Upper
Deck released 2012 SP Authentic Golf earlier this week, their first PGA release
since 2005, and one subset that is catching collector’s eyes is the Parade of
Stars. This is a 30-card subset showing professional athletes playing golf. The
checklist includes top athletes (Current and retired) from the major
sports leagues: MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, MLS and UFC. There is also a
14-card autograph subset which is based on the same checklist but uses a
different layout, design and athlete picture. There are Red parallels (#/10) for each base card and the autographs are all on-card. From the auctions that I have seen it looks like only Mike Schmidt autographs are redemption with all others autos being packed out.
Most
of the Parade of Stars base cards can be found in the $1-5 range with many of
the autographs under $50 with the exception of Jordan, who has a couple of
autos sitting in the $3,000 range.
A
couple of cards use old photos, David Robinson and Larry Bird, while others
appear to be set studio shots, Couture and Dr. J are wearing the same exact
shirt (The color defect under the arm is pretty obvious) but these things do
not detract from the set, you may actually get a nice chuckle out of the
Admiral’s old-school clothing selection.
I have
played golf a handful of times so golf sets do not appeal to me but when
you begin to introduce outside athletes in to a product this is a good way to
get the hobby talking about it. There are a couple of cards I would consider
adding to my collection, like the Couture and Donovan cards.
