My favorite Topps design so far. This is also the first baseball set that I remember opening packs of at my lcs.

is this 2008 Topps Flagship set, the first Topps Flagship to have an insert with the MANU designation? [ 30 card Commemorative Patch Relics SN100]

For some reason this card make's me think of the circus. The back is great but the front not so much.

First set that I got big into collecting. I have always loved the bubble letter team name!

Title: A Unique Team Lettering Makes This Card a Standout

I only own one card in this set but the first time I looked at that card I was immediately impressed. I'm always a fan of clean, uncluttered designs and the front fits that description. A bright, large image takes up most of the front side real estate. The bubble letters for the team name are the real standout of these cards. This is a unique design that required Topps to take a chance on something outside standard card designs. The gamble paid off. The bubble lettering successfully incorporates the alternating team colors to give each card a distinguishing feature, while not looking amateurish. The silver Topps logo and player name also gives the card an extra element of class. However, Topps could have done without the player signatures. I'm guessing it's supposed to make a card feel more authentic and "valuable" but I think it looks tacky. Especially when it's on every card.

The back of the card contains the standard information such as stats and brief blurb, in a typical top-down format. The back of the card also makes nice use of the team colors, peppering the colors into select background spots. What detracts from an otherwise respectable back, is that the back banner image is stock for every player card. While blank space would not be an improvement, it's disappointing that there is no difference in the back images especially since that is typically the standard for back images. The small banner space does not leave much room for a unique image but what about a skyline image for each team's stadium? Or that space would have been great for the player autographs.

Despite the flaws, Topps did an excellent job designing this set and I'm excited to add more of these to my collection.

9.5/10