2011-12 Panini Rookie Anthology

The quest for Lord Stanley's Cup begins. So you know we are posting some hockey today.

Panini doing some more NHL cards. They are getting like Topps with their number of set releases. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on the pack, since Ovech or Crosby wouldn't pass for a rookie. Technically. neither does 2yr year Ryan.

Note to Panini: could you really strike out in your designs? I felt like I have seen this before. What I for sure have seen before is this, and I love seeing it over and over.

Moving on...

 BTW - number of rookies in this post? Zero. Good pack distribution. Eight year veteran here in Milan Michalek.

 

The foil is gold and not silver. Not sure if that shows up. Loui Eriksson has been with the Stars for 7 years.

Yup - Sid the Kid. Nice lame 'stache, Sidney. 

Steve Stamkos. And let's show the back of the cards.

Team logo instead of a sepia toned copy of the front picture. The person who knows the Instagram login must have been on vacation.

Now, I think the 5 cards on the pack must have meant a guarantee, cuz, as usual, I got a 6th in a Panini pack. Seems like if I get one card too many, it's Panini. Too few is Topps.

Not too shabby in once sense - autographed dual relic. But Brian Strait? Total nobody in the Pens farm league system.

You know the cheer folks. 

2013 Topps Heritage

The other day, a certain after hours bird was whining that this pack hasn't been posted. So let's stick this in his beak and quiet him up.

This is a retail pack grabbed at Target. I think we know all, but for those under a rock trying to avoid the high pitched voice of a certain flying creature, 9 cards in a pack. Did I pull something good?

Nice work replicating the 1964 design. Freese thinks a certain feathered animal complains too much.

 

Bochy likes to ignore after hour bloggers that expect instant gratification.

Santana is fairly certain that people that work second shifts have bad body odor.

Four players that have better things to do than visit a craphole like Watertown, NY.

Heyward is admiring his bat and wonders if a particular fowl would explode in a puff of feathers like that bird hit by the Randy Johnson pitch.

"Yeah - sure the trophy is in my ear. At least my head is not up my a......"

Molina is chromey and classy, unlike a certain avarian.

Sandoval wishes nothing but many Dodger losses for a specific member of the genus Tyto.

Betancourt believes when it comes to birds, nothing beats an unladen swallow.

2012-13 Upper Deck Black Diamond

Blackhawks just clinched the President's Cup, so let's post a hockey pack I ripped from my LCS's pack wars. I like this product, except for the price tag.

Well slap me silly - it's not Crosby or Ovechkin. It is Malkin, though. You get 5 cards in the pack, and you are looking for the triple and the quad diamond cards. Triples fall one in every 4, which happens to be the same seeding as double. Quads drop one every 12 packs.

The Great One right on top. I love the hashing they do in the background of these cards. While you cannot tell in the scan, the hash marks go in directions in relation with the image, so you get some much better texture than the scan shows. The name at the bottom scanned like crap, though. You have to hold them in the light at the right angle to read the name. Single diamond, btw.

The Kane that is not Patrick - Evander. I like the lack of the Betteman strips on the Jets uniforms. I just wish they went back to mimic an earlier look.Single diamond.

This is a Rookie Gems, though you can only guess that because the bottom of the card is different than the others. Great mask on a guy still in the minors. Triple diamond.

Steve Ott. Single diamond. The great thing about Upper Deck is....well, let me show you the back.

Yes, it is the same photo as the front, but dig that team logo. Yup - we have a Sabre player shown in last year's team uniform. No photoshopping here. I like when they are not shopped.

Jeff Skinner. Nice pull of the youngest player ever in the All Star game and 2010-11 Calder Cup winner for ROY.

I like these cards. Be a nice box to rip if I could find one cheap.

2013 Topps Gypsy Queen

I was finding it amusing that no one had posted a new Gypsy Queen pack here yet, considering my disdain for the product - especially with this year's design. That being said, I still had my Topps coupon book from a Target blaster that I picked up earlier in the year and was able to talk myself into buying two packs for $4.98.

184 - Chris Davis - I don't understand why this product exists.

211 - Dan Uggla - Doesn't Allen & Ginter fill this niche?

NH-WS - Warren Spahn No-Hitters - Okay, this isn't a bad looking card, but that logo just kills me. It looks like some web design school flunkie used an '80s Print Shop program to create the Gypsy Queen logo, just to be ironic.

78 - Kyle Seager Mini - For some reason, the mini parallels are a slightly different color than the base cards.

101 - Mike Olt - In my other pack, I pulled a Matt Moore mini and a Jered Weaver No-Hitters insert. They're up for grabs.

94 - Melky Cabrera - To top it off, the backs of the cards use this weird glow-in-the-dark hue that makes my eyes sad.

2012-13 Panini Marquee

Another pack from LCS pack wars this weekend - Panini releases more NBA cards.

LANDSCAPE PACK! Very logo-ish pack from Panini. Eight cards in this baby.

Yeah, they are not electric blue. They scanned that way. This cards are your standard foil, except for one thing: holy crap are they thick! Think fake blocker card thick. Maybe just slightly thinner than a blocker card, but way thicker than your average card. Style is simple with the club name upper left. Panini sure likes their Marquee logo, as you can't miss it on the front.

This is an acetate card. I think they fall one per pack. The "ROOKIE" lettering is clear. This card, though, is average thickness.

Now this rookie card does have a black background. Why the need for 2 styles of rookie cards? Ask Panini - I just rip the packs open.

Another insert. According to the pack, this is an "All-Rookie Team laser cut".

Nice laser cutting - you left the star! And that is some weird, stupid gradation line at the bottom of the card. Decent idea with really crappy execution.

Paul Gasol.

Ex-Bull Ben Gordon.

Not bad - Blake Griffin.

 

 

Chicago Farragut HS alum Kevin Garnett. Ready for the card backs?

Wow - really different, Panini. There you go. If you want the pack, send me an email.

2002 Upper Deck SPx Rookie Update

 Upper Deck with their version of update set featuring rookies who made their debut and players that changed teams in 2001 season.

 

First card turns out to be a dummy

 

Corey Patterson - one time Cubs prospect turned journeyman played for 7 teams already. Was on the Mets for spring training before releasing him.

Ray Durham - was on Chicago White Sox before getting traded to Oakland A's. Went across the bridge to San Francisco where he played for 5 1/2 seasons before ending his career as a Brewer.

Geronimo Gil - was opening day starter in 2002. Turns out as his only full season as he would bounce between Orioles and AAA club before getting released in 2006. Now playing in the Mexican Leagues.

Adam Dunn - the only player in the pack playing in the majors. The all-or-nothing homerun hitter played for 4 teams and hit 40+ homeruns in a season six times. Now in his 13th season in the majors.

A dud pack.

2013 Panini Prizm

Last night's pack wars at my LCS garnered a lot of packs to rip and post here at APTBNL. Let's start off with Panini's jump into current MLB players with Prizm.

Six cards in a pack. Think Topps Chrome....without the Chrome curve.

 

Aramis Ramirez -  Brewers Milwaukee. Only had to shop out the helmet logo. These cards have some weight to them. Heavier than a Chrome card.

Boom. Trout as a member of Team USA. At least there is no photoshopping required.

While there is no curve, Panini took the lazy path and used the same photo as the front. And yet, we are supposed to fork out six bucks plus for a pack. Let's pop through the next three cards.

 

Mauer, Miggy and Yount. The shopping on the Yount is REALLY bad. The backs of the base are different than the Trout above.

The Yount here has a career line. Regular base just have the 2012 stats and then a career total. Good use of the Instagram sepia filter, Panini.

And a Marte rookie to end the pack. I said I wouldn't buy any of these. I only have this pack because of pack wars, and I can see WHY I won't be buying any of these. Crappy in my mind.