Thursday, June 9, 2011
Cool Card- 2010-11 Dominion Hockey
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Early Preview Images of Panini National Treasure NBA
Panini National Treasures NBA is back and is scheduled for an August 3, 2011 release date. This year’s releases has some definite pluses including many on-card autographs, plenty of patches and relics including logos and laundry tags, and to top it off a nice list of Hall of Famers on the checklist to balance out the list of current players. On the downside there are still sticker autographs and card designs that really should have never made it to the packs. Panini has made some strides forward but still loses out on the ugly coloring and designs used in such a set.
The George Mikan cut signature is probably the best of the cards posted up by Panini, a pleasant design works nicely with the close-up portrait and the coloring. It reminds me a bit of Upper Decks SP Legendary Cuts, a great card for any collector.
The Dr. J ABA Legends autograph card has a lot of energy but the design captures the connection to the ABA and the 1970s well and a huge plus is that this card appears to be one of the on-card autographs, you cannot go wrong here.
The David Robinson Notable Nicknames is the epitome of the National Treasures set. The designers made the card design “over classy”, something that is not really necessary in a sports card but I like the connection of the nicknames to the autographs.
The John Wall Logoman autograph card is a pleasant card. Like the Notable Nickname insert I think the designers tried to add to much flash and pomp to the designs but at least the player’s image is now prominent on the card and not a dime sized component lost in the design.
The Kobe Timeline multi-relic autograph card is indicative of the things that are wrong with many of Panini’s designs. Too much was forced on to the card’s design and this is not a good thing. I know more is better in some cases; this is not one of those cases.
The Stephen Curry card is another attempt at mixing poor color choices with over-designed elements and you can see where this is going.
The same can be said about the Kevin Durant Colossal relic autograph card. I have never been a fan of using die-cut numbers; why not use a standard die-cut window for the patch? I understand the 35 is a connection to Durant but it does not add anything to the design and even takes away.
It just hurts seeing a card with such potential like the Hall of Fame quad-autograph card and adding sticker autographs. These are Hall of Famers, these guys deserve the time and effort of being able to sign on a card and in a set like this it would only add to the value.
On a final (and seriously positive) note, there will be memorabilia cards of both George Mikan and Wilt Chamberlin in this set. This is a huge coup for Panini.
Monday, June 6, 2011
2011 Topps UFC Title Shot Hands On
I received my box of UFC Title Shot on May 16 and besides being shorted 2 hits I am very happy with the product. I have actually opened up a hobby box, blaster box and a number of packs/rack packs. After sending in all the required items for my replacement hits (UPC, packs, and receipt) I waited for a response from Topps, which gave a 2-3 week period for the replacement cards. It took just about 2 weeks for the cards to come in and I could not be happier now. I know people rip Topps for their QC issues but at least they do have a decent turnaround time for fixing the problems.
The base set is beautiful, most of the cards show up close action shots and put you right in to the action. Collation was perfect, I pulled 127/150 cards (85% completion) plus no doubles. I pulled an additional 24 parallels (22 Gold and 2 Onyx). My favorite base card is the Cain Velasquez; you may recognize the man face down on the receiving end of Velasquez’s blows as former heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar. This photo is from UFC 121 seconds before referee Herb Dean stepped in to end the fight and hand the Heavyweight belt to Velasquez.
In the box I pulled the Forrest Griffin UFC 106 relic card. This fight was a split decision win over Tito Ortiz. Griffin is an old school fighter who has been around MMA for 10 years now with an 18-6 record, he has slowed down significantly in recent years only fighting once since this UFC 106 match in November 2009. I think his 5-4 record from 2006-2009 might be a sign that it is time to retire from MMA but this past February he did beat Rich Franklin at UFC 126 so he may still have a bit left in the tank.
Nate Marquardt is another old school fighter, he has been fighting MMA since 1999 and is 31-10-2 and at 32 years old he still has a few years left of fighting ahead of him. He is currently ranked in the Top 12 Middleweights and is scheduled to fight a serious up and coming contender in Rick Story on June 26th. I did not realize until tonight that I pulled the Diamond 1/1 version, talk about a pleasant surprise. This is actually my first real 1/1 card.
I did not realize that the replacement cards were going to be sent in a 5x7 envelope marked only with an address. There was very little packaging around the cards only a couple of blank Masterpiece canvas cards around the smaller envelopes inside that contained the replacement cards. I actually thought that this was some cards I had bought on eBay not the replacement cards from Topps. I let my son open the thicker envelope while I opened the thinner envelope.
My replacement autograph card was a Jared Hamman 1st Autograph card. Hamman is a little known fighter who just got some recent time in UFC going 1-2. He is better known for his time in EliteXC, IFC and Strike Force where he is a significantly better 11-1 in 2 years.
Meanwhile my son opens the relic replacement envelope and pulls out “Some guy with a weird name I can’t pronounce” (His words not mine) and proceeds to hand me this cool Georges St-Pierre UFC 100 relic card. Georges St-Pierre is by far the best fighter in the UFC right now (Maybe all-time) and easily the best fighter pound for pound in all MMA. He has it all; intelligence, control, speed, stamina, coordination and strength and according to a friend of mine “He is sooooo cute” (Her words not mine). I am a bit surprised that Topps chose this image to use on the card where Thiago Alves has GSP in a guillotine choke hold. GSP went on to win the title defense by unanimous decision.
A random selection of the other insert cards that I pulled from the hobby box:
Legacy:
Contenders:
Champions Chronology:
Top 10 Title Fights:
2009 iCardz America At War: Band of Brothers Series 1
67 years ago on June 6, 1944 over 150,000 Allied soldiers landed at Normandy in what became the largest invasion force ever. Canada’s iCardz, producers of historically educational cards, created the America at War Band of Brothers Series 1 release to educate people about this gallant action. Not to be confused with the 1942 R12 America at War series, the iCardz release is a modern day (released in 2009) set released to commemorate the 65th Anniversary of D-Day.
The set has a base checklist of 192 cards plus a 7 card autograph set and sketch cards plus there are also instant win cards where you have a chance to win actual equipment used during the war. Each box contains 24 packs with 8 cards per pack and sells from $50 with 1 in 6 boxes containing an autograph or sketch card.
The autograph checklist includes Lynn "Buck" Compton, William "Wild Bill" Guarnere, Edward Heffron, Clancy Lyall, Donald Malarkey, Amos "Buck" Taylor and Earl McClung. Artist Ingrid Hardy, who has had her work appear in sets like Topps Star Wars releases (30th Anniversary, The Clone Wars, Galaxy, Empires Strikes Back, etc.) as well as the Heroes and Lord of the Rings releases, provides the artwork for the sketch cards. Even though the set has now been out for 2 years I have only found 1 sketch card, a Harold Duty sketch card, up for auction at a whopping $149.99 and I am unable to find any of the autograph cards related to the set.
Currently iCardz is working on a second series, America at War The Pacific Series 2 which covers the Pacific theater of operations from World War II. Like Series 1, the second series will also contain 192 base cards, autographs and sketch cards and will probably be available for a similar price.
For more information check out iCardz U.S. site: America at War
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Shredded Cut Signatures Need To Go Away
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| 2011 SP Legendary Cuts Traynor cut signature |
Tonight while trolling the Upper Deck blog I read the story about the recently released 2011 SP Legendary Cuts product and the Pie Traynor cut signature caught my attention. I am just amazed at the ability that someone was able to hack in to this signature with a chainsaw and still be able to make a card out of it.
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| 2005 SP Legendary Cuts Traynor cut signature |
Compare the 2011 version to a 2005 version, there is no question as to which card most collectors would want. I realize that companies put out big money to purchase authentic autographs to use in these sets but when a signature is going to be mangled to make it work maybe the best decision is to remove the player from the set all together.
Back in 2008 Upper Deck put a mangled up Jackie Robinson cut signature in the 2008 SP Legendary Cuts product so this is an on-going problem. I know collectors like pulling big name/high dollar cuts but this is just ugly. Don't collectors deserve better?
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| 2008 SP Legendary Cuts Robinson cut signature |
Leaf Gives Us Another Interesting Hit
One of the most original cut signature/relic cards in recent times comes to us from the 2011 Leaf Pop Century release. Amid all the chatter about Charlie Sheen’s autograph cards is this 1/1 booklet card containing cut signatures of John F Kennedy and Lee Harvey Oswald plus a leather swatch from the seat of Kennedy’s limousine from that fateful day.
I have to say love him or hate him, Brian Gray, has taken some interesting strides to bring something new and different to the collectors. Since Razor has become Leaf we have seen a rebirth of sorts, in just a short time we have seen Leaf MMA, Metal Draft Football, Muhammad Ali, Joe Jackson’s cut signature card and now Pop Century all of which have been received quite well by collectors.
Friday, June 3, 2011
Is This Really A $100 Card?
Here is the quesiton of the day...
Why is this 2011 Topps Heritage Alex Rodriguez card selling for $100 and more?*
* It is the reverse negative SP version. I pulled it out of a pack recently and was floored to see it selling at just over $100 with two more with BIN around the same price.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Preview: 2011 Topps Marquee
Schedule Release Date: August 2011
Box Configuration: 5 cards per pack, 4 packs per box
SRP: $190/box
Box Break:
1 On-card Autograph
1 Autographed Muli-relic Card
1 Jumbo Relic
1 Quad Relic
My Thoughts:
Simply amazing is all I can say. I am not a fan of the price point and there are multiple base card parallels but the product does have many many many positives. To start I love the base cards, they are full-bleed and remind me of the Stadium Club releases. Each box contains 4 hits and each pack contains 1 hit, 3 base cards and 1 parallel base card.
An interesting addition to the release is the Museum Collection Autograph card, it is seeded 1 per 12-box Hobby Case. Each of these remarkably stunning metal framed cards is embellished with an on-card autograph, and is numbered to 10.
On-Card Autograph cards:
These cards come in single or dual autographs and each card is numbered. The dual autographs are #/15 and the Gold Foil Parallels are #/5.
The single autograph checklist includes 75 veterans, rookie prospects and Hall of Famers like Felix Hernandez, Reggie Jackson and Hall of Famers like Manny Pacquiao, Albert Pujols, Hank Aaron, Buster Posey and BJ Upton among other. The dual autograph checklist is themed, either by position or team and includes Stan Musial & Bob Gibson, Don Mattingly & Paul O’Neill and Roy Halladay & Cliff Lee.
Autographed Multi-Relic cards:
These include Dual-relics and Triple-relics plus 1/1 patch versions.
The Dual-relics checklist contains 75 veterans, rookie prospects and Hall of Famers like Felix Hernandez, Reggie Jackson, Gary Carter and Evan Longoria. The Triple-relic checklist consists of only 35 players but there are some quality players as well as prospects like Tony Gwynn, Jason Heyward and Fergie Jenkins.
Jumbo Relic cards:
The Jumbo relics have been gaining some serious attention, specifically the Jeter patch that has been showing up everywhere. The patches are broken up in to 4 categories (plus patches). There is a 1/1 Ty Cobb Jersey Stitching that contains the stitching from Cobb’s name tag. The Titanic Jumbo Relics checklist contains 150 players and has players like Derek Jeter, Nolan Ryan, Ichiro, Cal Ripken Jr, Willie McCovey, Prince Fielder and Stephen Drew are on the list. There is also a patch version and an autograph version. The Titanic Jumbo Relic Autograph is a difficult pull at 1 per 12 cases.
Gametime Mementos Quad Relic cards:
The highlight of the product has to be the Quad relics, the single player quads are nice and there are patch versions #/5 but the focus of most collectors will be the Legends Quad Relic cards. There are 8 players on the list: Joe DiMaggio, Babe Ruth, Roy Campanella, Ty Cobb, Lou Gehrig, Jackie Robinson, Jimmy Foxx and Mickey Mantle.
I think the opportunity of pulling a Legend Quad relic card will be enough to make many people (who can afford it) not even think twice about dropping near $200/box.
I think the opportunity of pulling a Legend Quad relic card will be enough to make many people (who can afford it) not even think twice about dropping near $200/box.
Pros:
4 Amazing Hits per box
On-card autographs
Patch and Autograph versions
Joe DiMaggio’s Return to Topps
Legend Quads should be memorable
The base cards are sweet; Topps did a great job with these
Price
Rating:
I have to give this release a 5 out of 5 based on the design and checklist alone. The price is high but if you can afford it you get quality and value for what you pay and it is definitely worth it.
The Diamond King's Contest
DK is running a contest over at his re-born blog The Diamond King and he is offering up some pretty decent prizes (Love the Ichrio). Take a look at his blog and join in on his contest.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
With the Stanley Cup set to kick off tomorrow in Vancouver the big news out of the NHL today is the return to Winnipeg. The Atlanta Thrashers were sold to a group from Winnipeg, the same group that 3 weeks ago was working with the NHL to purchase, and relocate, the Phoenix Coyotes but after the City of Glendale voted to cover the Coyotes for another season the group turned their attention towards the Thrashers. The team (which is still unnamed, but most assume the name will be Winnipeg Jets) will be playing at the MTS Center.
Now that Winnipeg has replaced the Jets the question of what may become of the Coyotes is on people’s minds. Many people feel that Quebec may be the next destination of a team on the move and I can almost guarantee that if a local owner is not found the City of Glendale, which is having budget problems, will not continue to pay for the team to remain a season at a time. Will the Nordiques become the next new old team?
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