Petro for three!

Since Derek Jeter has announced his retirement, people have asked what am I going to do with my collection.

Answer: Nothing.

Jeter cards are still going to be produced for years and years. Obviously not at the clip they are being made now, but maybe that might just help me catch up and find some of those cards I’m missing. I have more than 2,000 unique Jeter cards, but there are 14,412 listed in the Beckett database. So, the search will continue.

I can’t just start a new collection of someone where there isn’t a connection. I started collecting Jeter because he was the face of the New York Yankees all those years ago and I was an impressionable kid in high school. He seemed to do it all.

I am still working on collections of guys who are retired and long gone for the game.

One of those collections built up this past week when I went on a spending spree on eBay. I picked up 11 new Drazen Petrovic cards. Not all of them are old. Panini has created new cards of Petrovic in recent products, which lets me know there will be plenty of Jeter cards produced in the near and far future.

It’s neat to see older players on modern cards. That’s one thing Panini has done right with basketball– incorporating retired players into its products. Although, now we get to chase all those parallels.

Here are the Panini Prizm Hall Monitors I picked up along with parallels.

There were also these modern cards of Petro. 

I couldn't go all modern. I picked up some older cards I didn't own: 1992-93 Topps Archives.

And also a couple of Rookie Cards

1990-91SkyBox

1990-91 Hoops

2010-11 Absolute Memorabilia Basketball

Thanks to the folks over at Panini America we got a spiffy new box of
2010-11 Absolute Memorabilia Basketball Basketball to open. Each box contains 4 mini boxes, each with one pack containing 5 cards. Box states two autograph and two memorabilia cards per box.

I attempted to open this box live on UStream but from what I was told the audio on it was pretty terrible for some reason. You are more than welcome to track it down to watch it, but you will probably just hear me grumbling and cursing because no one can hear me.

Here is what was in the box:

Base cards (10):



Parallels /499 (2):


Derrick Caracter RC

Dan Majerle


Spectrum insert /100:


Paul Millsap


Inserts /399 (2):

Frequent Flyer Rudy Gay

Karl Malone Marks of Fame


Star Gazing Insert /100 (1):

Pau Gasol



Game used cards (2):

Derrick Rose Tools of the Trade /49

Derrick Favors Rookie Premiere Materials /25


Autographs (2):

Elliot Williams Rookie Premiere Materials dual GU/AU /499



Emeka Okafor Spectrum AU /25


So what do I like about this product? I love the game used cards because they incorporate a cool new element- a piece of the ball. To me, that makes this product more fun without really doing much of anything. The design of the game used with the ball makes for instant fun for the collector. The downside to the game used cards is that they are all one color (at least in this box). The Derrick Rose card looks boring as hell with just a big black swatch on there. I know that each card can't be a patch but when a card is only numbered to 49, it really can be.

Bottom line- it's a higher end product and it should have patches like previous releases of high end cards by Panini.

Another upside to the product are the Star Gazing inserts. These just look cool and they remind me a little bit of the old school Dream Team cards for some reason. I like oddball cards so perhaps that it why this insert is a hit with me.

The other inserts are fairly standard and don't really scream out "cool" or "new". The rainbow type foil on the parallels is nice to look at.

What don't I like about the cards?

While I like "shiny" type cards here and there, there is one downside to them- they fingerprint too easily. I always try not to touch chrome or foil cards on the surface but sometimes it just happens and it's annoying to look at.

I don't really care for the design to be very honest. I like action shots on baseball cards, and I don't really feel any differently about basketball. In the Donruss 2010-11 cards, the base cards were action but the RC's were on solid backgrounds which made them stand out from the base cards. That was cool. This set they are all on plain backgrounds that have some sort of smokish thing behind the player which looks like the color had water dropped on it.

You aren't really buying this box for base cards, so that really shouldn't be a factor in your decision to buy or not to buy a box. You get 4 hits, all serial numbered and all very sharp looking. That should be reason enough to purchase this product. I had fun opening it, and the hits are very fun.

Overall grade on this product is probably a B/B+ based on the contents of this box.

P.S. I touched both balls.

P.P.S Please say you got the joke.

Hobby Box Break: 2010-2011 Playoff Contenders Patches Basketball

Over the weekend I received a hobby box of 2010-2011 Playoff Contenders Patches basketball from Panini to review. I did the break live on UStream and a couple of people popped in to check out what was in the box and we had a few laughs.

I scanned all the inserts, parallels, and box hits so everyone can see what the cards look like and what you can pull from a hobby box. Each box contains 20 packs, 5 cards per pack, and 4 certified autographs. Not a bad ratio of autos to packs if you ask me.

First, here are the base cards which I happen to like. The design is not your typical action shot but an action shot on a static background with the "ticket stub" on the side. They kind of remind me of the old Fleer Authentix cards, which I also liked. The design is simple, yet different from what we have seen in the last couple of years so I think it works.



I'm not going to lie, I am sick of this pose on every Carlos Boozer card. I am fairly certain Panini could have drummed up another picture of this guy.




The base set is 100 cards, and in this box I got 81/100 plus one double. So if you are a set builder this is a great selling point.

Next up will be the Starting Blocks inserts, which also have a die-cut version that is serial numbered

Noah and Johnson


Hansbrough and George


Flynn and Johnson


Evans and Casspi

Young and Holiday die cut



One-Two Punch inserts

Gordon and Wallace


Harris and Lopez


Anthony and Nene




Rookie of the Year Contenders cards which have a base and die-cut version. The die-cut version is serial numbered to 99.
James Anderson


Patrick Patterson


Cole Aldrich




Season Ticket inserts which are die-cut cards, the gold lettering cards are serial numbered to 99.

Jeff Green
Ben Gordon



The Panini Times, Place in History inserts, die-cut version is serial numbered to 49.

Amar'e Stoudemire


Carmelo Anthony


Pau Gasol


Andrew Bogut /49



Finally we have the hits. While I am not a fan of manufactured patches, Panini makes no mention of each box having 4 "dual" relic/autographs which I am happy about. The patches on these cards serve more to be something extra/something to enhance the look of the card without the "Tom Foolery" of the manufactured patch mess. Rather than stamping a giant logo, they take it a step further and give you a bright fabric logo.

I did end up with one redemption, which is kind of a disappointment when you pull one of those from any product. It has been redeemed and we shall wait to see how long it takes. I am still waiting on a redemption from Limited (Lamar Odom auto).

Timofey Mazgov


Daniel Orton


Luke Harangody


Joakim Noah auto /15 (I am pleased despite the fact that it's a redemption.)

The boxes right now are around $105 and with 4 autographs and a ton of inserts per box I think you do get a pretty good deal for the money. However.... if you aren't interested in collecting draft pick autos and would prefer to get veteran players autographs, this product isn't for you.

The only thing about this set that I dislike is the over use of the foil. Now, don't get me wrong you all know how much us women LOVE shiny cards (read: bite me) but basically every insert is like that and it really doesn't need to be. The die-cuts in foil would have been enough to still make this set visually appealing and worth the price point per box.

Some of the "shiny" cards in the scans look damaged for some reason or another, but in person they aren't. The way they look from the scans is that the edges are missing foil but that's not the case. All the cards were fine out of the packs, the edges look a little wavy on some and maybe that is what came through on the scans.

Overall, this is a really fun product if you enjoy pulling autos. This is also the perfect box to buy if you are a player collector because you have plenty of chances to hit an insert or serial numbered card of a guy you collect.