Tag Archives: rookies

Preview: 2011 Panini Limited Football

  By Sports Card Blog | September 1, 2011 - 2:03 am |
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Today on Panini’s official blog, they revealed the details of 2011 Panini Limited football and it looks to be an improvement over last year’s product and that deserves some praise from just about anyone.

Although the photos used are still from the Rookie Premiere as this product was already in the starting stages by the time training camp started, they do a pretty good job with these photos even if you can tell that they’ve been used before. But the design in general is definitely an improvement in my opinion.

Some new additions this season include pieces of hats worn by 13 players at the NFL Draft numbered to 199 or less and a new “Limitless” insert numbered to 199 or less that features some autographs from some very hard to get players like Michael Vick, Sam Bradford, and Adrian Peterson. I must say, I approve of that subset name as well as I know I’ve made some slight jabs at Panini for subset names in the past.

Every card produced for the entire set is numbered to 499 or less which brings some good value to the table in terms of how scarce these cards are. The newly designed Rookie Phenoms are numbered to 299 and feature some sweet patches. So things are definitely looking good so far for this set.

Every 7 card pack/box of 2011 Panini Limited football will feature 1 autograph numbered to 299 or less, 1 memorabilia card numbered to 199 or less, 1 additional autograph or memorabilia card numbered to 199 or less, 2 base cards, 1 legend card, and 1 rookie card numbered to 499 or less. Overall, it looks to be similar to past years in terms of odds, but that’s just fine.

Look for this product to hit stores in November at around the same price as last year.

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Preview: 2011 Topps Chrome Baseball

  By Sports Card Blog | August 30, 2011 - 1:01 am |
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Every year collectors transition from Topps flagship to Topps Chrome. Basically, it’s the same product but with the famous Topps Chrome technology. With Chrome technology you get the shininess of the cards plus all the different refractors and this is no different than in the past.

Every box will feature two on-card rookie autographs. There are 20 different rookies and you can find these in up to 6 different refractor versions plus a printing plate version. You may also find more of the Topps 60th Anniversary autographed cards featuring 3 different players and an inscription, usually congratulating Topps on their 60th birthday.

Other than the autographs you can find a 220 card base set with 170 top veterans you found in Topps Series I and II as well as 50 rookies. You can find these in 7 different paralleled refractors as well as the printing plates.

The inserts this time around, which Topps has been lacking on in the past are Chrome Heritage cards based on the 1962 design and Vintage Chrome based off the 1996 design (I wasn’t aware 1996 was vintage, but I still liked that design).

Also, only found in hobby boxes, are black bordered parallels in which some of them have autographs of the 20 rookies, giving you more chances to pull rookie autographs. And lastly, there will be randomly inserted redemptions for autographs from the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team. These can also be found in 6 parallels and printing plates.

After all of this, personally I would wait for Topps Finest baseball.

You can find this product in stores on September 7, 2011, for a price around $65.

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Preview: 2011 Topps Platinum Football

  By Sports Card Blog | August 28, 2011 - 1:01 am |
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2011 Topps Platinum is coming back again, but this time, I’m not too impressed.

I really like what Topps has done with most of their other products. Some Photoshop work here and there to make the rookies look like they are actually pictured in NFL jerseys. Or even used some photos from the Rookie Premiere with their team jersey on. But from what the sell sheet looks like, it will just be college team photos with the logos edited out. Nothing on the sell sheet mentions any other changes to the photos like the others have, so I am assuming this is how the cards will be delivered. That is disappointing.

While I enjoy most of the designs with die-cut parallels, rookie jumbo patches, and the rookie on-card autographs, I still can’t get past the images of the players on the cards. It’s just a personal thing for me, if you have access to the licensing of NFL logos and players wearing those NFL logos, why aren’t you using them?

You will get 3 hits per box. 2 being on card rookie refractor autographs and another being an autographed refractor patch card. Plus you will get one rookie refractor card per pack. So again, a ton of rookies. As always, there will be a ton of refractor versions as well. You can find green, blue, white, gold, superfractor, and printing plates.

Replacing your on card autographs may be dual, triple, or hexagraph cards. That’s 2, 3, or 6 autographs on one card.

The regular autographed patch cards are kind of disappointing as far as the checklist goes. There are only a few veterans on that list compared to a ton of rookies. I know more rookies means a less price for a product but the lack of veterans really takes away from some of the people who may buy this product. This seems to be reoccurring thing with Topps recently and I don’t like it too much.

You will find 20 packs per box and 5 cards per pack according to DACW.

This product should hit store on September 7, 2011 for a price around $86 dollars or so.

Here’s a checklist so you can see what I’m talking about.

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Preview: 2011 Panini Absolute Memorabilia Football

  By Sports Card Blog | August 27, 2011 - 1:01 am |
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You want hits? You want a ton of unique memorabilia pieces and some sweet autographs from some of the top rookies and veterans of the game? 2011 Panini Absolute Memorabilia football brings it once again this year with fresh designs and some amazing patch cards.

There are 4 packs per box with 4 cards per pack. So this is definitely a hit per pack product in the higher end category for all you mojo chasers out there. Each box will yield 2 autographs numbered to 299 or less and 2 memorabilia cards numbered to 100 or less. You will also find 2 inserts/parallels and 2 rookies per box along with those.

What I like about a product loaded with hits like this is the fact they aren’t extremely over done. What I mean by that is the serial numbers aren’t extremely high on everything. Some products you might be able to find memorabilia numbered to like 500 or rookie autographed patches to numbers like 599. But Absolute Memorabilia keeps numbers low, but does usually have a number of subsets.

But some of those subsets are amazing. Shield autographs, brand logo autographs, and some awesome jumbo patch autographs that are a giant chunk of patches from these jerseys. As always, you’ll be able to find these types of cards from players like Cam Newton, Mark Ingram, and all the way up to current veterans like Tom Brady or Aaron Rodgers. Don’t forget your Hall of Famers as well like Troy Aikman and Jerry Rice. This product is loaded with just about something for everybody. The rookie autographs are all on-card and they are from the 36 players who attended the Rookie Premiere, so that will add some extra value compared to the past few years.

And for those set builders there are 100 base cards to try and get your hands on and 100 rookies numbered to 499 or less so this is a very difficult set to put together.

This product should hit stores on September 21, 2011 at a price point around $150.

Make sure you check out this Knight’s Lance post from Panini for some more awesome images from this set.

How about some absolutely phenomenal patches?

Want to see the first box broken on video?

The 2011 Absolute Memorabilia checklist is now available!

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Preview: 2011-12 Upper Deck Black Diamond Hockey

  By Sports Card Blog | August 25, 2011 - 2:02 am |
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With 2010-11 Upper Deck The Cup less than a week away now, we look forward to the next season of hockey products. One of the favorites for finding new rookies is 2011-12 Upper Deck Black Diamond hockey. I know everyone loves rookies and Upper Deck really is giving 2011-12 Black Diamond collectors some treats in the rookie department this time around.

The newest case hit from Upper Deck in this product is Lustrous Rookies. If anyone remembers the “lustrous” sets from UD Black, this pays great homage to one of the best sets I’ve seen. I own some Lustrous Materials from UD Black and just love the design and the clear view through the card. The fact Upper Deck is bringing back a subset of near the same design is exciting to me.

Continuing with rookies, you can find 1 Ice Premieres rookie per box and as usual you can find 3 Triple Diamond rookies and 1 Quad Diamond rookie per box. You may also find a parallel of these as well in Ruby, Gold, or Platinum. As far as veterans go, you can find 6 Double Diamonds, 3 Triple Diamonds, and 4 Ice Veterans.

These box breaks are always filled with different versions and parallels. With 5 cards per pack and 24 packs per box, you are almost pulling one parallel or different version per pack of cards.

Another new card this season is the Championship Rings set, which is obviously going to be a favorite by me. An acetate-rainbow based card, featuring a giant ring on the card with a player from a championship team. Yes, I love acetate cards and Upper Deck really does acetate cards great justice with every acetate set they make and I love it. These can be found 1 every 3 boxes so they are limited.

Finally, you can find the usual Hardware Heroes, Gemography, and Black Diamond jerseys. A new twist with the Black Diamond jerseys is you can put the cards together to complete the background design of the card. I’d imagine if you found a booklet card display, you could put each card on each side and have a nice piece to look at, despite it not being hinged.

2011-12 Upper Deck Black Diamond hockey hits stores in December 2011, right in the thick of hockey season.

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