Topps Chrome 2011 Baseball: 1 Box

As I previously wrote, I have re-started collecting baseball cards. I really love baseball because it was the first sport I was engaged by. I was born just outside St. Louis and of course was infected by the feverish passion of baseball at an early age. Some of my earliest memories are of attending Cardinals games, but as a young teenager I moved to Canada and my ability to connect to the sport was greatly diminished, especially in continuing to collect baseball cards. As of the past few years I have picked up the odd pack of baseball cards and for one reason or another I decided to try a full box the other day. I decided on Topps Chrome 2011 because it is a very affordable product that promises 2 autographs per box, and Topps is synonymous with baseball like O-Pee-Chee is with hockey.

Here's what I got from the one box:

Base: In all I picked up 58 base cards from the box. The base cards have a clean design with pretty standard action shot photographs of the players. The text and graphics are simple and leave lots of room for the photo to shine, which the chrome covering definitely helps with! The chrome is very nice and makes each card sparkle! The backs of the cards have again a clean appearance with easy to read text and a glossy instead of chrome covering.

Rookies: The last 50 cards of the base set feature rookies. These have the same design of the rest of the base set except for a small RC placed near the bottom. The backs of the cards have a healthy blurb about each player to fill-in the lack of stats. The rookies are not serial numbered and I doubt that they have a high collectibility because of this.

Refractor Parallel: The easiest to pull parallel set are the refractor cards. I pulled 8 of these, with three being rookies. The cards are not numbered but have a super reflective and somewhat silver sheen to their fronts. The cards look really nice but I didn't realize they were parallel cards until a second look through the cards. One of the refractors, pictured here, was of Mickey Mantle. It was nice to see a HOF player being featured in the set but it also seemed out of place as he is the only (?) HOF player included in the set.

Sepia Parallel: I pulled only two of these parallel cards that are the same as the regular set except for the sepia tone of the fronts and an inclusion of a serial number (out of 99) on the back. The cards have a really nice look with the sepia tone and I can understand why someone would try to build this parallel set. The sepia cards fall 1:43, so I did very well finding two in this box.

Blue Parallel: I pulled one blue parallel from the box, which fall 1:57 packs. This parallel set has a blue border and are serial numbered on the back to out of 99. This parallel card does not look quite as sharp as the sepia ones and I am somewhat confused why they don't have a different production run -most parallel sets have different production runs as is found in the multiple parallel sets included in Artifacts hockey.

Heritage Chrome Subset: This subset is obvious when found because they feature a great throw-back design from the 1962 Topps set but stars current players and of course has a chrome front. The backs of the cards are serial numbered out of 1962, which is a nice nod to what the set is honoring. There were 4 of these cards found in the box, plus an additional black refractor heritage chrome. This black card has a slightly more shiny front and numbered out of 562. These fall 1:148 packs. There are 100 cards in this subset, so completing the set is likely incredibly hard considering the few I pulled in this box.

Vintage Chrome: This subset is more similar to the base set and I am at a loss as to what it contributes to the product. The Vintage set features 50 of the biggest stars in current baseball, and again I pulled only 4 of these cards. The fronts have a very similar design to the base cards and includes the player's stats and short bio on the back but with a different layout. The cards are not serial numbered and seem to be repetitive from the base set.

Autographs: There are roughly 2 autographs per box of Topps Chrome. These autographs can be either a rookie card variation, which is a card with an identical design to the base set rookies but with a concave blank area at the bottom where the hard-signed autograph (in blue ink) is located. The second autograph set is of members from the USA baseball team; I did not find any of these. I pulled three autograph cards, which makes this a very strong box that I broke considering all the parallels I had also pulled. Of the autographs, I pulled an Andrew Cashner rookie auto and a Mark Trumbo rookie auto. Both autos look really great and don't appear like they were rushed. Trumbo's autograph is so nice you can actually recognize almost every letter, which is a real rarity in autographed cards. The only negative comment about these cards is that they are not serial numbered. Personally, I feel that every memorabilia or auto card should be numbered. The third auto card was numbered. This was a blue parallel auto, numbered out of 199. I was happy to see one of the autos numbered but I am confused why this card was out of 199 when the non-autographed blue parallel I pulled was numbered out of 99.

This was an extremely fun box to break because all the cards look really nice. I received a bunch of parallels and it was a lot of fun to find something a little special in the pack, not to mention I was above average on the number of autographs I found. I will definitely return to this product and hope I do just as well again! This product is a teeth rattling, chrome encrusted pickle that deserves to be placed in pride on your shelf! Good product!

Upper-Deck Series I Hockey: 2011/12

Upper-Deck series I & II hockey are perhaps the best sets available for this sport. It is an affordable product where the base set is easy to build and rookies and subsets add an element of chase, not to mention some very attractive case breaks. While this is traditionally a great product, it has become stagnant over the years and UD has addressed this by offering three types of parallel cards, more types of case breaks, and overhauled the Hockey Heroes subset which is a mainstay of this product. On all of these revamped fronts the 2011/12 product has hit a bulls-eye, however the base cards are perhaps the most poorly designed ever.

The other day I picked up 6 packs of UD srs I. My superstition, which is shared by many card collectors, is that I always grab the last few packs in a box. Again, this was a case where I wasn't disappointed!

Base: As per usual with UD srs products, we have here a 200 base card set, with another 200 base card set tacked on with the srs II. The base cards feature a few of the key players from each team and nothing else too fantastic. This year's base cards are no exception, but for perhaps some of the best photos I have ever seen in this product: loved how Getzlaf is turned into a pretzel in his photo! My criticism for this year's base set is that the front design is very bland, with an uninspired silver outline puck shaped area that presents the player's name at the bottom. The graphics around this puck shape are also very bland and blend into background, which does feature a great photo that is not obscured by the graphics or text. The other weak note is that the backs of the cards have little to no colour, making them again very bland. The text stands out well and even features french translations. The worst part of the backs is that there is a massive negative space between the stats and blurb about the player. This negative space is non-existent on players who have been in the league for more than 8 or so years, but on sophomore players this space is massive! I don't know if UD didn't have enough to say about each player or if someone was too lazy to move the text up a centimeter to match where the stats ended. Either way, I greatly disliked the look of the base cards.

Hockey Heroes: I pulled one of the Hockey Heroes cards and they look superb! For series I, the subset features the great players of the 1950's, and here I found a Bobby Hull card. I love the graphics and the whole concept of this subset! This is a must collect set for sure.

UD Exclusives: I pulled on parallel card from the 6 packs. These parallels are numbered out of 100 and fall roughly one per box. I didn't find a great parallel card (Zidlicky), but it was still nice to pull one. On the side of criticizing the base cards, this parallel base differs from the regular base only in the addition of the gold foil, numbering, and statement that it is a parallel card. Again, the design is weak and the gold foil does little to improve it.

UD Game Jersey: While not a favourite player, Ilya Kovalchuk is a star player and I was delighted to pull it! The jersey card is pretty much the same as every year except that the design is different. The design differs in the geometric patterns that appear behind the player's photo and in the shape of the jersey window. As per usual, these memorabilia cards are not numbered, but do look pretty sharp. On average these cards fall 2 per box.

Young Guns UD Canvas: I pulled a second short print but un-numbered parallel. This time it was of a rookie card instead of the regular base. The card has a textured front, similar to a canvas, and is printed on thicker stock. The design is also slightly altered from the regular edition rookie cards. This fall one per 2 or so boxes, so I was definitely lucky to pull one of these.

Overall UD srs I is a fun-as-expected product to break. I definitely lucked out on the cards I pulled, and will be returning to this product shortly. I love the price point and the canvas cards are very cool looking; perhaps even better than last year's retro rookie cards. The only down fall of this product is that the base cards have a horrible design, but the rookie and subset cards are what most people collect this product and I am really no different. This is a sweet if slightly soggy pickle of a product!

Topps Marquee 2011 Baseball: 1 Pack Break

This is a fun product to break for it guarantees you a hit and offered at a reasonable price, despite it only taking a minute to open because there are only 5 cards including the lone hit. I haven't been collecting too much baseball over the past few years even though I do watch it and root for a few teams quite heavily. Recently I decided to pick up some baseball cards and I decided on Topps Marquee 2011.

Here's what I got:

Base: In all there were three base cards, each featuring a HOF player of great vintage. The players were Honus Wagner, Johnny Mize, and Whitey Ford, each a memorable name from baseball's illustrious past. It was very interesting popping these cards out as it would be more expected to see a player from the 60's to 90's be highlighted as is the case in hockey, but then again hockey does not share baseball's depth of time. As for the card's design, it is quite appealing with an image of the player that includes the background and an interesting story along with the player's career stats presented on the back. My only criticism is that the name 'Topps Marquee' should have been written over top a dark background as the silver etched lettering is not too visible on cards with light coloured photos.

Base Parallel (Copper): One base parallel was pulled from the pack, which features Carlos Gonzalez of the Rockies. I'm not a fan of the Rockies, but the card still looks pretty nice. The design is exactly the same as the regular base except for the front foil is copper coloured and it is serial numbered out of 199.

Hit: The single hit from the pack was an autographed rookie card of Michael Pineda from the Seattle Mariners. I quite like the Mariners, so this was a decent card to pull even if it wasn't a case break card. The autograph is nice and large, written over a completely white background with a silhouette image of the player above; which is why I scanned this card with a dark piece of paper behind it. The card is also hard-signed which is very refreshing from the all too common sticker autos that Upper-Deck relies upon. The card is also serial numbered out of 570, which seems like a random number but I won't complain as it is all too often that signed cards are not numbered at all, much like what's found in Upper-Deck's Ultimate product.

Overall this is a really sharp product that delivers a nice hit for an affordable price. The base parallel are nothing special, but nonetheless adds a small measure of depth and excitement. The base themselves are clean in design with the players brought to the forefront; plus the choice of HOF players adds a further measure of interest.