2012 Upper Deck All-Time Greats Sports Edition

In two months (July 10^th) Upper Deck will be unleashing the high-end 2012 Upper Deck All-Time Greats Sports Edition set. Each box will contain 4 cards and will run $300-400 each. The box break will include 3 base cards and one autograph card.

To keep the value for the on-card autographs the set will contain only 20 superstars and the autographs will all be limited, the highest number I have seen is #/15.

The checklist:

Michael Jordan
Tiger Woods
Bobby Orr
Dan Marino
Jerry Rice
Annika Sorenstam
Landon Donovan
Larry Bird
LeBron James
Barry Sanders
Richard Petty
Kelly Slater
Joe Sakic
Wayne Gretzky
Bo Jackson
Mario Lemieux
Pete Rose
Hulk Hogan
Mike Tyson
Troy Aikman

There are also Legacy Book Cards which pairs a living legend with a deceased superstar cut signature. Along with the 20 listed athletes the cut signatures checklist:

Joe Frazier

Ben Hogan
Red Grange
Maurice Richard
Walter Payton

A final autograph set is the All-Time Forces Hologram cards which will pair up two of the 20 superstars and include dual signatures.

Sadly I see this as a product where the autograph may not cover the cost of the original product, sure there are some great athletes connected to the set but you have to wonder how surfer Kelly Slater, golfer Annika Sorenstam or NASCAR driver Richard Petty will go over with most collectors. Those sports have a very specific collector who will probably not buy in to this set. Even pulling Hulk Hogan auto could probably sour the box break of a baseball, football or basketball collector (i.e. the main collectors to buy this release). On the positive side you have to admit that some of these autographs are pretty sweet and would be a prize in your collection and the die-cuts came out nicely.

Famous Fabrics Music, Music, Music Follow Up

Last month I posted a preview of Famous Fabrics Music, Music, Music set which will be released next month. At that time Famous Fabrics had plenty of information about the cut signatures and the memorabilia cards, but besides one image of a John Bonham art card there was no further information about the subset.

Yesterday I received an email from Mike James, an artist who I highlighted back in the fall of 2010 which included awarding a Mike James sketch card to the contest winner. It turns out that Mike is the artist of the Music, Music, Music art cards, a 90-card checklist where each card is a 1/1 and encased. They will be inserted one per case with 90 total cases being printed.

 The art cards are broken down in to 5 subsets: Country Paradise, Jazz Immortals, Lost Souls, Rock and Roll Heaven and Spirit of the Blues. Some of the musicians included: Gene Autry, Johnny Cash, Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, Barry White, Marvin Gaye, Bob Marley, Elvis Presley, Jerry Garcia, Freddy Mercury, John Lennon, Kurt Cobain, Michael Jackson, Tupac and Muddy Waters. You will notice that the entire checklist is made up of musicians who have passed away including Whitney Houston and Adam (MCA) Yauch. I would love to get a hold of the Kurt Cobain or Bab Marley art cards but I would expect the cards to sell well above my price range.

For the complete checklist and a look at some additional art cards please take a look at Famous Fabrics Art Card Checklist page.

What Is Up With Past & Present?

When you take a first look at Panini’s 2011-12 Past & Present Basketball you think “Cool” because you are looking at a stack of cards that will immediately bring you back to the crazy inserts from the 1990s. Inserts with names like “Raining 3s” and “Fireworks” seem like they are right out of Fleer's think tank.

That is until you realize that this product just seems like a hodge-podge with almost no rhyme or reason to what you see. You realize that there is no continuity to the product but instead seems like random inserts tossed in to a pack with a couple having sticker autographs stuck on along with a $100 price tag. The product will hit shelves this Wednesday so I guess we will find out quickly how collectors feel about the release.

The base set is broken down in to a couple of vintage-looking cards and then you will also pull a number of inserts:

 3 Autograph cards

1 Memorabilia card
4 Bread for Energy
3 Bread for Health
1 Bread for Life
4 Changing Times
2 Raining 3s
2 Fireworks
4 Breakout

Admittedly when I first saw the product I was stoked, and to a point I still am very interested, but the $100 price tag seems like a stretch for the product which is loaded with sticker autographs of such superstars like Lawrence Funderburke, LaBradford Smith and Scooter McCray. (Sarcasm sign here). Go ahead, look them up I can wait.

Oh, did I mention that Panini is not inserting any 2011 or 2012 NBA rookies in to their product? The only way to get a rookie card from either year is to pull a redemption card from select products. The promotion is called Panini America’s Dual Rookie Redemption program and there will be randomly redemption cards of the top draft picks from the 2011-12 and 2012-13 NBA Draft.

 

Maybe if they dropped out the autographs and memorabilia cards (or left one “hit” per box) and set the price to $50 a box I would buy in to it but all that keeps popping in to my head is:

Press Pass Does The Right Thing

On occasion questionable autographs have been released in sets and normally the only way that collectors find out about it is when fellow collectors begin to question the authenticity of the autographs, which will usually lead to a buzz in the blogosphere. If/when a card company steps in it is under quieted tones and the unlucky collector who pulled the card is compensated but often required to sign a disclosure agreement and agree to remain quiet about the entire situation.

Press Pass has taken a very different stance on the subject. Last week the 2012 Ignite NASCAR set was released and a number of collectors noticed something off with Brad Keselowski’s autograph on the Ignite Ink auto/relic cards, his autograph on each card appeared exactly the same. It turns out that the autograph sheets were signed using an autopen.

Press Pass has acknowledged the error and promised to correct the situation for collectors who have pulled the card. They are re-printing the cards which will be rebuilt with a swatch from one of his fire-suits and a verified autograph sticker. Additionally they will send each collector a retail box of 2012 Ignite Racing and they will have their name entered in to a drawing for a chance to win a trip for 2 to an upcoming NASCAR race.

A handful of these cards have shown up on eBay, the last few to sell have been in the $5-15 range, once the replacement cards begin to show up I wonder how the prices will be affected for the autopen versions versus the authentic autographed versions. I would expect that any of the serial numbered cards would be replaced with the exact same serial number so that two of the same numbered cards would be out and about.

I have included images of three different cards and you can see that the autographs are exactly the same with each card.

A Final Close To The Phoenix Coyotes Drama?

Last year I wrote up a post about the Phoenix Coyotes where I contemplated the future of the team. At the time the NHL was working on a deal with Matthew Hulsizer which appeared to be in jeopardy due to the interference of a local watchdog group (the Goldwater Institute) who felt that his offer was relying too heavily on a payment to Hulsizer from the City of Glendale. That deal eventually fell thru when the City of Glendale failed to sell enough bonds to cover the required $100 million payout to Hulsizer. This led to Hulsizer withdrawing his offer by the summer and the NHL was left holding the team looking for either a new deal with a potential buyer or the possibility of a move to Winnipeg, which has since picked up the ex-Atlanta Thrashers and renamed the Winnipeg Jets.

Fast forward to this spring and the NHL has announced that a tentative deal has been worked out between the NHL and former San Jose Sharks CEO Greg Jamison. Now it is a waiting game while the City of Glendale works out a deal regarding the lease of Jobbing.com Arena (where the Coyotes play). The Goldwater Institute is still watching the situation to ensure that Glendale will not be required to put up any money as part of the purchase.

The Glendale City Council is set to have a private meeting next week but as of this morning they have not added anything regarding the Coyotes to their public agenda. The City is also dealing with a potential lawsuit from the Cardinals regarding parking spots but that is another story.

If things fall thru once again expect to see the NHL step up the talk of relocation. While Winnipeg has been satisfied another city has suddenly become a possibility, Quebec City. Quebec lost the Nordiques to Colorado back in 1995 and has been hoping to replace the team. A couple of months ago the City of Quebec announced that they will begin construction of an 18,000-seat arena in hope of eventually landing an NHL team. Construction will begin in September 2012 and is expected to be completed in 2015 and will cost $400 million. Hamilton is still considered for a possible relocation too but because of the close proximity to Buffalo and Toronto the NHL will have to take that in to consideration. Additional relocations include a second team in Toronto (they even have a name already- Toronto Legacy), Seattle and Las Vegas.

So as the Coyotes get ready to play the LA Kings in the Western Conference Finals, the closest the team (NHL Jets/Coyotes) has ever gotten to the Stanley Cup Finals, the soap opera seems to finally be coming to a close.

2012 Leaf Originals Wrestling Preview

Leaf will be releasing a new wrestling set in July titled 2012 Leaf Originals Wrestling, The set is based on the 1948 Leaf baseball set and every card will be signed on-card by the wrestlers.

Some of the announced wrestlers:

Rowdy Roddy Piper

Iron Shiek

Ric Flair

Hulk Hogan

Bruno Sammartino

Scott Hall

Shawn Michaels

Jake the Snake Roberts

Bret Heart

Kevin Nash

Additionally there will also be managers and other personalities tied to wrestling like:

Bobby Heenan

Pete Rose

If you are a wrestling fan/collector this would seem like an awesome release, at $80/pack you get 5 on-card autographs of some of the best wrestlers to have ever stepped in to the ring. The problem is that Leaf decided not to use a similar styling with the players from the 1948 set but instead went the artistic route. No artists were named but whoever did the work took some serious artistic licensing with the cards. Some cards look ok like the Iron Sheik and Bobby the Brain Heenan but Hulk Hogan and Kevin Nash are horrible.

To add to the chase there will be parallel versions, some as low as #1/1, as well as alternate art cards, which will also have limited parallel versions. These are just early preview images so the autographs have not been signed yet, these are just mock-up autographs.

May The Fo(rce)urth Be With You II

Once again we come around to the unofficial Star Wars Day (May 4th). There are many, many card sets to pick from ranging from the 1977 Topps set through the current Topps Star Wars Galaxy releases. One thing that most fans will agree on is that the Fett-man is the baddest M&Fer in the entire universe.

I am a fan of sketch cards and it is interesting to see how different artists view Boba Fett, most will strive to capture the bounty hunter as a mean-son-of-a-bitch but one artist whose work I enjoy, Katie Cook, uses humor in her art and she made Boba Fett cute and huggable.

Junior Seau RIP

Earlier this morning ex-NFL player Junior Seau was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot by his girlfriend. He was found unconscious and paramedics were unable to revive him.

Seau was a First Round pick, #5 overall, by the San Diego Chargers in 1990, he went on to play 20 seasons for the San Diego Chargers, Miami Dolphins and New England Patriots. He went to 12 Pro Bowls, was a 10 time All-Pro and went to the Super Bowl twice, losing both times while he was with the 1994 Chargers and the 2007 Patriots.

Sadly his death has brought back talk of the “San Diego Sports Curse”. Since the Chargers 1994 Super Bowl loss 8 players from that team have now died under the age of 45 years old including Lew Bush (Heart attack- 2011), Shawn Lee (Heart attack- 2011), Chris Mims (Enlarged heart- 2008), Curtis Whitley (Drug overdose- 2008), Doug Miller (Struck by lightning- 1998), Rodney Miller (Plane crash- 1996) and David Griggs (Car accident- 1995).

The loss seems more heartbreaking considering things have been going well for him since his problems in 2010. A number of people stated that they had talked to him recently and he seemed happy and joyful. I would expect to see Seau elected to the NFL Hall of Fame during his first season of eligibility in 2014.

Triple Play Baseball Is Back!

In late July Panini will be releasing 2012 Triple Play Baseball, a return to the original Triple Play releases from the early 1990s. These sets were geared towards young collectors and the packs sold for under $1 each, Panini has decided to carry over this tradition to the modern set. Once again the packs will sell for 99 cents, with 24 packs per box, and the base set will consist of a 90-card checklist with a handful of insert sets.

To create a varied base set Panini commissioned a number of artists so you will notice differences between players. Most appear to have a super hero styling straight out of a comic book but there are some that look more realistic while others are cartoonish.

Some of the inserts include “Focus”, featuring a close up shot of one player from each team, “Baseball 101”; cards include hints and rules for the game and “Hall of Fame”, featuring first ballot inductees. There are also Eye Black stickers, Temp Tattoos and Real Feel memorabilia cards.

Because Panini only has a MLBPA license they were unable to incorporate logos or team names so you will notice that in the background of most of the cards, instead of including the team’s logo, they went with other icons to represent the team or city. So Yu Darvish has a Texas state silhouette, Ichiro has an anchor, Brian Wilson has a Golden Gate Bridge silhouette,  Carlos Lee has rockets and so on.

The one thing that bothers me about the design is the overloading of information on the front, there is the Triple Play logo, player’s name, uniform number, position and team location. It seems to be more noticeable on the horizontal cards because they added the team’s location within the design instead of on the border with player position. I think removing the uniform number would have been a start and making the cards uniform by placing the team’s location on the border on all cards, vertical or horizontal layout, would help with chaos.

Batting Helmet Memorabilia Cards Make A Return

In 1997 Collectors Edge introduced player’s helmets in the 22K Football set, this was the first time we saw helmets used in memorabilia cards. In 2000 Fleer started inserting batting helmets in the cards making the first time a helmet was used in a baseball product. Other companies followed, including Donruss in 2003 with the Hard Hats memorabilia cards. In all there have been only 150 different batting helmet memorabilia insert sets since the first baseball release in 2000 by Fleer.

Panini is reviving the Hard Hats memorabilia cards in the 2011 Limited which should be available on May 2^nd and will run $100 for 7 cards, including 3 autograph or memorabilia cards.

The Limited Gamers memorabilia cards look cool and the Historical Cuts, even though they do not include an athlete picture, looks nice but the Hard Hats are just horrible. No logos, due to the lack of MLB license, is a downer that affects the card’s overall look, the colors seem muted, which could be just because the three cards that they previewed include players in dark blue matching the design color. Finally the use of a dark blue helmet pieces are lost in the dark blue design. The marbling is fine, it actually reminds me of the Donruss Elite inserts of the 1990s, but possibly using a complimentary color, such as a red or orange, may have made the helmet piece “pop” out against the background.

Right now only three players have been announced from the Hard Hats checklist, Tony Gwynn, Dwight Gooden and Kirk Gibson. I think that they do not plan to release the rest of the checklist until the product goes live.

The Gwynn preview card appears to have a portion of his autograph, I know there are probably only a couple that will include his auto and they will demand a premium but it really is cool.