2012 Leaf Vince Lombardi Legacy Box Break & Review

Design: 

Leaf seemed to stick with what worked for their Pete Rose Legacy product which was released last year.  The 40-card base set contains a lot of great black and white photography all based on who many consider the greatest football coach of all-time.  Just like Pete Rose Legacy, the backs have a detailed description about the photo featured on the front.

I’m not the biggest fan when it comes to printing plates.  They usually don’t have a quality image to them and sometimes they can be covered in ink.  I’ll make a special exception for Lombardi Legacy though.  I don’t know what it is, but I think the plates look decent.  No, the images on the plates aren’t the clearest, but all the ones I’ve seen are clean.  Plus I think the dim pictures make Vince Lombardi look like a ghost.

When it comes to the autographs, all of them are on-card.  The mostly white card allows the signature to really stand out.  Every autograph comes with an inscription.  There are also various ink colors Leaf had the players use to sign.  The inscriptions are really entertaining to read.  Even though each card comes with an inscription, I think they could have each player write some different ones.  I’ve seen a lot of repetition when it comes to the inscriptions.

I also like that Leaf’s President, Brian Gray, hand signed the redemption cards.  That adds a nice touch.  Leaf isn’t known for using redemptions, but I guess Daryle Lamonica wasn’t able to get his cards back in time.

Price:  

You can still find boxes selling for $115.00, but it looks as if they are on the rise.  Some online dealers are selling them for $130.00.

“Hit” Quality:  

Every box of Lombardi Legacy comes with (2) inscription autographs, (1) Vince Lombardi personally worn jacket relic, and (4) base cards.  The inscriptions are really cool, but the Lombardi jacket relics are the big draw for me.  This is the first time a Lombardi relic has been inserted into a product.  You can also look for redemptions that can be redeemed for full sized Vince Lombardi signed checks.

I pulled the following:

Autos

•  Zeke Bratkowski Red Ink “Coach Lombardi was one of my greatest influences” Auto #”ed/50
• Marv Fleming Blue Ink “Miss you Coach” Auto

Relic

• Vince Lombardi personally worn jacket relic #WJ-19

Printing Plate

• Vince Lombardi Black Plate Base Set 2/2 #8

Base

• Ready for Green Bay #6
• Portrait of a Leader #10
• SBI Victory #24
• Back in Command #39

Overall:  

Overall, I give 2012 Leaf Vince Lombardi Legacy 4 Lombardi Trophies out of 5 (1=poor & 5=perfect).  Between Leaf’s two “Legacy” products, I still think the Pete Rose one is my favorite, but this one isn’t too far behind.  You don’t necessarily have to be a Packers fan to break open a box.  There are autographs in here of guys that didn’t play for the Packers like Len Dawson, but there is a big Packers theme to it.