Derek Jeter gets 3000 hits

Congratulations to Derek Jeter, the first player in a Yankee Uniform to reach the 3,000 hit mark.   He reached the milestone on a Home Run.


Lots of Pinstripe Pride today!

2011 Panini Score Football NFL Trading Cards Box Break Recap and Review

2011 Panini Score Football is an extensive collection of cards with a healthy sized checklist.  At $0.99 a pack, it’s hard to deny the appeal of these cards.

Score Football could easily be mistaken for fun cards because of their price point, but there is some real collecting to be done here so we classify this set as trading cards. You can find them at retail outlets and your local card shop.   Boxes come with 36 – 7 card packs.

Lets take a look at some of the cards we pulled from our box.

From the Base set

 Aaron Rodgers, front and back

Here are some other star players we pulled

Tom Brady, Adrian Peterson, Darrelle Revis, Ndamukong Suh

Dez Bryant, Sam Bradford, Antonio Gates, Adrian Foster

From the Rookie Cards

 Mark Ingram Rookie Card, front and back

Here are some more Rookies

Von Miller, Julio Jones

Jake Locker, A.J. Green

The base cards also come paralleled in Glossy but in the scans they look the same.  In personal, they are very nice.  Other parallels include the following

 Scorecard -  Ryan Mallet, Brandon Harris, Niles Paul and Tyron Smith

 Gold Zone - Ryan Mallett, Adrian Clayborn, Colin McCarthy, Martez Wilson

Red Zone - Greg Olsen, Justin Tuck

End Zone - Ryan Mathews

Here are cards from the insert sets

In The Zone

Millennium Men

 Hot Rookies

 Complete Players

 And our big hit for the box

Titus Young Rookie Card Autograph

Overall Look

Score Football has a classic, almost retro feel that is simple and solid.  These cards are attractive looking regardless of the price point. 

Quality and Variety of Players and Subsets.

300 star players, 100 rookies.  This makes for a really nice checklist.   Insert cards work well.

Do the hits hold up?

If you can pull an autograph, yeah, there are some great hits to be had, but this is more about building the set at a reasonable price point.  Trying to find parallel variations of the rookie cards and ‘zone” cards are the real chase here. 

Will you want to collect them all? 

That really is the whole point of Score.   This is intended for people new to collecting and veteran set builders.  

Rating

4 out of 5

2011 Panini Score Football is a great group of cards geared towards set builders.

Former manager Dick Williams dies at the age of 82

Dick Williams, who spent most of his life around Major League Baseball, died today at the age of 82 at his home in Las Vegas, Nevada.  He managed for the Red Sox, Angels, Expos, Padres and Mariners, but will be remembered for leading the Oakland A’s in back-to-back World Series wins during the 1972 and 1973 seasons.  He was an old school, tough and demanding manager.  He was also only one of two managers ever to take three different teams to the World Series.  The only other manager to do that was Bill McKechnie.

After a 14 year carrer as a player, Williams was managing in the Majors within 3 years.  He spent the next 21 years managing 6 different teams.   He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2008

The Complete List of 2011 Topps Allen & Ginter Non Baseball Autograph Cards

2011 Topps Allen & Ginter will be in collectors’ hands next week.  Along with the base set, minis and other surprises, the non- baseball autographs are one of the more popular parts of the set.  This year you’ll be able to pull people like the greatest pound-for-pound fighter ever Manny Pacquiao, World Cup star Hope Solo, golfing great Annika Sorenstam, Dancinig with the Stars 2 time champ Cheryl Burke and tennis legend John McEnroe.

Here is the complete list of this year’s non-baseball autographs in Allen & Ginter.

Aimee  Mullins - Paralympic Champion / World Record Holder

Ana Julaton - Women's Boxing Champion

Annika  Sorenstam - Women's Golf Champion

Cheryl  Burke - 2-Time Champion, Dancing with the Stars

Chrissie  Wellington - Champion Triathlete and Iron Man World Record Holder

Chuck  Woolery - Game Show Host

Daniel  Boulud - Award-Winning French Chef

Diana  Taurasi - Champion Women's Basketball Guard/Forward

Dick  Vitale - Basketball Broadcaster

Evan  Lysacek - Winter Games Men's Figure Skating Gold Medalist

Geno  Auriemma - Champion Women's College Basketball Coach

Guy Fieri - Food Network TV Star & Host of Minute to Win It

Heather  Mitts - Champion Women's Soccer Defender

Hope  Solo - Champion Women's Soccer Goalkeeper

Jim  Nantz - Sports Broadcaster

Jo Frost - Host of Supernanny

John  McEnroe - Men's Tennis Champion

Kristi  Yamaguchi - Winter Games Figure Skating Gold Medalist

Kyle  Petty - NASCAR Driver

Lou  Holtz - Champion College Football Coach & Broadcaster

Manny Pacquiao - World Champion Boxer

Marc Forgione - Restauranteur & Winner of The Next Iron Chef

Micky Ward - Champion Boxer & Subject of The Fighter

Nancy  Lopez - Women's Golf Champion

Peter Gammons - Award-Winning Baseball Writer & Broadcaster

Picabo  Street - Winter Games Alpine Skiing Gold Medalist

Rudy  Ruettiger - College Football Player & Inspirational Speaker

Sanya  Richards - Summer Games Track & Field Gold Medalist

Stan Lee - Founder of Marvel Comics

Sue  Bird - Champion Women's Basketball Guard

Tim  Howard - Champion Men's Soccer Goalkeeper

Timothy Shieff - Freerunning & Parkour Champion

Eric Jackson - Freestyle Kayaking Champion

Jake  LaMotta - Champion Boxer & Subject of Raging Bull

Wee Man - World's Smallest Stunt Man

Mat Hoffman - Champion of BMX Biking and Extreme Sports

Matt Guy - 2011 ACO World Championships "King of Cornhole" Tournament Winner

Dirk Hayhurst - Author of The Bullpen Gospels

Al Gore & Keith Olbermann - Former Vice President & Political Commentator

Ron Turcotte - Champion Race Horse Jockey

Larry Holmes - Champion Boxer

Rafer Johnson - Champion Decathlete

Shawn Michaels - Professional Wrestler

Angelo Dundee - Boxing Trainer and Cornerman

2010 - 2011 Panini All Goalies Hockey Card Set Box Break and Review

As a set builder, it is not often that I buy a completed boxed set of cards.  But 2010 - 11 Panini All Goalies is an easy purchase.  My favorite position in hockey is Goalie so to see all of them represented in a concise set of 100 cards, with past, present and future stars represented, there is plenty of instant gratification in owning them all right away.

This starts a new classification for us, the boxed set. Inside each box you’ll find the complete 100 card base set, five Up Close parallels and one Memorabilia card.

Here is a look at some of the cards we pulled from our hobby box.

 Tim Thomas base, front and back

Except for player photo and write up, all of the base cards follow this design.  Here are some of our other favorite goalies who are currently playing

 Roberto Luongo and Corey Crawford

 Carey Price and Marc-Andre Fleury

 Cam Ward and Henrik Lundqvist

 Ryan Miller and Antti Neimi

Here are some greats from the past

 Patrick Roy and Ron Hextall

 Tony Esposito and Gerry Cheevers

Felix Potvin and Martin Brodeur

And so you can see the difference, here is the Up Close parallel of Martin Brodeur we pulled as one of the five in our box.

Here is the Stopper Sweaters memorabilia card from our box.

 Devan Dubnyk Stopper Sweaters, front and back

Overall look

These cards have a clean look that really shows off the nice photography.  Up Close parallels as nice and the Stopper Sweaters Memorabilia cards work well.

Does the checklist of players feel complete?

This is a great mix of the old and the new, a very satisfying set of cards.

Are there any bonus cards included?

Yes.  There are the 5 Up Close parallels per box.  It would take 20 boxes of All Goalies to acquire the entire set and about as much to gather all 18 Stopper Sweater Memorabilia cards.  Extreme collectors will go after all of them.

Boxed Set vs. Set Building

These cards only come by the set, no set building here.

Rating

4 1/2 out of 5

10 - 11 Panini All Goalies Hockey Box Set is a great pickup for fans of the men behind the masks.



Review box provided by Panini

2011 Donruss Elite Football NFL Trading Cards Box Break Recap and Review

2011 Donruss Elite is the second football card release this year for Panini season.  It’s the first opportunity to pull rookie cards with photos of the players in their uniforms.  With some really nice insert sets, this should prove to be popular with football card collectors looking to build their 2011 portfolio now.

Donruss Elite Football fits nicely into our premium cards category.  Each hobby box contains 20 – 5 card packs with a promise of four autograph or memorabilia cards per box.  Here are some of the cards we pulled from the box.

NOTE- As usual, shiny and mirror finishes are always difficult the scan.   These cards look much better in person than can be captured in pictures. 

First from the base set

 Adrian Peterson base, front and back

 Rookie cards of Jake Locker and Jordan Todman in their team uniforms using photos from the Rookie Premier shoot.

 Jeremy Kerley and Martez Wilson Rookie cards

 The non-foil version of Kyle Rudolph and Daniel Thomas Rookie cards with team helmets

A.J. Green in his NFL Shield Rookie Card

From the Inserts

Vernon Davis Legends of the Fall

Reggie Bush Power Formulas

Andre Johnson Craftsmen

 Brian Urlacher Hit List and Donavan McNabb Status Die Cut #/24

The hits of the box

London Flecher Hit List Game Worn Material #/299

Philip Rivers Legends of the Fall Game Worn Material #/299

Martez Wilson Rookie Auto #/499

Titus Young Rookie Auto #/299

Overall Look

If you like shiny mirror foil, these are the cards for you.  Players really stand out against the mirror finish.  Legends of the Fall are some of the nicest inserts we seen this year.

Quality and Variety of Players

100 returning star players make for a tight checklist.  There are an equal number of rookie cards.  Quality is definitely there; variety exists in the rookie finds.

Do the Hits satisfy?  Are the cards too base heavy?

Collectors will be looking for the on card autos from the Rookie Premier and the case hits, booklets and Passing the Torch cards, dual autograph cards with some of the biggest names in football past and present.  There are some nice memorabilia cards to be had like the Philip Rivers Legends of the Fall   In addition to the 4 hits of the box, you should be pulling an insert or rookie card per pack.

Will you keep coming back for more?

Donruss Elite definitely feels like a two box purchase with aftermarket single searching.  For collectors intent on finding a booklet or a Passing the Torch autograph, a 12 box case break could easily be justified.

Rating

4 out of 5

2011 Donruss Elite Football has potential for some big pulls and delivers a nice looking set.