Cubs Breakdown - 2011 Topps Tribute

2011 Topps Tribute
The 2011 version of Topps Tribute arrived this past week, and it is about what you would expect from this particular brand. Shiny sliver cards? Check. Tons of Relics? Check. Anything new and exciting for Cubs fans? I don't think so.

As you might have guessed, this issue has gotten a little bit stale in my eyes. I think the things that are designed to be big drawing cards this year are the inclusion of Hank Aaron and Sandy Koufax, as well as the first Tribute cards of some of the young stars like Buster Posey and Mike Stanton. But as a Cubs collector, those aren't that exciting. And what is in there isn't that exciting either in my opinion. Ryne Sandberg is once again the only Cub in the base set. Sandberg, Ernie Banks, Andre Dawson, and Fergie Jenkins represent the Cubs in the Relic and Auto insert sets. What do those four all have in common? Well for one thing, they have all appeared on plenty of Topps Tribute Relic and Auto cards in the past.

Given that all of the major players representing the Cubs in this set have all been in Tribute before, the one thing that could have saved this issue was a cool new design and look to the cards. And while I give Topps credit for coming up with a somewhat fresh design for the silver foil card stock, I just don't love the design. So this issue is a bit of dud for me. I think Tribute might be a little better suited to being a once every 3 or 4 years type of thing. The silver foil card stock is cool. But it is hard to come up with a new design each year that goes well with the silver foil. And fresh player selection is almost a must, or it's just the same stuff as the year before. So doing it less often would allow for more player turnover, at least among the modern day players. The Cubs from this issue are listed below, the Fergie Jenkins Happy Birthday Auto at the very bottom is probably my favorite Cubs card of all of them!

Base Set - 6 Versions - Base, Blue (#/199), Green (#/75), Gold (#/50), Black (#/10), and Red (1/1), plus four colors of printing plates
#38 Ryne Sandberg


Dual Relics - 5 Versions - Base (#/99), Green (#/75), Gold (#/20), Black (#/5), and Red (1/1)
TDR-AD Andre Dawson
TDR-RS Ryne Sandberg


Triple Relics - 5 Versions - Base (#/99), Green (#/75), Gold (#/20), Black (#/5), and Red (1/1)
TTR-RS Ryne Sandberg


Quad Relics - 5 Versions - Base (#/99), Green (#/75), Gold (#/20), Black (#/5), and Red (1/1)
No Cubs Incuded

Single Relic Autos - 5 Versions - Base (#/99), Green (#/75), Gold (#/20), Black (#/5), and Red (1/1)
TAR-EB Ernie Banks
TAR-FJ Fergie Jenkins


Dual Relic Autos - 5 Versions - Base (#/99), Green (#/75), Gold (#/20), Black (#/5), and Red (1/1)
TADR-EB Ernie Banks
TADR-RS Ryne Sandberg


Pastime Patches Dual Patches - 2 Versions - Base (#/24) and Red (1/1)
PP-RS Ryne Sandberg


Tribute to the Stars Dual Autos - 3 Versions - Base (#/74), Gold (#/25), and Red (1/1)
- Andre Dawson & Jim Rice
- Andre Dawson & Ryne Sandberg (Only available via redemption)


Tribute to the Stars Triple Autos - 2 Versions - Base (#/24) and Red (1/1)
- Starlin Castro, Ozzie Smith, and Hanley Ramirez
- Fergie Jenkins, Andre Dawson, and Ryne Sandberg


Rookie Book Card 10 Relic Autos - 2 Versions - Base (#/9) and Red (1/1)
Starlin Castro w/Carlos Santana, Stephen Strasburg, Mike Stanton, Buster Posey, Kyle Drabek, Neftali Felix, Austin Jackson, Jason Heyward, Aroldis Chapman (Only available via redemption)

Roll Call Two Panel Booklets - 2 Versions - Base (#/9) and Red (1/1)
No Cubs Included

Tribute Cut Autos - All 1/1s
No Cubs Included

Albert Pujols Buybacks - 10 copies each of his 2001 Bowman Chrome, 2001 Finest, and 2001 Topps Reserve Autos