Top Draft Picks Spice Up Letterman Basketball

Basketball collectors have had to make some difficult decisions about what to collect over the past few seasons as Topps and Upper Deck each signed top rookies to exclusive contracts. That meant no sets had all of the top picks available for autographs and memorabilia cards.

Not so this season. There are no exclusives for 2008-09, meaning both companies can really take advantage of an exciting rookie class led by Derrick Rose, Michael Beasley and O.J. Mayo. In fact, Topps isn't even waiting for the 2008-09 products to come out before it does just that.

Topps announced yesterday that 2007-08 Topps Letterman Basketball includes special redemption cards for autographed letter patch cards from ten of the top rookies from the incoming crop. Each player signed 25 cards for each letter in his last name, meaning the total number of cards available is 100 for Rose, 175 for Beasley, etc. The redemption cards are inserted one in four master boxes, making them fairly reasonable pulls.

Letterman Basketball was originally solicited for a May release but finally went on sale this week. Among the intriguing cards in the product are folding autographed letter patch cards that spell out a player's entire name, like the Larry Bird card pictured here.

Image courtesy of and copyright Topps.