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| XFL MEMORABILIA |
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| Winter, 2001 |
TOPPS XFL INAUGURAL SERIES FOOTBALL CARDS
SHOW COLLECTOR POTENTIAL
By Mike Bonner
Love
it or loathe it, the Xtreme Football League launched a wide open first season on February 3, 2001. Six weeks after play began,
on March 19, Topps issued a 100 card set of Inaugural Series XFL Premium Football Cards to celebrate the initial campaign.
For the astute football card collector, the XFL set contains many strong features to offset a few minor weaknesses.
Collectors should consider it a solid entry in an exceptionally crowded pro football card market, for its quality and potential
significance.
The XFL is a joint venture between NBC television and Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation.
It has promised to attract fans with hard-hitting "smashmouth" football, gorgeous cheerleaders, and exciting new
stars.
By week eight of the season, the XFL had delivered on the first two promises. The jury is still out on
the third, as no major XFL stars have yet emerged. At the same time, TV ratings for the XFL have not been good, plunging from
a 9.5 rating the first week of the season to a low of 1.6 in week seven. Each rating point represents one percent of the nation's
102.2 million TV households. The league promises it will continue in 2002, but the XFL will probably not be a prime time staple
for NBC.
Because I love football cards and enjoy the spectacle of seeing an XFL David going after an NFL Goliath,
I bought a box of XFL cards from my favorite dealer, Dennis Hooker, of locally owned and operated Hooker's Sports Cards and
Collectibles. I plunked my money down two days after the XFL cards arrived in Hooker's shop.
"Gimme a full
box," I said.
"The XFL set is selling pretty well," Hooker said, as he rang up my purchase. "I've
sold half of what I ordered already."
It is easy to see why. Right off the bat the set makes a positive
impression. A combined Topps/XFL League logo and text appear on top of the 24-pack display box, with the bar code, set information
and an XFL hologram relegated to the otherwise blank bottom. Out of the box, the packs sell for varying amounts, depending
on the dealer. In most cases, the price will range from a low of about $2.25 to a high of about $3.25.
Up to
eight cards come packaged in the silver foil wrappers. The set boasts four different inserts, including eight Mega-Foil QB
cards, Authentic Autograph cards, Jersey Gridiron Memorabilia cards, and Football Gridiron Memorabilia cards. The usual daunting
odds against finding insert cards prevail, with the Mega-Foil QB's being the easiest at one in every eight packs. Football
Memorabilia inserts are far and away the toughest at one in every 190 packs.
Since a 24 pack box sells for about
$45 retail, collectors will need to spend around $400 to snag even one of the Football Memorabilia cards.
Ouch!
But finding the inserts in the packs isn't the only way to get one. Topps will conduct a drawing as well, planned
for June 27, 2001. You can get in on the drawing by sending Topps a self-addressed 3" X 5" card, postmarked by June
13. No more than eight entries per household, please.
It is also reassuring as a collector to see that Topps
has posted a note on the front of the packs to the effect that packs with Football Memorabilia cards may contain only five
cards per pack. I'm presuming that this is being done to thwart the "pack weighers." Those are the chase card cheaters
who put packs on sensitive scales to help them determine which ones include inserts and which ones don't.
In
the set, all eight XFL teams are represented by a decent grouping of players, a cross section of which gives fans a pretty
good idea of how the XFL brass stocked the fledgling league. Personnel consists mainly of guys who, for whatever reason, never
quite cracked the NFL first string, a bunch of untested college stars, some NFL Europe veterans, and a handful of former Canadian
players.
It's a genuine pleasure to see such a unique set, a new item. The teams have exotic names like the New
York/New Jersey Hitmen, the Chicago Enforcers, and the Los Angeles Xtreme. If the league takes off, there may be expansion
teams with even more interesting names. The XFL cards provide collectors with a lot of new faces, some of which may never
be seen again.
On the field, the play is solid enough to hold the interest of the average fan. The games go back
and forth unpredictably. NFL players may have more speed and strength in the aggregate, but several of the XFL entries could
probably stack up fairly well against mid-level NFL clubs. There is a lot of unused football talent around, as colleges graduate
literally thousands of players every year.
The XFL cards are neatly designed and well made, if a little busy
in their look. Card fronts feature an action shot and a straight on portrait. The card backs squeeze in another action shot,
along with basic player information (age, college, height, weight, draft selection) and a paragraph of text written in XFL-style
bravado.
"I take no prisoners," Birmingham Bolts RB James Bostic is quoted as saying.
"You
can't hit what you can't catch," says Charles Puleri, scrambling QB of the NY/NJ Hitmen.
"We will be
attacking from all sides," is the vow of Chicago Enforcers linebacker Jaime Baisley.
Going through all
the packs in a full box, I was able to draw a complete set. Give Topps a very favorable point here. Managing to pull a full
set from a single box speaks well of the true randomness of the distribution.
In the 100 regular cards, the set
divides as follows: Cards No.s 1-79 are player cards, No.s 80-83 are "Locked in Battle" cards, showing all eight
teams in play, and No.s 84-99 are "Girls on Fire" cards, featuring 16 cheerleaders at two per team. As any red-blooded
male fan can attest, the XFL cheerleaders are indeed babe-a-licious. The last card in the set, No. 100, is a combination checklist/set
credits card.
Set credits? You got it. Right there on the checklist with the football stars is Writer Randy Horick,
Publisher Ira Freeman, Director of Publishing Jerry McCarrick, and Editor John Williams. This is a nice contrast from Topps
sets of yesteryear, which were all too often the work of anonymous grunts.
Although the XFL cards are bright
and well-made, with dynamic photography, (for which Topps deserves credit) good graphics, readable text, and superior color
reproduction, a number of things about this set disappoint collectors.
Selection is a problem, with numerous
cards for heavily hyped players from the pre-season. Unfortunately, more than a few of these have failed to meet expectations,
while others, especially on defense, have come through like champs.
A good example is cornerback Dorian Brew,
of the Chicago Enforcers. Late in the season, Brew is tied with Las Vegas Outlaws defensive back Brandon Sanders for most
interceptions at four apiece. Sanders has a card, No. 62 in the XFL set. Brew does not.
Also there are no
coach cards, and there ought to be. Galen Hall, Al Luginbill, Kippy Brown, Rusty Tillman, and Jim Criner all have solid records
coming into the league.
Perhaps the ability level of the players can be nitpicked, but coaching in the XFL is
not one of its failings. Vince McMahon has hired some of the best, and it shows.
There are too many cheerleader
cards. One per team is all that is necessary. And the cheerleader card ought to be a group photo, with a name key for the
lovely ladies.
Finally, there isn't a kicker in the bunch. It may be that not every kicker deserves his own
card, but you would think there would be at least one kicker card.
However, these are relatively small drawbacks
and the set is pretty attractive by any standard. With 79 player cards, a host of cool inserts, and crisp, high quality production
values overall, the Topps XFL set has much to recommend it.
The big question collectors ask is whether this set
will be valuable in the future, and if so, how valuable? Previous football sets featuring non-NFL professional players have
been a mixed bag.
The 1984-85 Topps USFL sets were an outstanding success, rewarding collectors who bought the
cards with enormous profits. On the other hand, the World League of American Football sets issued by Pro Set, Wild Card, and
Ultimate in the early 1990s have fared poorly at best.
If the XFL succeeds and establishes some real stars,
the cards could shoot up in value. If the XFL fails, and the better players move on to stardom in the NFL, the cards could
rise even higher. Who knows?
In any case, an early purchase of these offbeat cards might prove a sound investment
in the long run.
THE END
Mike Bonner of Eugene, Oregon is the author of COLLECTING FOOTBALL CARDS, A Complete Guide with Prices,
a Krause Publications title.
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