2011 Topps Marquee Baseball Cards Mini-Box Break

In 2011 the Topps trading card company debuted a new baseball card product called Marquee. A hobby box of Marquee comes with four mini boxes inside, which each contain a single pack of baseball cards with five cards in a pack and a guaranteed autograph or relic card in ever pack.

The Marquee cards have nice full color photos on them compared to many of the 2011 Topps sets that go for shiny colors and metallic wonderments over actual players being on display. They are also made of a thicker stiok of cardboard, which is good and bad. Good because they feel like quality and bad because you are going to have to go around and buy a bunch of different sized holders to protect them. The base cards are one thickness and then the relic cards can be very, very thick. 2011 Marquee relic and auto cards are fairly condition sensitive, so I personally would have them sealed up in a graded holder by a company such as Beckett. (BGS)

The coolest inserts to be found in 2011 Marquee baseball cards are the Museum Collection autographs. These autographed cards are found one per full case of the product. The cards come with a neat metallic frame around them. (pack searches whip out the metal detectors!) These cards have been so popular that Topps has already announced that the Museum collection is going to be a stand alone product next year in name with more metal framed autographs.

I opened one mini box of 2011 Marquee and here is what five cards were inside. ( I was doing a box break video with the pack, but someone came walking through the room talking to a cat and kind of ruined it.)

5. Chase Utley #94 - This is just the base card for Chase Utley in the Marquee set. The photograph is cool to me because I am a Giants fan and Freddy Sanchez is the player sliding into second base in front of Utley. On the back is states that Chase Utley is the only player ever to hit a home run and steal two bases in a World Series game.

4. Jackie Robinson #45 - Another base card this time of a legendary player instead of a current one. Jackie Robinson played for the Brooklyn Dodgers and his debut in 1947 was when white people were officially not the only ones allowed to play major league baseball anymore.

3. Hank Aaron #77 - Hank Aaron is an exciting name to find in a pack of cards as Topps signed a deal with him for 2011 products. However, being just a base card void of autograph or piece of material claiming to have come off of his butt, my excitement is subdued to non-existence.

2. Nelson Cruz #69 COPPER serial numbered 149/199 - This baseball card of Nelson Cruz is serial numbered out of only 199 printed and is known as the Copper parallel to the base version. What makes this different than the regular card? His name and the Marquee logo on the card are Copper colored instead of silver. Yes, I know, it is a joke that Topps is playing on collectors and it's not really funny. Cruz has some upside though, having made a big name for himself in the 2011 playoffs.

1. Joey Votto #GMQR-26 Gametime Mementos serial numbered 098/199 - This is the hit of the 2011 Marquee mini box I have opened. It is a very cool card with four little window of "relics." It does not say they are game used or come from any certain event, but seeing as they are on a Joey Votto card they would like you to believe he wore the material at some point. Fakery in play or not, this baseball card is still neat as I got some color variety on the materials with one window even being a three colored piece of patch.

There you have it, my single box of 2011 Topps Marqee. As much as I hate the lack of resale value they are very neat cards and if you are approaching the hobby from a collector's standpoint and not someone looking to invest or make money then it is a fine product. However, my mini box is actually way better in landing the Votto than I have seen others have luck with, so it is a risky gamble, and personally I would prefer to have an entire case to land the metal framed autograph card.