains a ToppsTown code and three numbers related to the game.

Back Design: The backs are identical from player to player, with a mostly-blue deck design. The Topps Attax logo features prominently in the middle, but a giveaway as to which player might be on the front is the team logo in the lower half of the card.

Parallels and Similars: These cards are parallels of the regular Topps Attax set, with the addition of the ToppsTown code printed in the middle of the card. Each series of flagship Topps (including Update) has its own code set, and the only way of distinguishing between series is to check the code in the very bottom-right of the card back: Series 2 cards have Code #36210156. Any Topps card with a CPSIA code can be identified at the Topps Website, although it won't give you the exact set. Entering this code at the website tells you this is 2010 Topps Baseball Series 2 Reprint, but that is good enough to identify the series.

Distribution: Cards were inserted one per second series flagship Topps pack.

Thoughts: I'm sure these cards would be much more fun if I played the game. The 2010 issue doesn't have much pizzazz, and it doesn't feel like a game card. Instead, the Attax code set feels like an afterthought, added to packs as a filler or dummy. Unfortunately for pack openers, the card counts toward the total count.


Additional Images: card back (enlarged to show code at bottom)

2010 Topps Heritage News Flashbacks

Set size: 10 cards

Front Design: A photo relating to the subject is surrounded by a thin black border. The bottom of the card has a semicircle with the Topps Heritage logo, and two colored bars with a title and subtitle.

Back Design: The gray card stock backs repeat the title in a black bar at the top, along with the card number. A yellowish panel contains a write-up about the topic. A cartoon at the bottom contains an additional news headline from the year.

Parallels and Similars: The News Flashbacks series has existed since 2008.

Distribution: Cards were randomly inserted into packs of 2010 Topps Heritage.

Thoughts: I enjoy the tie-in to the biggest news articles of the year. The design isn't too inspiring - I'd rather see the set look similar to some of the old news headline cards Topps issued back in the day, similar to the Sporting News All-Stars, or even replicating the non-sport issues like the back of 1962's Civil War News.

2010 Topps Heritage New Age Performers

Set size: 15 cards

Front Design: A player's cropped image is pasted over a two-toned star background; the player's name and team appear in a black box across the bottom with another star in the center. "New Age Performers" appears across the top in black and red.

Back Design: A black box is at the top with the player's name, team, position, and the card number inside a baseball circle. A highlight biography, prior year and career statistics, and a cartoon fill the rest. The cards are printed on "throwback" style gray cardboard stock.

Parallels and Similars: None.

Distribution: Cards were randomly inserted into packs of 2010 Topps Heritage.

Thoughts: While the flagship Topps set has seen several insert changes over the past decade, New Age Performers has been an annual inclusion in Heritage since Heritage began in 2001. Like the other yearly inserts, there is nothing special beyond design and numbering to distinguish these from the base set. Since the design doesn't hold my interest, I've never collected this insert other than the single card needed for the Cardboard Zoo. For this card in particular, the biography links the 2009 Royals to the 1961 Senators and Greinke to Senators pitcher Dick Donovan. The card mentions Greinke's Cy Young Award, though the cartoon at the bottom shows the skinny-armed giant-chested player receiving a gigantic MVP button from the Monopoly guy.

2010 Giants Topps Levi's Workshops

Set size: 12 standard-size cards (apparently)

Front Design: A black-and-white photograph (with orange accents where appropriate) sits inside a baseball motif involving a diamond, bats, and a ball over a woodgrain-style background. The player's jersey number appears in a home plate, and the team logo is in the bottom right. There are two Junior Giants cards featuring kids on a similar horizontal design. Black and orange are the only ink colors used.

Back Design: The player's name and jersey number is repeated on the back along with vital statistics. The player's chosen charity receives a write-up, and a quote appears at the bottom, just above the Levi's Workshops logo banner.

Parallels and Similars: While this set is fairly unique in design, it has hints of the 1951 Topps red and blue backs.

Distribution: Cards were given away at AT&T Park on July 27, 2010 in packs of 12. In my limited research I have not found any cards other than the 12 I pulled from my pack.

Thoughts: This is a very attractive set, designed by Shepard Fairey's Studio No. 1; Fairey designed the famous/infamous Obama "Hope" poster. The set reminds me of the efforts manufacturers went to in the early 1900s to create interesting designs. I would collect more sets that had unique retro or modern designs. See this post at The Mojo Beard.

Additional Links: Offy's Sports Site has a lengthy write-up with scans of the entire set. Levi's Workshops produced a video about the event:

Additional Images: