REVIEW:2018 Bowman Draft Baseball

Like to prospect? Love rookies of players who could be future stars? Love on card autographs of those guys? Well, look no further than Bowman Draft. It has it all.

I love collecting the cards from this product as they are usually the ones collectors most seek out when it comes to rookie cards of first Bowman released players.

Let's see how my 2018 break went!

 

In every hobby box of 2018 Bowman Draft baseball, there are 12 packs of 32 cards. No  you didn't read that backwards like I thought I had. Less packs, more cards per pack seems to be the approach here. Each pack comes with a few refractors and a bonus parallel along with paper base and chrome base. You also will find three autographs per box and boxes run around $180.

 

There are also box toppers to be found as well. Some are autographed.

 

Mine wasn't but is numbered  to 99. There are also parallels to be found of, Gold /50, Red /5, and SuperFractor 1/1. There are 12 toppers in all from all of the top of the class.

 

The base card design is exactly the same one as Bowman used as this product is really a Bowman 2.0 minus the bigger veteran presence. There are 200 cards to collect in the paper set with  many stars like Shed Long who should have a great career as a Red.

 

The same 200 prospects can be found in the Chrome version.as well

There are also base card variations to chase as well. I didn't know about them til after I posted this so I will have to go and look and see if I pulled one. If I did, I will update this post as so. There are only 14 to chase.

 

With anything chrome, you find refractors.There are plenty of them to chase including, Refractor, Asia Refractor, Sky Blue /402, Purple /250, Sparkles, Blue /150, Green /99, Gold /50, Orange /25, Red /5, SuperFractor 1/1, and Printing Plates 1/1.

 

Blue /150

 

Sky Blue /402

 

And there are paper parallels to of course! Can you imagine building a rainbow of all of them? Paper parallels include, Sky Blue /499, Purple /250, Blue /150, Green /99 (above), Gold /50, Orange /25, Red /5, Black 1/1, and Printing Plates 1/1.

 

Sky Blue /499

Inserts can have the following parallels Atomic Refractor, Refractor /250, Gold /50, Red /5, and SuperFractor 1/1.

 

Recommended viewing as 15 cards to collect in the set

 

Franchise Futures has 10 cards to collect. Glad I found a Yankees one

 

I really like the Bowman Sterling addition to the product. Nice looking cards. There are 10 of these to build a set of.

 

With it being the 20th anniversary of Bowman, well, there is an insert for that. Not an app if you get what I mean. 10 cards to chase in this set.

Now onto everyone's favorite part of the product, the on-card autographs! They have the following parallels, Refractor /499, Purple /250, Blue /150, Blue Wave /150, Green /99, Black /75, Sparkles /71, Gold /50, Gold Wave /50, Orange /25 (Jumbo), Red /5, Red Wave /5, Black Wave 1/1, SuperFractor 1/1, and Printing Plates 1/1.

 

Jeremiah Jackson was selected by the Angels in the second round of the 2018 draft. Looks to be a superstar in the making.

Nico was selected by the Cubs with the 24th pick in the 2018 draft. Many feel this guy has a big future ahead.

My final hit wasn't base auto,

I pulled a Bowman Sterling auto. Never seen one up close. Pretty cool. Travis Swaggerty  Pirates selected him with the 10th overall pick and could be Cutch's repalcement.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: This was a pretty solid box in my opinion. Best one I have broken of this product. The things with products like this, you never truly know how these guys will turn out so it's hard to judge box value at this point. They could be studs or become duds. There always seems to be that sneaky player who nobody thought would make it, not only make it, but make it big time. So for me, if you are into rookies and autographs, this is your best way to go.

Of course not all can afford hobby, so look for retail and other options such as a box break to make it cheaper.

I think if you need to, jump in on a box break, I strongly recommend using Midwest Box Breaks for your breaking needs. They are always hitting the big pulls so if they are breaking this, you could put yourself in a good spot.

Please make sure to take a minute out to thank Topps for providing this box for me to review and to be able to add cards to GIVEAWAYS! Follow Topps on all social media sites and visit their SITE, as well. 

REVIEW:2017 Panini XR Football

Panini has released quite a few new football products out for 2017 and one of them includes today's release, Panini XR. I am not sure most of the time what the abbreviations or names are supposed to mean except that they sound kinda cool.

Let's see how my first break of this brand new product went.

 Each box of 2017 Panini XR football will guarantee One Rookie Autograph Jersey, One Rookie/Veteran/Retired Auto, One Rookie Jumbo or Triple Swatch Card, One Insert, Four Parallels, Four Base Cards, and Two Rookies. There are 7 cards per pack and two packs per box. Boxes are currently running just under $100.

The base set is a simple design that reminds me of something I would possibly find in the 90's so I dig it. It's got a gray rough background with a tinge of rainbow foil. The main focus is only on the player despite the subtle background of other players.

The base set is only 160 cards broken down to 100 veterans.

and 60 rookies. All of the key rookies are included such as Mitchell Trubisky, Patrick Mahomes, Deshaun Watson, Christian McCaffrey, Mike Williams, John Ross, Corey Davis, Leonard Fournette, O.J. Howard, Dalvin Cook, Kareem Hunt, DeShone Kizer, Kenny Golladay, and Chris Godwin.

The rookies felt a bit more glossed with more rainbow foil.

As with any product today, there are parallels to be found. These are very bold in color and the selections include,

Blue /199

Red /299

 

and Orange /75, Gold /10, Green /5, Black 1/1, and Printing Plates 1/1.

Each box comes with 1 insert. Mine was a Mirrored of Gronk and the soon to be Giants great Evan Engram. This card is /49.

Other inserts not in this box include, Gilded Greats, Illustrious, Notorious and Glass that's a case hit.

Speaking of hits, let's check mine out.

My first one was this Rookie Jumbo Materials. It's a pretty sharp looking card.

My next hit, which was my first of two autographs was this Luminous Endorsements of Nathan Peterman. Cool looking Shadowbox design and a very bold signature. These are numbered to 99 and less.

My last pull, which is technically apart of the base set filling in 40 more players to give it a 200 total, is this Rookie Triple Swatch auto of my man Wayne Gallman. I don't like to count autographed items as apart of the base set because it's called a base set. These still to me are hits. I do like the design and layout of these.

 

Other hits not found in my box but are found in the product are, Rookies Autographs, Rookie Swatch Autographs, Autograph Swatches, Dual Autographed Swatches, Triple Autographed Swatches, Illustrious Ink, X-Alted Signatures, Team Trios Materials, Rookie Triple Threats Materials, NFL Shields Relics and Maximal Materials.

OVERALL, a bit of a tough break in terms of value here. As a Giants fan, I was pleasantly happy but for the overall fan, I am sure not many would be. I know I say this a million times, but every product is a gamble. You will have some good boxes and some bad and all of us know that risk ahead of time when purchasing. I think it also comes from perspective of what you call a good and bad box. Not all of us have the same opinion on what a good and bad break is.

As for the product in general, I like the design of everything in the product and I hope it makes a 2018 return.

Please make sure to take a minute out to thank Panini America for providing this box for me to review and to be able to add more cards to my Player Of The Day

REVIEW:2017 Panini Contenders Draft Picks Basketball

The hype for this years basketball class has begun as collectors are ripping packs to find Lonzo Balls and Markelle Fultzs among others before the rookies hit the court to either drive their values up or decrease them. It's always the best time to buy before a season starts I say. (ex:Aaron Judge)

This is my very first break of the new class and I was pretty excited to see if I could land the next potential star. I will let you guys decide on that in comments from my pulls.

Anyways, here is my break:

In every box of 2017 Panini Contenders Draft Picks basketball, you will find 6 packs per box of 18 cards each. There will be on autograph per pack as well and one parallel per box. Boxes are running pretty high right now at just under $200 per.

I found the base set interesting and surprising in this product as I didn't see the early previews for it. Normally for a Draft Picks product Panini puts players in their NCAA uniforms but this time, there went pro. First time I have seen this from them. I like it.

The base set is only 50 cards deep so a box should cover most of your needs.

This years product also promises one parallel find per box. Mine was a pretty solid Building Block Tickets #'d 10/10 of Kevin Durant.

 

Other parallels you could find include,

- Draft Ticket /99
- Cracked Ice Ticket /23
- Diamond Ticket /15
- Fame Ticket /5
- Championship Ticket /1
- College Ticket and Season Ticket
- Printing Plates /1

Each pack of cards breaks down to 11 base and 6 inserts along with one autograph. You should find two inserts per pack of the following,

Legacy. Takes a players photo in college and in pros.

School Colors, rookies in their college uni's.

Game Day Tickets also has rookies in their college uni's.

No surprise to me that rookies were still in college uniforms knowing it's a draft pick product. You can look for RPS tickets and International ones.

Here were my 6 pulls.

Wesley Iwundu

Thomas Bryant

Edmond Sumner (terrible auto)

Jordan Bell

Tyler Lydon

This final one of Bam is on-card.  You can look for on-card autographs from all of the upper-tier rookies from the 2017 NBA Draft as well as three separate on-card variations! I haven't seen a report yet on which ones were the variations so hard to judge how great of a card this actually is.

 

Other hits not found in my box are COLLEGIATE CONNECTIONS SIGNATURES, TURNING PRO SIGNATURES and LEGACY SIGNATURES.

OVERALL: Well, the price is a bit steep and depending on how these guys play will depend if this box was a gain or a loss. It's too early to tell. The packs felt very redundant with the same expectations in each and it had gotten to the point by pack three where I was strictly looking for the autograph card and tossing aside the rest. I think a little bit of a mix here would help this product. Maybe go back to 24 packs with 5 cards per and don't put in the six inserts every pack and instead spread them out.

I was very happy to see the NBA players in their pro uni's as I am not a collegiate type of collector, but I am not sure about those that are collegiate collectors will feel about this. I do enjoy products that mix pros and college and it especially works in an early release.

In the end, Contenders is Contenders. It's one of Panini's most popular products and one that always holds it's value and popularity in those who seek rookie autographs. The product is a gamble, but could be worth a dice roll here.

Please make sure to take a minute out to thank Panini America for providing this box for me to review and to be able to add more cards to my Player Of The Day promotion. Follow Panini America on all social media sites and visit their SITE, as well.

Taking Chances

I have recently begun to explore more trading and taking more chances with new trading partners. That's something I am not usually into. I don't like the risks so I don't put myself out there. But, the last few days I have and pulled off a couple of good trades including today's mail day.

@B_Litch88 put up a couple of nice looking Sterling Shepard autographs on Twitter I just had to get. I couldn't let him just sit there. So I inquired about them and we worked out a trade pretty fast. He was a very reasonable trading partner and I was glad we worked it out as smoothly as we did.

He not only mailed out the Shepards, I will show in a second, he also tossed in some really nice extras I didn't have. The Jennings and Perkins are both /75.

The first Shepard is from Playoff football.

The second has a sick patch and is from Limited. It's also on-card.

 

A big thanks goes out to @B_Litch88 for the easy trade and I am hoping we can make more down the road. Give him a follow as well as he does giveaways and is always looking to trade.

The 90's Strike Again!

Once again, I found some 90's goodies in my mail box via @imqualifying who has been very generous in making sure my mail box has a mail day.

Up first, a Crown Royale rookie card of Brian Griese. I always loved this brand in the 90's.

 

The second finding comes from one of my favorite football card designs of all-time, 1996 Zenith football. This is also a product I associate a lot to my memories to and hope to chase down more cards from some day including a base set and all of the insert sets.

 

For some reason despite my many purchases of the product, I never once landed an Artist Proof parallel. So here is my first and also a player who still gives me nightmares after watching him dismantle my Giants in the Super Bowl.

 

The base set for 1997 Donruss Preferred was built up of 3 levels, Bronze, Silver and Gold, here is a sweet rookie card of Card's QB Jake Plummer who went on to have a pretty solid career. I totally dig and will pick up any of these cards when I can.

 

I was fortunate enough to even find some autographs in my package. Remember a time when players actually signed only on-card???

Jason Peter was a DE for the Panthers for 4 seasons but had his career cut short due to a recurring neck injury.

 

Brian Kelly was a former cornerback who was a pretty decent one. He helped lead the Bucs to a Super Bowl win among a few other accolades.

Seeing those two autographs made me miss Press Pass. They put out some great college products along with some NASCAR and non sport lines.

 

And finally, to go with my Flair Showcase Legacy parallel, an autograph of Marcus Nash. The guy may not have had the best career, but his autograph looks great.

 

 

A huge round of thanks is due to @imqualifying for her generosity. I appreciated each and every package you sent. They are all in a good home. 

 

I strongly recommend you go give her a Twitter follow as she is always doing giveaways and is a great hobby follow.

REVIEW:2016 Elite Extra Edition Baseball+GIVEAWAY!

A lot of collectors like to use Bowman as their main prospecting product, myself, I like to use Bowman, but like Elite Extra Edition a bit more. Why? Because it is LOADED.

How did my latest break of this highly touted prospect product go, well, read on!

 

In every box of 2016 Elite Extra Edition baseball, you will find 5 packs of 5 cards. Yes, they remodeled EEE some. You will find Six to Eight Autographs Per Box along with Two to Four Memorabilia Cards Per Box and boxes run at a fairly cheap $85. 

The Elite Extra Edition base cards are a bit more challenging to collect a set of with them being limited to 999 and being limited per box. There are also 180 cards in the base set so it's a deep one. But, you can findTop Prospects and Young Stars including Yoan Moncada, Andrew Benintendi, Orlando Arcia, Jorge Mateo, Clint Frazier, Alex Reyes,  and A.J. Puk

 

The parallels in in EEE are wack. So colorful. You can find Purple #/200, Blue #/75, Tie-Dye #/25, and Gold 1/1.

 

There are Status die-cut parallels as well. Black #/99, Red #/99, Emerald #/49, Tie-Dye #/10, and Gold 1/1. I put these against a red background so you can see the die-cut better.

 

Now onto the hits. And there are plenty. All memorabilia hits have parallels of Silver #/149 or less, Holo Gold #/99 or less, Purple #/25, Emerald #/10, Blue #/5, and Gold 1/1.

My first hit is a Future Threads. It's a nice size swatch and has a stripe. Well designed too.

 

My second pull was a quad jersey card of Matt Olson.

 

A USA Quad. These are pretty cool.

 

A Future Threads Auto Silhouette. Who doesn't like a auto silhouette card???? There are no parallels for these. However, swatches may vary such as patch and non patch, etc.

 

Don't you feel like you already had lots of value...but yet....I am still just getting to the autographs!!!

The base autographs are not numbered, but the parallels certainly are. I will list those after the autograph bump.

 

Purple. I cut the number off /100 on this one on purpose :)

And green status die cut /25

Parallels for the above autograph cards also include....

 PARALLEL CARDS: Black #/10 or #/5, Charcoal #/25 or #/10, and Printing Plates 1/1.

ASPIRATIONS PARALLEL CARDS: Purple #/100 or less, Blue #/50 or less, Tie-Dye #/10 or #/5, and Gold 1/1.
STATUS DIE-CUT PARALLEL CARDS: Red #/75 or less, Emerald #/25 or less, Tie-Dye #/5 or less, and Gold 1/1

If those are not enough for you, there are USA Season Ticket autographs you would find in Contenders., but are now in here too. They feature the first autographs of all 64 members of the Collegiate, 18U and 15U National Teams. Find 7 parallels including Cracked Ice and printing plate parallels numbered to 24 or less.

 

 

OVERALL, it would be foolish not to gamble on a box for the price and the amount of hits it provides. This isn't even all of the stuff you can find in a box of EEE. This is also the easiest way to collect your favorite prospects and have a better shot at landing an auto or memorabilia card of them. It's better to pay this price now for a box of this instead of paying that price for one card later on. 

Now time for that giveaway and how you can win this ↓↓↓

 

 

Just tell me the numbering /100 on this and follow other instructions after that follow...

 

AND follow these rules

1. Make sure you thank Panini America for this review box and check out their site for products like this one and others. Also thank Tracy Hackler and give him a Twitter follow too!
2. ***VERY IMPORTANT***MUST BE A U.S. RESIDENT to enter or have a shipping address in the U.S. Shipping costs have gone haywire and I can't afford to ship everywhere.This is always hard to do as I appreciate all readers but I hope you all understand non-U.S. readers.
3. Card may be shipped PWE. I like to forewarn on this.
4. LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW telling me ONE PRO AND ONE CON OF THE PRODUCT for both or either box. PLEASE ALSO KEEP IN MIND I AM HOPING FOR GOOD PRO/CON FEEDBACK.
5. Also leave me a comment telling me the card numbering /100 for the Ben Rortvedt above
6. Must do BOTH 5 and 6 to be entered or entry will be null.
7. The ones who guess the right number or are closest without going over will be entered in the giveaways.
8. Sport Card Collectors or it's owner (person who runs the blog), WILL NOT be held responsible for lost, stolen or damaged mail. Sorry had to add this in since someone tried to scam me once about this.
9. Contest starts today, ends on January 30th 2017. Winner will be announced in a separate post on January 31st 2017.
10. Don't forget to thank the above sponsor of this contest and I won't mind a thank you as well :) 

Good luck to those that enter!!