Card of the Day: Porky Pig 2021 Upper Deck Space Jam A New Legacy #12

Space Jam: A New Legacy – Trailer 2

Space Jam: A New Legacy – Trailer 1

Card of the Day: 2019 Topps Star Wars Chrome Legacy – Ian McDiarmid as Emperor Palpatine – Orange Refractor Auto

Card of the Day: Mickey Morandini 1997 Flair Showcase Legacy Collection Row 1 #134

Flashback Product of the Week: 2007 TK Legacy Penn State Premiere Edition I

Card companies rise and fall.  Some stick around, while others are here one day and gone the next.  Its been this way since the hobby began.  When you think of the major card manufacturers, companies like Topps, Upper Deck, Donruss, Playoff, Panini, and Leaf come to mind first.  There are a lot of smaller manufacturers that may not be around anymore, but still have quite the following.  One of those companies is TK Legacy.

For a large chunk of the 2000’s, TK Legacy released a handful of sets.  Most of these products were centered around specific college teams such as Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Ohio State, and Penn State.  They also made some bowling boxes too.

Before TK Legacy shut its doors, they issued a full product surrounding Penn State football.  Unlike other schools, this was the only Penn State product they made.  The Premiere Edition was the only edition.  Some schools had four or five products made.  Boxes contain eight packs each housing an autograph or sketch card.  Key autographs to look for include John Cappelletti, Lydell Mitchell, Lenny Moore, Shane Conlan, DJ Dozier, Curt Warner, Blair Thomas, Todd Blackledge, Chris Bahr, and Matt Bahr.  For a lot of these guys this is the only product they ever had cards in.  I’m sorry to say that Joe Paterno isn’t in here at all.  For a guy who barely has any cards, this would have been the perfect product for him.

The cards are fairly basic looking.  No fancy graphics or foil.  In my opinion, TK Legacy had some of the best football sketch cards the hobby has ever seen.  A few Ohio State sketches of Troy Smith and their mascot Brutus recently sold for $100.00 to $200.00 each.  Sealed boxes of their Penn State product sell for $140.00.  Some of TK Legacy’s boxes have been known to sell for up to $300.00.  I think the reason why TK Legacy cards are still so popular is because they included players that don’t have a lot of cards.  Die-hard fans of those schools want them.

2011 Leaf Pete Rose Legacy (2) Box X-Mas Break + Holiday Bonus Packs

Auto/Relics

• Pete Rose Red Ink “Hit King 4256” #AB-16 Auto Bat #’ed/10
• Pete Rose Red Ink “Hit King 4256” #AJ-21 Auto Jersey #’ed/10

Base

• (2) Familiar Faces #48
• Old Teammates #27
• Press Interview (1978) #22
• Foul Ball!? #19
• Team Captain #5
• Spring Training (1979) 31
• Grounded #8
• 1963 Rookie Of The Year #2
• More Than Just Baseball #25

2012 Leaf Holiday Bonus Packs

• Michael Kelly 2012 Leaf Metal Draft Auto
• 2012 Leaf Ali: The Greatest Black Plate #’ed 1/1 #FW-16 – Un-Autographed Printing Plate From The Fight Worn Card Set

2011 Leaf Pete Rose Legacy 2 Box Birthday Break

This product continues to be one of my favorites.  I received two boxes for my birthday today.

Autos

• Pete Rose #A-16 Auto #’ed/30
• Pete Rose #A-3 Auto #’ed/30

Base

• 1970 Series #6
• Talking To The Press #7
• Batting Practice #17
• Getting Ready To Play #33
• Tied With Stan #40
• Racing The Ball To Third #15
• Old Teammates #27
• Former Teammates #35
• 1975 Sportsman Of The Year #13
• Atlanta (1978) #23

2011 Leaf Pete Rose Legacy Box Break

Auto

• Rose-isms – “Some Players You Pat Their Butts, Kick Their Butts, Or Leave Them Alone” Green Ink Auto #’ed/5

Base

• Headed For The Bleachers #3
• Press Interview (1978) #22
• Pete Rose (1975) #12
• Baseball’s All-Time Hit King #54
• Pete & Coach #36

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.