Dempsey ’15 Topps MLS Relic Contest! – NOW CLOSED

This contest is for a Clint Dempsey 2015 Topps MLS Kits of the Game Jersey #’ed/85.  Good luck!!!

Contest Details:

• This contest will end Friday, April 10, 2015 @ 8:00 p.m. EST.
• To enter, please leave a comment in this post.
• You can enter once per day.
• The winner will be selected at random.
• Please provide a valid e-mail address when entering.
• The winner will receive an e-mail when the contest is over.
• The winner has one week to send me their contact information or the contest will be held again.
• Once the contest is over, I will need the winner’s mailing address so I can ship them this card for FREE!!!

2015 Topps Major League Soccer Box Break & Review

GOAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After breaking open that box of 2015 Topps Opening Day, this box of soccer cards was quite refreshing.  I don’t follow soccer all that much.  In fact, the last time I did anything with soccer was attend a Hershey Wildcats game back in 1997 or 1998.  Soccer fans are nuts, and 2015 Topps Major League Soccer should satisfy their box breaking fix.

This is their flagship soccer set.  Just like the ones they make for baseball and football.  Boxes contain (24) packs and you can look for (5) “hits” per box on average.  You should pull (2) autographs, (2) relics, and (1) autographed relic.  For a flagship brand that is a nice amount of “hits”.  The base set consists of 200 cards.  Parallels include Purple, Gold #’ed/25, Black #’ed/10, Red #’ed 1/1, and then the Printing Plates.  I wish the parallels would be a little more distinct.  I almost passed over my Golds.  But that’s just me.  You also need to watch for the All-Star SPs, which are photo variations from the 2014 All-Star Game.

The inserts aren’t too Earth shattering, but my favorite ones are the MLS Minis.  These aren’t as small as I thought they would be.  The MLS Minis are as tall as a normal card, but a little skinnier.  My friend Monty Sheldon did the artwork for those cards.  (15) lucky collectors will pull the actual hand-painted 1/1 versions.  I believe the MLS Minis are modeled after a vintage set called John Player and Sons Cigarette Cards, which were originally released between 1928 and 1929.

For $98.00 you get a lot more than your typical flagship product from another sport.  It was a fun box to rip, and I think I pulled some great stuff.

FYI – Soccer superstar David Villa has no relation to home improvement guru Bob Vila 🙂

Here is what I pulled:

Auto/Relic

• Michael Bradley #’ed/25

Autos

• Kelyn Rowe Gold #’ed/25
• Brad Davis Gold #’ed/25

Relics

• Dillon Powers Kits of the Game #’ed/25
• Clint Dempsey Kits of the Game #’ed/85

Parallels

• Jon Kempin Gold #’ed/25
• David Villa RC Gold #’ed/25

Inserts

MLS Minis

• Sporting Kansas City Header #2
• Houston Dynamo Slide Tackle #14
• LA Galaxy Save #8

 Presence of the Pitch

• Nick Rimando
• Chris Wondolowski
• Mike Magee
• Diego Valeri

Gameday Heritage

• Real Salt Lake #2
• FC Dallas #7

Sheldon’s 2015 Topps MLS Mini Art Gallery

Monty Sheldon is an artistic machine!  As it turns out, he also worked on a 15-card mini “Basics of Soccer” set for 2015 Topps MLS.  Printed versions can be found throughout the product, but they also included the 1/1 mini hand-painted cards as well.  Congrats to anyone that pulls one of these from a pack.

Card of the Day: Luke Easter 1953 Topps #2