A Target Problem

I went on a binge last week...  This was Thursday's haul.  Keep in mind I HATE Allen & Ginter.  H A T E.  Every year I buy a few packs just for the hell of it.  It's usually just to remind myself that I do not want or need a card of a ferris wheel.  Which I got coincidentally.  At any rate, here are the highlights from Thursday's catastrophe.  

Was there a catastrophe at Target Friday?  You bet your bippy.  I may have also gotten into a convo with Target on Twitter about their lack of vendor participation in moving the goods to shelves.  Stay tuned....

2014 Stadium Series NY Rangers v. NJ Devils

I was fortunate enough to be able to attend today's game at Yankee Stadium to see the Rangers take on the Devils.  It was roughly 20 degrees at 11:45 when we arrived, and God only knows what the wind chill was, but thanks to Under Armor we were toasty.  Well, then they delayed the game an hour for sun glare.... Sun glare.  I would have thought this was a consideration taken when choosing a game to start at 12:30 instead of later but what do I know.

It was an amazing experience and one that only needs to be had once to be honest.  The sight lines are terrible unless you were in the upper deck (I assume they are better in the upper deck infield but I didn't go look).  We couldn't see one side of the ice, or the bottom of either net.  While the sight lines were bad, the atmosphere was amazing.  It was cool to see that many people pack into the stadium in the freezing cold to watch hockey.  Nothing is like seeing the Rangers at the Garden, but this was definitely worth the experience, the cost of extra layers, hand warmers, foot warmers, body warmers, and programs.  We managed to stay warm with the exception of our toes, that was pretty rough I'm not even going to lie.  

Yes, that is me and yes that is snow piling up on me.  The disposable heated blanket was pretty clutch though.

This was our view from Section 104, Row 27W.... (What might the stand for, you ask?)

It stood for wheelchair accessible apparently.... So we had a giant square of space all to ourselves.  I had no idea how my friend bought these, but I was happy to not be surrounded by people.

There was no giveaway at the gate which made me sad.  I was hoping for something free.  I like free stuff.  Right behind my section, there was a Panini booth.  Win.  They were giving away Sticker Albums and stadium series exclusive sticker sheets to start the album.  While this was cool, all I was thinking was thanks for sucking me into completing this.  Damn marketing!  They also had Henrik Lundqvist and Martin Brodeur Stadium Series exclusive cards.  So I grabbed a pile of Hank cards.  If anyone is interested in a contest to win a Henrik card, leave a comment and let me know so we can set up a contest.

Here are the rest of the pics I took today.  There weren't many because I was not taking my gloves off to operate my phone in the arctic.

The outcome of this game could not have been better.  Good guys win 7-3!

You want competition, you got it: Panini gets MLBPA license

Topps is coming to the end of the second year of its exclusivity with an MLB license.

Upper Deck had an MLBPA license in 2010, but no MLB license, which meant they could only make cards with players only, no logos or team names. UD didn't follow those rules and got sued.

So, for some time there was just one.

Topps.

The longtime card company stood alone creating a variety of products that were received differently by the collectors. Regardless if a collector liked or disliked a set, it seemed there was one thing they all wanted – competition.

Most people understand competition is good in a business marketplace. It doesn't allow companies to get complacent. I'm not saying this is what Topps has done. It has put out some really good products this year such as Gypsy Queen.

Still, we wanted more.

Consumers wanted options.

On Thursday, we got one step closer, although we're not entirely there. MLBPA gave a license to Panini America to create baseball cards. The catch? Just like Upper Deck, they cannot use team names and logos because those are with the MLB license.

Bradford 1/1 was opened as part of quality control

Last week, it was revealed on the Blowout Card forums that the Sam Bradford Mirror Black 1/1 from 2010 Certified Football was given to a customer as a replacement.

This was arguably the best card in the product and many collectors were frustrated that it didn’t end up in packs and instead as a replacement.

Panini looked into the claims and responded with this statement:

“To ensure quality product in the marketplace, it is Panini America‘s practice to pull product from the production run for quality control purposes. The cards from the product pulled for QC go to Customer Service to be used to correct any problems that may occur in an individual product. Extensive efforts are made to re-introduce rare cards to the pack-out before the cards are routed to Customer Service. However, under certain, unusual circumstances, this is not possible.”

Apparently, the Bradford card was one of these cards that were opened for quality control.

This is a normal business practice for all card companies. Boxes need to be checked throughout a run to ensure the cards are in their proper condition. When a rare card such as the Bradford is pulled, companies usually try to get it back into the product. However, sometimes that’s just not possible.

Some collectors are still going to be angry about this. It may seem shady, but this is just the reality of the business. I think Panini should be given credit for responding to the issue. They could have not said anything at all and continued to create product without listening to the voices that have churned up through social media websites.

Without message boards, Twitter, Facebook and blogs, this situation would have never come to light to so many people at one time. Also, we likely would have not heard a word about why this occurred.

I feel this is a good practice by Panini to explain part of the production process with collectors. While many still may not like it, at least there is better understanding as to why and how situations occur.

Catching up on the news: Bradford 1/1 not packed out?

Just in case collectors didn't see the mess that brought up on Blowout and a few other blogs, I wanted to let collectors know about the story of the moment.

A collector on Blowout claimed he asked for replacement redemptions from Panini when the cards he wanted took too long.

Standard practice.

Panini allegedly sent him back the best card in the set – a 2010 Certified Sam Bradford Mirror Black 1/1 auto, which has already made its way on to ebay.

Sports Card File explained why something like this could potentially happen. Sports Cards Uncensored is NOT happy about this mess.

Remember, this is a story with no confirmation from Panini and no proof shown otherwise by the poster.

But if this is true, it definitely hurts collectors because while the probability of getting this card is very low, no one expected their chance to actually be zero percent. We all buy baseball boxes and cases hoping to get that one big hit (most of us anyway). When people buy lottery tickets, they get them in hopes they will defeat the odds.

Hopefully, Panini responds to this and explains what happened or deny the entire story. Either way, it puts a cloud over the company.

Panini should give thanks for John Wall

There are two NBA rookies driving the market right now: Blake Griffin and John Wall.

Panini must be loving John Wall right now though. With their exclusive in the NBA market, they needed something to drive collectors to their cards. Other than Wall and Griffin, the rookie class is fairly light this year. But Griffin's rookie cards are not from this year's sets. They are from 2009-2010

That leaves just one guy - the Washington Wizards first overall draft pick.

Wall has had some outstanding games for the Wizards this season and has scored in double digits in every game so far. In 10 games, he’s averaging 18.0 points and 9.1 assists per game.

Wall has had problems with his health this year. He has missed five games this year and recently missed a game with a bruised right knee.

Even so, Wall is selling well and is the driving force behind this year’s Panini products. If it wasn't for Wall, the secondary market for cards this year may have been a bit watered down. There are those who still have high hopes on players such as DeMarcus Cousins and Evan Turner, but their cards aren't going to for as much as Wall's.

Wall’s 2010-11 Limited Gold Spotlight patch/autograph /10 sold for 1,200 on eBay recently.

His 2010-11 Rookie and Stars patch/autos sell for above $500.

We all love a hot rookie who lives to hype.

Sunday Question

Many of you over the years of us writing this blog have expressed that there is more value in purchasing packs or boxes of other sports. Clearly, we are just baseball card collectors but I decided this week to heed your advice and try something new, like the Panini Limited Basketball. Well, I did enjoy that immensely but it also had to do with the fact that I manged to get a card of a guy I like, Lamar Odom.

While at Target the other day I saw rack packs of Panini Prestige basketball, and noticed that you get 40 cards per rack pack. That seemed cool, but when I read that in a single pack for $2.99 you get 10 cards, I nearly fell over. So for $4.99, you get 40 cards vs. $2.99 for 10 cards? Sold. I was willing to give it a whirl. Now, if someone can show me a baseball rack pack that delivers that value in a rack pack to retail pack ratio, I would love to hear it. Topps Chrome, for example, you get 3 packs plus 3 cards for $8.99. So, you pay the same price as buying 3 individual packs (well, 3 cents less) and you get a whole 3 cards as an "added value"? Not so much.

Here is a sample of the base cards and what was in the rack pack of Panini Prestige basketball.




Greg Oden Prestigious Pros /499 "Oh, cool. A serial numbered card," I said...

Mickael Pietrus GU /99 When I saw the thick white edged card in the pack, I assumed it was a dummy card. Yes, exactly my reaction. A game used jersey card in a rack pack, and it's serial numbered?! While I will admit I don't know much about the dude, it is still pretty freaking cool.

By now you are probably wondering what the question actually is here. Well, what I want to know is where do you think you get the most value for your dollar these days when buying cards? Do you feel that one company gives you more cards for the money in a "value pack", or one company gives you more "mojo" per box for the money?

I would love to hear what you guys are buying that isn't baseball, and who knows, maybe we will open something else that is non-baseball to take a crack at it.

I have to admit for $4.99 for a rack pack with 40 cards, 2 serial numbered cards and one of those 2 being a game used card, there is a good chance Panini will get another $4.99 from me sometime soon.

I'm jealous --- of Canada

The 2010 Fall Expo kicked off in today – in Canada.

I’m a little jealous of this event. I went to the National and enjoyed it, but the giveaways at the Fall Expo are better than what was given out at the National.

Look at some of these promos:

Upper Deck – The Priority Signings by Upper Deck are pretty cool.

You can get a Wayne Gretzky autograph. Does it really get better than that?

By bringing an unopened box of 2010-11 NHL Artifacts or 2010-11 Upper Deck Series 1 NHL to the Upper Deck booth, you will get an autograph card. Some autos are better than others, but there are some serious hockey players in the checklist including Sidney Crosby, Gordie Howe and Bobby Orr.

Panini – Part of the wrapper redemption includes possible autographs by NHL rookies Taylor Hall or Tyler Seguin. Included in the six-card redemption pack could be autographs Panini representatives Kobe Bryant, Evan Tuner or John Wall.

Of course, there’s a chance of getting some Sam Bradford or Tim Tebow cards.

All the promos at the National were over-shadowed by the Stephen Strasburg card given out by Topps. I got on line to get mine.

But I couldn’t tell you any of the other promos from that weekend.

If anyone goes and writes up a trip report, let us know!

Panini Preview: 2010-2011 NBA Panini Limited

2010-2011 Panini Limited

The first thing you need to know right away is 2010-2011 Panini Limited is one of Panini's high-end products. This product does not come cheaply. The SRP is $100 a box and is set to release at the end of Oct.

That's not so bad, right?

In hobby box, there are seven cards (three autos or memorabilia cards, one legend or parallel numbered to 199 or less) in one pack.

Here are some of the highlights provided by Panini:

* On-Card Autographs for Glass Cleaners, Decade Dominance and Retired Numbers including such players as Elgin Baylor, Oscar Robertson, Scottie Pippen, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, George Gervin, Calvin Murphy and Kobe Bryant

* Look for Limited Trios Signatures of current stars and All-Time Greats such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Allen Iverson, Jason Kidd and Steve Nash - all #’d to 49 or less

* Jumbo Prime Signatures #’d to 5 or less

* Each Base Card limited to just 249 copies

* Base Set 100 cards #’d to 199

* 40 Rookies #’d to 249

Photo Gallery

Kobe Bryant

Scottie Pippen

Kareem Abdul Jabbar

Carmelo Anthony

2010 Donruss Elite Extra Edition - it's now or never

Panini posted some new photos to their Facebook page today for 2010 Donruss Elite Extra Edition.

Here are the three photos they posted and link to their Facebook account.

This product should be released this month and if it is delayed for any reason, don’t expect to see it on the open market. Donruss Elite Edition has a CLC license, which is exclusive to Upper Deck but the exclusivity doesn’t kick in until the end of the month.

Here are the pictures Panini teased on its Facebook account. There will be some sticker autos and some on-card autos.

You’ll notice there are city names missing from the cards, but a Donruss official explained that bit of missing info to the nice folks at Freedom Cardboard.

Not all the cards will be like this.

"The first 100 players in 2010 Elite Extra Edition – Commons - will have parallel autographs called Franchise Futures (formerly called Turn of the Century) – those will the player name and team/city they were drafted by. The Franchise Futures are the only autographs for those 100, outside, of course, the die-cut Aspirations and Status parallels.

The second 100 (#’s 101-200) are called Autographed Rookies, and don’t include the city/position on the card front, like the Zack Cox image shows. Those Autographed Rookies just include Rookie on the front, but the team and position ARE listed on the back. There are no Franchise Futures for those 100 players. But, of course, there are the autographed die-cut Aspirations and Status parallels."

Freedom Cardboard also has two more exclusive photos from this set.