Brief Thoughts

Deep Thoughts would be far more entertaining, I realize, but for now, you just get brief thoughts. While I was between tasks, I quick checked my facebook home page and saw this update image:

Click image for a slightly larger view

This is a new image released for the highly anticipated 2009 SP Authentic. I have two “brief thoughts” on this image:

1) A new Emmitt card. Autographed. Cool.

2) Emmitt himself is almost completely hidden by some fake patch. Interesting.

That is all.

What? I said it would be brief.

Topps Not Dead Yet

On the heels of the Players, Inc. announcement that it would not be renewing Topps’ football card licensing contract after its February 2010 expiration, Topps has made an announcement of it own: product information for 2009 Topps Platinum.

Either Topps saw the downfall of their football releases coming and planned ahead, or they are quickly throwing together a last ditch effort to show everyone what a tragic mistake Players, Inc. has made. In a nut shell, 2009 Topps Platinum looks sweet. Each 24-pack box essentially guarantees 2 autographed refractor rookie cards and 1 autographed refractor patch card. Proving they dominated card inserts with refractor technology, every autograph card will be a refractor and will include the usual list of parallels we have come to expect from Topps. I have uploaded the official (and preliminary) sell sheet and checklist for you to review. I apologize for the last few items of each page of the checklist being weird, my pdf converter is acting up tonight. Topps has also released some preliminary card images, which you can see below (hover over image to see details):

 

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On obvious rookie-focused set, 2009 Topps Platinum is scheduled for release the first week in February, just weeks before its NFL license expires, and could be the final Topps football product for quite a while. The price per 24-pack box (each packs contains 5 cards) will run in the $80 range, obviously depending where you buy it.

What do you guys think? Is this a sorry attempt to dump the entire NFL sticker auto and jersey patch inventory Topps currently has, or is this a valiant effort to go out with a bang?

h/t to Mario for passing this information on to someone who is not important enough to receive these sort of emails directly.

Live Today: 2009 UD Black

UPDATE: Apparently UD once again delayed a product release. So just take this post as another preview post. The new release date is scheduled for 11/11. Although I am sure that is extremely tentative right now anyway.

After experiencing huge success in the basketball market, Upper Deck is bringing its famed Black line to football. Delivering all on-card autographs and very high end inserts, 2009 UD Black may be the most highly anticipated product of the year. This ultra high end set is being released in cases of 10 boxes of 2 packs of 2 cards each.

The “base” set consists of 90 veterans and 42 lustrous autographed rookie cards. Along with the base set, Black also has a host of on-card autograph inserts including base card auto parallel, Veteran/Legends Lustrous PETG Patch Auto, Biography Signatures, Film Slides PETG Signatures, Single Player Quad Jersey Auto, Dual Player Jersey Auto, Quad Player Jersey Auto, Dual Autographs, Triple Autographs, Quad Autographs, Dual Manufactured College Pennants Auto, Cut Signatures, and Dual Cut Signatures. Additionally, all of the autographed cards, except for the Biography Signatures, Cut Signatures, and Dual Cut Signatures have a blue variation parallel that is numbered 1/1.

 

 

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Note: These images were released by Upper Deck several months ago as part of their press release. Actual card images may differ from those shown above.

Per Box Breakdown: 2 packs of 2 cards each (4 total). Each pack will contain 1 base card featuring a manufactured American flag patch and 1 hard-signed autographed card. Each case will contain 1 Cut Signature or Dual Cut Signature card. Boxes are currently selling in the $210 range.

This set is actually pretty exciting. I don’t know that I’ll ever be a true fan of super high-end products like this, but the cards do look really nice, well designed, and it never hurts to feature on-card autographs. It is also great to see a completely new product come to the football world this year. I realize this product has been around in basketball for a little while, but a lot of collectors do not cross between sports, so it’s still a new concept for most football collectors. Upper Deck is showing that after a few years of boring designs and products, they still know how to be innovative and imaginative. This product features the lustrous autographed cards and film slideshow PETG cards, both very cool concepts, and let’s not forget SPx’s shadowbox cards that have created a huge buzz in the Hobby. I really doubt I will buy any boxes/cases of this product, but I do tip my hat to Upper Deck and applaud this release.

What do you guys think? Is this a great new product for the football market, or is it just hugely overpriced crap?

Live Today: 2009 SP Threads

Delivering high-end inserts for mid-shelf prices, Upper Deck’s 2009 SP Threads hits hobby shop shelves today. Rookie player collectors and prospectors can get ready to chase some nice relic and autograph cards from this set. The product is being released in cases of 14 boxes of 16 packs of 5 cards each.

The base set for 2009 SP Threads consists of 100 veterans, 100 Rookie Future Watch, and 60 Rookie Auto Letterman. Beyond the base set, there are numerous autograph insert sets including, Rookie Auto Lettermen – College Parallel (Varied #), Rookie Auto Lettermen – College Nickname Parallel (Varied #), Rookie Auto Lettermen – Last Name Parallel (Varied #), SP Rookie Threads Auto Patch (# to 50), Multi Marks Duals (Varied #), Multi Marks Triples (Varied #), Multi Marks Quads (Varied #), SP Superstar Die-Cuts Auto (Varied #), and Stitch in Time. Memorabilia cards include SP Rookie Threads (# to 299), SP Rookie Threads – Dual Swatch Parallel (# to 199), SP Rookie Threads – Triple Swatch Parallel (# to 99), SP Rookie Threads – Patch Parallel (# to 50), SP Threads (# to 99), SP Threads – Parallel (# to 50), SP Threads – Patch Parallel (# to 25), SP Dual Threads (Varied #), SP Tri Threads (Varied #), and SP Foursome Fabrics (Varied #). SP Superstar Die-Cuts is also inserted into 2009 SP Threads

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Disclaimer: The above images were released by Upper Deck along with preliminary product details in June. The actual cards released today may differ from those shown above.

Per Box Breakdown: 16 packs of 5 cards each (80 total) including 2 autographs (with at least 1 Rookie Auto Letterman), 3 memorabilia cards, and at least 5 rookie cards. There are also 1 multi-signed card and 1 autographed memorabilia card in each 14-box case. Boxes are currently selling in the $80 ballpark.

While this is a good looking set, I am becoming mildly comatose with all of the similar “high-end inserts for low-to-mid shelf prices” products these days. It seems that every company is releasing a plethora of products that have similar design elements and promise certain “hits” per box. Do we really need all of these sets? How about focusing on one or two set builders’ products, one or two mid level products with really fancy base cards and guaranteed “hits” and then one top shelf, super high end release that only gives you ridiculously sweet relic and autographed cards without wasting card stock for a base set no one cares about? Just my two cents. That being said, this product does look like it is put together well. There are no egregious design flaws I see in the above images other than the dreaded manufactured letter patches. And obviously that Emmitt Smith patch card caught my attention immediately. I won’t (can’t) go out and buy boxes of this stuff hoping for that Emmitt card, and I probably won’t scour eBay all month looking for one, but if one just happened to fall into my lap, I wouldn’t complain.

What do you guys think? Is this a great set offering value to the collector, or is it just another “hit” product that you couldn’t care less about?

Live Today: 2009 SPx

Always the innovators in technology, Upper Deck has once again taken sports cards to a new level with this year’s release of SPx. The all new Shadow Box cards have been creating quite a buzz amongst collectors since the first images were released months ago. 2009 SPx is being sold in cases of 10 boxes of 10 packs of 3 cards each (follow that?).

The 150-card base set is comprised of 90 veterans and 60 rookies (#/799). Beyond the base set are quite a few inserted memorabilia, autograph, and parallel cards, along with the Shadow Box set. Autograph cards include: SPx Rookie Auto Jersey and parallels (#’d up to 549); SPx Rookie Signatures and parallels (# up to 299); Super Scripts, Super Scripts Duals, Trios, Quads, Six, and Eights (Varied #); X Factor Signatures; Rookie Materials Auto Patch (Varied #); Winning Combos Auto Patch (Varied #); Winning Trios Auto Patch(Varied #); and SPx Shadow Box Autographs (Varied #). Memoribilia cards without autos include: Winning Materials and parallels (# up to 249); Rookie Materials and parallels (# up to 249); Winning Combos and parallels (# up to 99); Winning Trios and parallels (# up to 50); and Fantastic Foursome and parallels (# up to 20). There are also parallels of the SPx rookie base cards (# up to 399). Also, don’t forget that the shortprinted 2009 Upper Deck flagship cards of Michael Vick and Brett Favre are also being randomly inserted into SPx.

 

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Per Box Breakdown: 10 packs of 3 cards each (30 total cards) including: 6 memorabilia cards and up to 4 autographed cards, including 1 Rookie Signature Triple Memorabilia card. Shadow Box cards are inserted at a rate of 1 per case and there will be at least 3 autographed memorabilia or multi-signed cards per case. Boxes are currently selling in the $150 ballpark.

My first thought is excitement. I have been looking forward to seeing these Shadow Box cards ever since Upper Deck first gave us a glimpse at them. I think it is a really cool concept and I applaud UD for trying something new in what has become a rather stagnant pool of releases. Football collectors have been lucky to receive some of UD’s best efforts in recent years, and after losing their NBA license, which had been UD’s forté, that trend should only grow stronger. I am a bit leary of this product though. Partially for the price point. As a collector who does not have the resources to drop top dollar for cards, $150 for 30 cards ($5 per card) is a bit high. But what really concerns me is that once again we see a mid-to-high end product that, other than those Shadow Box cards, is depending on relics and autos to move boxes. I know a lot of other collectors and bloggers have brought this up before now, but I would like to second the opinion that it would be nice to see a very well designed set not fall into the same relic/auto rut as all other products are in right now. I think the Shadow Box cards are moving in the right direction, I just hope we can get to that point soon. My last concern about SPx is the parallels, which are not fully explained in the product description. This is another trend I don’t particularly like. It was cool when companies started making gold parallels of cards and I even liked the bronze/silver/gold/platinum idea. But nowadays, it seems like every non-flagship card has multiple parallels of various names, serial numbers, and gimmicks. I’m not saying we need to go back to 1984 Topps and just have one base set and that’s it, but it would be nice if the companies could focus and exercise a bit of self-control. Overall though, I will say this product looks pretty nice. It is certainly not in a ridiculous price range and the cards look good and should do well in the secondary market, especially the highly-hyped Shadow Box cards. Hopefully I’ll get to see one of those in person some day!

Live Today: 2009 Bowman Sterling

Promising to provide some of the year’s best rookie cards, 2009 Bowman Sterling is hitting hobby shop shelves today. The much anticipated hobby exclusive release is available in boxes of 6 packs of 5 cards each. The base set consists of a variety of base, autograph, relic, and autographed relic cards, as well as parallels and variations.

The set contains 50 base rookie cards serial numbered in several parallels (Refractor #/199, White #/89, Black #/50, Gold #/25, and Red 1/1). There are also 50 autographed rookie base cards with several parallels (Refractor #/75, Black #/25, Gold #/10, White #/5, and Red 1/1). Additionally, there are 85 relic base cards, consisting of 34 rookies and 51 veterans and legends, also available in several parallels (Refractor #/199, Black #/50, Gold #/25, White #/5, and Red 1/1). And if that wasn’t enough, there are 25 rookie and 20 veteran autographed relic base cards with several parallels (Refractor #/75, Black #/25, Gold #/10, White #/5, and Red 1/1). Also inserted into 2009 Bowman Sterling are all 4 printing plates used to print the 85 rookie and veteran relic cards, the 50 non-autograph rookie base cards, and the 50 autographed rookie base cards. Finally, there are dual autographed cards seeded one per 4-box case that include autographs from 40 current and retired NFL players on numbered gold Refractor cards.

 

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Per Box Breakdown: 6 packs of 5 cards each (30 cards total), including 12 rookie cards (2 per pack), 6 autographed cards (1 per pack), 12 relic cards (2 per pack), and 2 autographed relic cards. Each 4-box inner display case will also contain 1 dual autographed card. This adds up to more than 30 cards per box, so an autographed relic or dual autograph will obviously replace a single autographed card in that respective pack.

My first thought is, wow, that is one confusing product checklist. Obviously this is a product specifically designed for the higher-end collector who chases valuable cards or is a player collector who is not afraid to lay down top dollar for his/her favorite player(s). If you are strictly a set collector, stay as far away from this product as possible! If the pre-release mock ups you see above are accurate to the actual release, I think the cards are actually pretty good looking. They may be a tad too shiny though as the images above almost have a shine to them on the computer screen, without being printed on foil board. I am interested to see how all the parallel colors are worked into the design. Is there a border like Topps Chrome, or is the entire design the specific parallel color? Whatever the case, these cards do promise to be highly sought after and able to fetch some nice money on the secondary market, especially from prospectors who have their rookie targets all picked out. Boxes can be purchased for about $230. At almost $8 per card, that is way too rich for my blood, but I’m sure there are plenty of collectors who are pumped up and plan to buy cases of this stuff. I would love to see some singles in person, but that is probably as close as I’ll get.

What do you guys think? Is this right up your alley, or are you passing on this mid-to-high end product?