Topps Set To Add More Star Autographs To 2012 Finest, Platinum And Topps Chrome Baseball

Set to arrive in late July-early August, Topps Chrome, Topps Finest and Bowman Platinum will look a little different than in previous years. 

Though limited in production, Topps will to add more veteran star autographs featuring the likes of Albert Pujols, Justin Verlander, Matt Kemp and more.

Here are the highlights:

2012 Topps Finest

·         Faces of the Franchise Autographs #’d to 15 or less.  Includes Matt Kemp, Chipper Jones and more.

·         Finest Moments Autographs #’d to 25 or less (Yu Darvish, Miguel Cabrera)

·         Game Changers Autographs #’d to 10 or less (Prince Fielder and Jose Bautista)

·         Game Changers Autographed Relics #’d to 5

·         Dual Autographs #’d to 10

·         Triple Autographs #’d to 5

2012 Topps Chrome

·         Dynamic Die Cut Autographs #’d to 25 or less featuring stars such as Albert Pujols.

·         Chrome Encounter Autographs #’d to 10 or less starring Ryan Braun and Adrian Gonzalez

·         Cut from the Same Cloth Autographs #’d to 5 are dual sided cards featuring 2 star autographs such as Josh Hamilton/Nelson Cruz.

·         Dual Autographs #’d to 10 or less

2012 Bowman Platinum

·         Cutting Edge Stars Autographs #’d to 25 or less. Includes Robinson Cano and more.

·         Purely Platinum Autographs #’d 1 of 1 featuring Clayton Kershaw, Dustin Pedroia and more.

These star autographs will replace a rookie/prospect autograph.

Sneak Peek and Preview Of Future Upper Deck Football Releases Including Exquisite, College Football Legends, SPx And More

Upper Deck has provided us with a whole bunch of information about their upcoming Football releases.  Here is our Sneak Peek and Preview.

2011 Exquisite Football

Cam Newton rookie Auto Patch

Always anticipated by collectors, 2011 Exquisite Football will come in 3 box cases.  Each box will contain 6 cards with 5 autographs per box.   All of the autographs will be on-card.

 Christian Ponder Exquisite Rookie Signatures, Cam Newton Exquisite Black Signatures

2 autos per case will come from this list:

Jerry Rice, Adrian Peterson, John Elway, Dan Marino, Barry Sanders, Aaron Rodgers, Steve Young, Troy Aikman, Cam Newton, A.J. Green, Andy Dalton, Julio Jones, DeMarco Murray and Jake Locker.

John Elway Exquisite Dimensions Signatures, Mark Ingram Black Lustrous Rookie Signatures

Product highlights include 4 new cards, Signature Slots, Exquisite Twelve, Exquisite Masterpieces and Exquisite Dimensions.  UD Black Rookie Cards and Exquisite Rookie Book Marks make a return.

Ryan Mallett & Jake Locker Exquisite Ensemble 2 Signatures

Here are actual scans of the Rookie Autograph Patch Cards before they were sent out to be signed.

Andy Dalton, Julio Jones

 Jake Locker, A.J. Green

A release date for 2011 Exquisite Football has not been set but we will share that information as soon as it becomes available.

2012 Upper Deck Football

2012 Upper Deck Football will come in 12 box cases.  Each box will contain 20 packs with 6 cards per pack and 3 autographs per box.

Cam Newton's Star Rookies Card

The base set will include 197 Rookies and 50 Retired players.  

 Alshun Jeffery and Brandon Weeden Ultimate Rookie Cards

Each pack will contain 2 Star Rookies.  Each box will contain 2 Ultimate Collection Rookies numbered to 450 and 4 - 1993 SP Football cards.  Each case will contain 2 rare parallels numbered to 10 or less, 4 College Mascot Patches from the 60 card set with different levels of rarity and 1 Autograph from either Robert Griffin III, Justin Blackmon or Trent Richardson.

 Justin Blackmon and Trent Richardson Star Rookies Cards

In addition, Rookie Lettermen Signatures and Ultimate Collection Rookie Sigs are signed on-card.

Star Rookies Stripes are back with a twist. There will be up to 200 different 1-of-1 Star Rookie Stripes can be redeemed for 15 Autographed copies of the featured player!

2012 Upper Deck Football is scheduled to be released on 4/24/12.

2011 College Football Legends

Ty Detmer Base Card

This set will come in 12 box cases.  Each box will contain 20 packs with 5 cards per pack and 3 autographs per box.   All of the autographs will be on-card.

 Barry Sanders Decade's Best Autographs

In every case, 2 of the Autographs will come from this list:

Jerry Rice, John Elway, Dan Marino, Barry Sanders, Aaron Rodgers, Steve Young, Troy Aikman, Tony Dorsett, Drew Brees, Jim Kelly, Gale Sayers, Andy Dalton, Cam Newton, Julio Jones, A.J. Green, DeMarco Murray and Blaine Gabbert.

 Aaron Rodgers Autograph Card, Dan Marino Autograph Card

The scheduled release date for 2011 College Football Legends is 5/8/12.

2012 SPx Football

 John Elway Base Card

The return of the ever popular Shadow Box accompanies the release of 2012 SPx Football.  This year there will be an added twist with Shadow Slots. SPx Shadow Slots are interchangeable acetate slots that allow you to create your own Shadow Box card. The acetate inserts will slide in and out of the Shadow Box card and will come in different levels of rarity.

Dan Marino SPX Shadow Slots

SPx Finite Rookies will come in 3 tiers of rarity numbered to 499 or less with Radiance and 1-of-1 Spectrum parallels.

LaMichael James Finite Rookies #/499

2012 SPx Football will come in 14 box cases.  Each box will contain 18 packs with 4 cards per pack.  

Barry Sanders Super Scripts, Justin Blackmon SPx Rookie Auto Jersey

Each box contains 4 Autographs or Memorabilia cards with at least 1 SPx Rookie Auto Jersey, at least 1 single, dual, triple, quad, or patch Memorabilia card and 2 SPx Finite Rookies.  

Trent Richardson Winning Big Materials 

Each case contains 1 SPx Shadow Box card. 2012 SPx Football is scheduled to be released on 6/12/12.

2011 USA Football Box Set

This set was just announced today so there aren’t any images as of yet.  It will focus on the 45 USA Football team members.  Endowed by the NFL and NFLPA in 2002, USA Football is the official youth football development partner of the NFL, its 32 teams and the NFL Players Association and manages U.S. national teams for international competition conducted by the International Federation of American Football (IFAF), composed of 62 countries spanning six continents. These are the future college and professional football players who are predicted to have an impact on the game.  

2011 USA Football will come as complete sets with 20 sets per case. There are 48 cards per set box, which includes a complete 45 base card team set, 1 Autograph and 2 Game Used Memorabilia Cards.   

There is no official release date for these cards but expect them to become availbale sometime in May.

Here are the 45 USA team members that will be featured on these cards.

Jabriel Washington, Ty Montgomery, George Atkinson, Aaron Green, Hakeem Flowers, Tacoi Sumler, Kevin Hogan, Conner Floyd, Manoa Pikula, Josh Turner, Tyler Wright, Ronald Tanner, Savon Huggins, Joe Bergeron, Kenny Williams, Devon Cajuste, Josh Atkinson, Graham Stewart, Nick Lifka, Anthony Rabasa, Michael Bennett. Jarrett Hudson, Chris Merlene, Kiaro Holts, Hunter Goodwin, Jamelle Naff, Jaxon Shipley, Jack Konopka, Kris Harley, Avery Walls, Cody Keith, Matt Freeman, Stephon Tuitt, Kiehl Frazier, Kellen Jones, Jesse Hayes, Matt Hegarty, Taniela Tupou, Anthony Sarao, Ryan Simmons, Wayne Lyons, Kevin McReynolds, Bobby Thompson, Matt Wofford, Will Monday.

And that does it for our Upper Deck Football Sneak Peek and Preview.  Expect information on other sports such as Hockey and golf plus an extended look at Goodwin Champions in the next couple of days.

2012 SAGE HIT Low Series Football Box Break Recap And Review

Have you jumped on the SAGE bandwagon yet?  If not, you should because 2012 SAGE HIT Low Series Football delivers greatly improved design, excellent photography, and hand collated hits to insure satisfaction with every box.  All of this from a company that has vast knowledge of the draft process and a proven track record of selecting the best prospects for autographs.

For the purposes of review, we classify HIT Low Series as trading cards.  Each box contains 30 – 5 card packs with the promise of 6 autographs per box.

Here are some of the cards we pulled.

Base Set

 Robert Griffin III, front and back

 Melvin Ingram, Doug Martin

The base set also includes 2012 Rookie cards which offer an alternative photos.  On the backs of these cards instead of stats there are achievement and attributes so you can get to know the prospect.

 Robert Griffin III, front and back

 Silver Parallels

 Devon Still, Harrison Smith

 Jacoby Harris, Jason Ford

 Jayron Hosley, Orson Charles

 Stephan Garcia

 Tom DeCastro, Jeff Fuller

 Melvin Ingram, Quinton Coples, Tommy Streeter

 Gold Parallels

 LeMar Miller, Tony Jerod - Eddie

 Ty Hilton

The Write Stuff Inserts

 Brandon Weeden, Michael Floyd

 Kellen Moore in regular and gold parallel versions

Artistry Inserts

 Joe Adams, LaMar Miller

 Micahel Floyd, Robert Griffin III, Ryan Tannehill

 The Hits

 Dominque Davis Base Auto, Chaz Powell Gold Auto #/250, Ryan Broyles Silver Auto

 LaMichael James Gold Auto #/250, Jered Crick Silver Auto, Matt Kalil Base Auto

Overall Look

This really is a step up in design for Low Series with some of the best looking cards we’ve seen from SAGE.  The photography displays a keen eye and creativity that is not just well done for a non-logo product but for any football product. The backs of these cards are very informative with the prospect's full college stats and all the pertinent biographical information.  The new clear sticker with gold foil accent is an improvement over the previous solid silver version and blends in well with the card’s background.  The base card parallels are also an improved with a more controlled use of the silver and gold sparkling with a smoother finish.  But what really excels here from a design standpoint is the Artistry insert set.  SAGE listened to collector and did away with the Big Time “big head” inserts shifting to a more refined illustrated look that has just the right amount of foil enhancements.

Quality and Variety of Players

SAGE knows how to pick them so the checklist is excellent for prospecting.  The cream rises to the top with the Write Stuff and Artistry inserts including a Cam Newton Artistry Autograph and the unannounced Sophomore Autos that give you a chance to snag an autograph from the best of last year’s rookie class. 

Do the hits hold up?

You should be fully prepped for the draft with these cards and with the hand collecting of hits, you are ensured to walk away with some of the top prospect autographs as we did by hitting the number three overall consensus draft pick.

Will you want to collect them all?

Each box yields at least one base set but you will want to pick up the complete Artistry and Write Stuff insert sets too.

Rating

5 out of 5

2012 SAGE HIT Low Series Football delivers a fantastic set of cards at a great price point that will keep rookie prospectors satisfied.