Product Review: 2012 Tristar SignaCuts Baseball

Being a fan of Cut Autographs can be very addicting, and if your a fan of them like we are then you definitely will like the chance with 2012 TriStar SignaCuts Baseball Edition. We're a little late to game on these ones as this product was released  back in August of last year. We had an opportunity to pick up a couple from a case and decided to crack them open and provide this review.

TriStar has been well known for these products in the past and have done a good job on providing some really nice hits coming out of their products. They have many editions come out each year with different themes to attract every collector out there. This specific edition is strictly Baseball, and not only Baseball but players and people within Baseball that have a place in the history of the game.

Now of course this could mean anyone somewhat related to baseball and since we don't have any checklist available we aren't really sure who is in the product. However looking at the sell sheet it does provide some promise within each case of 24 boxes/packs.

So the skinny on this product is the following: 125 cases made with 24 Boxes/Packs per case, with each box/pack containing 1 Autographed SignaCut. So with 3000 SignaCuts out there you have a decent shot at hitting someone pretty good, yet again without a checklist to go by you are taking a shot in the dark.
Now again these SignaCuts are from Baseball's Past and Present and have had some significance within the game. Now whether you think being part of a All-Star team, World Series Champion, or being named Rookie of the Year is significant or not is up to the person willing or not willing to pick up this product.

So speaking of Players included, each case will have 2 Hall of Famers, 3 Dual-Sided Hall of Famers, 12 Place in History players, and 7 Dual-Sided Place in History players. The Place in History players are the group that people will be cautious about since they could be anyone that has accomplished something in Baseball. 

The cool thing about TriStar is that everything is numbered. Each Box/Pack is numbered to 3000, each SignaCut is numbered from 1/1 to the highest /25. The product scarcity is really good for the secondary market if you have the right player/person but also provides personal value to the collector knowing they have 1 of only 25 or 10 of these cards. Each case will provide 2 1/1, 8 numbered to 5, 7 numbered to 10, and 10 Dual-Sided. Now the Dual sided they don't mention the serial numbers of so you can assume they would be anywhere from 1/1 to /25.

Now enough of the product specs and down to business. We decided to rip open two boxes and here are the results:

Box #1. Hunter Pence Blue Border #'d 7/10. The Cut is from a 2004 Just Minors Autograph card. Looks like the card was cut to fit the spot within the TriStar card within the encasement.

Box #2: Tony Perez Purple Border #'d 1/1. This is a 1986 Donruss or Leaf Diamond King hand signed by Tony Perez in a Blue Sharpie. Also the card was card to fit into the Tristar card within the encasement.

So a few things to note about this product. The first being that when we opened both boxes/packs we found that the Tristar authenticated sticker on the right side was not fully wrapped around the cases and we had to secure them back over the magnets. Not sure if all were like this but something to watch for when opening the box/pack. Not too big a deal but possibly could create issues as time goes on and the stickers loose more of the tack on them. Luckily ours have stayed on since we opened the boxes.
Not too happy with the magnet holders for these as they are not very secure and if dropped could see them fly open with your card on the ground. Would have been much better to have them fully encased.
The second thing to note is that it would seem that Tristar has bought these cards and cut them to fit into their designs which is fine with us but not every collector will be thrilled with this format. We're sure the other cuts are the same and also include those ones in the sell sheet..
Lastly there is no mention of the autographs being authenticated by anyone or any company. Of course the Pence is authenticated with it being a sticker autograph from Just Minors, but the Tony Perez and others won't have this second security. So the open question is How do we know these were authenticated and by whom? On the back of each card it is stated that "You have received a TriStar SignaCut Featuring an Authentic Hand-Signed Autograph." So we guess in a way they are stating it's authenticated but could have been a little more clear and could have advised us of who authenticated the autographs.

In closing, to get one of the two Hall of Fame players in a case was pretty nice to hit, and to top that a 1/1 was even better. We like that the autograph is not a sticker autograph and the placement of it on the cut card looks great. Now compare that to the Hunter Pence. The Pence was a nice pull and to be numbered low is great, but he was in this product as a Place in History player noted for being a 2x All-Star. Again you have to expect this from this type of product so we weren't that upset with pulling him out. Plus now he's a World Series Champion so we can add that to the card making it even better.

Gambler Overall Rating: 3.9 out of 5
Cost: 5/5
Autographs: 4/5
Players/Checklist: 3.5/5
Design: 3.5/5
Concept: 3.5/5
Fun Aspect: 4/5