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.

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.

Ultimate 06 /07: 1 pack

A long time ago I picked up a pack of Ultimate 06 /07. This is a middle of the road priced series of hockey cards from UD that has the same price point as a box of cards, but instead you receive 1 pack. Although it is only one pack, you are guaranteed at least 2 hits, plus a rookie card, that in some ways is the equivalent of the hits you would receive in a box of equally priced cards. Overall this can be a hit or miss product but for whatever reason I have had some good luck with this product as I have purchased in sum 1 pack of 06 /07, 1 pack of 08/09, and 2 packs of 10/11 Ultimate; I have no idea why I only purchase the product once every two years. As the 10/11 product recently came out, I felt I would post what I received in my previous packs before delving into what I got from the most recent product.

What I got:

Base: The base cards have a very elegant design with the hockey player removed from his original context and slapped onto a background with geometric and organic designs. The designs have a muted color scheme that allows the player's picture to be brought to focus, with parts of the player (hand & foot in this case), bleeding off the edges. Here I pulled a Wayne Gretzky wearing his Oilers jersey, which is perhaps the best base card you could possibly pull. The card is numbered out of 699, which isn't a bad print run for a base set. The weird thing about this card is that Gretzky's stats on the back of the card do not feature his years with the Oilers but instead his final years with the Kings to Rangers. Odd to say the least. Despite this, it is a great looking card.

Rookies: Here I pulled a Ryan Shannon rookie numbered out of 699. Again, not a bad print run as it does not feature an auto or jersey element to the card. The background differs a little too dramatically from the base set as it is very dark with a blah looking beige color and some slapped on gold colored foil along the lateral margins. Not a great player on a very blah looking card. This is probably the weakest element to the 06/07 product.

Autograph: I pulled an Ultimate Signatures of Jordan Staal that is not serial numbered. I feel that every card from a one pack product like Ultimate should always be serial numbered, so this is definitely a strike against Ultimate. This was Staal's rookie year, so pulling his auto dramatically improves this pack's excitement level. The background and overall design is dark like the rookie discussed above, but the auto is big and placed over a white with grey elements background. This allows for the auto (signed in blue) really stand out.

Patch: The leading card from the pack was a Evgeni Malkin Ultimate Patch numbered out of 75. This is a really stellar card as this was Malkin's rookie year. The patch is quite nice with two breaks and two colors, although the patch is incredibly small and should be much larger for a product such as this. The major downside to this card is that one of the corners is scuffed from the manufacturing process. High-end product like this (even with a middle-range price tag) should have high manufacturing standards. I understand a low-end product like O-Pee-Chee having some defect and error cards, but you should never find such a card when the product has only one pack per box. Great card but aggrivating that it has a defect.

Overall the Ultimate 06 /07 product is a nice looking set, with some strikes of dark looking backgrounds and small windows for patches. I pulled some excellent names from my pack, but the defect left me wanting more.