The night before 2011 Upper Deck Legendary Cuts is set to release we at Sports Card Blog have received the checklist. Dare I say “First!”?
Every autograph is in the box and there are no redemptions. That is legen…..(wait for it)….DARY!
Happy breaking!
Here is the 2011 SP Legendary Cuts Baseball Final Checklist
2011 Upper Deck Sweet Spot football is back with all your favorite players in their college glory.
This year, every pack you open will feature an autograph! With 4 packs per box and 8 cards per pack, you are guaranteed 4 autographs from the hottest rookies of the year to some of the great veterans and retired players of the game.
Back again is the on-helmet autographs embedded into the cards. Though I’m not a huge fan of players signing manufactured materials, I think Upper Deck does it right when it comes to that regard if it HAS to be done. The signings on “By the Letter” patches or on other fabrics just look messy and incoherent. Athlete autographs are already messy and incoherent, like my doctor. At least on a hard and smooth surface these autographs come out nicely. There will be two of these on-helmet autographs in every box with several different helmet variations. Also back again is Sweet Beginnings autographed cards and it looks like they are including Ultimate Collection Rookie Signatures in this product as well combining one of their old products with Sweet Spot.
New this year are two different autographed parallels to change things up a little bit. It appears as if Upper Deck has signed on with Todd McShay and Chris Mortensen of ESPN to feature their likeness on a new subset of Scouting Report inserts. These cards feature a picture of the analyst along with some of the players they have reviewed on their scouting reports. Some of these inserts will have an autographed parallel. While I’m not a huge fan of Mortensen or McShay staring at me from the card, I applaud UD for trying something a little different. I wonder what kind of information will be on the back of the card?
There is also the new Sweet Spot Rivalry booklet featuring two on-helmet autographs in booklet form. From the sound of the set and what I can see, it looks like these will feature some of the biggest rivalries in college football with autographs from each side in the booklet. I hope to see a “Civil War” booklet featuring an Oregon and Oregon State autographed helmet on each side. How could you possibly leave out one of the longest rivalries in all of college football?
In all, at a $100 price point for 4 autographs, it appears to be right around where it should be as far as price goes. I know collectors would rather have an NFL licensed product, however, these cards do look sharp and the autographs are just the same as any other product. Upper Deck is the only NCAA license in town, so for those who love college football and the pros, this should be a fun product to open when it comes out at the end of June. Roll Tide.
Note: Okay, I’m not an Alabama fan but I thank the Bama fans who were chanting “Roll Ducks” during the National Championship game. At least you stand by your team and don’t cheer for the whole conference.
By now we should all know who Pat Tillman was.
By now we should all know the story that brought Pat Tillman from fame and fortune in the NFL to his tragic death in Afghanistan in 2004.
Today being Memorial Day will bring that story once again to the sports media and will surely be on ESPN numerous times throughout the day. Pat Tillman is just one of 1598 Americans who have died in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and one of the 2495 total deaths including all the countries fighting along side us. And Pat Tillman was just one of the millions who have died for our country.
But this is a sports card blog and Pat Tillman was an athlete as well as a soldier.
Pat Tillman’s cards still are being bought, sold, and traded for today. He only has 5 cards made from his rookie season in 2001 and those are the only 5 that were ever made. Pat Tillman cards are a rarity. While they aren’t worth much monetarily, to some they are worth much more than that.
Here is a list of Pat Tillman cards:
In my opinion, the most valuable or the most inspirational of his cards should be his 2001 Fleer Tradition card. Have you seen this card before? I think the insert set name says it all.
Unsung Heroes.
In the NFL for the Arizona Cardinals, Pat Tillman was an Unsung Hero. But in the United States for the US Army Rangers, Pat Tillman was a hero to them all.
Remember to keep all those who have died for our country and along side us in your thoughts on this day.
In honor of the Heat and the Mavericks making it to the NBA Finals as well as my Connecticut Huskies taking home the Men’s Basketball Championship earlier this year, I bring you Caron Butler.
Now I’m not a chemist, but I’m not entirely sure these are made of acetate. These may be more of a plexiglass then they are a thin acetate material. Either way, I can see through it so I don’t care.
Featured acetate (kinda) card of the day:
2003-04 Upper Deck Glass Autofocus Caron Butler
After I noticed there were autographed cards on the acetate style design, I knew I had to grab some of them for my collection. I had already had a Cam Ward so I decided to try my luck with UCONN basketball players. It was late 2006 when I had just moved into my dorm at Portland State University. I hadn’t brought many of my sports cards with me across the country and I needed something that felt a little more like home. What better then a sports card featuring a Connecticut Huskies player? I scoured eBay and found this in it’s beautiful acetate-sty goodness.
UD Glass was fun when it was out because of these autographs in the set. These are on a very thick acetate/plexiglass surface, almost as thick as some Exquisite cards. These cards will not bend in any way and make an interesting sound when they hit the table. Thought I would have liked to see the autograph more on the clear area as far as design is concerned, this card was very innovative for it’s time and it continued as a staple in the UD Glass series for years to come. Speaking of years to come, I really need to get a Brandon Roy rookie autograph from UD Glass. That would be awesome. If anyone has one let me know!
Caron Butler was originally drafted by the Miami Heat out of the University of Connecticut where he starred for Jim Calhoun’s Huskies. I saw him play in person several times while he was in college as well as on TV, and I don’t think he ever fulfilled his college potential before he left early for the NBA. His first few years with the Heat and the Wizards were okay, but he has finally grown into his own the past few years with the Wizards and now the Mavericks. This season, he was playing extremely well until his unfortunate knee injury derailed him for the season. I could only hope he would return for the NBA Finals, but I don’t think that will be a possibility.
We from Husky Nation salute you Caron Butler and everyone around the world, except for Miami, hopes you can comeback and put baby Bron-Bron in his place by defeating the Heat in the Finals.
Upper Deck lost it’s baseball license you say?
What would you say to an octo-cut-autograph of the 1927 Murderer’s Row Yankees squad? How about an All-Time Great Home Run quad cut of Ruth, Mays, Aaron, and Bonds?
Sound good to you? For 2011 Upper Deck Legendary Cuts baseball, those cards could be in your collection or make you some sweet cash if you want to go that route.
Legendary Cuts this year features all cut autographs from a variety of subsets.
The Legendary Cuts subset is 200 cards featuring 91 Hall of Famers numbered to 35 or below. You could pull a Ruth, Clemente, Wagner, or Jackie Robinson.
The Legendary Black Cuts is a 400 card subset that focuses on the greatest franchises of all time. 75 possible Yankees players in this subset. Although I’m not a Yankee fan, there better be a ton of Red Sox in there too if you are talking about greatest franchises.
Finally, the hardest to get subset is Legendary Exquisite Cuts which is a 100 card set featuring the hardest to get autographs numbered to 5 or less. This includes all the major hits like President’s, First Couples, and all those All-Time great cuts that you could pull.
Now I’m sure you want to know what you are getting in a box. Well, without the license you are taking a hit on what you are getting in a box. Gone are the days of multiple packs or one big pack of cards featuring a ton of players and then you get your hits. Upper Deck has taken a page out of the Leaf/Razor playbook and have made this product simple.
1 card per pack
1 pack per box
As I stated earlier, there will be one cut per box. So your card is going to be a cut autograph. I have a feeling it is either going to be one extreme or the other. It’s either going to be a great value with a ton of nice hits or it’s going to be extremely hit or miss. But at least when you open up your box you will not find any redemptions. That’s right, this product is packing out with ZERO redemptions. I guess there shouldn’t be any redemptions if the majority of the people in the product are dead, but it’s nice nonetheless. Plus they finished up production earlier then expected so this will be in stores on June 2, 2011 for between $200-$250.
For those who are into historic autographs or want to take their chances on something huge, this product will be right up your alley. If not, I would stay away because there really isn’t anything other then historic autographs and this is probably a product in which you won’t want to build the set because of the price.
Note: We at Sports Card Blog have been able to secure the 2011 Upper Deck Legendary Cuts Checklist.
