There's retro, and then there's retro the way 2008 Topps Mayo Football does it - going back before the turn of the century (the 20th Century, that is) for its inspiration. These modern Mayo cards are the familiar modern size, but they are similar in design to tobacco cards from 1894 that pictured Ivy League football players.
Hobby boxes of 2008 Topps Mayo Football come with 24 packs of eight cards each. Relics (memorabilia cards) and autographs are included at a rate of two per box, and parallel cards in the size of the 1894 originals come one per pack.
Base Cards
It's clear that Mayo is intended to be the football equivalent to Topps' popular Allen & Ginter Baseball product, and it carries out that role by using current NFL players on cards that are extremely faithful to the 1894 Mayo Cut Plugs tobacco cards. That goes for the black borders, the old time card backs and the Mayo Cut Plug logos on the fronts.
There are a few differences too, starting with the size, which is the conventional 2 1/2" by 3 1/2". The photos (some of Topps' best portraits of the 2008 season) are in color instead of black-and-white, and the "For Chewing and Smoking" text has been replaced by "For Collecting and Trading."
While the original 1894 set consisted of just 35 cards, all of Ivy League football players, Topps Mayo borrows another page from Allen & Ginter by combining current players, rookies, retired stars and numerous non-sports personalities to create a 330-card base set. And yes, there are 55 short prints (seeded 1:2 packs) to keep the collecting challenge interesting as well.
A single box of Topps Mayo Football provides a pretty good starting point toward the set while still leaving a fair share of work to do. I opened a random box to review and found 144 of the 330 base cards, with no duplicates.
Mini Parallel Cards
The original Mayo Cut Plugs were 1 9/16" by 2 7/8", and Topps stays true to those cards with mini parallels in that size falling one per pack. The photos on the minis are also in black-and-white, adding another layer to the tribute.
The most common Mayo level features the same card backs as the base set. Rarer Yale, Princeton (1:box) and Harvard (numbered to 25) levels celebrate the three universities that contributed players to the 1894 set with a big school letter and the color most associated with that school. The toughest level to pull is the 1894 variety, sporting the original Mayo logo and limited to just five copies.
My review box produced mini parallels in quantities one would expect, with 18 Mayo, two Yale, one Princeton and one Harvard card.
Autographed Cards, Relic Cards and Insert Cards
Autograph collectors will be pleased to see that all of the cards feature on-card signatures, a rarity in today's market. Both Mayo Autographs, which focus on stars of the NFL, and Mayo Americana Autographs, which are devoted to non-sports celebrities, are signed on mini cards which are then framed to reach the size of modern cards. The toughest pulls are Cut Signatures of historical figures like Mark Twain and Norman Rockwell.
Relics (or memorabilia cards) get the same treatment with Mayo Relics utilizing football-shaped jersey swatches and Mayo Americana Relics using pieces of items worn by personalities like Colin Powell and Cornelius Vanderbilt. Mayo Century Series Relics contain a number of interesting memorabilia items such as original stamps and pieces from ships.
Regular insert cards appear in both standard and mini sizes. The former is represented by Super Bowl Logo History cards that picture either team or game logos from one of the last ten Super Bowls. Famous Ships and Horses are exactly what they sound like - mini cards of renowned vessels and different equine breeds.
Two relics appeared in the About.com sample box, one of Jacksonville quarterback David Garrard and the other a piece of the USS Maine. I also found 21 Super Bowl Logo History cards and a pair of Ships.
The Last Word
Like other Topps retro brands, Topps Mayo Football is an enjoyable look at modern players with a bit of a history lesson added in. The simple look and great portraits make terrific visuals, and there are enough other elements to keep things interesting for anyone looking to complete the set.
Fairly or not, though, Mayo is always going to be compared to Allen & Ginter, and there doesn't seem to be quite the same level of imagination to the inserts and extras here. That doesn't mean Topps Mayo isn't a perfectly fine set in its own right, and at a price south of $100 a box it should be a hit with the set-building and retro crowd.