All About Cards

2011 12 Panini Crown Royale Hockey Box Break Recap And Review

2012-02-28T22:32:00.000-08:00

The Crown Royale line of cards are amazing looking, some ofthe best designed cards out there. 2011 12 Panini Crown Royale Hockey is another visual feast combined witha superior checklist making this a great set for hockey fans.

Panini Crown Royale Hockey falls into our premium cardscategory. Each box contains 4packs with 5 cards each with a promise of four autograph or memorabilia cards.

Here are the cards we pulled from the box.

Base Die-Cuts

Rick Nash, front and back, Andrew Ladd

Tyler Seguin, Vincent Lecavalier, Tyler Ennis

Erik Karlsson, Jacob Markstrom, Jaroslav Halak

Jean-Sebastien Giguere, Lars Eller, Bobby Ryan

Legend Doug Wilson, Rookie Royality Maxime Magenauer, Red Parallel Jeff Skinner

Inserts

Tyler Seguin Ice Kings, Antti Niemi In Harm's Way

Hits

Joe Thornton Game Used Material All The King's Men Memorabilia Card

Dion Phanuef Player WornCamouflage Warm Up Jersey All The King's Men Memorabilia Card

Devante Smith-Pelly Rookie Royalty Signatures Redemption

Brandon Saad Prime Rookie Silhouettes On-Card Auto #/25

Overall Look

These cards deliver with sophisticated design. The die cuts look fantastic and havejust the right amount of foil accents. The Silhouette cards are sharp looking even in the dual color versions#/99 but score a prime patch like we did and you’ve got one stunning card. The insert sets work really well tooand carry out the theme nicely.

Quality and Variety of Players

Rookie prospecting, established veterans and greats of thegame make this a complete checklist. There are plenty of autographs to findfrom all of these categories too.

Do the Hits satisfy?

Love the addition of the Maple Leaf Camouflage Warm UpJersey Swatches from their tribute to the Canadian Armed Forces. As mentioned, the Silhouette on-cardautos are as good as it gets.

Will you keep coming back for more?

Crown Royale is easily a multiple box purchase. Having a base set of the die cuts wouldbe amazing and there is enough hit content to keep you coming back for more.

Rating

5 out of 5

2011 Panini Crown Royale Football is a visual treat combinedwith the potential to pull some impressive hits.

Our SPEED-break™ Returns With A Hobby Box Of 2012 Topps Baseball Series 1 In This Video Box Break

2012-02-27T09:59:00.000-08:00

Lately we have been breaking boxes of high end cards. These boxes only take a couple of minutes. With the release of 2012 Topps Baseball Series 1, our SPEED-break™ returns. As a reminder, with our SPEED-break™ you will see every card we pulled from this 36 pack hobby box in a fraction of the time it took to open it. If there is any card you want to look at more closely, simply pause the video and resume when you are done checking it out.

2011 Topps Precision Football Video Box Break

2012-02-26T15:49:00.001-08:00

Here is our video box break of a brand new product, 2011 Topps Precision Football.

The 2012 Topps Prime 9 Redemption Card For Week 3 is Hank Aaron

2012-02-25T13:40:00.000-08:00

The Topps Prime 9 Redemption for Week 1 was WillieMays. Week 2 was Babe Ruth. Week 3 has arrived so if you have oneof these...

...it’s time to go visit your HTA Local Hobby Shop and redeemthose cards. Here is what you willget.

A Hank Aaron Prime 9 Home Run Legends Chrome Refractor. You have the week to get to yourparticipating LCS and redeem those cards. And don’t forget to fill out the back of your redemption card to beentered into a sweepstakes. Youcould win a trip to the 2012 MLB Home Run Derby.

Check in next week to find out who is on the card for Week4.

2012 Topps Baseball Series 1 Box Break Recap And Review

2012-02-24T16:15:00.002-08:00

There has been a lot of press and discussion over this cardfrom 2012 Topps Baseball Series 1.

The St. Louis Rally Squirrel. For some, the burning desire to collect baseball cards hasbeen reignited and they are returning to collecting because of the publicityfrom the eBay craze for this short printed card. Other’s, mostly long time collectors who’s opinions Irespect, feel this is just another gimmick, the kind of card they don’t wantanywhere near Topps Flagship release. You don’t see these kinds of cards in other sports. Short Prints in Football are generallyreserved for photo variations, so why do pie in the face and Gatorade bathcards in Baseball?

For me, the one thing card collecting should be is fun andthese short printed cards are fun. Whybother collecting at all if it is not a fun thing to do? These cards don’t come at the sacrificeof the base set so I don’t see the harm here. The only criticism I would give is Topps should have goneall the way with this, changing the card to read The St. Louis Rally Squirrelinstead of keeping it Skip Schumaker.

If anything, it represents the evolution of Baseballcards. Topps should know a thingor two about that as they were the innovators responsible for changing look ofthe fronts of cards and adding stats to the backs of cards in the 1950’s. Since then, more additions such as inserts, relics, autographs,etc have become commonplace, so the fun short print is just another part of thegrowth. Some do not likethe direction these cards are taking and while I respect that opinion, we shouldn’t turn this into a case of throwing the baby out with thebath water. There is still plenty of collecting to do here in Series 1, even without theshort prints and the bottom line is 2012 Topps Baseball cards should be a partof your collection.

For the purposes of this review, we classify Series 1 as tradingcards. There are hobby exclusivecards such as the ring and coin cards, but you can find Series 1 in a widevariety of configurations in both retail and hobby. We opened a box hobby box which contained 36 – 10 card packswith a promise of 1 autograph or 1 relic card per box.

Here are some of the cards we pulled.

Base cards

Roy Halladay, front and back

Mickey Mantle, Ryan Howard, Dustin Ackley

Matt Kemp, Ryan Braun, Jose Bautista

Miguel Cabrera, Brian Wilson, Eric Hosmer

Derek Jeter, Dee Gordon, Stalin Castro

David Freese, Mariano Rivera

Adrian Gonzalez, Jay Bruce

Michael Pineda, Josh Hamilton

Golden Moments Base Parallels

Eduardo Nunez, Ryan Hanigan, Craig Kimbrel

Matt Cain, Luke Hochevar, Luke Scott

Jordan Zimmerman, Alexi Ogando, Vernon Wells

This year's mini cards are based on 1987 Topps baseball. Here is Starlin Castro's base card and mini for size comparison.

1987 Minis

Starlin Castro, Dan Uggla, Mike Stanton, Adrian Gonzalez

Troy Tulowitzki, Lance Berkman, Shin-Soo Choo, Mariano Rivera

Golden Moments

Jered Weaver, Brooks Robinson

Curtis Granderson, Roy Halladay

Miguel Cabrera, Paul O'Neill

Ryne Sandberg, CC Sabathia

Tom Seaver X2

Golden Greats

Sandy Koufax, Willie Mays, Albert Pujols

Nolan Ryan, Nolan Ryan, Roberto Clemente

Lou Gehrig, Jackie Robinson, Cal Ripkin, Jr.

Gold Standard

Ty Cobb, Willie Mays

Stan Musial, Mickey Mantle

Al Kaline, Andre Dawson

Classic Walk-Offs

Jim Thome, Magglio Ordonez

Rafael Furcal, Alfonso Soriano

Timeless Talents

Paul Molitor & Ryan Braun, Ernie Banks & Troy Tulowitzki

Don Mattingly & Eric Hosmer, Frank Robinson & Jose Bautista

Ryne Sandberg & Dan Uggla, Joe Morgan & Brandon Phillips

Golden Futures

Anthony Rizzo, Jeremy Hellickson, Freddie Freeman

Starlin Castro, Alexi Ogando, Arodys Vizcaino

Topps Golden Giveaway

Sandy Koufax, Ryan Braun

Roy Halladay, Albert Pujols

Ichiro, Matt Kemp

Home Run Legends Redemption Cards

Week 3, Week 8

Black Border Base Parallel

Reed Johnson #/61

Golden Moments Relic

Carlos Pena Game-Used Memorabilia

Overall Look

This year is a mixed bag for me. Some cards I like, some I don't. Base design is decent, but the backs of the cards have problems. For hitters, walks appear with the abbreviation "W", an abbreviation normally reserved for wins, while on the pitcher's cards walks appears as the preferable "BB." Another issue with the backs of a large number of hitter cards is "3B" appearing twice for both doubles and triples. Standout inserts for me are the Golden Greats, Golden Futures and Timeless Talents with their increased photo size compared to last year's duos cards. Anytime I can see faces I'm satisfied, which leads to the photo selection this year. The base card selection seems a little off to me. There seems to me to be a lot of faces that are turned, backs of players and odd angles that make it tough to figure out who's card you are looking at until you read the name. While I like the idea behind the Classic Walk-Offs, the design and layout does not work for me. The gold parallels looks muddy, as do the Golden Silks. While I am normally a fan of mini cards, these minis just remind me of the numerous boxes of overproduced 1987 Topps that are taking up space in storage even though they are attractive.

Quality and Variety of Players and Subsets.

Topps has gone a long way this year to secure some of the best legends of the game with the inclusion of Roberto Clemente, Joe DiMaggio and Willie Mays added to the line up established last year of Sandy Koufax and Hank Aaron. The legends included in the Golden Greats and Gold Standard cards are fantastic. The base set is as complete as you could expect.

Do the hits hold up?

A chance at autographs from Nolan Ryan, Willie Mays, Sandy Koufax, Hank Aaron and Albert Pujols are enough to make anyone excited. The World Series Pins and Retired Rings cards are impressive, even more so than the Golden Moments relics and that seems to be the general consensus. Add to that the bonus incentives of the Golden Tickets, Wrapper Redemption Program and 14K Gold Cards and Series 1 is packed with hits, but you'll have to buy hobby boxes to get the best of them.

Will you want to collect them all?

Not sure about a master set this year, but a complete base set is a must.

Rating

4 out of 5

2012 Topps Baseball Series 1 continues to work well for bothbeginning and seasoned collectors. Your Baseball collection is incomplete without them.

2011 Topps Precision Football NFL Trading Cards Box Break Recap and Review

2012-02-23T11:43:00.001-08:00

Topps has a brand new offering with 2011 Topps PrecisionFootball. With a tight checklistand several multi-autograph card configurations, Precision offers the chance atsome really nice pulls.

Precision Football falls into our premium cardscategory. Each hobby box contains4 mini boxes with 4 cards and the promise of one autograph card per mini box.Here are the cards we pulled from our box.

Greg Jennings, front and back

Tony Romo, Tom Brady, Tim Hightower

Steven Jackson, Sidney Rice, Shonn Greene

Phil Simms, Josh Freeman, Maurice Jones-Drew

Earl Campbell, Cedric Benson

Kendall Hunter Autograph Relic #/50, Vincent Brown On-Card Auto

Arrelious Benn Auto, Jerome Bettis Auto

Overall Look

The design of this set is solid with crisp text and nicelayout. The Rookie Autos providenice spacing for the on-card autographs.

Quality and Variety of Players

This is a small but quality checklist with very desirableplayers signing autographs.

Do the Hits satisfy?

Yes. We got anice mix of the proven and potential. Not that this has anything to do with Topps, but as a side note, Ireally wish players like Arrelious Benn would learn to spell their namesinstead of just slapping down their initials. Seriously, this kind of autographs are one letter away fromsomeone just marking the card with an X.

Will you keep coming back for more?

It is easy to see Precision as a multiple box purchase.

Rating

4 1/2 out of 5

2011 Topps Precision Football offer a premium chance at somepremium hits.

The 2012 Topps Prime 9 Redemption Card For Week 2 is Babe Ruth

2012-02-19T09:14:00.000-08:00

Last week we told you about the Topps Prime 9 Redemptionprogram found in 2012 Topps Baseball Series 1 hobby and jumbo boxes. Week 1featured The Say Hey Kid, Willie Mays. Week 2 has arrived so if you have one of these...

...it’s time to go visit your HTA Local Hobby Shop andredeem those cards. Here is whatyou will get.

A Babe Ruth Prime 9 Home Run Legends Chrome Refractor. You have the week to get to yourparticipating LCS and redeem those cards. And don’t forget to fill out the back of your redemption card to beentered into a sweepstakes. Youcould win a trip to the 2012 MLB Home Run Derby.

Check in next week to find out who is on the card for Week 3.

2011 Panini Limited Football Video Box Break With Some Nice Mojo

2012-02-16T20:18:00.000-08:00

Here is our 2011 Panini Limited Football Video Box Break. There was some nice mojo in this 8 card box. Watch to find out who we pulled.

2012 Topps Tribute Baseball Gets Even Better With Big Name Autographs And Encased Hit Cards

2012-02-16T14:10:00.000-08:00

Last year Topps Tribute Baseball was one of our favorite products. It was loaded with bigname pulls at high percentages and we benefited from that by scoring a Hank Aaron Triple Bat Relic Autograph card. Now the chances of pulling your own Hank Aaron auto haveincreased. Topps announcedtoday they have included an additional 100 Hank Aaron buyback autographedcards, all of which will be extra hits.

That was good enough news alone, but there is also word thatTopps has decided to encase all of the hits, Autograph and Relic cards, foundin this year’s Tribute and seal them with a Topps Tribute Authenticationsticker. An example of that is theSandy Koufax Autograph encased card pictured above. This takes an already premium product and makes it evenbetter.

In addition, Topps has been previewing special 1/1 on-cardautographs that include an inscription directly from the player on theirTwitter account. Once again, agreat reason to follow them @toppscards on Twitter if you aren’t already andwhile you are at it, you can follow us @allaboutcards too.

And to sweeten the deal even further, there have beenseveral new additions to the on-card Autograph checklist like Albert Pujols,Cal Ripken, Ken Griffey Jr., Ernie Banks, Carl Yastrzemski and Frank Thomas.

With the familiar 3 autograph and 3 relics hits per box,2012 Topps Tribute Baseball releases March 7th. By all signs, Tribute Baseball should repeat with a jump inprice shortly after the release date due to demand, so make sure you get yourpreorders in now.

2011 Panini Plates & Patches Football Video Box Break

2012-02-16T08:37:00.000-08:00

Here is our video box break of 2011 Panini Plates & Patches Football.

2011 Panini Plates & Patches Football NFL Trading Cards Box Break Recap and Review

2012-02-15T10:46:00.000-08:00

What happened to Plates & Patches? Last year it was such a solid product,nicely packaged in a wooden box with a slabbed hit. 2011 Panini Plates & Patches has done away with theupscale packaging and encased hit which would be OK if what ever those costsaving entail were thrown back into the cards to make them even better thisyear, but unfortunately that is not the case here.

Plates & Patches falls under our premium cardscategory. Each hobby box contains10 cards with a promise of three autographs and two memorabilia, but our boxwas shorted one card, which happens to be one of the autograph hits.

Here are the cards we pulled from our box.

Roddy White Base #/299, front and back

Sidney Rice #/299, Stanley Havili #/100

Kenny Britt #/50, Peyton Manning City Limits #/249

Mason Foster Autograph #/199, Knowshon Moreno Dual Jersey #/50

MarK Sanchez Jersey #/299, Jonathan Baldwin RPS Rookie Signautres Redemption #/499

Calvin Johnson Prime Jersey Logo #/5

Overall Look

There is a lot of foil here and all of the lettering isembedded in it. The white marblebackground is a nice choice but the City Limits cards were better lastyear.

Quality and Variety of Players

Rookie prospecting is all the rage in Football, but as apost-season product this checklist is overloaded with these first yearplayers. This checklist could andshould have been pared down. Thereare even names within the 36 Rookie Premiere group that could be dropped atthis point, but most likely Panini is contractually obligated to keep them, butthen why add an additional 100 rookies, most of whom had little impact, to themix, especially when the majority of the autographs are coming from thatpool. No question, there are somebig name pulls within the other cards, but those tend to be extremely lownumbered case hits.

Do the Hits satisfy?

Unfortunately the emphasis on the non Premiere Rookies heredetracts from the overall impression of the other hits. Yes there are some big pulls to find,but the majority here seem to be rookie autographs.

Will you keep coming back for more?

This is one of those momentum builder products, hit a goodbox off the bat and you probably will be dipping in for seconds.

Rating

2 1/2 out of 5

2011 Panini Plates & Patches Football might work betterearly in the season when expectations are high, but as a post season productwhen player values have been determined, it feels out of touch.

2011 Panini Limited Football NFL Trading Cards Box Break Recap and Review

2012-02-14T10:30:00.000-08:00

Limited Football returns this year holding on strong to itsfamiliar configuration. It is aslight bump up from last year’s offering with cards that are a little moreaesthetically pleasing. 2011Panini Limited Football is a nice and easy box break.

Limited Football fits nicely into our premium cardscategory. Each hobby box contains8 cards with a promise of one autograph, one memorabilia card and one otherautograph or memorabilia card per box. Here are the cards we pulled from ourbox.

Knowshon Moreno base #/499, front and back

LeSean McCoy #/499, Jom Otto Legend #/499

Niles Paul Phenoms #/499, Chad Ochocinco Spotlight #/50

Steve Bartkowski Legend Materials #/99

Jerel Jernigan Initial Steps Materials #/99

Mark Ingram Material Phenoms RC Autograph/Material #/199

Overall Look

If you like shiny mirror foil, these are the cards foryou. Players really stand outagainst the mirror finish with nice muted background images that enhance thedesign.

Quality and Variety of Players

This is one par for a limited offering. It relies heavily on the 2011 RookieClass but still offers up some big name hits.

Do the Hits satisfy? Are the cards too base heavy?

The star hits here continue to be the Material PhenomsRookie Cards. They look great andif you hit the right rookie, it will quickly ascend to one of your best pullsof the year. Hit one of thelegends autos or the nice lineup of big name autos and you will be quite happy.

Will you keep coming back for more?

Limited is definitely one of those products that is amultiple box purchase.

Rating

4 out of 5

2011 Panini Limited Football delivers a familiar, solid boxof cards with the potential for some big pulls.

2012 Press Pass Essential Elvis Video Box Break

2012-02-11T11:17:00.000-08:00

Here is the video box break of 2012 Press Pass Essential Elvis, a set worthy of The King. To see the review of this box, please use this link.

The 2012 Topps Prime 9 Redemption Card For Week 1 is Willie Mays!

2012-02-10T11:40:00.000-08:00

Last year we did weekly announcements about the Topps Prime9 Redemption program. As we told you previously this year’s theme is Home RunLegends. Topps is starting this year’s program off strong with The Say Hey Kid,Willie Mays. Prime 9 redemptioncards can be found in 2012 Topps Baseball Series 1 hobby and jumbo boxes. Nowweek 1 has arrived so if you have one of these...

...it's time to go visit your HTA Local Hobby Shop and redeemthose cards. Here is what you willget.

You have the week to get to your participating LCS andredeem those cards. And don’tforget to fill out the back of your redemption card to be entered into asweepstakes. You could win a tripto the 2012 MLB Home Run Derby.

Check in next week to find out who is on the card for week2.

2012 Press Pass Essential Elvis Box Break Recap And Review

2012-02-09T11:03:00.000-08:00

A simple one sentence review of 2012 Press Pass EssentialElvis cards would be “A must have for all Elvis fans.” As usual, Press Pass delivers a perfectlyexecuted premium set and from the looks of most breaks, there isn’t a bad boxto be found.

Press Pass Essential Elvis falls under our premium cardscategory. Each box contains 7cards with 3 base cards, 1 hollofoil base set parallel and 3 hits consisting ofat least 1 Autograph and 1 relic card with the third card being an additionalrelic, autograph or sketch card.

Here are of the cards from our box.

Are You Lonesome Tonight? front and back

Hall of Fame Induction, Distinguished Award

Blue Hawaii Hollofoil Parallel

Mary Ann Mobley Gold Auto #/100, Yvonne Craig Blue Auto #/50

Essential Materials Elvis Presley Worn Black Shirt Relic, front and back

Overall Look

The silver foil on these cards makes them look quiterich. There is a nice selection ofphotos used here. The backs of thecards hold up as well as the fronts. The design of the Autograph and Relic cards is great too. In particular, the die cut for theElvis cut auto relic is one of the best I’ve seen for this category of cards.

Quality and Variety of the checklist

With a diverse mixture of former friends, band mates andleading ladies, the autograph list is very well done. Some of the actresses like Mary Tyler Moore, Barbara Edenand Yvonne Craig have cross over appeal too. Who wouldn’t want to add Mary Richards, Jeannie and Batgirlto their collection?

Do the Hits satisfy?

To be guaranteed at least one Elvis relic in every box isawesome. Add to that a picture ofthe actual item the swatch came from and it takes the card to a differentlevel. The jumbo and multi swatchcards are amazing. Of course, thecut autos of Elvis Presley make for a great chase.

Will you keep coming back for more?

Honestly, I can easily see multiple box purchases if not bythe case, but if one box is all you can swing, you will be going home happy.

Rating

5 out of 5

2012 Press Pass Essential Elvis should be a part of yourcollection.

2011 Topps Supreme Football NFL Trading Cards Box Break Recap And Review

2012-02-03T13:25:00.000-08:00

Topps Supreme Football is a product that continues to liveup to its name. With strikingdesign, a great veteran checklist and deep rookie class, 2011 Topps SupremeFootball will keep most high-end collectors very happy. But if you can swing it, this isa product that excels when it is purchased by the case.

Topps Supreme falls firmly into our ultra premium cardscategory. Each box contains 8 4cards, 2 base cards numbered to 429, 1 base parallel and 1 hit that can be anautograph, autograph relic or relic card.

Here are the cards we pulled from the box.

Von Miller, front and back, Austin Pettis

Jerry Rice violet parallel #/75

Christian Ponder Auto Dual Relic numbered 07/15

(As astute readers pointed out to me because I didn't catch it, this is an eBay 1/1)

Overall Look

I have to admit, I like the look of this year’s cards overthe design of last year, even though those cards were great looking too. Pardon the pun but the stone backgroundgives these cards weight and helps make the gold accents pop. All of the numbering and lettering isattractive and easy to read. Thegradated background behind the sticker auto makes it look great. The coloringfor the base parallels work very well.

Quality and Variety of Players

There is a nice mix here of Rookies to Veterans to RetiredStars. Hits in the product leanmore towards the Premiere Rookie Class but there is still the opportunity topull some major hits from the proven stars of the game.

Thrill Seeking Fulfillment and Experience

It is four cards so it doesn’t take long to determine whatyou think of your box. While theride is short, it is exciting. This is a good entry point for high-end collectors before they dive intothe deep waters of a product like 5 Star.

Buyers Remorse or Speculator's Delight

Supreme is in line with expectations for Ultra Premium boxesacross the entire run. As UltraPremium boxes go, Supreme is on the less expensive side so you can still temperyour commitment. But the best betis to look towards cases of Supreme. With 5 out of the 16 boxes contained in acase, your hit will be a relic card, but the other 11 boxes should make up forthat as 4 of those hits will be Autographed Relics, 4 will be Auto Rookies, 1will be a multi player Autograph, 1 will be a single autograph and then therewill be 1 more of any of the previously mentioned autographs. Case purchases should provide ahigh level of satisfaction.

Rating

4 1/2 out of 5

In 2011 Topps Supreme Football you’ll find ultra premiumsmall boxes with big potential.

2011 Topps Supreme Football Video Box Break

2012-02-02T15:24:00.000-08:00

One box, four cards with lots of potential. That's 2011 Topps Supreme in a nutshell. The front end checklist took almost as long as it took to open the box.

Check out this 2 minute video to see which cards we pulled.

2012 TCSP Diamond Cuts Baseball Box Break Recap And Contest Winner Announcement

2012-02-01T21:13:00.000-08:00

So here are scans of the cards that were pulled from ourbox.

Peace Bridge Stamp Card

A 13 cent stamp commemorating the 50th anniversary of thePeace Bridge that was issued on August 4, 1977.

Carl Erskine Fan Favorites Cut Auto 1/1

With a Won-Loss record of 122-78, this right-handed pitcher spenthis entire career with the Dodgers, both in Brooklyn and Los Angeles, from 1948to 1959.

Which leads us to our contest.

The correct answer to the first team and decade of debut ofthe cut auto is “Dodgers – 1940’s” and someone guessed that! I am so happy we have a winner!

The winner of the prize which is a Cut Auto limited to /5 orless is Greg Zakwin, who is know to bloggers and on the TSCP site as “Plaschke,Thy Sweater Is Argyle.”

Big congratulations. Send us an email so we can put you in contact with the folks at Tri CitySports PL and you can make arrangements to get your prize from them. Make sure to let us know who’scut auto they send you.

2012 TCSP Diamond Cuts Baseball Video Box Break

2012-02-01T15:20:00.000-08:00

Here is the video of our box break of 2012 Tri City Sports PL Diamond Cuts Baseball. TCSP provided the box for us to open and ran a contest in conjunction with the opening of the box.

Spoiler Alert - someone won the contest which makes us very happy.

Who won? You will have to check the video out to see which cut auto we pulled. The winner is the person who guessed the player's first team and decade the player debuted.

A recap and official winner announcement will follow.

2012 Topps Baseball Series 1 Golden Giveaway Details

2012-01-31T13:52:00.000-08:00

Here are the details on the Golden Giveaway, the programthat replaces last year’s Diamond Giveaway.

In every 6th pack of 2012 Topps Baseball Series 1 will havea Golden Giveaway Code card and every code unlocks a chance to win prizes. The codes unlock cards and digitalcoins, which seems like a replacement for the rings in the Diamond Giveaway.

Here is what you will be chasing.

100 different Golden Moments Die Cut Chrome Cards featuring100 different players and their greatest Golden Moments. There will be parallels in gold numbered to 99 and One-of-One TrulyGolden Moments Die Cut Chrome Cards embedded with a real piece of gold.

One of One Gold Base Set Parallel which is a parallel ofthis year’s base set embedded with a real piece of gold.

Digital Gold Coins. 90 in all, 30 Team Coins, 30 Player Coins and 30 Retired Players coins. Themore unique coins you unlocked the more prizes you can win. Unlock ten unique coinsand you automatically qualify for a chance to win a Ken Griffey Jr. autographedgold coin card. Unlock 30 teamcoins, 30 player coins or 30 retired player coins and you instantly win aWillie Mays autographed gold coin card.

More Golden Elements To 2012 Topps Baseball Series 1 Revealed

2012-01-30T11:57:00.000-08:00

We’ve established that the 2012 Topps Baseball Series 1’stheme is gold. We have the Gold Rush wrapper redemption program, Gold Tickets and 14K Solid Golden Greats cardsin the mix as of big pulls.

The golden theme extends to the cards too. There will be 3gold themed relic sets.

Starting at the top left of the picture above are GoldenRetired Rings cards. These cardsshowcase different tops of golden rings manufactured specifically for eachretired player and engraved with that player’s jersey number. Besides the Don Mattingly there will beCal Ripken, Jr., Roberto Clemente, Willie Mays and more.

To the right of that are golden World Series Champion Pincards which include a specially designed World Series Pin embedded into thecard. There will be 20 differentcards in all with players like Tim Lincecum, Lou Gehrig, Sandy Koufax and more.

Below that are Golden Great Coin cards that feature 15different legends of the game with an actual coin embedded into the player’scard. These limited pieces aresequentially numbered to the player’s jersey number and include Babe Ruth,Mickey Mantle and Jackie Robinson, amongst others.

The card to the left of that is the previously mentioned Albert Pujols SP in his Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim uniform.

Tomorrow details about the last piece of the golden puzzle,the Golden Giveaway, will be revealed.

Panini Scores Big With The Signing Of Gordie Howe

2012-01-28T22:38:00.000-08:00

This is big! Well... actually it’s HUGE!

Panini America has just reached a multi-year trading cardagreement with Gordie Howe, one of the greatest hockey player of all time. Autograph and memorabiliatrading cards of Howe will appear in Panini's officially licensed hockey products for the firsttime. This is on the heals of InThe Game’s January 19th announcement that Howe would be appearing on theircards too.

What is so big or huge about this? Well Howe has been one of the three marquee players featuredon Upper Deck cards for a long time along with the Great One, Wayne Gretzky andBooby Orr. That Hat Trickexclusive seemed to be a cornerstone of the Upper Deck Hockey cards empire, onethat appeared to be unbreakable. With both ITG and Panini signing Howe, there will be plenty ofcompetition which leads to more choices for collectors and that is always agood thing.

The is no word from Upper Deck yet about any of this so onehas to guess that Howe will still sign and appear on cards for them, just noton an exclusive basis anymore.

In all likelihood, Gretzky and Orr will follow at somepoint. I’ve suspected that Paniniwould break Upper Deck’s exclusive back in December of last year. Small indications of that startedpopping up on Panini’s blog, The Knight’s Lance, there was something was in theair. First, a casual reference toThe Great One in a post about 2011-12 Crown Royale Hockey using the phrase“Like Gretzky on a breakaway.” Then there was the addition of Tim Trout, former Beckett Hockey Guru,who was coming on board as the new assistant brand manager for Hockey.(conspiracy theory fans will note there were both LA Kings and NY Rangers Uniforms strategically placed over Trout’s left shoulder as he explained onvideo what he would be doing in his new job for Panini.)

Howe, a 1972 Hall of Fame inductee, is third on the NHLall-time leading scorer list with 1,767 points. He played 25 seasons, was a 23-time NHL All-Star and 4 timewinner of the Stanley Cup. He alsowon 6 Art Ross Trophies and 6 Hart Trophies. Howe is the only player in NHLhistory to play in five different decades.

There’s More Gold To Find In 2012 Topps Baseball Series 1 And This Time It’s 14K Solid Gold Cards

2012-01-27T13:20:00.000-08:00

You knew this had to happen. After announcements about the Gold Rush wrapper redemption program and the Gold Tickets good for Gold Infused MLB Baseballs signed by HankAaron, Willie Mays and Ken Griffey, Jr., there was still one untapped goldenidea left. Today Topps announcedthey have produced 16 cards that are made of pure 14K solid gold.

These “Solid Golden Greats” cards are one of ones and feature legendaryplayers like Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron. They have been slabbed by BeckettGrading Services with identification and an exclusive Topps logo.

Redemption cardsfor the corresponding “Solid Golden Greats” cards will be inserted exclusivelyin hobby boxes of 2012 Topps Baseball Series 1. The release date for 2012 Topps Baseball Series 1 is nextweek.

Topps Brings Back Prime 9 Redemptions With The Home Run Legends

2012-01-26T11:15:00.000-08:00

First there was the Gold Rush. Then 10... make that 20 Gold Tickets. Now we have the return ofthe Prime 9 Redemption Program.

Last year we had week-to-week announcements for the Prime 9 program, which featured some of the best players at each of the 9fielding positions. This year itis all about swinging lumber. The9 players on this year’s cards will all be Home Run Legends and will featuresluggers such as Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron and Mickey Mantle.

Inside Hobby and Jumbo boxes of 2012 Topps Baseball Series 1there will be randomly inserted Prime 9 Redemption Cards at a rate of two cardsper box.

Beginning on February 13th, Topps will announce the “Prime 9Home Run Legend of the Week”. Ifyou have the corresponding Prime 9 Redemption card for that week you can bringthe card to your local participating HTA store and redeem it for an exclusivelimited edition Topps Chrome Refractor.

In addition, like last year, the back of each redemptioncard functions as a sweepstakes entry. If you fill out the entry form on the back before you redeem the cards, thestoreowner will submit that entry to Topps. You could win the Grand Prize, which is a VIP package fortwo to attend the 2012 MLB Home Run Derby.

We will have full coverage again this year of the Prime 9player announcements so be sure to check in once the program starts.

Total Of 20 Topps Gold Tickets To Be Found... Ummm... Make That 19.

2012-01-25T20:04:00.000-08:00

Earlier today we announced that 10 Gold Tickets for a Gold Infused MLB Baseball autographed by Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Ken Griffey, Jr. We failed to mention that there are an additional 10 Gold Tickets that have been distributed to Local Hobby Shops to be part of the Gold Rush incentive program. This brings the total number of Triple autographed Gold MLB Baseballs to 20.

The first Ticket has made an appearance. A picture was posted on Twitter with the first ticket to be seen that currently resides at Northwest Sportscards. If you aren't on Twitter, get on it! If you don't follow us here @AllAboutCards or @toppscards, get on it! And once you do you can take a look at our retweet of the first Gold Ticket.

Topps Adds A Wonka Of A Giveaway. 10 Gold Tickets Placed In 2012 Topps Baseball Series 1 Hobby Boxes.

2012-01-25T13:20:00.000-08:00

Paging Veruca Salt, it is Gold Ticket Time.

Today Topps announced another element to the Gold themedyear for their flagship Baseball Card Set. Hidden inside of Hobby Boxes of 2012 Topps Baseball Series 1are 10 Gold Tickets. Each ticketis good for a Gold-Infused official Major League Baseball autographed by threeplayers you may know, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Ken Griffey, Jr.

That’s right, one ball, three signatures from the number 2,4 and 5 All Time MLB Home Run Hitters. Add this to the Gold Rush Wrapper redemption announced yesterday and youcan see there will be quite a few special giveaways by Topps this year.

But there is still more. Check back tomorrow for another announcement.

Complete Details For The 2012 Topps Baseball Series 1 Gold Rush Wrapper Redemption Program

2012-01-24T12:19:00.000-08:00

Diamonds are so last year. This year it is all about gold.

The Golden Giveaway, Golden Moments inserts and real Goldcards are all a part of the 2012Topps Baseball Series of cards. But for the soon to be released Series 1, Topps is offering a goldthemed wrapper redemption program.

For every 50 Hobby wrappers or 14 HTA Jumbo wrappers of 2012Topps Baseball Series 1 you send to Topps, you will receive a 5-card cello packof exclusive Gold Rush cards. There are 50 cards to collect in all. In addition, bonus autographed cards have been randomlyinserted into packs from signers that include Willie Mays, Adrian Gonzalez,Sandy Koufax, Nelson Cruz, Albert Pujols, Albert Belle, Dennis Eckersley andmore.

But you will have to be quick about it. The exclusive wrapper redemptionprogram will be available only for the month of February. Packaged wrappers sent to Topps must bepost marked no later than February 29th, 2012.

Wrappers should be sent to:

Gold Rush

PO Box 2008

Duryea, PA 18642

You may and are encouraged to group all of your wrappers into 50 hobby or 14 HTA bundles and send them together in one package. Toppswill fulfill all wrappers submitted until supplies last.

A Card Featuring Albert Pujols In His Angels Uniform Has Been Added To 2012 Topps Baseball Series 1

2012-01-23T15:51:00.000-08:00

The release of 2012 Topps Baseball Series 1 is 9 days away. In addition tothe Golden Giveaway, Prime 9 and an exclusive wrapper redemption program, 2012Topps Baseball Series 1 will feature the first card of Albert Pujols in his LosAngeles Angels of Anaheim uniform.

A limited quantity of card number 331 with Pujols decked outin his new threads will appear in packs as well as an updated card for Jose Reyes, cardnumber 332, in his new Marlins uniform.

Both cards will appear again in Series 2 in fullquantities and with updated photography.

2011 Donruss Elite Extra Edition Baseball Trading Cards Box Break Recap and Review

2012-01-20T13:48:00.000-08:00

Every once in a while you get a box of cards that just seemsoff. Our box of 2011 Donruss EliteExtra Edition Baseball Trading Cards was weird., mostly with the collation but there are some other issues too.

Panini just signed an agreement withthe Major League Baseball Players Association so a Major Leaguer’s card isincluded in every pack. Since there are 20 packs and 25 players appear oncards, you would expect close to no doubles. In our box we received 4 doubles and they were in back toback consecutive packs. Another collation issue was we didn’t receive a singlebase card within the number range of 101 to 150. Odds dictate that this could happen, butit still seems unusual. We wouldlove to hear from any of you that have busted this product. Have your experiences been the same ordifferent?

With the addition of the new license the question becomes “Has the agreementmade the cards better?” In thiscase, I would have to say no. Lastyear there was the possibility of pulling former big leaguer’s autos like TomSeaver, Bob Gibson and Don Sutton, not the emphasis of this product, but a nicebonus. This year, with the license, no veteran autos. You will have to wait forPlayoff Contenders for that. Honestly, this is a prospecting product and thelicense seems unnecessary.

Now taken as the prospecting product that collectors havecome to know, it still works. Thisyear features more on-card autos, most of them first round draft picks in 2011.

Donruss Elite Extra Edition Baseball fits nicely into ourpremium cards category. Each hobbybox contains 20 – 5 card packs with a promise of six autograph cards per box with hot boxes containing 10 autographs. Lets take a look at the cards we pulled from the box.

First from the base set

2011 1st round draft picks

Tyler Anderson, front & back, Taylor Guerrieri

2011 supplemental 1st round draft piks

Jeff Ames, Michael Kelly, Blake Snell

Kevin Comer, Grayson Garvin, James Harris

Major League Players

Ichiro, Josh Hamilton, Jordan Walden

Seeing Double - Pulled from 8 consecutive packs

BrIan McCann, Curtis Granderson, Troy Tulowitzki, Michael Pineda

From the inserts

Aspirations die-cut

Sonny Gray #/200

Status die-cut

Dwigth Smith Jr. #/100, Jordan Walden #/25

Elite Series

Brad Miller, Abel Baker

Yearbook

Matt Purke, Sean Gilmartin

Building Blocks Dual

Jace Peterson & Lee Orr, Aaron Westlake & Dean Green

Building Blocks Triple

Anthony Rendon, Brain Goodwin & Matt Purke, Danny Hultzen, Jed Bradley & Tyler Anderson

Building Blocks Quad

Francisco Lindor, Javier Baez, Levi Michael & Jake Hager

Bubba Starling, Josh Bell, Brandon Nimmo & Dwight Smith Jr.

The Autographs

Corey Williams #/940, Angleo Songco #/864, Granden Goetzman #/384

Austin Hedges #/201, Alan DeRatt Status die-cut #/50, Blake Swihart Elite Series #/99

Overall Look

There is no agreement with the MLB yet, so there are nomajor league logos. Some thoughtthis would be a big problem. Intruth sometimes it works, other times, not so much. The Ichiro is the best example, the Josh Hamilton just kindof seems goofy and the Jordan Walden is the worst of them. For future releases, it would begreat if Panini mimicked what they did handling the Winnipeg Jets cards forPinnacle Hockey this year. Players inpost game interviews, on the red carpet, even getting off the team bus would bebetter than these static poses. AndI know there can’t be MLB logos, but what happened to the college logos? The majority of them seem to have goneaway. Add to that taking theprospects, separating them from the backgrounds and putting them on foilwithout logos is dull. What workshere is the Elite Series cards, the die-cuts and the really nice Yearbookinserts.

Quality and Variety of Players

From a prospecting level, this is a deep checklist, which iswhy collectors love EEE. With 25Major League players on cards and 30 teams in the MLB, it feels like thesecards are late add-ons that could just as easily be held back without affectingthe quality of the product.

Do the Hits satisfy?

It is all autographs here and at 6 autograph hits per box with thepossibility of 10 autos in a hot box, it is a nice amount of hits. But the hits are all of prospects. Not a problem, but, again, odd when youare featuring your agreement with the player’s association for the first time.

Will you keep coming back for more?

This is a product that works best for prospectors somultiple box purchases are understandable.

Rating

3 out of 5

2011 Donruss Elite Extra Edition Baseball Trading Cardsproves the theory that sometimes more is not better, but it still has potentialfor some good prospecting.

TCSP 2012 Diamond Cuts Baseball Cut Autograph Contest

2012-01-19T14:01:00.000-08:00

Earlier we told you about the upcoming release of Tri City Sports PL 2012 Diamond Cuts Baseball, the 2 card per box, Cut Auto, VintageStamp, Jumbo Game Used Encased Patches product.

At the beginning of February, TCSP will be providing us witha box of 2012 Diamond Cuts so we can take a look at the product up close. In conjunction with this, Tri CitySports PL is running a contest. The prize you can win is a Cut Auto limited to /5 or less.

The way to win is by guessing the first team and startingdecade of the player whose cut auto I pull from the box Tri City issending us. For example, if I pulla Duke Snider cut auto, the correct answer would be “Dodgers – 1940’s” asSnider played his first major league game with the Brooklyn Dodgers in1947. Another example would be ifI pulled Babe Ruth’s cut auto, the winning answer would be “Red Sox – 1910’s”because even though he his mostly known as being with the New York Yankees, heplayed his first game with the Boston Red Sox in 1914.

If you win, you will not be getting the cut auto from our break, you will be getting a different one and no, I don't know which cut auto you will be getting. All final decisions, confirmation of the winner andproviding the prize will be handled by Tri City Sports PL, so if you win, youwill be dealing with them directly.

I know this is kind of a shot in the dark because there isno official checklist, but here are some tips that might be helpful.

1 – If you want to go with a team that either changed citiesor names in the middle of a decade, go with the most generic term forthem. If you want the Dodgers inthe 1950’s please don’t call them the Los Angeles Dodgers. I would hate it if we pulled someonefrom the 1950’s Brooklyn Dodgers and you lost on a technicality. Just go with “Dodgers – 50’s.” At the same time, city's without a league attached will not count. For example, if you left New York - 1950's, that could mean the Yankees, Giants and Dodgers.

2 – According to the information Tri City has provided tome, all teams and the decades are in play from 1930-1970.

So here is an outline of the rules that Tri City has passedto me.

1 - To be eligible for the prize you must be a member of theTCSP site. That means going to this site, http://www.tricitysportspl.com/apps/blog/and registering with them.

2 – Once you have registered with TCSP, leave a guess hereon this post. Make sure youinclude a team and a decade and indicate your registered name on the TCSP site.

3 - Entries will be accepted up until the 9:00AM PST on theday of posting of the box break. Right now that is looking like the first or second week ofFebruary. I will update and set afinal date and time when the box arrives.

4 – All decisions on a winner will be handled by Tri CitySports PL, as will delivery of any potential prize.

5 - There isone guess per person. Multipleguesses or altering a guess after you have posted it will be an instantdisqualification.

Good luck to all.

Topps Magic Football Returns With A Difference

2012-01-18T13:18:00.000-08:00

So here is a surprise. Topps announced that Magic Football will make its return next week, butthis time with a twist… Magic football will not only be offered as an onlineexclusive, but will feature an Autograph in every pack.

There will be 110 rookies in the base card set with all ofthe top rookies autographs including Cam Newton, AJ Green, Andy Dalton, JulioJones, Christian Ponder, Blaine Gabbert, Jake Locker, DeMarco Murray andmore! In addition to the lineup of68 different autographs, there will be 1 of 1 Black Magic Parallels and BlackMagic Cut Signatures.

Each $19.99 pack will include 1 Autographed Rookie Card and10 Rookie Base Cards. Topps Magicwill be limited in production, and will be available starting January 25th viawww.shoptopps.com.

Sneak Peek 2011-12 Panini NBA Hoops Basketball Cards.

2012-01-17T14:10:00.000-08:00

As if it weren’t bad enough to think of the possibility ofno football this year, we had to deal with the same for basketball. In the end, it worked out as the NBAreturned as a great Christmas present. But we are still waiting on Basketball cards for 2011-12. That wait is coming to an end too. One of the many highly anticipatedreleases is an updated blast from the past, 2011-12 Panini NBA Hoops.

Set for a release date of March 14, Hobby boxes of theseretro cards with contemporary updates will contain two autographs per box featuringautographs of Kobe Bryant, Blake Griffin, Kevin Durant, Chris Paul and DirkNowitzki, and will include original 1989-90 Hoops BuyBacks featuring on-cardautographs. The base set for Hoopswill come in at 279-cards.

2011-12 Panini Pinnacle Hockey NHL Trading Cards Box Break Recap and Review

2012-01-16T16:40:00.000-08:00

There is one set of hockey trading cards time and timeagain, Pinnacle. This year is noexception. Noted for itsoutstanding photography, Pinnacle always delivers interesting cards that are apleasure to peruse. 2011 – 12 Pinnacle Hockey NHL Trading Cards will flash youback to the 90’s but still feel very contemporary.

We classify Pinnacle Hockey as trading cards. Hobby Boxescome with 24 – 8 card packs with two autograph or memorabilia cards per box.

Here is a look at some of the cards we pulled from our box. First from the base cards.

Base Set

Joe Thornton, front and back

Here are some examples of the amazing photography from this set.

Mike Smith, Chris Neil

Matt Duchene, Linus Omark

Ondrej Pavelec, Dan Boyle

Dion Phaneuf, Michael Grabner

Micahl Neuvirth, Miln Lucic

Henrik Zetterberg, Tim Thomas

NUFEX parallels

Martin Havlat

Ice Breakers Rookie Cards

Matt Frattin, Justin Faulk

Zac Rinaldo, Erik Gudbranson

Inserts

Breakthrough

Corey Crawford, David Krejci, Jamie Benn

Pinnacle Captains - Andrew Ladd, Tough Times - Gino Odjick

Team Pinnacle Card #6 - Sidney Crosby front, Jonathan Toews back

The Hits

Derek Stepan Threads Relic (Not Numbered), Dustin Byfuglien Game Night Prime Patch #/30

Drew Doughty Private Signings On-Card Autograph (Not Numbered)

Overall Look

Last year’s Pinnacle was a mix of horizontal and verticalcard fronts and horizontal backs. This year all of the fronts are on the horizontal and the backs arevertical. Some of you willremember from other card reviews done here, my preference is for consistency soI would have preferred if the backs were on the horizontal too. It makes for better displays in 9cardholders. It is a minor pointthat vanishes because of the exceptional photography and really nice layout. Inserts work well and a big plus for the way the Winnipeg Jets cards were handled. No sign of the Atlanta Thrashers short of the material used for the Byfuglien card, but that was game used so it makes sense.

Quality and Variety of Players and Subsets.

250 veteran players is a nice number, 50 more than lastyear. Normally the Ice Breakerrookies are a difficult chase. This year it has been made even more difficult as the top 10 of the 40rookies only appear on SP auto version. The checklists for the autographs and memorabiliacards are expansive.

Do the hits hold up?

Most definitely. Autographs and memorabilia cards are all desirable. Thrown into the mix are Pinnacle Blackcards with 14 outstanding players that are case hits and Eric LindrosRecollection Collection Autograph Cards. Autographs fall roughly every 3 out of4 boxes.

Will you want to collect them all?

In short, yes! This is a great set to have with cool inserts and a great rookie chase.

Rating

4 1/2 out of 5

2011 – 12 Panini Pinnacle Hockey NHL Trading Cards providesa fun base set to collect with a chance at some super premium incentive.

Our Video Box Break Of 2011 Bowman Sterling Baseball Cards

2012-01-15T17:34:00.000-08:00

We recently busted a box of 2011 Bowman Sterling Baseball Cards. 6 Mini-Boxes with 5 cards each. A total of 12 single autographs, 1 dual autograph, 1 box topper dual relic and 6 regular relics.

Here is the video box break.

A Football Rainbow That Gathers Moss - The 2011 Topps Chrome Football Rainbow of Randy Moss

2012-01-14T13:01:00.000-08:00

We’ve shared with you some of our unique Rainbows recently. Now we would like toshare a good old fashioned rainbow. The inspiration for posting this today comes from this evening's playoff game between the DenverBroncos and the New England Patriots. But the player we used to build this rainbow might surprise you. It is Randy Moss.

Now we have had a lot of fun here with Moss and his antics. One of our favorite andmost popular posts was from over a year ago “Randy Moss and Tom Brady in a girl fight” which oddly enough ended with a picture of Tim Tebow, so talk aboutkismet. Another reason it feels like theright time to share this rainbow with you.

While Moss announced his retirement back in August, he still appeared in early 2011 Football card releases. Because of that, he also appeared in 2011 Topps Chrome Football. We pulled the Randy Moss 1/1 Superfractor, card #101, from abox of Chrome. Despite Moss' off the field missteps, there is no denying his impact on the game. It's a pretty safe bet he will make it to Canton, so in addition to the fun aspect of putting this rainbow together, there might be some serious value to come from this collection of cards in the future, even though his is pictured here in a Titans uniform.

Here are all the cards, 12 in total, weobtained to complete this rainbow.

Chrome Base, Chrome Refractor, Xfractor

Orange Border Refractor, Purple Border Refractor #/499, Black Border Refractor#299

Blue Border Refractor #/199, Atomic Refractor #/139, SepiaRefractor #/99

Gold Border Refractor #/50, Red Border Refractor #/25, Superfractor 1/1

Here they are lined up.

Could a Cross Release Rainbow of this be far behind?

So let us hear from you. How many of you are collecting rainbows and what are youcurrently working on?

Pineda Bronx Bound In Exchange For Montero

2012-01-13T18:40:00.000-08:00

There was speculation from Seattle sources that the Mariners were close to completing a big trade. Now word has leaked that the trade involves Michael Pineda going to the New York Yankees for young catcher Jesus Montero and right handed pitcher Hector Noesi.

Pineda will join the Yankees starting pitcher rotation that includes free agent Hiroki Kuroda, who was signed today, C.C. Sabathia, Ivan Nova and either Phil Hughes, Freddy Garcia or the inconsistent pie lover, A.J. Burnett.

2011 Bowman Sterling Baseball Cards Box Break Recap and Review

2012-01-12T21:38:00.000-08:00

About a month ago Topps announced that the autographchecklist for 2011 Bowman Sterling Baseball would be significantly enhancedfrom what was originally provided. After busting a box, it is clear to see what they meant. At 13 auto and 7 relic cards thisproduct is loaded with enough goodness to make any prospecting collectorshappy.

Bowman Sterling Basetball comes in at the high end of ourpremium cards category. Each hobbybox contains 6 mini-boxes with 5 cards each. Each mini-box should yield 1 Relic and2 Autograph Cards for a hobby box total of 12 Autographs and 6 Relics. In addition to that you get a box topper dual relic and one dual autograph card.

Here are some of the cards we pulled.

Base Set

Eric Hosmer, front and back

Yankees Prospect Manny Banuelos, Indians Rookie Jason Kipnis

Base Parallels

Mike Moustakas Refractor #/199, Javier Baez Gold Refractor #/50

Box Topper

Justin Verlander - Roy Halladay Duel Game Used Memorabilia #/196

USA Baseball Relics

Dominic Ficociello

Nolan Fontana, Brady Rodgers

Rookie Relics

Zach Britton

Brandon Beachy, Michael Pineda

Rookie Autographs

Maikel Cleto, Nathan Eovaldi

Minor League Prospects

Chris Wallace, Mychal Givens, Aaron Hicks

2011 Major League Baseball Draft First Round Picks

Brandon Martin (#38 overall), Blake Swihart (#26 overall), Taylor Guerrieri (#24 overall)

Jose Fernandez (#14 overall), Brandon Nimmo (#13 overall), George Springer (#11 overall)

Taylor Jungmann (#12 overall) Gold Refractor Auto #/50

Dual Auto

Minnesota Twins Ben Revere and Liam Hendriks #/225

Overall Look

This is solid design along the lines of Premium and Finestbut feels very Bowman. Not a lotof variation besides color parallel and refractors, but that is fine.

Quality and Variety of Players

This is a tight base set at 50 cards and that is OK. The Autographs and relics checklist istop notch.

Do the Hits satisfy?

How can you go wrong when the autographs are made up ofcurrent rookie, farm system stars and first round picks from the 2011 BaseballDraft? The dual Memorabilia boxtoppers are great as are the dual Rookie/Prospect Team Auto cards. Additional hits from USA Baseball are abonus. In our box 6 of the autos were of current first round draft picks, 1from the supplemental first round, 1 former first rounder and 3 rookies. This seems to be in line with expectations,which should satisfy plenty of prospectors.

Will you keep coming back for more?

This is a “High Risk, High Reward” product but the risk isgreatly decreased by the caliber of prospects/rookies and the volume ofautographs contained in a full hobby box. This is definitely a multiple box purchase if you can swing it.

Rating

4 1/2 out of 5

2011 Bowman Sterling Baseball is perfect for prospecting currentrising stars.

Topps Is Tebowing As Supreme Football Includes Some Tebow Time

2012-01-11T11:12:00.000-08:00

In 2011 we got Tebowed here while opening a box of 2011 Topps Tribute. If you haven’t been luckyenough to pull one of his auto cards yet, you should know that Topps SupremeFootball releases today and it features autographed cards Tim Tebow. Here is a list of the autographed cardsin that can be found in Topps Supreme:

Tim Tebow Base Autograph #’d to 27

Tim Tebow Base Autograph Red Parallel #’d to 20

Tim Tebow Base Autograph Green Parallel #’d to 10

Tim Tebow Base Autograph Platinum Parallel #’d to 1

Tim Tebow Base Autograph Printing Plates (4 versions) #’d to1

Tim Tebow Triple Autograph w/ Newton, Bradford #’d to 10

Tim Tebow Quad Autograph w/ Newton, Sanchez, Ryan #’d to 5

If luck doesn’t hit you with Supreme, you can try Precisionbecause Topps has announced it is including 50 more Tebow Autographs (viaredemption) in Precision Football. These cards, which are appropriately named “Tim Tebow Precision ComebackAutographs” will capture all of Tebow’s late game heroics including theovertime playoff win versus the Steelers last week. Each limited edition card will be numbered to 9 or less andinclude Tebow’s autograph.

2012 Press Pass Racing NASCAR Trading Cards Box Break Recap And Review

2012-01-10T12:11:00.000-08:00

Even with the 2011 Sprint Cup going to Tony Stewart a shorttime ago. we are ready to bring on the 2012 racing season. To hold us over until then we have 2012Press Pass Racing NASCAR Trading Cards and as usual, it is a great set ofcards.

We classify Press Pass Racing as trading cards. Each hobby box contains 28 – 6 cardpacks. Each box contains authenticrace-used memorabilia card.

Here are some of the cards. First from the base set

Tony Stewart Sprint Cup Series, front and back

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Nationwide Series, Austin Dillon Truck Series

Carl Edwards No. 99 Roush Fenway Racing Hauler Transporters

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Front Runners, Jeff Gordon Head of the Class

Trevor Bayne Wins Daytona 500 2011 Highlights

Base Set Parallels

Denny Hamlin Blue #/35, Jimmie Johnson Gold, Greg Biffle Gold

Kenny Wallace Gold, Max Papis Gold, Timothy Peters Gold

No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard Hauler Gold

Joey Logano Gold, Ryan Newman Gold, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Gold

Danica Patrick Fourth At Vegas Gold

From the inserts

Mini Snapshots

On the left is the Danica Patrick Mini Snapshots with her base card on the right for comparison.

Danica Patrick Snapshots, front and back

Kyle Busch, Joey Logano

Ryan Newman, David Ragan

Brian Vickers, Michael Waltrip

Jason Leffler, Robert Richardson

Brendan Gaughan, Monica Palumbo

AJ Allmendinger

Showman

Tony Stewart, Mark MArtin

Continuing Series Of Hall Of Fame

Cale Yarborough Call of 2012

The Preferred Line

Ryan Newman, Danica Patrick

Showcar

Jimmie Johnson No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet, Carl Edwards No. 99 Roush Fenway Racing Ford

Cup Chase Contest Code Card

#/18 - The Field

Card #0 - The Chase Contenders

And the hit.

Kurt Busch Burning Rubber Race Used Tire Memorabilia #/99

Overall Look

Reviewing the design of Press Pass cards is a little likebeing a weatherman in Southern California where it is Sunny, in the 70’s allyear round. Press Pass just seemsto get design right time after time. From the base set to the insert, it all looks good.

Quality and Variety of Drivers and Subsets

All the drivers you could want from the Sprint Cup,Nationwide and Truck series are here. Inserts of the top drivers in the sport are really nice too. Add to that an Autograph roster that islimited to NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers and you couldn’t really ask formore.

Do the hits hold up?

The hits here are great, especially for a trading cardset. The tire relic we pulled hadplenty of detail.

Will you want to collect them all?

Sure and the really adventurous will want to create a masterset with all the inserts too.

Rating

5 out of 5

2012 Press Pass Racing NASCAR Trading Cards gets the 2012racing card collecting season off to another great start.

Cincinnati Reds Standout Shortstop, Barry Larkin, Elected To The National Baseball Hall Of Fame, The Only Player On The Ballot To Make It.

2012-01-09T13:01:00.000-08:00

Cincinnati Reds standout, Barry Larkin, a 12-time All-Star,nine-time Silver Slugger and three-time Gold Glove winning shortstop, waselected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers'Association of America.

Larkin, who was in his third year of eligibility, received495 votes, 86.4-percent of the total of 573 ballots, including nine blanks,that were cast by BBWAA members with 10 or more consecutive years' service.Players must be named on 75 percent of ballots submitted to be elected. Thisyear, 430 votes were required.

A Cincinnati native, Larkin played 19 seasons for the Redsand batted .295 with 2,340 hits, including 441 doubles, 76 triples and 198 homeruns. He drove in 960 runs, scored 1,329, stole 379 bases and had more walks (939)than strikeouts (817). Larkin became the first shortstop to join the 30-30 clubwhen he had 33 home runs and 36 steals in 1996. He was voted the NationalLeague Most Valuable Player in 1995 and hit .353 in the Reds' World Seriessweep of the Oakland Athletics in 1990.

The only other players that came close to the 75 percentthreshold were pitcher Jack Morris with 382 votes (66.7%), first baseman JeffBagwell with 321 (56.0%) and reliever Lee Smith with 290 (50.6%).

Players may remain on the ballot for up to 15 years providedthey receive five percent of the vote in any year. There were 13 candidates whofailed to make the cut this year (30 votes), including 12 of the 13 players whowere on the ballot for the first time. The only first-year candidate whoreceived sufficient support to remain was outfielder Bernie Williams with 55votes (9.6%). Two-time American League MVP Juan Gonzalez got 23 votes (4.0%)and fell off the ballot in his second year of eligibility.

Larkin, 47, will be inducted into the Hall July 22 at theClark Sports Center in Cooperstown, N.Y., along with the late third baseman RonSanto, who, as we told you previously, was elected last month by the Golden Era Committee. Also to behonored over Induction Weekend will be Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun with theJ.G. Taylor Spink Award for baseball writing and television analyst TimMcCarver, the former major league catcher, with the Ford C. Frick Award forbroadcasting.

The Final Voting Totals

Elected in:

Barry Larkin 495 (86.4%) 3rd year

Returning to the Ballot next year:

Jack Morris 382 (66.7%) 13th year

Jeff Bagwell 321 (56.0%) 2nd year

Lee Smith 290 (50.6%) 10th year

Tim Raines 279 (48.7%) 5th year

Alan Trammell 211 (36.8%) 11th year

Edgar Martinez 209 (36.5%) 3rd year

Fred McGriff 137 (23.9%) 3rd year

Larry Walker 131 (22.9%) 2nd year

Mark McGwire 112 (19.5%) 6th year

Don Mattingly 102 (17.8%) 12th year

Dale Murphy 83 (14.5%) 14th year

Rafael Palmeiro 72 (12.6%) 2nd year

Bernie Williams 55 (9.6%) 1st year

No longer eligible:

Juan Gonzalez 23 (4.0%) 2nd year

Vinny Castilla 6 (1.0%) 1st year

Tim Salmon 5 (0.9%) 1st year

Bill Mueller 4 (0.7%) 1st year

Brad Radke 2 (0.3%) 1st year

Javy Lopez 1 (0.2%) 1st year

Eric Young 1 (0.2%) 1st year

Jeromy Burnitz 0 (0.0%) 1st year

Brian Jordan 0 (0.0%) 1st year

Terry Mulholland 0 (0.0%) 1st year

Phil Nevin 0 (0.0%) 1st year

Ruben Sierra 0 (0.0%) 1st year

Tony Womack 0 (0.0%) 1st year

A Sneak Peek, First Look At 2012 Topps Allen & Ginter Baseball Cards With Griffey Jr And Clemente

2012-01-09T09:58:00.000-08:00

Do you follow us on Twitter? You should.

Do you follow Topps on Twitter? You should because these images were released of 2012 Topps Allen & Ginter. The Justin Verlander is the mock up of the base cards. The Ken Griffey Jr. auto and Roberto Clemente relic cards are mock-ups of the encased mini hit cards.

So what do you think?

Super Bowl XLVI Playoff Schedule And The Last 2011 Panini NFL Sticker

2012-01-06T06:49:00.000-08:00

We began the journey 17 weeks ago to complete the 72 page2011 Panini NFL Sticker Album with all 494 stickers. Back in June of 2011, when thefate of the 2011 NFL Season was undecided, when it looked like there would be no football because ofthe lockout, this is what we said.

“We have no idea if there will be an NFL season this year,but we will have Football here at the blog. At a rate of about 4 pages a week we will do our bestto fill an album and share our progress with you.”

Things worked out for the best, football resumed and now the2011 NFL regular season is over. But we still made good on our promise. During the past 17 weeks we have placed 493 stickers in our album leaving us withjust this one.

Super Bowl XLVI

This sticker completes our last two pages.

NFL 2010 Playoffs

This completes our 2011 Panini NFL Sticker album and coverage. If you missed your favorite team, there are links to see the completed pages at the bottom of this post.

Now looking forward, here is the NFL playoff schedule.

In the Wild-card Round

On Saturday, January 7th

In the AFC, the Cincinnati Bengals will take on the Texansin Houston at 4:30 PM EST on NBC.

In the NFC, the Detroit Lions with go up against the Saintsin New Orleans at 8:00 PM EST on NBC.

On Sunday, January 8th

In the NFC, the Atlanta Falcon will be the visitors againstthe New York Giants at 1:00 PM EST on FOX.

In the AFC, the Pittsburgh Steelers will try to stop theBroncos in Denver at 4:30 PM EST on CBS.

In the Divisional Round

The winners of the NFC Wild-card games will face either TheSan Francisco 49ers on Saturday, January 14th at 4:30 PM EST on FOX or theGreen Bay Packers on Sunday, January 15th at 4:30 PM EST on FOX.

The winners of the AFC Wild-card games will face either TheNew England Patriots on Saturday, January 14th at 8:00 PM EST on CBS or theBaltimore Ravens on Sunday, January 15th at 1:00 PM EST on CBS.

In the Conference Championship Round

The final four teams will face off on Sunday, January 22ndwith the AFC game at 3:00 PM EST on CBS and the NFC game at 6:30 PM EST on FOX

Super Bowl XLVI

This year’s Super Bowl will take place in Indianapolis atLucas Oil Stadium on February 5th at 6:30PM EST on NBC

Now, here are links to see the completed team pages.

New England Patriots, Houston Texans, Green Bay Packers, New Orleans Saints, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Arizona Cardinals

Buffalo Bills, Cincinnati Bengals, Tennessee Titans, San Diego Chargers, Philadelphia Eagles, Detroit Lions, The Hall of Fame Class of 2011

New York Jets, Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers, Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars, Oakland Raiders, Washington Redskins, Chicago Bears, Minnesota Vikings, Carolina Panthers, St. Louis Rams

Denver Broncos, New York Giants, Atlanta Falcons, San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks

The NFL Logos, Kansas City Chiefs, Dallas Cowboys

2011 Topps American Pie Trading Cards Hobby Box Break Recap and Review

2012-01-05T06:50:00.000-08:00

Imagine a set that is made up of base cards, each one justas desirable as the next, insert cards that mix humor with nostalgia and hitcards that go from celebrity to sublime. You’ve just imagined 2011 Topps American Pie TradingCards, a set that makes you remember why you collected cards in the firstplace.

Topps American Pie falls under our classification of tradingcards. Hobby Boxes contain 24 – 8card packs and feature 3 memorabilia cards.

Here is a look at some of the cards we pulled from our hobbybox.

Base Set

World War II Ends, front & back

Firs Scrabble Boards, The Beatles Play Shea Stadium, Saturday Night Fever Released

The Miracle On Ice - The USA Hockey Team, DVD Introduced, Kanye Interrupts Taylor Swift

Base Card Parallels

Diners Club Is First Credit Card, Gary Cooper, First Burger King

Seinfeld Premieres, Unabomber Arrested, Martha Stewart Indicted

Grady The Cow Spotlight Parallel #/76

Hirsute History

The Soul Patch, The Bob

Sideburns, The Fauxhawk

Hollywood Walk of Fame

Chuck Berry, Charlie Chaplin

Christopher Reeve, George Carlin

Vincent Price, Richard Pryor

Johnny Cash, Mister Rodgers

Fads & Fashions

3D Movies, Telephone-Booth Stuffing, Go-Go Boots

Pet Rocks, Big Hair, The Atkins Diet

The Hits

1979 Topps Star Trek The Motion Picture Buyback Card, Vulcan Starship, front & back

Tia Carrere Memorabilia Card, Butch Patrick Memorabilia Card

Walt Disney American Pie Coin Collection with a 1966 Quarter #/25

Overall Look

The design is really working here. With thematic attention paid to the different decades andgood write-ups on the backs of the cards, this base set looks great. The Inserts and Memorabilia cards arejust as smart looking.

Quality and Variety of checklist.

There is good coverage of key events throughout the decadesin the fields of entertainment, political history, pop culture, sports and technology.Topps did a nice job with their selection of stars from the Hollywood Walk ofFame, but an even better selection of the stars included on the memorabilia andauto cards providing just the right amount of ‘pop culture kitsch” needed for aset like this. The buyback cards are iconic and the heavier hits like the coincards and the specialty cards like the Statue of Liberty foundation relic cardsare great bonuses.

Do the hits hold up?

The hits fit perfectly with the tone of this set withHollywood Sign Letter patch cards and Hollywood Walk of Fame Patch cards. Thesame holds true for the coin and stamp cards. There are some impressive hits topull like cut autos and auto/relics but even an “Eddie Munster” relic card issatisfying.

Will you want to collect them all?

Most likely the older you are, the more you will appreciatethese cards, but regardless of age, collectors will want them all.

Rating

5 out of 5

2011 Topps American Pie Trading Cards are completely fun tolook at and collect.

Tri City Sports PL 2012 Diamond Cuts Baseball About To Release

2012-01-04T21:56:00.000-08:00

Tri City Sports PL is just about to release it's newest product, 2012 Diamond Cuts Baseball. Limited to 900 boxes distributed in 30 cases of 30 boxes each, the boxes will contain 2 cards that could be any of the following.

Cut Autos limited to 5 or less.
Fan Favorite Cut Autos that are 1/1s
Authentic Vintage Stamps limited to 50 or less
Jumbo Game-Used Patched limited to 4 or less
Golden Ticket Redemptions

Each card will come encased in a TCSP Pouch that Tri City Sports PL says will render it incapable of being counterfeited.

For more information on Diamond Cuts you can check out the Tri City Sports PL site for details using this link.

Topps Teams Up With The US Olympic Committee To Produce Team USA Cards

2012-01-03T14:15:00.000-08:00

It was announced today that the U.S. Olympic Committeeselected Topps as the exclusive trading card producer of Team USA cards for theLondon 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Topps will release the first of it’s Team USA cards in thespring of 2012, leaving plenty of time to get them before the London Games. Thecollection will feature the country's top Olympians, Paralympians and hopefuls,including Allyson Felix (track & field), Missy Franklin (swimming), LoloJones (track & field), Tatyana McFadden (Para track & field), MichaelPhelps (swimming), Jerome Singleton (Para track & field), Hope Solo(soccer) and Jordyn Wieber (gymnastics).

There will be 100 gold-medal hopeful cards - 40 of whichfeature authentic athlete-autographed special versions. The release will alsocelebrate past Team USA medalists, the history of the Olympic and ParalympicGames and their diverse sports and venues, and will include randomly insertedcards embedded with Olympic pins, patches and replica medals.

A portion of each purchase will go directly to supportingthe U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Teams.

2011 Topps USA Baseball Hobby Edition Complete Set Box Break Recap and Review

2012-01-03T06:53:00.000-08:00

USA Baseball was founded in 1978 to oversee amateur baseball andorganize our country's national teams. Topps was there in the beginning to cover USA Baseball. Here is an example.

Most of you know this is Mark McGwire’s 1985 Topps card, acard that played a significant role during the hobby’s boom in the late 80’s and is still sought after today.

While you can find USA Baseball cards in products likeBowman Draft Picks & Prospects, to really delve into the differentteam's players you must turn to the sets specifically dedicated to USABaseball. This year the hobbyedition of 2011 Topps USA Baseball Box Set is excellent, fully covering threeof USA Baseball’s National teams, Collegiate, 18U and 16U.

It’s obvious that this set falls under our boxed setclassification for the purposes of this review. Besides the 61 card base set,the box promises to deliver 7 Autographs and 3 Relic cards but we did a littlebetter than that.

Here are some of the cards from our box.

From The Collegiate National Team

Deven Marrero, front and back

Josh Elander, Michael Lorenzen

Marcus Stroman, Michael Wacha

From the 18U National Team

Albert Almora, Gavin Cecchini

Walker Weickel, Addison Russell

From the 16U National Team

Keegan Thompson, Bryson Brigman

Austin Meadows, Zach Collins

The Hits

Zach Collins Triple Relic #/240, Carson Kelly Triple Relic #/240

Corey Knebel Red Triple Relic #/25

Clate Schmidt Triple Auto Relic #/214, Brady Rodgers Triple Auto Relic #/214

Jeremy Martinez Auto, Mark Appel Auto

Troy Conyers Auto, Tyler Naquin Auto

Cole Irvin Red Auto #/99, Matt Vogel Gold Auto #/25

Overall look

The design here is straightforward and attractive. No stats here. Just write-ups on the back but thatmakes sense considering the amount of games these teams play. Regular card autos are on-card done inblue, red & green ink and gold paint. While I am not a fan of paint pens on regular cards, the gold auto Ireceived was very clean. Doing these with a thin pen helps a lot.

Does the checklist of players feel complete?

Pretty much the full rosters for all three teams are here so that isas complete as one could expect.

Are there any bonus cards included?

Yes, the hits. Very nicely done with a good distribution of players from the threeteams. Anyone who makes a USA Baseball team has to be a top player, but a nice percentage of the hits here were of the standouts amongst them.

Boxed Set vs. Set Building

No set building option here.

Rating

5 out of 5

2011 Topps USA Baseball Hobby Edition Box Set should be a part of youryearly Baseball card purchases, especially if you are into prospecting.

2011 Bowman Sterling Football NFL Trading Cards Mini-Box Break Recap and Review

2012-01-02T22:00:00.000-08:00

It is difficult to evaluate any product based on a singlepack. That problem is compoundedwhen the product is “High Risk, High Reward” because you don’t get a good senseof how well the risk is distributed. For 2011 Bowman Sterling Football, I only opened a single mini-box offive cards so while I can talk about the design and my impressions of the hitsreceived, the majority of this review will involve a break down of the checklistand a scouring of several message boards with other people’s box break resultsto try and get a feel for the expectations you should have when purchasing abox.

Bowman Sterling Football comes in at the high end of ourpremium cards category. Each hobbybox contains 6 mini-boxes with 5 cards each and a box topper bonus card. Each mini-box should yield 1 Autographand 2 Relic Cards.

Here are the 5 cards we pulled from our mini-box.

Tandon Doss, not numbered, and Brooks Reed Ruby Refractor #/299

Edmund Gates Relic, not numbered.

Titus Young Blue Refractor Autograph #/99

Cecil Shorts III Pulsar refractor Relic #/15

Overall Look

This is solid design along the lines of Premium andFinest. There was some slightbowing on the two base cards but the hits were nicely laid out and constructionseems solid except for the askew sticker placement on the Titus YoungAutograph. The pulsar refractorsfit really well with the other types of refractors.

Quality and Variety of Players

The base set is made up of 50 rookies who did not make it tothe Premiere with standouts being Roy Helu, Ryan Kerrigan, J.J. Watt, JeremyKerley, T.J. Yates and Denarius Moore. On average, 4 out of the 6 autographs will come from a checklist ofabout 70 players that include non-Premiere and Premiere rookies with a handfulof veterans that include Ahmad Bradshaw, Arian Foster, Malcom Floyd, MarshawnLynch, and Peyton Manning. The vastmajority of the relic and autograph relic hits come from the 36 Premiererookies.

Do the Hits satisfy?

If it were just based on this box alone, it would be a toughcall. On the plus side, the pulsarrefractor is stunning plus the addition of a blue refractor auto provides themakings of a superior box, but Cecil Shorts III... well... at least he has acool name and Titus Young and Edmund Gates seem to pop out of almost every boxwe open. But that is our luck ofthe draw, not everybody’s. Any ofthe ultra desirable names and booklet cards will provide an awesome hit worthyof the hunt. From what I’ve seen,the box topper dual hits are nice too.

Will you keep coming back for more?

Our box shows the “risk” part of the “High Risk, HighReward” equation. But based on thevarious breaks out there this seems to fall within the normal odds of this typeof product. Rookie prospectors willing to roll the dice on this one will wantto spread the risk over a minimum of a hobby box, f not a case to increasetheir chances of a hitting a low numbered card with the right player on it.

Rating

4 out of 5

2011 Bowman Sterling Football can provide the big hits youare seeking but some patience getting there will be required.

Happy New Year 2012

2011-12-31T23:51:00.000-08:00

A big thank you to all of you who have followed us here at All About Cards in the past year. I hope 2012 is full of great pulls for all of you.

These are just some of the hits from our 2011 box breaks. The top row is all autos and the bottom row are swatch/relic cards. It was literally too big to photograph. I had to get out the 8 foot ladder and shoot two photos that I quickly pasted together.

Happy New Year!

2011 Panini Certified Football NFL Trading Cards Box Break Recap and Review

2011-12-31T14:37:00.000-08:00

Freshman Fabrics, Hometown Heroes and Fabric of the Game means 2011 Panini Certified Football cards are here. Once again, the Rookies Class is front and center so here isanother opportunity to pull that player you might not have yet.

Certified Football falls into our premium cardscategory. Each box contains 10 – 5card packs, with 4 Autograph or Memorabilia cards with at least 1 Autographcard per box.

Here are some of the cards we pulled from our box.

Base Cards

Arian Foster, front and back

Ryan Fitzpatrick, Matt Forte, Troy Polamalu

Jared Allen, Jason Witten, Michael Vick

Santonio Holmes, Steven Jackson, Tim Tebow

New Generation Rookies

Tyron Smith #/999, Jay Finley #/999

Da' Quan Bowers #/999, DeMarcus Van Dyke #/999

Mirror Parallels

Louis Murphy #/250, LeSean McCoy#/25

The Hits

Delone Carter Freshman Fabrics Jumbo Swatch #/50

AJ Green Certifed Potenial Swatch #250

Dez Bryant Mirror Prime Patch #/5

Jerrel Jernigan Freshman Fabric Dual Swatch Autograph #/499

Overall Look

Base cards work well here. Hit design here is classic to the Certified line of cardswith the Fabric of the Game Team Die Cut cards making the best use of space.

Quality and Variety of Players

The balance here speaks of a Rookie class checklist with 150veteran players base cards and 100 rookie cards. While small and low numbered, the hits like Hometown Heroesand Immortals are really nice.

Do the Hits satisfy?

Again, this is a case of what you are collecting. If you are concentrating on the RookieClass, all is good. If you happento pull one of the veteran hits you will be very satisfied.

Will you keep coming back for more?

Most will be hunting for hits with Certified Football andwill be looking to spread the risk by purchasing this in volume.

Rating

4 out of 5

2011 Panini Certified Football continues the great offeringsfor Rookie Class collectors.

2011-12 Panini Certified Hockey NHL Trading Cards Box Break Recap and Review

2011-12-30T21:30:00.000-08:00

There is a lot of goodness that comes out of boxes of2011-12 Panini Certified Hockey cards. Chances are you will hit something nice, whether it comes from a topveteran of the game or one of the Freshman Fabric Autograph cards. It doesn’t hurt that the base cardslook great too.

We classify Certified Hockey in our premium cardscategory. Each box contains 10 – 5card packs. with 4 Autograph or Memorabilia cards per box.

Here are some of the cards we pulled from our box.

Base Cards

Alex Ovechkin base, front and back

Ryan Miller, Dustin Byfuglien, Steven Stamkos

The Sedins, Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin, Taylor Hall

Tim Thomas, Eric Staal, Brad Marchand

Ryan Callahan, Jordan Eberle, Cam Fowler

Joe Mullen Immortals #/199, Johnny Bucyk Immortals #/500

Marc-Andre Fleury Masked Marvels

Travis Hamonic Collision Course

The Hits

Brent Burns Fabric of the Game Mem #/399, Brenden Morrow Mirror Dual Mem #/150

Eric Condra Freshman Signatures Autograph - Not Numbered

Jeff Skinner Fabric of the Game Prime Patch Autograph #/5

Overall Look

These are great looking base cards, front and back. Kudos to Panini for securing a photosession with Byfuglien soon after the announcement of the Thrashers move toWinnipeg to become the Jets. Hitdesign here is classic to the Certified line of cards.

Quality and Variety of Players

This is a nice selection for the 170 veteran players basecards. All 55 rookie cards are available autographed and checklists for theinserts work well.

Do the Hits satisfy?

You are bound to get a Fabric of the Game card that is yourstandard swatch and unfortunately the classic Certified design does not enhancethose single colored swatches, but get them in the numbered version with primefabrics and that design becomes easier to overlook. What helps everything here is that the majority of the hitsare very solid.

Will you keep coming back for more?

Multiple boxes of Certified is understandable, especially ifyou are riding the way of a hot box or coming off a big hit. As the first really premium offering of2011-12 in hockey, collectors will be attacking cases.

Rating

4 1/2 out of 5

2011-12 Panini Certified Hockey is a great opportunity toflex collector’s premium muscles while pulling some great hits out of theseboxes.

2011 Panini Gridiron Gear Football NFL Trading Cards Box Break Recap and Review

2011-12-30T14:08:00.000-08:00

2011 Panini Gridiron Gear Football is a solid set of cardsthat can be a bit of a chase if you are trying to collect all of the baserookies. With some nice hits, thisset serves as a good middle ground between the set building of Prestige andRookies & Stars and the premium hits of Certified and Absolute Memorabilia.

Gridiron Gear Football falls under our premium cardscategory. Each box contains 18 – 8card packs. It says on the box youget 2 Autograph OR Memorabilia cards per box but I think it should be 2 AutosAND 2 Memorabilia cards because that seems to be the norm.

Here are some of the cards we pulled from our box.

Base cards

Drew Brees base, front and back

Aaron Rodgers, Adrian Peterson, Tim Tebow

Wes Welker, Frank Gore, LeSean McCoy

Rookies - Denarius Moore, Prince Amukamara

Base Card Parallels

Matt Schaub #/250, Dane Sanzenbacher #/250, Marques Coleston #/250

Peyton Hillis #/100, Robert Quinn #/100

Rookie Orientation

A.J. Green non-numbered, Titus Young #/250, Jamie Harper #/100

Ray Lewis - Rashard Mendenhall Crash Course #/250

Arian Foster Breast Cancer Awareness #/250

The Hits

A.J. Green Memorabilia #/299, Beanie Wells Prime Material #/50, Martez Wilson Auto #/299

Vincent Brown Rookie Gridiron Gems Auto #/299

Overall Look

The design is pretty consistent with previous releases ofGridiron Gear. The inclusion of Breast Cancer Awareness cards is a nice touch.The standouts, from a design level, are the Rookie Gridiron Gems pulls outautographs and the Gridiron Signatures.

Quality and Variety of Players

There is a fine selection of 150 veteran players. At 100total, the rookie cards checklist is deep.

Do the Hits satisfy?

There are many low numbered big hits here, but this iscalled Gridiron Gear so expect some of the bigger hits to come in theMemorabilia cards. Even having saidthat, the autograph cards cannot be overlooked.

Will you keep coming back for more?

This is the type of product that crosses line, working fordifferent types of collectors. Since only a handful of Rookie Cards can befound in each box, set builders will be in for multiple boxes breaks.

Rating

4 out of 5

2011 Panini Gridiron Gear Football is somewhat of a hybridrelease that finds a comfortable place in the middle of the pack, providingopportunities for a wide range of collectors.

2011 Topps UFC Moment of Truth Box Break Recap and Review.

2011-12-29T13:13:00.000-08:00

It is difficult to deliver great products time and timeagain, but Topps somehow manages with their UFC line of cards. The most current release, 2011 ToppsUFC Moment of Truth, could be the best of the year. Combining high dynamic range photography with a great lineof inserts and poster reproductions, Moment of Truth is a dynamic offering thatwill send UFC fans down memory lane while also offering great cards of thecurrent top fighters.

This set falls under our classification of trading cards.Hobby exclusive boxes offer 16 packs with 10 cards per pack. Each box has three hits with one ofthose hits being an autograph relic, dual relic or dual autograph card.

Here are some of the cards we pulled from our hobby box.

Georges St-Pierre base, front and back

Cain Velasquez, Antonio Silva, Tito Ortiz

Anderson Silva, Robbie Lawler

Cris Cyborg, Chuck Liddell, Kenda Perez

Mike Goldberg, Bruce Buffer, Joe Rogan

Gold Parallels

Nick Ring, Dan Hardy, Georges St-Pierre

Jim Miller. Matt Hughes, Luiz Cane

Fight Poster Reprints

UFC 107 - Penn vs Sanchez, UFN 1, UFC 57 - Liddell vs Couture 3

UFC Unlocked codes, Fitch, Jackson & Jones, Evans

Black parallels #/88

Maia vs Munoz, Riki Fukuda

Grappling Gurus

Ryan Bader

Frankie Edgar, Brock Lesnar

Collision Course

Ellenberger and Shields, Miller and Bisping

Showdown Shots

UFC 118 - Couture vs Toney, UFC 128 - Marquardt vs Miller

UFC 130 - Alves vs Story, UFC 126 - Yamamoto vs Johnson

UFC 131 - dos Santos vs Carwin, UFC 121 - Shields vs Kampmann

UFN 23 - Barry vs Beltran, UFC 111 - St-Pierre vs Hardy

The Hits

UFC 131 - Junior dos Santos vs Shane Carwin Dual Fighter Worn Gear Relic

Forrest Griffin UFC 126 Black Mat Relic #/88, Sam Stout Autograph card

Overall Look

The high dynamic range (HDR) photography is what gives thesecards their heightened reality look. Splash design with foil accents work really well. The backs of the cards work welltoo. Inserts are simple andstraightforward which is all that is needed.

Quality and Variety of Players and Subsets.

This is a tremendous checklist. Add to that the Showdown Shots, most under the watchful eyes of Dana White, that recaps previous matchesand the fantastic poster reprints and there is a lot to collect here.

Do the hits hold up?

The hits are great. There is a nice mix of autos, fighter worn memorabiliaand mat swatches.

Will you want to collect them all?

No doubts here. You will want the complete set.

Rating

5 out of 5

2011 Topps UFC Moment of Truth is a dynamic set of cards andis a great purchase for UFC fans.

2011 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects Baseball Box Break Recap and Review

2011-12-28T13:39:00.000-08:00

This is a no-brainer. Just like Update is to Topps Series Baseball, if you’ve collected anyBowman Baseball cards this year, you need to pick up a box of 2011 Bowman DraftPicks & Prospects Baseball.

We classify Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects as tradingcards. Each box contains 24 - 7cards per packs with a promise of 1 Bowman Chrome autographed card per box.

Here are some of the cards we pulled from the box.

Bubba Starling, Mike Trout

Trevor Bauer, Taylor Jungmann Chrome

Archie Bradley, Sean Buckley Chrome

USA Baseball - Austin Meadows & Zack Collins Base, Bryson Brigman Chrome

Our Hits

Tim Collins Blue #/499 and Josh Rodriguez Blue Chrome #/199

Francisco Lindor Chrome Auto

Overall Look

The usual suspects here. If you liked Bowman Baseball, you’ll like this.

Quality and Variety of Players

There is plenty here to keep you interested. 110 rookies, 90 draft picks, 20 USABaseball, and 50 Prospects with more chances at pulling a Bryce Harper amongstothers.

Do the hits hold up?

Various Autos and relics from the Futures game are reallynice here.

Will you want to collect them all?

This is a must purchase if you have been collecting Bowmanbut works well by itself.

Rating

4 1/2 out of 5

2011 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects Baseball is an easypurchase with large upside potential.

2011 Panini NFL Stickers For Week 16 And Player To Watch This Week

2011-12-25T11:50:00.000-08:00

We are in week 16 of filling in our 2011 Panini NFL StickerCollection Album and the football season. Last week we profiled the three most dominant Quarterbacks in theleague. This week we profile aQuarterback who, with time, could belong in the same company.

Cam Newton of the Carolina Panthers was the number 1 draftpick this year. There were somewho questioned if Newton could be as dominant in the NFL as he was atAuburn. While he has been prone tothrow interceptions, his numbers have been impressive, throwing for 3,893 yardsthis season for 20 TDs and rushing 674 yards with 14 TDs scored.

And with this sticker addition we complete our Rookie Page.

Cam Newton, Von Miller, Marcell Dareus

A.J. Green, Patrick Peterson, Julio Jones

Jake Locker, Blaine Gabbert, Christian Ponder

Jonathan Baldwin, Mark Ingram, Andy Dalton

We’ve got one sticker left so next week we complete oursticker album.

2011 Panini Gold Standard Football NFL Trading Cards Box Break Recap and Review

2011-12-23T22:48:00.000-08:00

2011 Panini Gold Standard Football is the follow up releaseto the explosive debut of 2010-11 Gold Standard Basketball. There are some small, but significantchanges. While the Basketballversion seemed to yield golden nuggets with every box, for Footballyou will have to do a little more prospecting to uncover gold.

Gold Standard fits into our premium cards category. Each golden bar box contains 12 cardswith 3 Autographs and 2 Memorabilia Cards.

Here are the cards we pulled from the box.

Matt Schaub and Dallas Clark veteran base #/299

Greg McElroy and Patrick Peterson rookie base #/299

Y.A. Tittle legend base #/299

Darren McFadden Gold Rush #/299, Charles Woodson Golden Anniversary #/299

Delone Carter Gold Leaf Rookies Memorabilia #/299

Philips Rivers Gridiron Gold Memorabilia #/299

Cecil Shorts III and Lance Kendricks rookie auto #/499

Clyde Gates RPS Gold Rookies auto #/525

Overall Look

The gold bar box is still impressive, even the second timearound. Every card is still tied into agolden theme. The cards for the most part still look great, but there is asignificant change that comes with the design of the sticker auto cards. For Basketball the stickers whereimbedded into the card, giving them a regal, crafted look that blended wellwith the golden background. ForFootball, the stickers are simply placed on top of the card making them appearsomewhat ordinary. The RPS GoldRookies, like our Clyde Gates, look fantastic when the paint pen signaturecomes out clean but as with any paint pen signature there are examples out there of splatters, smudges and streaking. In addition, we’ve seen examples wherecertain autographs have been done in black or blue sharpie over the blackbackground rendering the signature barely visable.

Quality and Variety of Players

There are some amazing players to collect but the checklistfeels very rookie heavy making this more of a prospecting product.

Do the Hits satisfy?

Pull one of the super rare cards with legends autos, veteranstar players, maybe even gold or diamond embedded cards and you’re golden, but there are a few glitches in thesystem otherwise. While the base cards are numbered to 299 most, 30 out ofthe 36, of the RPS Gold Rookies are numbered to 525 and regular rookie autosare numbered to 499. Needless tosay, having hits that are higher numbered than the base cards is awkward. On the plus side, it increases youchances of pulling a card from the upper echelon of Rookies, even though thenumbers for Newton, Green, Locker, Gabbert, Ponder, and Ingram drop down to325.

Will you keep coming back for more?

For those who are looking for a well-rounded chance ofhitting established player autographs, this is worth a shot or two, but thiswill appeal more to rookie prospectors who will want to spread the high riskover a case of Gold Standard to increase their chances of a high reward.

Rating

4 out of 5

2011 Panini Gold Standard Football, when taken as arookie-prospecting product, provides a fun break with the chance of hittinggold.