Topps Chrome 2010 Baseball: 1 Box Break

This is it! The last of what I broke open from my boxing day bonanza at my local card shop! Lots of success from these breaks that left me yearning for more. This is easily the weakest of the products I busted, but it still had a few gems. In respect to the 2011 Topps Chrome product, this 2010 box pails in comparison for the quality of the cards and the number of hits I received. Click here to see my review of the 2011 Topps Chrome product.

This is the first box of Topps Chrome 2010 I have bought and is only the second Topps Chrome product I have ever purchased. What this box showed me is that the 2011 product is far superior to the 2010 product and that I am better off spending my future pennies on the 2011 product. In the end I should count myself lucky I received a few good cards from this product and leave it at that!

The biggest problem with the 2010 Topps Chrome cards is that the cards were poorly made. The chrome makes the cards severely bend to the point it becomes difficult to stack them. The images on the front are also not nearly as clear as the 2011 product. The players on the 2010 product have an almost double image around them from the application of chrome that makes the whole image blurry. Additionally, the chrome is not always evenly covering the cards, leaving globby bits on some places on the card's front. 

Another problem is that the cards were often poorly packaged. Often the back card would have an impression left from the wrapper's seal. The worst was in one of the autographs I received had a scratch down the middle of the auto from the wrapper's seal. Another card (the Derek Jeter shown here) had a line running down the back of it, presumably created from when the pack was mechanically sealed. There were also a number of packs at the bottom of the box that only contained 2 cards, both of which were base. I have never seen a trading card product with this many problems and TOPPS should have RECALLED their product.

Despite the numerous manufacturing problems, the 2010 Topps Chrome set does have some attractive features. The base cards feature a similar design to the 2011 product and have some satisfying action shots. The backs of the base set also have a healthy amount of text and stats. The rookie cards follow the same format as the 2011 product in that they are the high numbered cards in the base set. These cards are distinguished by a RC on the front.

The common base card parallel is the refractor. These parallels look identical to the regular cards except they have a silvery tint and extra gloss to the fronts. On the back of the card, the word refractor is printed around the card's number on the back. These cards look nice, but not nice enough to build an entire set of. They are also not serial numbered, unlike the blue parallel that I found 1 of. This blue parallel is identified by its blue border and is serial numbered on the back to out of 199. 

I pulled 3 subset cards out of this box. I feel that this is a really low number of subset cards as I pulled about twice that in the 2011 box. The fronts of the cards are especially glossy and reflective, with each card featuring a particular outstanding player of that season. The backs of the cards have a retro look with cardboard backs and a classic text font. Each of the cards are serial numbered out of 1961, 999, and 499. If it wasn't for how much the chrome makes these cards bend, I'd be much more inclined to collect these.

I pulled two autographed rookies, neither of which were serial numbered. One of these was Jenrry Mejia and the other was Jon Jay. The autos were signed in blue ink and look pretty nice except for the bending. I feel that any card that is autographed should be serial numbered, but there are a lot of products out there that refuse to do this. The biggest problem with the autos is that the Jay auto has multiple scratches down the center, along with a smudge just below. This is all from the packaging process as the auto cards were put face up towards the package's seal. I have no idea how Topps thought this would be a good idea.

The Cardinals are my favourite team, so I am over the moon with a Jon Jay rookie auto. However, the numerous damages and card bending left me deflated over this product. There is a chance that I pulled a bad box, but I have read elsewhere that the 2010 product had severe bending. I would not recomend this product unless I can buy it on sale, which is perhaps why the box I bought was on sale. I give the 2010 Topps Chrome product a half eaten soggy pickle!

Score 11/12: 1 Box

What makes Score a great product is that it is very affordable and offers autograph /chase cards. Products with a similar price point, such as Victory, do not offer autograph cards nor as many subsets or parallels. A box of Score should cost around $30 and I'd recommend buying it early as last year's product has doubled in cost! The cost is why I picked it up during my boxing day shopping, as it added a bit of volume to my purchase while not depleting my bank account!

Score 11/12 boasts a 500 base card set and a further 50 rookies. In addition, there are another 20 rookie cards that are short-printed -not serial numbered. Beyond the base and rookie sets are 11 subsets to collect, all of which vary in rarity. As for the autographs, there are three different sets of autos! The common set is the autographed version of the base set, followed by the Hot Rookie signatures, the short-printed rookie signatures, and finally the Recollection Collection which is a small list of cards from the original 1990-91 Score set that have been autographed. None of the cards in Score are serial numbered, and the odds of finding the cards is not clearly laid out by Score, if mentioned at all. However, most of the information about rarity and checklists can be found on Panini's website or various blogs such as mine! Follow this link to find a comprehensive list of the Score 11/12 cards.

BASE: The base card design is not as attractive as last years. The front of the cards have a white boarder with red curved lines  along the vertical sides and the player's name at the bottom. The problem is that the white boarders become lost in photos of hockey players that already are dominated by the absence of color. Allowing the image to fade out or to bleed past the boarder would have looked better. What doesn't help either is that the player's name also becomes lost in the image as each text color corresponds to that player's particular team. While colors like black and red work well, silver is completely lost; why would anyone think this was a good idea?! Also, the photos are fairly generic and rarely have well framed shots. Too many of the photos are taken at shoulder or eye level with the player's upper body being lost in the arena's crowd. Here, the image would be improved by blurring the background so that the player would take center stage. Score is out-shot by the Upper-Deck series one base cards! However, the Score product is less than half the price of UD and you do get what you pay for.

PARALLELS: Each pack of Score includes one parallel. These parallels are often the glossy variety, which has been improved upon from last year's product. The front of the cards are identical to the regular set except for it being glossy. In last year's product you could sometimes 'gloss' right over these parallels. New for this year, the glossy cards have the word glossy written around the card number on the back. Simple and effective. I also pulled one Gold Rush parallel, which is identical to the regular base set except for the card has a gold colored border on the front. Nothing too special and not exactly worth collecting; the glossy cards look much better. Gold Rush cards fall one per box.

SUBSETS: There are a ton of subsets in Score. There are two that can only be found in retail jumbo packs and another 9 in hobby packs. There are two die-cut subset cards that I think fall one per box (not one each). The design of the non-die-cut subset cards look OK and are nothing too special. They are printed on the same stock as the regular set and have a similar layout to the base set. Regardless, the cards emphasize important moments throughout the season, such as the first goals from the previous year's rookies, highlights from the Stanley Cup playoffs, or the fan affection and ticker-tape atmosphere when a player enters the arena. All of these cards are fun to look at and read the backs of, which is something too many subset cards forget about -fun! What's also fun is the die-cut card. I pulled a NHL Shield die-cut that features a silhouetted Nicklas Lidstrom with a NHL shield graphic cut out of the card's top. The card just looks cool and has a small blurb on the back that explains why Lidstrom is such a powerful force in the NHL -seven time Norris Trophy winner.

HOT ROOKIES: Perhaps the most attractive aspect of buying a box of Score is that you know you will walk away with a mitt full of rookies and one is likely to be a top draft pick! Score rookies do not tend to be highly valued because they are common but it is because they are so common that at least you can say that you have so-and-so's rookie card unlike other products (UD) where you might have to buy 10 boxes before you find that top rookie card! I pulled 17 regular rookies cards and one double (which is likely an error because I never found doubles in any boxes last year). The design of the rookies follows the same format as last years but adds a bit more drama. The player is silhouetted with thick design borders and bold text. The background behind the player is a water color pattern that can be easily created in Photoshop but nonetheless is used for good affect here. As I said before, it is rewarding to pull a known high-draft rookie in a box, and here I found a Cody Hodgson rookie. 

I also pulled a short-printed and an autographed rookie. Short printed rookies are identical to the regular rookies. These cards are numbered 551 to 570, being the additional 20 cards to the regular rookie set. The one I pulled was of Gabriel Landeskog, someone definitely making an impact in the NHL. The autographed rookie was of Erik Condra and this card is from the regular set of rookies. The autograph is signed in blue ink over top a sticker. I am not a fan of sticker autos but I know they are cheaper to produce and hence more commonly used in cheaper products. Overall, my luck was definitely running high with picking up a sp and auto rookie in one box!

The verdict for Score 11/12 is that it is a certified sweet pickle of a winner. There are many short-comings with this set and there is a lot to improve upon. However, there are noticeable improvements over last year's product so it would seem this would be a product that will continually evolve and improve. The most important aspect of the Score product is it's price! At $30 a box, this is a very affordable set to build and it is a set that is not too large like the 800 card OPC sets that are very difficult to build and who's boxes cost roughly $70 a pop. I also really appreciate the number of subsets and the restrained amount of parallels. The inclusion of autographs and short prints also adds that extra layer of icing to this cake.

Bowman Platinum 2011 Baseball: 4 Packs

I picked up 4 packs of Bowman Platinum 2011 baseball during my boxing day shopping spree. I had never purchased this product before and had not bought Bowman baseball cards since the early 90's. The packs were on sale but were regularly priced at $10 each. This is the same price point as the NHL Artifacts cards and I figured the Platinum product should produce some good results because of this. I was only somewhat right.

In all I pulled 6 hits, consisting of 2 parallel cards, 3 prospects and one auto redemption card. I also pulled 3 rookie cards, none of which were serial numbered and are part of the base set.

The base cards are printed on a slightly thicker than average paper stock that is roughly half the thickness of the Ultimate NHL cards. The backs have a clear design with a hefty amount of text that doesn't read like a book. The number on the back is placed within a red bubble on regular cards and green ones for rookies, which is helpful since the only other difference between base and rookie is that there is a small RC printed on the front. The front of the base and rookie cards is slightly glossy with a silvery sheen that makes the photos pop! The backgrounds are blurred to allow the player to stand out, and each player is featured in an action shot. The front graphics are isolated to the bottom 1/5 of the card and are very clear and the palyer's name is printed in a reflective silver over top a dark and non-reflective background. Overall these are excellent looking base cards and would make an outstanding looking set.

I pulled three prospects subset cards, all of which where printed with chrome fronts. The design is almost identical to the base cards except that there is more text and no stats on the backs. I also pulled two parallel cards, one of which is a prospects parallel. This parallel is of Yasmani Grandal and is dubbed a X-Fractor, which fall 1 in 4 packs. The second parallel is a gold base card, which is identical to the base cards except that the front has a gold tint. Gold variation cards fall 1 in 5 packs. None of the parallels or prospects I pulled were serial numbered.

The final hit of the 4 packs is a Trevor Bell auto relic card base; I believe this will be a signed jersey card. This came as a redemption card, so hopefully I won't have to wait too long for the card to arrive in the mail. This is also the first redemption I've pulled from a Topps product (Bowman is produced by Topps).

Compared to the 4 packs of Artifacts that I opened, the Bowman product was much weaker. However, I still came out with 3 rookies and an auto. I'll be trying my hand at this product again if not just for grabbing a few more of the excellent looking base cards.

Upper-Deck Artifacts 11/12: 4 Pack Break

Continuing my thread of boxing day box and pack break extravaganza is the rundown of what came out of 4 packs of Artifacts 11/12. This is hands-down THE best product so far of the 11/12 season. The packs can be a little expensive at $10 each but there is a guaranteed hit in each one! This guarantee is included in all the Artifacts products from previous years except the 11/12 product includes the biggest and most numerous hits!

Two of the four packs had common hits, which I refer to the subset base cards as. These cards are broken into two groups, Stars and Hockey Legends. Both of these sets are serial numbered out of 999 and continue the base card numbering. These sets are getting tired as they have been included in each year Artifacts has been produced, but it is fun to see which current NHL star will be included for that year. Regardless, I pulled one Star and one Legend from the packs. Thankfully the other two packs provided a much bigger jaw dropping experience!

The first big hit was an Artifacts Tundra Trios card, numbered 148 of 149 that featured three jersey swatches. The jerseys came from Subban, Price, and Plekanec of the Montreal Canadiens and features two red and one white swatch. I loved that more than one color was found in the jerseys and loved it even more that the card featured some of my favorite players from one of my favorite teams! Awesome jaw dropping moment!

The fourth hit of the packs was huge! This hit was of a jersey and patch base parallel numbered 42 out of 65! The card is of Patrice Bergeron, and yes I know it is sacrilege to like both Boston and Montreal. Nonetheless, the patch is beautiful with three breaks, featuring a large yellow chunk and a smaller black and white area along with a second tiny black piece in the corner. The jersey is lackluster as it is solid white but who cares when the patch is this prominent!

Striking two big hits like the Montreal Trios jersey and Bergeron patch /jersey cards are why I will keep going back to this season's Artifacts product! Just awesome stuff!

UD Srs II 10/11: Buyback

Today I picked up a bunch of baseball and hockey cards because of a boxing week sale at my nearby card store. I'll be bringing up a number of posts from this box and pack breaking extravaganza, and here I begin with 6 packs from the Upper-Deck srs II 10/11 product that I opened.

I keep buying UD srs II 10/11 because of the high-frequency of case and box break cards that you pull. I've pulled some seriously great cards such as 2 black parallel Victory rookies (short printed to about 5) and an exclusive Parjavi UD Young Gun rookie serial numbered to 100. So with the sale I decided to try another 6 packs. Amazing I only pulled two duplicate Young Gun rookies while finding 1 that I previously didn't have. I also pulled 3 Victory rookies that I didn't have, making that 6 rookies from 6 packs! Pretty awesome odds considering rookies fall roughly 1 in 4 packs. On top of these rookies, I also pulled an UD Exclusives base (of Chris Kelly) numbered 87/100 and another Young Guns, this time a UD Exclusives Ryan Reaves rookie numbered 40/100. This blows the odds out of the water considering Exclusives fall one per box!

Buyback

The big hit of the box was a case break Buyback card. These cards are previously released Upper-Deck cards that have been purchase through the secondary market by UD to be re-released in current products. I had only pulled one buyback before in an OPC 08/09 box, which was a signed 07/08 OPC rookie. This time around the buyback was an Ilya Kovalchuk jersey card numbered 73/100 from their 07/08 Black Diamond product. The card is unaltered and was packed within a plastic sleeve and had a Buyback certificate inserted alongside it (pictured left). The card itself looks OK, but it is lackluster in that it was not signed like my previous buyback. Further, the card itself seems pretty random and I don't understand of why UD would go through such a hassle of buying back an average jersey card. The whole thing isn't helped either by me not being a Kovalchuk fan -I actually loathe the player and will probably sell it, back to the secondary market!