Happy Easter

Happy Easter!

 

Happy Opening Day...

 

 

2012 Turkey Red Football

It is now official, 2012 Topps Turkey Red Football will go live on April 3^rd through the Topps Online Store and the boxes will begin shipping on April 10^th. The boxes will run $24.99 and will include nine base cards, one mini card and an autograph.

 

The base set contains a 100-card checklist made up entirely of rookies from the 2012 season, the mini cards have the same checklist. The autograph checklist is made up of 57 players and the cards are the exact same as the player’s base card but with an autograph sticker affixed to the front, there will be red parallels of each autograph card #/10 each.

 

The recent baseball version sold out almost immediately and I would expect a similar sell out with football. Baseball was limited to 500 sets printed and while exact numbers have been announced for football, Topps is saying that this will be a limited release.

The left card is the mini version but the regular base card will look almost the exact same.

Evel Knievel... Oh Yea...And 2013 Golden Age Baseball

In June Panini will be releasing the second incarnation of Golden Age Baseball. In short, the set looks better than last year’s gold and sepia release. The designs are better and the gold coloring is gone, two of my biggest problems with last year’s release.

 

A box will run $65 and contain 24 6-card packs; you will pull one on-card autograph and one Museum Age Memorabilia card plus 14 inserts and a Headline News box topper. This year they are bringing 1933 Delong Gum cards in to the mix and the Three Stooges are back for a nine card insert set.

 

I have to admit, the reason I decided to look more in to this year’s set is this guy…

I grew up in the 70s, this guy was legendary and the Evel Knievel Stunt Cycle was one of the coolest toys any kid could own at that time. I just pulled up a commercial for the cycle on YouTube, just hearing the sound of the wheel winding up as the handle turned brings me back to when I got a Stunt Cycle for Christmas.

 

Panini and Famous Fabrics have included Knievel in recent sets and he still draws some big numbers even though it has been 6 years since he passed away. I plan to chase after some singles after Golden Age Baseball is released, with Evel Knievel at the top of my list.

Mini

1933 Delong Gum

Headline Box Topper

Three Stooges Insert

Preview: 2013 Tristar TNA Impact Live

Schedule Release Date: March 27, 2013

Box Configuration: 6 cards per pack/20 packs per box
SRP: $70/box

 

 

Box Break:

2 Autograph cards
1 Multi-Autograph card
1 Event Worn Memorabilia card
2 Parallels
1 Short Print

 

 

My Thoughts:

Tristar offers the best value for your buck, when you pull 4 hits from a $70 box you really feel like you got something special. The downside is that when you talk wrestling, TNA is the redheaded stepchild to WWE, where Topps puts out a number WWE sets each year Tristar limits their TNA products to one, maybe two, per year.

 

But, for the TNA collector this set is perfect. It is limited (only 2,400 boxes being printed total), all of the autographs are hard-signed, relics are limited (#/199 or less), parallels are very limited (#/50 or less), the newest wrestlers are included (MMA fighter King Mo and Chavo Guerrero Jr.) and you have a solid chance of pulling big hits like printing plates or Impact Live redemption. One of the coolest things is the TNA Impact Live redemption cards; they can be redeemed for tickets to a live TNA event.

 

The base set is made up of 109-card checklist, which includes base cards and 8 subsets. Some of the subsets include thoughts on wrestlers by Jeff Hardy or Dixie Carter, Then & Now shows wrestlers as kids and now and Original Art which is original sketches by TNA wrestler Sam Shaw.

 

If you are a TNA fan, or even a fan of old school wrestlers like Hulk Hogan, Sting or Kurt Angle, this is an obvious purchase. There are booklet cards that contain up to 12 autographs as well as Impact Inscription cards that contain an autograph and an inscription by the wrestler. There are also multi-relic cards that contain up to 4 relics.

 

 

Pros:

4 Hits per box
3 Parallels & Short Prints per box
Hard Signed Autographs
Lots of autographs
New wrestlers
Very limited
Reasonable price

 

 

Cons:

It Is TNA

 

 

Rating:

 

 

As far as TNA sets go, this is a solid set and I would easily give it at least a 4 out of 5.

 

 

 

Panini Prizm Hockey As A Box Topper

When 2012-13 Rookie Anthology Hockey is released in June each box will include a Prizm Hockey 3-card pack as a box topper. The Prizm base set will contain 100 cards total, 52 veterans and 48 rookie cards, and there will be 4 parallels and autograph versions. The parallels will be Rainbow (unnumbered), Red (#/50), Blue (#/25) and Gold (#/10).

 

I am wondering if Prizm Hockey was originally intended to be its own stand-alone set but between the lockout and NHLPA rookie card announcement Panini decided to halt production and are only packing out the cards that were already printed.

Fleer Retro Baseball Announcement

Later this year Upper Deck will be bringing Fleer Retro Baseball to the shelves, an MLBPA approved product. Upper Deck has worked a deal with the MLBPA to release two approved sets, Fleer Retro and a set that will be announced later this year. Additionally they will be releasing 2013 Sweet Spot Classic, a set made up entirely of retired players.

 

Last year Upper Deck worked a deal with the MLBPA to release the 2012 SP Signature Edition, which was just horrid and had almost no redeeming qualities. With Fleer Retro Baseball, collectors will have some idea of what to expect, as for the unannounced release that is a different story. Hopefully SP Signature Edition does not make a return in its current form.

 

Retro will include some Fleer insert favorites like Metal Championship, Ultra Stars, Hot Glove and EX A Cut Above. Upper Deck even included Mike Trout Precious Metal Gems in random promotional packs that were handed out at the Las Vegas Industry Summit. Some of the cards have begun showing up on eBay, so far I have only seen Red Gems (#/100) and Blue Gems (#/50) versions, no Green Gems (#/10) have shown up for auction yet.

 

Newest eBay Pickup: A Leaf Valiant Nick Foles Autograph

I have finally added a Nick Foles Leaf Valiant auto to my personal collection. This a two-for-one for me, one of my favorite University of Arizona players currently in the NFL and an awesome Leaf Valiant design and at a bit over $9 shipped I can not complain.

 

What sucks is that I do not like the Eagles; my father is a life-long Giants fan, so I am not too interested in purchasing any of his Eagles cards. Instead I am hunting down his U of A cards from Leaf and Upper Deck. Both companies have done an amazing job, all of his Leaf autos are on-card and Upper Deck included him in the Fleer Retro release so there are quite a few autograph options available. Also if you haven’t had a chance to check out Upper Deck’s SP Authentic Rookie Auto-Patch cards or the SP Authentic Rookie Threads cards you should take a look, they are amazing and next on my "To get" list.

Follow Up: 2013 Topps Football

Topps has released additional images and information regarding the upcoming 2013 Topps Football release. The set will be released in August and hobby boxes will include 36 10-card packs and one hit while jumbo hobby boxes will contain 10 50-card packs and two autographs. The big theme for the release is “Legends”, with a majority of the inserts focusing on legends as well as future legends.

 

The base set will consist of 375 total cards, 265 veterans and 110 rookies. There will be parallels and photo variations. The parallels announced so far: Gold (#/2013), Pink/Breast Cancer Awareness (#/399), Military Appreciation/Camo (#/399), Black (#/58- Hobby only), Platinum (1/1) and Printing Plates (1/1- Hobby only). I would also expect colored retail parallels. The photo variations for the veterans will be from a legendary play, game or milestone that they accomplished during the 2012 season. There will be some rookie variations but Topps did not elaborate any further.