Monday, April 29, 2013

Review: Panini Prizm Baseball 2012

Now appearing right here on Sport Card Collectors..the one..the only..Panini Prizm Baseball! We reviewed the first two versions of basketball then football. What was our thoughts on the baseball release read below to find out! And then as always we are welcome to your thoughts on our break, the cards or from a break you might have done yourself.

First off, I would like to say thanks to the WONDERFUL people at Panini America for providing us with this box to review. Here are many places you can find Panini America: official site, blog, Twitter, and Facebook. If you don't follow them at all..you should! They talk to you on Twitter, have contests on their blog and Facebook and the site is also fun to visit!

Box Break Down:
  • 20 Packs Per Box, 6 Cards Per Pack
  • Two Autographs and Three Prizms Per Box
  • $100 Per Box 
  • Also find 1 Elite Extra Edition, 1 Rookie Relevance, 1 Brilliance, 2 Team MVPs, 1 Top Prospects, 2 Dominance, and 2 Team USA per box!

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BASE CARDS:  I quite enjoy anything that has the "chrome" technology so the base cards did not disappoint. I have got to say though I wished the border on these were a bit thinner as it takes up a lot of the card..but with this technology it doesn't kill it too much. Though a little less would be better. I do like the well rounded checklist with mix of rookies, vets and legends. We landed a good amount of rookies per box.
I must also say I really like the RC logo Panini created though that could have been downsized a little as well
But on a huge note....the base cards DO NOT BEND!
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INSERTS: You gotta love the "Prizms" in the product. You get three per box on average and could find some Gold versions as well. And the Prizms may be what this product is about. In our break I was surprised we got three rookie Prizms and not a vet one, which to me a rookie collector, is great. Another positive note is with them being so limited per box with three and Golds being so rare this should help keep the value up on them cause everyone is chasing them. I personally think it would be a challenge and fun to try and put a set together of.
Also, another thing that I liked with the baseball version compared to the other two is the addition of some color to the inserts. I think they could make a Elite Extra Edition Prizm. Those cards really stand out in the "chrome" technology. Another insert that I really enjoyed is the USA Baseball cards. The flag in the background with the player in the forefront really jumps off the card to me.
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AUTOGRAPHS: Two autographs per box. Thats one more than its rival counterpart. But with a good checklist you just never know who you will end up with. It could be anyone whether its a vet, rookie or legend. We got lucky on this one and landed a vet in Jim Johnson and a legend in the one and only Ryne Sandberg.
JERSEY/PATCH CARDS: N/A Thought I think this would be great to see in this product.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: If you haven't tried Panini Prizm baseball yet I think you should give it a go. Good checklist of rookies including Bryce Harper and this years rave of Mets pithcer Matt Harvey. The Prizm parallels are also a hot and a valuable commodity. Imagine pulling a Bryce Harper Gold version..that would rock. This one is more decently priced then the previous two Prizm sports that you couldn't find under a $100. So for $100 you get two autographs, three Prizms, some inserts and a good amount of rookie cards that we landed 2 per pack in our box. For some this may seem steep still, but I think it could really pay off in the end.

RATINGS:  Bloggers Note: Our ratings are based specifically on the blaster, box or packs we opened and do not express what the overall product could bring. Ratings based on a 1-5. 1 Being the lowest and 5 being the highest.
                Packaging: 5
                Base Design: 4
                Insert Design: 4
                Memorablila/Autographs: 4
                Blaster, Hobby Box, or Pack Value: 4

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