Category Archives: Industry News

September 2011 Trading Card Releases

  By Sports Card Blog | August 26, 2011 - 6:17 pm |
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September is right around the corner just in time for some great sports card releases. From the high end to the low end, September is packed full of products. As always, the rating is based on how excited I am for the product. So let’s get it started:

Baseball:

2011 Topps Chrome baseball – September 7, 2011 – $65 – 7/10

A pretty decently cheap price for the same cards as Series I and II but with Chrome technology and 2 autographs a box. Nothing earth shattering here though, I’d rather wait until Finest comes out.

2011 Topps Heritage Minor League baseball – September 21, 2011 – $66 – 5/10

OMG BRYCE HARPER AUTOGRAPHED CARDS!

Basketball:

2011-12 Upper Deck SP Authentic basketball – September 28, 2011 – $118 – 7/10

Upper Deck brings the college court back again with this year’s SP Authentic basketball. With new exclusives to their basketball products, this looks to be a solid product by Upper Deck, and if the lockout continues, could hold more value over the long term if Panini decides to not make any products this season.

2010-11 Panini Elite Black Box basketball – September 14, 2011 – $250 – 9/10

Panini’s newest high end basketball product comes out hot and ready to go. A great looking set that reminds me of the old Upper Deck Black, Panini Elite Black Box looks great with beautiful hard autographs from all of the game’s top stars. This is another great original product from Panini.

Football:

2011 Panini Absolute Memorabilia football – September 14, 2011 – $155 – 8/10

A 1 hit per pack product that brings you some of the nicest patches and autographs of the season with the new on-card rookie autographs. As always, a hit with football collectors and this year should be the same once again.

2011 Panini Timeless Treasures football – September 14, 2011 – $91 – 9/10

I really like the look and quality of Timeless Treasures this year. Bringing the old and new players together in this product is great and some of the designs are top notch. I’m happy to see this product brought to the gridiron and I think Panini did the product great justice.

2011 Topps Platinum football – September 7, 2011 – $88 – 7/10

I am kind of disappointed by the looks of things and I really hope that I missed something on the sell sheet. I don’t like the college jerseys with the logos edited out and that is killing me on this product. Add in some checklist issues with very little veterans and tons of rookies and I’m not real excited about this product.

2011 Topps Prime football – September 28, 2011 – $86 – 8/10

An underrated product last season, it returns with some solid hits and a pretty nice design overall. A great product to hold you over if you are waiting on Topps Supreme.

2011 Upper Deck SP Authentic football – September 13, 2011 – $112 – 8/10

I really like this product except for one thing. Those autographed patches may look absolutely horrible with the retro design. I hope it was just the mock up in the sell sheet because the more I looked at it the more I didn’t like it. Maybe they will look better in person. But I still think this will be an above average product.

2011 Upper Deck University of Oklahoma football – September 20, 2011 – $45 – 5/10

Hockey:

2010-11 Panini Dominion hockey – September 14, 2011 – $380 – 9/10

Finally, the long wait comes to an end. The first high end product from Panini in the hockey arena is finally going to be showcased to the public after a delay by the NHLPA. Will this be The Cup Killer?

2011-12 Upper Deck Artifacts hockey – September 20, 2011 – $92 – 8/10

One of Upper Deck’s first all out hockey products of the new season is back and looks just as good as it has ever been. A great looking design as always, new players on new teams, new rookies and rookie redemptions, and some sweet patches and autographs in this hit per pack product.

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That’s what we got for September 2011 sports card releases. I will be updating this page as I do more previews as it looks like I have a ton of previewing to do that I’ve missed. So stay tuned for lots of previews!

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NHLPA Forcing Further Delay of 2010-11 Panini Dominion Hockey

  By Sports Card Blog | August 12, 2011 - 7:20 pm |
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We as collectors are always disappointed with delays in products. 2010-11 Panini Dominion has already been delayed more than once. Now it’s being delayed once again, but this time it is not for any reasons Panini can control.

The NHLPA is forcing the delay of 2010-11 Panini Dominion hockey two extra weeks until a September 14, 2011, release date. The only positive coming out of this for collectors is that it gives Panini extra time to acquire autographs so there will not be as many redemptions. Everything else is a negative.

As most in the hobby know, the last day for 2010-11 NHL licensed products to be released is August 31st every year. The NHLPA has given an extension for this highly sought product because the NHLPA does not want 2010-11 Panini Dominion matching up with 2010-11 Upper Deck The Cup. The two highest of all high end hockey products will not go head to head in the last couple of days of the hockey card season. Instead, the NHLPA is forcing the delay so that each company can try and move more product.

Of course, moving more product means the NHLPA gets a bigger cut of the money. So a special exception was made for the two hockey heavyweights.

What does this mean for collectors? I’m thinking because The Cup is released 2 weeks earlier, collectors are going to go to Upper Deck’s product first. The big question is will people have the time to reload if they weren’t sure which one they were going to purchase and are just purchasing the first released product? Panini seems to be getting the short end of the stick for their first very high end hockey product in my opinion. People are often weary of a first time product and the fact Upper Deck gets the first shot with collectors for a full two weeks means there just may be less money going around from collectors to purchase a second product. The MSRP for buying both products is a staggering $800.

How will the delay effect you as a collector if you planned on purchasing one or both of these great products? Will you have time to reload the funds? Will you just be buying Upper Deck’s The Cup because it’s released earlier? Do you think the NHLPA should of got involved?

I mean it totally makes sense from the money standpoint for the NHLPA to do this, but as a collector it just sucks.

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Panini Doing It Right at the 2011 National

  By Sports Card Blog | August 7, 2011 - 5:46 pm |
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When you watch sporting events you always hear about that one dedicated player who does everything they can and works extra hard for their team. Announcers love to use the example how the player is always the first one on the court or field and the last one off.

Well from reports I’ve heard at the National, Panini has been just that this past week. From the time the doors opened on the first day, until after everyone else was packing up Sunday night, Panini was there for it’s customers and future customers delivering the goods they had prepared for the National. Wrapper redemptions, autographed memorabilia, and great displays available from beginning to the very end.

Panini even earned some kudos from of it’s toughest critics in the blogging community for the way they handled their corporate area at the 2011 National. At times, it seemed like Panini could do nothing right to them. But Panini’s work at the National even turned the biggest critics into fan boys, even if only for this one weekend.

From reports, the Panini booth was swamped all weekend long with people opening thousands of dollars worth of products to get their hands on some great wrapper redemptions and other offerings from Panini. And from what I’ve been told, Tracy Hackler and Scott Prusha, the marketing men over at Panini, handled it with zen like abilities.

For one weekend, no matter which brand of cards you preferred and no matter what your previous opinion was, everyone was a Panini fan.

Check out some live blog posts from Panini.

A Frenzied First Day at the National

Wrapper Redemptions Highlight Panini’s Thursday

Wrapper Madness on Day 2

Sights and Sounds from Day 3

A Wild Saturday at the National

If you didn’t get a chance to head out to the National, Panini saved some wrapper redemption packs just for you.

I will try and have complete coverage of the National and final thoughts about it from a guest in the coming days. But look out Baltimore in 2012, I’m saving up!

 

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August 2011 Sports Card Releases

  By Sports Card Blog | July 27, 2011 - 2:34 am | ,
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Here we go again for the month of August. Plenty of goodness about to be released in all 4 major sports. It’s heating up here in the dog days of summer with this product line up about to go out to collectors. As always, ratings are my excitement level for each product and what should be your excitement level too. Dates are subject to manufacturer change.

Baseball:

2011 ITG Heroes & Prospects “Hits” Series 2 Baseball – August 3, 2011 – Price: $85 – 7/10

This one pack per box baseball product brings you only the hits. Find autographs from players of the future and yesteryear including cuts of players like Hank Aaron and future stars like Manny Banuelos.

2011 Topps Lineage Baseball – August 3, 2011 – Price: $100 – 7/10

Find autographs from past and today as Topps uses it’s popular designs from the 60s and 70s including autographs on the old 1952 card design. It should be loaded with some great hits.

2011 Topps Marquee Baseball – August 24, 2011 – Price: $175 – 8/10

This new hit per pack product looks to be a mix of Tribute and Triple Threads. While I’m not excited about the relics unless I pull a patch, for this high end of a product I would want more patches. Other than that, the autograph checklist looks pretty good in itself so it’s definitely worth it to check it out.

2011 Tristar Obak Baseball – August 10, 2011 – Price: $105 – 7/10

11 hits per box! With autographs from history’s greatest baseball players as well as future stars, this product looks loaded with the possibilities for some nice hits. When you get 11 of them, there is sure to be a ton of filler, but the really good hits should be really good.

Basketball:

2010-11 Panini Elite Black Box Basketball – August 31, 2011 – Price: ? – 9/10

The newest high end offering from Panini looks like it has great promise for it. A ton of beautiful on card autographs and a few embedded autographs that don’t look that bad besides the autograph getting cut out a bit is what you’ll find and will be what everyone is looking for. A nice insert set dedicated to Kevin Durant has been long in the making. This product just depends on the checklist. But for now, I got the hype.

2010-11 Panini National Treasures Basketball – August 10, 2011 -Price: $440 – 8/10

The prominent high end product of the basketball season comes out with awesome patches, great autographs, and the rookie cards of the season for basketball. The rookie class may not be that great, but these cards are always top of the line from Panini.

2011-12 Upper Deck SP Authentic Basketball – August 30, 2011 – Price: $115 – 6/10

I can honestly say that I’m not very excited about this product. The only excitement comes from the fact it’s possible to pull a Michael Jordan or Lebron James autograph. The man-crush on North Carolina and the amounts of possibly Lebron or Jordan autographs is kind of killing their values, but if you want another good chance to pull one, here’s another shot.

Football:

2011 Panini Threads Football – August 24, 2011 – Price: ? – 8/10

One of the better Panini football products, there is a ton of great looking cards in this year’s set with some great looking rookie and veteran autographs, including the always popular rookie letterman autographs. The veteran and rookie autographs you can pull are pretty solid in this product and it looks like a winner.

2011 Topps Finest Football – August 31, 2011 – Price: $100 – 8/10

Topps Finest football is always a hit amongst collectors. Rookie autographs, rookie patch autographs, and veteran autographs, you can find some great cards in this product but also some duds. It’s a fun break as it’s one of the first Topps products of the season featuring rookies and veterans.

2011 Topps Inception Football – August 11, 2011 – Price: $90 – 9/10

I’m impressed with this product with the rookies and the design Topps was able to use despite not getting great pictures at the NFL Premiere when the lockout was in place. I’m in love with the design and what Topps has done with this product and I think it would be a great pickup.

2011 Upper Deck NCAA Sweet Spot Football – August 3, 2011 – Price: $110 – 8/10

A hit per pack product again, I think the price is a little high for this product, but it should be filled with some great autographs from the incoming NFL rookie class in their college uniforms. With college football gaining popularity by the year, it looks to be a solid product as it gives collectors, especially college collectors, what they want.

Hockey:

2010-11 Panini Dominion Hockey – August 31, 2011 – Price: $390 – 10/10

I am beyond hyped up for this product. Finally, a competitor with The Cup in the hockey arena and it looks like it will do a great job with some great cards and new concepts in this set. Plus, who doesn’t love an insert set dedicated to the Hartford Whalers?

2010-11 Upper Deck The Cup Hockey – August 30, 2011 – Price: $390 – 10/10

The Cup hockey. Really, what else is there to say here? The highest of high end from Upper Deck is back and looking just as good as ever. It will be challenged by Panini Dominion, can it claim it’s spot at the top of the high end hockey world with some new competition?

2010-11 ITG Heroes & Prospects Update – August 30, 2011 – Price: $40 – 7/10

H&P Update isn’t my favorite ITG product, but it always has very decent hits with heroes from the game of hockey and ITG’s great players that they have signed and some of the top prospects in the minors and junior hockey leagues.

2011-12 Upper Deck Victory Hockey – August 2, 2011 – Price: $30 – 8/10

How can you not like the first NHL product of the season? All the new rookies and the offseason trades and pick ups. This is the first cards of the new season’s hottest rookies from this year’s draft!

Check this post back often as I will be releasing official Sports Card Blog preview information in the coming weeks before the products are released!

Racing:

2011 Press Pass FanFare Racing – August 24, 2011 – Price: $115 – 8/10

Press Pass’s newest hit per pack product hits the shelves running with some of your favorite NASCAR drivers as well as some of your favorite Nationwide and truck series drivers. A lot of first time drivers on these cards make for some great value before you even open a pack!

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NFL Lockout To End This Week

  By Sports Card Blog | July 19, 2011 - 9:04 pm |
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With several articles pointing to the end of the NFL lockout this week, I am excited. Not only are teams and players going to be heading straight to training camp and getting ready for a great season of NFL action, card companies will finally be able to get pictures of players in their jerseys, with correct uniform numbers, and not taken at the Rookie Premiere.

No more pictures at the combine.

No more pictures at the Rookie Premiere:

No more staged photos with 00 on their chest:

It’s finally going to start heading back into the direction we all love. Action shots of hard nosed football at it’ s finest. That’s another reason to love the end of the NFL lockout.

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