2011 Panini Playoff Contenders Hockey Hobby Box Break with some big time mojo, another All About Cards SPEED-break™

Panini does Hockey cards right.  Playoff Contenders is one of their best.

These are beautiful cards with a phenomenal checklist.  The amount of quality autographs coming out of these boxes is seemingly endless.

Here is our SPEED-break™ of 2010-11 Panini Playoff Contenders Hockey.   Get ready for some amazing pulls.

Dallas Mavericks overcome a 15 point lead to beat the Miami Heat.

The Dallas Mavericks proved tonight why they deserve to be in the NBA Finals.   With early talk about "a sweep" and "Lebron the Great," the Mavericks kept their heads in the game when it counted the most, erasing a monstrous 15 point lead late in the fourth quarter to walk away with the win against the Miami Heat.   And they did in the Heat's house.

Get ready for an outstanding series from two tough teams.

Canucks defeat Bruins in game one. A recap and the winners of our Stanley Cup Playoffs Contest.

Tonight's first game of the Stanley Cup Finals was all about the men in goal, Roberto Luongo for the Vancouver Canucks and Tim Thomas for the Boston Bruins.   For 59 minutes and 41 seconds they were both perfect with Luongo absorbing 36 shots and Thomas 33 shots.   Depending on how you look at it, as a product of Johnny Boychuk suffering from mental fatigue, a brilliant circus like move by Ryan Kesler to strip Boychuk while defying physics to prevent an offside, Thomas was doomed to let one go by as Janek Hansen caught a cutting Raffi Torres for the redirect.

So the Canucks go up 1-0 for The Cup, but this should be a long, hard fought series due to the two men you see pictured above on their 2010-11 Panini Playoff Contenders cards, which, by the way, we should have the video box break posted soon.   The box break has happened, I'm putting the video together and I will tell you it is a MUST see.   An amazing box, heart stopping you might say.

But we also have some unfinished business to attend to.   An announcement of the winners of our Stanley Cup Playoffs Contest with some great 2010-11 Donruss cards thanks to the good folks at Panini America.

Our third place prize of over 200 base cards which includes Zdeno Chara, Daniel Sedin, Mike Modano, Antii Niemi, Joe Thornton, Steven Stamkos, Evgeni Malkin, Dion Phaneuf, Roberto Luongo, Alexander Ovechkin, and six Rated Rookie Cards goes to...

Fuji

Our Second place prize of the Insert Cards you see here which includes a Zenon Konopka Game Worn Boys of Winter card goes to...

Mariner1

Our first place, Grand Prize of this awesome Jordan Eberle Rated Rookie Autograph Card goes to...

Captain Canuck

Congratulations to the winners.  Please send you address so these great cards can get to you.  Thanks to Panini and everyone who participated.  Make sure you check in to see what we pulled from our 2010-11 Panini Playoff Contenders NHL Trading Cards tomorrow.

And a Tweet ends it. Shaq announces his intention to retire.

If any of you are still asking the question "Why bother having a Twitter Account?" this should make it clear.


In this day and age of instant information, there is no more need for press conferences.  A 19 year career can come to an end with a simple tweet.   Here is one from Shaquille O'Neal just moment ago.


im retiring Video: http://bit.ly/kvLtE3  #ShaqRetires


Done.


This is the way the world is going, this will become the norm.  Our lives will be shared 24/7.  We will instantly know the things we want to know about without delay, no pomp, no circumstance.   No one can stop it.   


So if you don't have a Twitter account, it's about time you get one.   And when you have one, make sure you follow us @AllAboutCards.


Congrats to Shaq on an amazing career.   Here is the brief video that was included with Shaq's Tweet.

Something Stickered This Way Comes. Panini releases information about the 2011 NFL Sticker Collection.

The Knight's Lance has just released details on Panini's 2011 NFL Sticker and Album Collection.   With a familiar configuration of $1 per seven sticker pack and $2 for the 72 Page Album, this year's collection comes in at 494 stickers, 354 glossy base stickers, 100 Holographic stickers and 40 Micro-Etched stickers.

We have no idea if there will be an NFL season this year, but we will have Football here at the blog.   At a rate of about 4 pages a week we will do our best to fill an album and share our progress with you.   We might even give away a few home made starter kits to get some of you on your way to filling an album.

For more information, check out The Knight's Lance.

2011 Topps Pro Debut Baseball is live

Just a quick reminder, 2011 Topps Pro Debut is live.   In addition to the base there are three parallel color levels  to collect.

Blue #/199
Gold #/50
Red 1/1s

But, in the year of the Bryce, the biggest hit of the series is this 1/1 Cut auto from a signed ball.

This set is a Hobby Exclusive so you will only be able to order a box.  You can also visit your local card shop to see if they are selling packs.  No retail on this one.

Short Punch Cards provides a great alternative to your standard greeting card with a chance to pull an auto or memorabilia card.

It’s another holiday and a great one, Memorial Day.   It’s great for many reasons, a day to honor those who serve, a day to hang out with friends and family just relaxing.   But for personal reasons, it’s also a great holiday because there are no greeting cards to give.  In my family there isn’t an occasion that goes by without a greeting card.  I seem to remember getting one for Arbor Day from my cousin.   

Needless to say, I’m always looking for something different and now I think I’ve got a lot of upcoming birthdays covered with a new product called Short Punch Cards. 

These are sports themed greeting cards with a surprise, an autograph or memorabilia novelty/trading card inside. 

This is the front of the Baseball Greeting Card.   Looks nice.   Open it up and you find this.

A simple greeting, “Hope you score a homerun on your Birthday!”   That greeting is a flap that can be ripped opened to reveal this.

In this case an auto card, Kyle Seager’s 2010 Bowman Chrome Auto.  

(As a side note, Bowman Chrome autos are always difficult to scan so the card looks much better in person.)

There is one card for each of the four major sports, the Baseball themed card above.

In the Football version...

was this Derrick Morgan 2010 Topps Platinum Auto.

 In the Basketball version...

was this Antoine Walker 2004-05 Topps Bazooka Breakaway Game Worn Jersey.

In the Hockey version...

was this Kyle Calder 2008-09 Upper Deck Artifacts Auto.

Of course the packaging shows some A-List player card possibilities, but at a suggested retail price of about 9 bucks per greeting card, these pulls are in line with our expectations.  While every greeting card has a different trading card enclosed and perhaps someone will pull a Pujols or Lebron, you certainly should not expect that all of them will have cards of that caliber.

Even with these lowered expectations, it’s definitely a great greeting card, a cool idea and a fair deal.  The card design is good looking, done on quality stock and, as the company likes to announce, the entire card, from design to manufacturing, is a product of the USA. 

You can find Short Punch Cards through their website, www.shortpunchcards.com

Kevin Harvick wins the Coca Cola 600 as Dale Earnhardt Jr runs out of gas

It’s the longest race of the Cup season, the Coca Cola 600 in Charlotte.  So it’s not surprising that the race would be determined by one important factor, fuel management.

With the lead in hand on the last lap and a chance to break his break his 104 race drought, Dale Earnhardt Jr. ran out of fuel with a half a lap to go.   He was left to watch the field pass him on the final turn and settle for a seventh place finish.

Coming in for the checkered flag was Kevin Harvick for his third win of the season.   Finishing behind him were David Regan, Joey Logano for his first top 5 finish of the year, Kurt Busch and A.J. Allmendinger.

Philadelphia Phillies Wilson Valdez card sees bump in value after recorded pitching win.

This card has seen a bump in value.   So far, it’s the only Wilson Valdez available this year.

In the early morning hours of last Thursday, May 26, 2011, in the 19th inning of a game that didn’t seem like it would end, Wilson Valdez was moved from his starting position of second baseman to pitcher.   He faced the heart of the Cincinnati Reds order, Joey Votto, Scott Rollen and Jay Bruce, pitching a hitless inning.  When the Philadelphia Phillies won the game in the bottom of the 19th, Valdez was credited with the win. He is the first position player to become a winning pitcher since Colorado catcher Brent Mayne did it on Aug. 22, 2000 at Coors Field in Denver. 

Fleer made this card of Brent Mayne to commemorate his feat.   Maybe Topps will consider one for Valdez in their Update Series.

You have to go back to August 25, 1968 at Yankee Stadium to find another position player credited with a win, Rocky Colavito.  He did it in he last year in the majors for the Yankees.  I just happen to have one of his cards in Topps’ Diamond Giveaway this year.

But Mayne and Colavito never actually started the game in the field.  Both came of the bench to pitch.  To find someone who matches Valdez’s feat, staring the game in the field and being moved over to pitch, you have to go back to October 1,1921 also in New York.   The Athletics were the visiting team at Yankee Stadium.  In the 8th inning, after having already been shifted from left fielder to first base, this Yankee great was sent to the mound.  He gave up 6 runs in that inning, sending the game to extra innings.   But he stayed on the mound for a total of 4 innings before recording the win after the Yankees scored in the bottom of the eleventh.  That player was Babe Ruth.

And as we all know, Ruth was a pitcher in his early years which makes Valdez’s feat even more impressive because before Thursday morning he had never thrown a pitch in a game.