2010 Tri-Star Obak

Being a vintage collector I love the “Old is New” releases. Sets like Goudey, Goodwin Champions and Allen & Ginters always draw my attention, but now that A&G has become to much of a mainstream for me I can still turn my love towards Tri-Star’s Obak release.

Schedule Release Date: August 11, 2010
Box Configuration: 6 cards per pack, 20 packs per box
SRP: $70/box

Box Break:
4 Autograph Cards #/125 or less
2 Parallel Cards #/50 or less
1 T212 Mini Parallel Card #/50 or less
3 Short Prints
1 T4 Cabinet Card #/75 or less


My Thoughts:
The set is broken down in to 3 categories; base set, mini set and cabinet set. The base set contains 120 cards, the T-212 mini set contains 45 cards and the T-4 cabinet set contains 30 cards. There are also a total of 121 autographs made up of 101 “modern size” cards, 13 T-212 minis and 7 T-4 Cabinets.

Since Tri-Star does not have a MLB license the cards are made up of past-stars, future stars/Minor leaguers and a mixture of “game changers” and other sports icons. Looking over the checklist and you will be surprised at the names that pop out. The autograph checklist is amazing; players include Jason Heyward, Starlin Castro, Johnny Bench and Cal Ripken Jr. The cut autographs list is even more amazing, the checklist includes Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Satchel Paige, Eddie Cicotte, Barack Obama and are you ready for this? A dual cut-autograph of Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper!


Pros:
Good-looking design, simple and functional

Plenty of names that you will know and want to collect

A crazy cool checklist and an even crazier autograph checklist

1 Hot Box per case- Includes 35+ hits (at least 10 autographs)


Cons:
Some autographs are lick-em stick-em autographs

Not MLB licensed

Set includes other stars and icons that are not baseball players

Rating:
I rate this set 4 out of 5 because it is small enough for set collectors, contains stars from the past and future stars and has a very nice checklist but it looses out because of sticker autographs.

Honestly I probably rated this set a little higher then I should have because I do have such an affinity for it, the vintage connection is what really draws me in. Now if they had included Griffey I would have probably rated this a 5 out of 5, but we can not win them all...