Here are The Pack Gambler's Best in Class for the 2012 Football Products;
Best Product / Best Set / Best Rookies / Best Value: 2012 Topps Chrome
Topps Chrome has been the best selling and most popular Football product on the market for the last few years. This year I thought Panini would bring a product that would take over the number one spot but I was wrong. the 2012 edition of the powerhouse Chrome came in fierce and packed up so much demand that it is still carrying over into the new year. Presale for the Hobby boxes were running at $69.99 a few months prior to the release. A couple of days after the release in early November boxes jumped to the $130 range, and not only were they still selling, but they were selling out of Hobby shops everywhere. The rookie class of 2012 sure did help with the sales as well with both RGIII and Luck doing very well in their first seasons. the two rookie autographs per box were the main reason everyone wanted in on Chrome. New for Chrome this year were the Military (Camo), BCA Pink and Prism Refractors. All three were offered in the Base cards as well as the coveted rookie on-card autographs. The 220 card strong set was filled with all the rookies from 2012 as well as new subsets like the 1957 Retro Rookies, 1965 Tall Boys and 1984 Retro Rookies. This product was not to be out done and will continue to be strong for the years to come.
Best Autographs: 2012 Panini Black
Black and gold just seem to go together so well, and that brings us to the reason why the best autographs of 2012 are found in Panini Black. Sure there were a lot of products that provided us autographs through 2012 and a lot of them are as nice as the next one. A couple of things stand out in autographs and they are, placement, on-card and look. Even the worst signer that prints two letters of his full name on one of these cards is going to look amazing. Hands down Panini Black raised the 2012 autographs with their product.
Best Relic & Game Used: 2012 Topps Strata
We have been lucky enough to have some of the best relics / game used cards come out this year. The prime patches particularly have been great on cards and the placement on the cards have been outstanding this year. The best of everyone was Topps Strata. The Clear Cut Rookies were the best pieces I have seen in a while come out of a product. The placement of these jumbo pieces on the card have made even the common collector want one of anyone they can get their hands on. With the amount of space on the cards the patches have allowed the lucky collector who pulls one of these feel like they have something tangible from that player. Oh and they didn't just put in jumbo swatches into the product, they put awesome looking patches, spikes, gloves and RGIII socks! Could you make a product more intriguing for relic/game used hunters? Well why not throw in a Rivet card to boot! Yes those Rivet cards are something, all numbered /5 these cards fan out in three sections and take the Relic/Game Used cards to a whole new level that will make everyone want to catch up.
Best Design: 2012 Panini Black and Panini Momentum
This year I thought the best two designs came from Panini Black and Momentum. Both high-end products and both provided quality card stock and designs to their customers. Starting with Momentum, they really are nice with the white background covering the base cards. The sleek design lines on the card front complement the white back and give the base cards something to desire for. This runs the same with the inserts and relic/game used card designs. A very clean and neat design for 2012. Panini Black struck a note with the bold black cards and the unique design lines on the cards. It is a really dark look for cards and makes the product very rich looking. Even the common cards look to be $10 or more for the commons they look this good. As mentioned above the gold autographs on the black cards are striking and a must have just for the way they look and not the player. Both of these sets are opposite spectrum's of designs and both have given a very attractive look to their respective 2012 cards.
Tuesday, January 08, 2013
Monday, January 07, 2013
Best in Class Awards: 2012 Hockey Products
Here are The Pack Gambler's Best in Class for the 2012 Hockey Products;
Best Value / Best Set: 2012-2013 O-Pee-Chee
Being Canadian O-Pee-Chee has been a home name known for years within the sports card industry. When Upper Deck bought them and started producing cards under that brand I was very happy that it was being revitalized within the community. That being said this years product brought a lot to the table. Now being a low end product this was not going to provide you with the spectacular dazzling of autographs and game used cards, but instead made it a fun product to rip for the Canadian Redemption (for us Canadians) as well as trying to complete the set. A 600 card strong set was challenging for some collectors, but also gave them some of that old-time feeling of the older non-glossy cards we know today. The captured a wide spread audience of players from all teams and was very much worth the money to collect.
Best Product / Best Inserts: 2011-2012 Panini Rookie Anthology
As you are well aware I fell in love with Rookie Anthology the first time I opened a box. By far the best product for the price and quality. The Base cards had a very nice and have a crisp design which were followed by Game Used and Autograph cards with the same flavor. The idea behind inserting Rookie cards from previously released sets from 2011 was genius to say the least. This made anyone wanting to complete a set to hunt down these newly released cards. The product was full of rookies from base/inserts to game used and autographed cards. With the inclusion of a Box Topper in each box which was either an Autograph, Autographed Game Used or Game Used card how you not pick up this product to try it out.
Best Autographs: 2012-2013 Panini Classic Signature
At a time when the NHL was on strike what better way to sell a product than to get Legends and Home Town Heroes into a set. And not only a set of these players but on-card autographs too! Classic Signatures came out at the perfect time and gave the collectors a piece of their past with these offerings. Now these were pretty expensive to buy but the upside was that you were guaranteed an On-Card Autograph in each pack. Some of these were Short Printed and even Super Short Printed, but the main thing was they were all on-card. Some even included nicknames which were really cool for those that were entrenched in hockey growing up. The selection of players and the amount of autographs proved to be the best overall Autograph product of 2012.
Best Relic & Game Used: 2011-2012 Panini Prime and 2011-2012 Panini Dominion
It is really hard to go against what Panini brought to the table with Prime and Dominion. Prime started the Game Used memorabilia in September and took it to a whole new level. Of course Panini can't put all the great memorabilia into one product (hence Dominion), but they divided it up and gave us cool Prime Ties 1/1 which by far were the coolest idea for Hockey Used items in a long time. And if that wasn't enough the Prime Colors Patches and Authentics set the bar even higher. Then we had Dominion come in and again bring us something we didn't think could top or match Prime with Booklets of Six, Eight and Twelve player jersey cuts, Jersey Buttons, Tape to Tape Autographs and Silver Engravatures. And these are only the few of the Game Used/Autographed inserts in these products. Of course both dealing with only 1 Pack per Box it was a little nervous on who you might end up with, but with the amount of quality inserts each one was a special hit for any player you manged to pull.
Best Design / Best Rookies: 2012-2013 Upper Deck Artifacts
The design of Artifacts this year brought me to buy into the product. I thought they really provided a smooth design to represent this NHL product to collectors. Along with very nice parallels matching the same design, these cards just plain out look nice to see. Artifacts continues to have a strong following within the NHL brands and this years design will keep them coming back for more. In addition to the great designs, they have also produced some of the more sought after rookies of 2012. Now of course this came out when the NHL was on strike so a lot of us thought we wouldn't be seeing these players anytime soon. But with the history of Artifacts past you had to take the plunge on the Rookies being offered. They ranged from Rookies (all numbered), plus continued with their Rookie Redemption program. The Redemption cards were slated at one per box and still even with the players unknown bring in decent value in the market. Once these Rookies hit the ice this product will be one to look for in the future to obtain these players.
Best Value / Best Set: 2012-2013 O-Pee-Chee
Being Canadian O-Pee-Chee has been a home name known for years within the sports card industry. When Upper Deck bought them and started producing cards under that brand I was very happy that it was being revitalized within the community. That being said this years product brought a lot to the table. Now being a low end product this was not going to provide you with the spectacular dazzling of autographs and game used cards, but instead made it a fun product to rip for the Canadian Redemption (for us Canadians) as well as trying to complete the set. A 600 card strong set was challenging for some collectors, but also gave them some of that old-time feeling of the older non-glossy cards we know today. The captured a wide spread audience of players from all teams and was very much worth the money to collect.
Best Product / Best Inserts: 2011-2012 Panini Rookie Anthology
As you are well aware I fell in love with Rookie Anthology the first time I opened a box. By far the best product for the price and quality. The Base cards had a very nice and have a crisp design which were followed by Game Used and Autograph cards with the same flavor. The idea behind inserting Rookie cards from previously released sets from 2011 was genius to say the least. This made anyone wanting to complete a set to hunt down these newly released cards. The product was full of rookies from base/inserts to game used and autographed cards. With the inclusion of a Box Topper in each box which was either an Autograph, Autographed Game Used or Game Used card how you not pick up this product to try it out.
Best Autographs: 2012-2013 Panini Classic Signature
At a time when the NHL was on strike what better way to sell a product than to get Legends and Home Town Heroes into a set. And not only a set of these players but on-card autographs too! Classic Signatures came out at the perfect time and gave the collectors a piece of their past with these offerings. Now these were pretty expensive to buy but the upside was that you were guaranteed an On-Card Autograph in each pack. Some of these were Short Printed and even Super Short Printed, but the main thing was they were all on-card. Some even included nicknames which were really cool for those that were entrenched in hockey growing up. The selection of players and the amount of autographs proved to be the best overall Autograph product of 2012.
Best Relic & Game Used: 2011-2012 Panini Prime and 2011-2012 Panini Dominion
It is really hard to go against what Panini brought to the table with Prime and Dominion. Prime started the Game Used memorabilia in September and took it to a whole new level. Of course Panini can't put all the great memorabilia into one product (hence Dominion), but they divided it up and gave us cool Prime Ties 1/1 which by far were the coolest idea for Hockey Used items in a long time. And if that wasn't enough the Prime Colors Patches and Authentics set the bar even higher. Then we had Dominion come in and again bring us something we didn't think could top or match Prime with Booklets of Six, Eight and Twelve player jersey cuts, Jersey Buttons, Tape to Tape Autographs and Silver Engravatures. And these are only the few of the Game Used/Autographed inserts in these products. Of course both dealing with only 1 Pack per Box it was a little nervous on who you might end up with, but with the amount of quality inserts each one was a special hit for any player you manged to pull.
Best Design / Best Rookies: 2012-2013 Upper Deck Artifacts
The design of Artifacts this year brought me to buy into the product. I thought they really provided a smooth design to represent this NHL product to collectors. Along with very nice parallels matching the same design, these cards just plain out look nice to see. Artifacts continues to have a strong following within the NHL brands and this years design will keep them coming back for more. In addition to the great designs, they have also produced some of the more sought after rookies of 2012. Now of course this came out when the NHL was on strike so a lot of us thought we wouldn't be seeing these players anytime soon. But with the history of Artifacts past you had to take the plunge on the Rookies being offered. They ranged from Rookies (all numbered), plus continued with their Rookie Redemption program. The Redemption cards were slated at one per box and still even with the players unknown bring in decent value in the market. Once these Rookies hit the ice this product will be one to look for in the future to obtain these players.
Wednesday, January 02, 2013
Product Review: 2012 Panini Golden Age Hobby Box
When I first heard of Panini Golden Age I thought of Goodwin Champions. Very similar concept with Baseball being the main sport in the product along with other aspects of entertainment and famous people. Now I'm not a fan of the Goodwin products recently, however with this Panini edition I was intrigued by a couple of things. The first being Panini, they have continued to provide quality products for 2012 and this one would be no different. The Second being the hits you could pull, from a piece of the harness from Secretariat to a piece of wood from the Titanic. Along with Autographs, Cut Autographs and Box Toppers, this was definitely an intriguing product to say the least.
As for the basics of the product; there are 146 base cards to collect with 25 base Card SP's to find (slotted at 2 per case). Each of the Base cards also have a Mini Tobacco Parallel with 6 variations. Three Insert sets are included in the product, the most anticipated is the Batter-Up pop-up cards. The set of 25 are inserted 2 per box. There will be one Box Topper per box and they will consist of a Ferguson Bakery Pennant (Blue or Yellow), 5x7 Movie Poster or a 5x7 Movie Poster Memorabilia.
Each box will also yield 1 Historic Autograph and 1 Museum Age Memorabilia. The Historic Autographs also have Cut Signatures from 10 subjects and numbered up to /3. Some of the talk around the community is on certain people in the Historic Autograph checklist like Nolan Ryan, Barbara Eden, and Bob Woodward.
Now this product is on the cheaper side of the scale running at $69-80 range so with 2 hits and a lot of potential it was worth the try on this product. Here is the assortment I pulled from my box:
Base cards (Baseball): 57
Base cards (other): 57
Mini Tobacco Broadleaf Brown: 19
Mini Tobacco Broadleaf Blue: 1 Jimmie Foxx
Mini Tobacco Candy Crofts Red: 3
Mini Tobacco Ty Cobb Tobacco: 1 Gordie Howe
Headlines: 2 (Secretariat, Kissing War Goodbye)
Batter-Up: 2 (Early Winn, Jack Dempsey)
Newark Evening World Supplement: 1 Ron Turcotte
Box Topper: Bill Dickey (Yellow)
Historic Signature: Don Larson (on-card)
Museum Age Memorabilia: Sam Snead, Bill Madlock
I had fun with opening this product up. The cards are nice and I really like the mini's to go along with them. The Larson autograph is nice for me being a baseball fan and wasn't sure what other people I would be getting out of this product. After the Snead hit I thought I was done, but then the Madlock came within the next 3 packs as an extra hit which is always great to find. The Snead material is very rough like carpet almost so not sure what this is nor does it say on the card back. The Madlock is a very nice multicolor swatch/patch that again is nice for a baseball collector like myself. I did end up with a couple of doubles in the box, but I will take that for the extra hit. Also I liked that the Baseball cards and other personalities in the set were split 57 each in the product. That is a great assortment for a multi-sport product.
Overall this is a decent new product into the multi-sport lines from Upper Deck and Topps. I think this will do well going forward and like I said before, Panini always provides a high quality product which is something you can always count on. if you not into multi-sport or baseball this is not the product for you, but if you love Goodwin or Ginter, then I'm sure you've already bought your box/case of this product and enjoyed it as much as I did.
Gambler Overall Rating: 4.3 out of 5
Cost: 5/5
Autographs: 4/5
Memorabilia: 4/5
Inserts: 4/5
Concept: 4/5
Fun Aspect: 5/5
As for the basics of the product; there are 146 base cards to collect with 25 base Card SP's to find (slotted at 2 per case). Each of the Base cards also have a Mini Tobacco Parallel with 6 variations. Three Insert sets are included in the product, the most anticipated is the Batter-Up pop-up cards. The set of 25 are inserted 2 per box. There will be one Box Topper per box and they will consist of a Ferguson Bakery Pennant (Blue or Yellow), 5x7 Movie Poster or a 5x7 Movie Poster Memorabilia.
Each box will also yield 1 Historic Autograph and 1 Museum Age Memorabilia. The Historic Autographs also have Cut Signatures from 10 subjects and numbered up to /3. Some of the talk around the community is on certain people in the Historic Autograph checklist like Nolan Ryan, Barbara Eden, and Bob Woodward.
Now this product is on the cheaper side of the scale running at $69-80 range so with 2 hits and a lot of potential it was worth the try on this product. Here is the assortment I pulled from my box:
Base cards (other): 57
Mini Tobacco Broadleaf Brown: 19
Mini Tobacco Broadleaf Blue: 1 Jimmie Foxx
Mini Tobacco Candy Crofts Red: 3
Mini Tobacco Ty Cobb Tobacco: 1 Gordie Howe
Headlines: 2 (Secretariat, Kissing War Goodbye)
Batter-Up: 2 (Early Winn, Jack Dempsey)
Newark Evening World Supplement: 1 Ron Turcotte
Box Topper: Bill Dickey (Yellow)
Historic Signature: Don Larson (on-card)
Museum Age Memorabilia: Sam Snead, Bill Madlock
Gambler Overall Rating: 4.3 out of 5
Cost: 5/5
Autographs: 4/5
Memorabilia: 4/5
Inserts: 4/5
Concept: 4/5
Fun Aspect: 5/5
Product Review: 2012 Topps Strata Football
Wow is the first word that came to mind about the 2012 Topps Strata product. This was mainly due to the Clear Cut Jumbo Autographed Relics. Those are Beasts to look at, and the Patch versions are ridiculously beautiful. This was one product I needed to rip. Now buying a box of Strata just for the Clear Cut Autograph is not really a good idea as you not always going to get a nice patch or multicolor design, some are just one color jersey swatches. But don't be fooled either as the product has two other hits that can net you some decent players.
Each box comes along with the One Clear Cut Autographed Relic, One Rookie Base Variation Autograph, One Memorabilia card and One Rookie Die-Cut card. The Base set is 150 cards deep and has five different Parallels to chase down. All of the 2012 Rookies are included in the Autographs, Relics and Base Cards. 35 of these rookies made it to the Rookie Die-Cut set which are a nice touch to this set.
This is a relatively inexpensive box to purchase as they are ranging from $79-$99 a box depending on where you buy from. And with the Clear Cut Autographs being as hot as they are, it is sure worth the money. here is how I did on my box:
Base Cards: 67
Base Card Rookies: 34 (RGIII, Doug Martin, Russell Wilson, T. Richardson)
Base Parallel: Whitney Mercilus Gold /99
Rookie Die-Cut: Kendall Wright
Rookie Relic: Isaiah Pead Patch /75
Rookie Autograph: Dre Kirkpatrick (Redemption)
Rookie Clear Cut Autograph: Trent Richardson Green Parallel Patch Autograph (Redemption)
So overall I did very well on my box. The Richardson Patch Autograph is a great pull from this product even though it is a redemption. Haven't had more than one redemption in a box in a long time until today with the Kirkpatrick Autograph, but I'm not going to complain on these. The Pead patch is a nice little hit as it has a little bit of the Rams patch showing and is a low number. Also pulling the RGIII rookie card is good too as him and Luck are not showing up in each box and some with neither of them. This box brought in a total of 34 rookie cards which is very impressive from a product. I was impressed with the overall design of Strata and the cards felt like a mid-level card which is nice to see from Topps. One thing to watch for is that the product does not use filler cards so you can easily check through an open box for the Clear Cut Autograph or the Relic with ease, so watch out if your buying by the pack on this one.
Until I receive the Richardson I won't know how it will look with the Patch, but hopefully from the other players I've seen in person and online it should be a sweet looking card. I would recommend this product for anyone looking for a nice looking hit in a decent price range.
Gambler Overall Rating: 4.4 out of 5
Cost: 5/5
Autographs: 4/5
Memorabilia: 5/5
Parallels: 3.5/5
Rookies: 5/5
Fun Aspect: 4/5
Each box comes along with the One Clear Cut Autographed Relic, One Rookie Base Variation Autograph, One Memorabilia card and One Rookie Die-Cut card. The Base set is 150 cards deep and has five different Parallels to chase down. All of the 2012 Rookies are included in the Autographs, Relics and Base Cards. 35 of these rookies made it to the Rookie Die-Cut set which are a nice touch to this set.
This is a relatively inexpensive box to purchase as they are ranging from $79-$99 a box depending on where you buy from. And with the Clear Cut Autographs being as hot as they are, it is sure worth the money. here is how I did on my box:
Base Cards: 67
Base Card Rookies: 34 (RGIII, Doug Martin, Russell Wilson, T. Richardson)
Base Parallel: Whitney Mercilus Gold /99
Rookie Die-Cut: Kendall Wright
Rookie Relic: Isaiah Pead Patch /75
Rookie Autograph: Dre Kirkpatrick (Redemption)
Rookie Clear Cut Autograph: Trent Richardson Green Parallel Patch Autograph (Redemption)
Gambler Overall Rating: 4.4 out of 5
Cost: 5/5
Autographs: 4/5
Memorabilia: 5/5
Parallels: 3.5/5
Rookies: 5/5
Fun Aspect: 4/5
Saturday, December 15, 2012
Product Review: 2012 Panini Rookie & Stars Longevity Hobby Box
One of the puzzling pieces in the Football card industry is the Longevity line from Panini. These show up in the Regular Rookie & Stars Product as numbered inserts earlier in the year, only to come back as it's own full set and Hobby Box. Now these are not numbered or have the Longevity type across the card fronts, but they are the same cards. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about the Longevity Hobby Box that came out this week, I'm just puzzled in the way the line is introduced.
The Hobby boxes that were out in the market this week provided you with 10 packs per box with 5 cards per pack. Oh and you will receive a guaranteed four hits! Yes four autographs and/or memorabilia cards per box. And the price you will expect to pay, just around $50. A low end product, that will provide you with four hits per box and that will also provide you with rookies, inserts and Ruby Red parallels.
Now I was excited for this product to come out being that it yielded four hits, but I knew that for the price of $50 you can't expect to receive top notch patches or autographs in every box. I was assuming the basic single color relics we have seen with other low end products. Anything above this would be a bonus in my mind.
Here is the product break down per box; 1 Greatest Hits, 1 Statistical Standouts, 2 Ruby Red Parallel Rookies, 2 Ruby Red Parallel Commons, 10 Rookies and 4 Autograph and/or Memorabilia cards. This leaves you with 30 common cards from the box to try and build the 150 base set without the rookies (215 with the rookie base included). Not a bad line for a $50 hobby box, plus with this years rookie group doing well on the field you could run away with some decent hits.
Again Panini has surrounded another product with this years rookies for the Autographs and Memorabilia which is never a bad thing to receive as a collector. Some of the hits could be numbered as low as /15 and up to /99, but you are mainly looking at non-numbered hits within the box. Again if you pull any of the numbered hits or Autograph from this box you have done very well.
So when my hobby shop called me on Wednesday about this product he was only able to bring in four boxes for the store. I had him hold onto three of them for me and went in on Thursday to pick them up.Again I wasn't expecting much but looking forward to breaking the product.
Here are my results:
Box #1:
Base: 30 (no doubles)
Rookies: 10 (no doubles)
Ruby Red Commons: Vincent Jackson, Antonio Gates
Ruby Red Rookies: Ronnell Lewis, George Iloka
Statistical Standout: Calvin Johnson
Greatest Hits: NaVorro Bowman
Freshman Orientation Memorabilia: , Stephan Hill, LaMichael James, Michael Floyd
Dress for Success Memorabilia: Ashlon Jeffery
Box #2:
Base: 30 (no doubles)
Rookies: 10 (no doubles)
Ruby Red Commons: Peyton Manning, Eric Decker
Ruby Red Rookies: Nick Perry, B.J. Cunningham
Statistical Standout: Tom Brady
Greatest Hits: Noamukong Suh
Freshman Orientation Memorabilia: Robert Turbin, Andrew Luck, Trent Richardson
Dress for Success Memorabilia: Stephan Hill
Box #3:
Base: 30 (no doubles)
Rookies: 10 (no doubles)
Ruby Red Commons: Troy Polamalu, Ryan Fitzpatrick
Ruby Red Rookies: Bryce Brown, Luke Kuechly
Statistical Standout: Calvin Johnson
Greatest Hits: Mario Williams
Freshman Orientation Memorabilia: Coby Fleener,
Dress for Success Memorabilia: Brian Quick, Nick Foles
Autograph Jersey Rookie card: #238 Michael Egnew /25
So a couple of things to notice about this product. First and for most; the hits are all noticeable and were the first two packs on both the left and right side of the box. if you plan on buying this by pack see about doing this only from a freshly opened box you have seen. If not you will be receiving a very thin pack with five cards in it. Those thin packs will be the ones with either a Ruby Red parallel or an insert. Granted these aren't the ones that we are looking for but they will provide something along with base cards. Secondly these cards can easily end up being bent due to the light card stock, so be careful when ripping these packs. They aren't the best to open and rip in different spots instead of a clean rip. And the last thing to notice about these cards is that it is an all or nothing assortment you could find. My first box was maybe the worst box I opened this year for player hits, but the second box yielded two top pick hits and two decent hits to follow.
All of the hits I received were not numbered except for the third box when I pulled the Egnew Auto/Jersey card numbered to 25. That was a nice hit for this product, again unexpected to receive a numbered one even with a mid-low level player.
All the hit cards (as expected) were single color swatches, but I ended up with a total of twelve hits for around $150 for three boxes. Mind you I didn't have a return of that $150 I put into buying the product so again you need to be cautious as this product will not bring you profits. Unless you pull the Andrew Luck or RGIII Auto/Jersey RC's numbered to /15 this is an expected result for this product.
Overall it was a fun pull to see who the hits were and the Ruby Red's were a nice added touch, so if your looking for a low end product that will give you some hits this is the one to buy for 2012.
Gambler Overall Rating: 4 out of 5
Cost: 5/5
Autographs: 2/5
Memorabilia: 4/5
Parallels: 4/5
Rookies: 5/5
Fun Aspect: 4/5
The Hobby boxes that were out in the market this week provided you with 10 packs per box with 5 cards per pack. Oh and you will receive a guaranteed four hits! Yes four autographs and/or memorabilia cards per box. And the price you will expect to pay, just around $50. A low end product, that will provide you with four hits per box and that will also provide you with rookies, inserts and Ruby Red parallels.
Now I was excited for this product to come out being that it yielded four hits, but I knew that for the price of $50 you can't expect to receive top notch patches or autographs in every box. I was assuming the basic single color relics we have seen with other low end products. Anything above this would be a bonus in my mind.
Here is the product break down per box; 1 Greatest Hits, 1 Statistical Standouts, 2 Ruby Red Parallel Rookies, 2 Ruby Red Parallel Commons, 10 Rookies and 4 Autograph and/or Memorabilia cards. This leaves you with 30 common cards from the box to try and build the 150 base set without the rookies (215 with the rookie base included). Not a bad line for a $50 hobby box, plus with this years rookie group doing well on the field you could run away with some decent hits.
Again Panini has surrounded another product with this years rookies for the Autographs and Memorabilia which is never a bad thing to receive as a collector. Some of the hits could be numbered as low as /15 and up to /99, but you are mainly looking at non-numbered hits within the box. Again if you pull any of the numbered hits or Autograph from this box you have done very well.
So when my hobby shop called me on Wednesday about this product he was only able to bring in four boxes for the store. I had him hold onto three of them for me and went in on Thursday to pick them up.Again I wasn't expecting much but looking forward to breaking the product.
Here are my results:
Box #1:Base: 30 (no doubles)
Rookies: 10 (no doubles)
Ruby Red Commons: Vincent Jackson, Antonio Gates
Ruby Red Rookies: Ronnell Lewis, George Iloka
Statistical Standout: Calvin Johnson
Greatest Hits: NaVorro Bowman
Freshman Orientation Memorabilia: , Stephan Hill, LaMichael James, Michael Floyd
Dress for Success Memorabilia: Ashlon Jeffery
Box #2:Base: 30 (no doubles)
Rookies: 10 (no doubles)
Ruby Red Commons: Peyton Manning, Eric Decker
Ruby Red Rookies: Nick Perry, B.J. Cunningham
Statistical Standout: Tom Brady
Greatest Hits: Noamukong Suh
Freshman Orientation Memorabilia: Robert Turbin, Andrew Luck, Trent Richardson
Dress for Success Memorabilia: Stephan Hill
Box #3:
Base: 30 (no doubles)
Rookies: 10 (no doubles)Ruby Red Commons: Troy Polamalu, Ryan Fitzpatrick
Ruby Red Rookies: Bryce Brown, Luke Kuechly
Statistical Standout: Calvin Johnson
Greatest Hits: Mario Williams
Freshman Orientation Memorabilia: Coby Fleener,
Dress for Success Memorabilia: Brian Quick, Nick Foles
Autograph Jersey Rookie card: #238 Michael Egnew /25
So a couple of things to notice about this product. First and for most; the hits are all noticeable and were the first two packs on both the left and right side of the box. if you plan on buying this by pack see about doing this only from a freshly opened box you have seen. If not you will be receiving a very thin pack with five cards in it. Those thin packs will be the ones with either a Ruby Red parallel or an insert. Granted these aren't the ones that we are looking for but they will provide something along with base cards. Secondly these cards can easily end up being bent due to the light card stock, so be careful when ripping these packs. They aren't the best to open and rip in different spots instead of a clean rip. And the last thing to notice about these cards is that it is an all or nothing assortment you could find. My first box was maybe the worst box I opened this year for player hits, but the second box yielded two top pick hits and two decent hits to follow.
All of the hits I received were not numbered except for the third box when I pulled the Egnew Auto/Jersey card numbered to 25. That was a nice hit for this product, again unexpected to receive a numbered one even with a mid-low level player.
All the hit cards (as expected) were single color swatches, but I ended up with a total of twelve hits for around $150 for three boxes. Mind you I didn't have a return of that $150 I put into buying the product so again you need to be cautious as this product will not bring you profits. Unless you pull the Andrew Luck or RGIII Auto/Jersey RC's numbered to /15 this is an expected result for this product.
Overall it was a fun pull to see who the hits were and the Ruby Red's were a nice added touch, so if your looking for a low end product that will give you some hits this is the one to buy for 2012.
Gambler Overall Rating: 4 out of 5
Cost: 5/5
Autographs: 2/5
Memorabilia: 4/5
Parallels: 4/5
Rookies: 5/5
Fun Aspect: 4/5
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Product Review: 2012 Leaf Cut Signature Edition
I don't really like to dabble into a non-sport product but I recently was able to obtain a box of 2012
Leaf Cut Signature Edition for a decent price and decided to buy it. This box is the same as the other Cut Signature products Leaf produces. You receive 1 Cut Autograph slabbed in a BGS holder, most I've seen are numbered and you could also pull dual autographs.
The subjects in this product are mainly from the entertainment industry but also include some interesting historic people as well. You may even find a President or music icon in the product, so much to be sought after.
Now again this is far and away from sports products but I decided to take a chance on it. I really enjoy Cut Signatures and was mainly hoping to just pull someone I would know.
Well I guess I got someone I knew at least. I pulled this Ozzie Osbourne Cut Autograph #'d /35. It was worth the gamble I suppose. I could have received someone else better or could have gone the opposite and pulled a dud. Either way I think for a Slabbed BGS Cut Signature it is worth the gamble on at least 1 of these. As a collector of Cut Autographs this is your product, some risk in the buy but also could bring in some rewards if the right Cut is pulled.
Gambler Overall Rating: 3.9 out of 5
Cost: 3.5/5
Autographs: 5/5
Checklist: 4/5
Fun Aspect: 3/5
Leaf Cut Signature Edition for a decent price and decided to buy it. This box is the same as the other Cut Signature products Leaf produces. You receive 1 Cut Autograph slabbed in a BGS holder, most I've seen are numbered and you could also pull dual autographs.
The subjects in this product are mainly from the entertainment industry but also include some interesting historic people as well. You may even find a President or music icon in the product, so much to be sought after.
Now again this is far and away from sports products but I decided to take a chance on it. I really enjoy Cut Signatures and was mainly hoping to just pull someone I would know.
Gambler Overall Rating: 3.9 out of 5
Cost: 3.5/5
Autographs: 5/5
Checklist: 4/5
Design: 4/5
Concept: 4/5Fun Aspect: 3/5
Sunday, December 02, 2012
**Update - 2012 Topps Heritage High Numbers Set**
As I reported back in October, Topps came out with a Heritage High Numbers Baseball set that was only available through their ShopTopps.com site.
Adding to the only being available through Topps, the sets were limited to only 1000 produced, and they each came along with an autographed card.
The sets sold out a few days after they went live for Pre-sale and speculation went wild over who the autographs would be. Topps released the 20 player checklist for autographs and they included the top three rookies of Bryce Harper, Yu Darvish and Yoenis Cespedes. Not to mention that Red Ink autographs numbered out of 10 were also included for some players.
So not only were the sets limited to 1000 for base cards, but the autographs were very low numbered as well. At the early start of these hitting eBay, Bryce Harper was selling between $50-$60. Now you can manage to win one at around the $34 range or so. Still a decent price for a rookie of Harper that is limited.
Autographs were also reaching very high numbers for the top players along with some of the Red-Ink autographs that reached the site.
I just received my set this past Friday which to me took a little long to receive since I paid $24.84 USPS priority mail. I was anxious to see what the set looked like and also who my autograph would be. Here are my observations:
Once I opened the box the card that was between the lid opening and box was Adam Wainwright. I took him out first, no damage on him so I was happy about that. I then took the first 20 or cards out of the box carefully and started looking at the players. I turned over to the back of the cards and noticed that the set isn't in order. Not 2 cards were in the proper order of the set.
This was a little frustrating as I then had to pull the rest of the set and put them in order. Luckily I wasn't missing any cards and the big rookies were in there without any damage.
The Autograph card was the last card in the box. I pulled it out carefully as well and I received Trevor Bauer from the Arizona Diamondbacks with a Blue Ink Autograph. A nice pull from the autograph checklist for this set.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)