Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Sneak Peek and Preview Of Future Upper Deck Hockey Releases Including SP Authentic, Ultimate Collection, O-Pee-Chee And More


Here is a sneak peek and preview of Upper Deck' upcoming hockey releases and information about their booth at the 2012 Spring Sports Cards & Collectibles Expo which will feature Private Signings Autograph cards.

 2011-12 SP Authentic Hockey

Steven Stamkos Base, Cody Hodgson Rookie Extended Series

Here is what you can expect to find, on average, in a box of 2011-12 SP Authentic Hockey:
3 Signature Cards with 1 of those being an Autographed Future Watch RC, 12 Rookie Extended Series, 1 Future Watch Rookie Card, 2 Rookie Holo F/X cards and 2 SP Essentials.
Henrik Lundqvist Sign of the Times Auto, Taylor Hall Limited Auto Patch

On average, a case break will yield 2-3 Autographed Patch cards, 1 Sign of the Times Dual, 1 Rookie Holo F/X Die-Cut, 1Additional Low Numbered Auto
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins Autographed Future Watch

The Autograph Future Watch Rookie Cards will be also come in monster hit patch variations numbered to 100!
Carey Price Signature Stoppers

The set release date for 2011-12 NHL SP Authentic is 6/5/12.

2011-12 Ultimate Collection Hockey
Tim Thomas Base

Each pack of 2011-12 Ultimate Collection Hockey will have 1 Autograph Card, 1 Rookie Card and 1 Memorabilia Card on average.
 Steven Stamkos Ultimate Signature Logo, Mario Lemieux & Wayne Gretzky 
Ultimate Autographed Dual Ptach

Cases, on average, should yield 4 or More Patch cards, one to two 1997 Legends Autographs, 1 Ultimate Auto Rookie SP numbered to 99 and 1 Autographed Memorabilia Card.

 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins Autographed Ultimate Rookies

Chase cards in will include Ultimate Autographed Rookie Cards of the 20 top rookies for 2011-12 in SP’s numbered to 99 and Rookie Patch variations with 2 levels of numbering, to 25 and to 35.

2012-13 O-Pee-Chee Hockey
Alexander Ovechkin Base

Each box of 2012-13 O-Pee-Chee Hockey should, on average, yield 32 Retro parallels, 8 Marquee Rookies, 8 Marquee Legends, 8 Rainbow Foil parallels, 10 OPC Stickers and 2 OPC Pop-Ups.
 Ilya Bryzgalov OPC Sticker, Sidney Crosby Team Canada Signatures

For a case break, collectors should expect to pull, on average, 4 Team Logo Patches, 2 OPC Signatures and 1 Team Canada Signatures.

New this year for this year is the following:
 Sidney Crosby OPC Buyback Auto

The inclusion of rare OPC Buyback Autos.
P.K. Subban OPC Pop-Ups

OPC Pop-Ups which includes 50 different “old school” die-cut inserts.
Alex Ovechkin OPC Retro

1950’s-era Retro Parallels.
 2005-06 to present NHL Shield Logo Patch, Detroit Red Wings Cartoon Logo Patch 

Team Logo Patches which is a 100-Card set with 6 different tiers of scarcity.  These include Patches from 1917 to present day with rare Expansion Era, Pre- WWII, Ceremonial and Cartoon subsets.  These will be Hobby exclusive seeded 4 per case.

2012 Spring Sports Cards & Collectibles Expo

Upper Deck has a lot planned for this year’s Spring Expo.  The biggest draw will be the 2012 NHL Priorty Signings Wrapper Redemption Program.  Here are advanced images of the Wayne Gretzky variation autograph cards showing him in an All-Star Jersey along with an Eric Lindros Team Canada card from the set.

In addition to Gretzky and Lindros, the checklist includes players like Alexander Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby, Carey Price and Steven Stamkos.

To get in on the Priority Signings wrapper redemption program collectors will need to  purchase a box of 2011 NHL Parkhurst Champions, 2011-12 NHL Black Diamond, 2011-12 NHL Upper Deck Series Two or 2011-12 NHL SP Game-Used from a Certified Diamond Dealer at the show.  You will receive a voucher that you can bring to the Upper Deck booth along with the wrappers from the box either on Friday, May 4 – 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m., Saturday, May 5 – 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m., or Sunday, May 6 – 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.  Each voucher will be good for a free random 2012 NHL Priority Signings autograph card.

Upper Deck will also have plenty of eye candy on display and free raffles throughout the weekend too.

Another big addition to the Spring Expo is that Upper Deck will fulfill redemptions for customers at the show for the first-time ever. If you have outstanding redemptions with Upper Deck and would like to have them fulfilled or exchanged and available to pick up at the show, they will offer that service to you. To take part in picking up your outstanding redemptions and replacements at the Upper Deck Booth you need to send an email to time2swap@upperdeck.com with the subject title “2012 NHL Spring Expo Redemption Program.” In the body of the email, please cut and paste the code and description of the card(s) you would like fulfilled or exchanged. In twenty words or less, describe the type of replacements you would like to receive focusing more on teams, regions and brands you are interested in rather than particular players if the card is not in stock. If you do not provide the information exactly as described, Upper Deck will not be able to honor your request. Because this is a new program, Upper Deck will only be able to assist with a finite amount of customers who are interested in participating. They will let collectors know once they cannot accept any additional requests. To pick up your cards during the show you will need to provide a government issued identification and sign for them in person. Only the actual card owners can pick up the cards, so you cannot pick up items for a friend. Hours for pick-up are Friday, May 4 – 2:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m and Saturday, May 5 – 12:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

If you do not think you can be at the show on Friday, May 4 or Saturday, May 5, it is best not to make a request because if you fail to pick your cards up, you will not be able to request this service in the future and there could be additional delays in getting these cards to you.

The 2012 Spring Sports Cards & Collectibles Expo is scheduled for May 4th through the 6th.

Yu Darvish Signs Autographs For Multiple Topps Baseball Card Releases


There was excitement both home and abroad when Yu Darvish signed with the Texas Rangers earlier this year.  Recently one of his 2012 Topps Tribute Autographs just sold on eBay $1,300, so there is a good chance he is the auto to chance this year.  Fortunately he will be signing a whole bunch of products. 

Recently confirmed, here are the following releases that will include Yu Darvish autographs.

Museum Collection, releasing tomorrow, that includes 30 of this Autographs (via redemption)
Gypsy Queen, which releases 4/18, that includes 25 on-card Autographs.
Bowman
Topps Archives
Topps Baseball Series 2
Tier One
Allen & Ginter
Bowman Platinum
Finest
Topps Chrome

There will be more releases with Darvish autographs to come.



Sunday, April 1, 2012

2012 SAGE HIT High Series Football Box Break Recap And Review


2012 SAGE HIT High Series Football picks up where Low Series ended.  Together they form the complete 2012 SAGE HIT series.  Not much difference from High Series to Low Series in terms of card design and number of inserts.  So if you want an in depth review after reading this, use this link to get to our review of Low Series.

As in past years, the big differences in High Series as compared to Low Series is the number of hits per box with 9 autographs, which is 3 more than what is offered with Low Series, 3 less total packs than in Low Series and exclusive RG3, Robert Griffin III autograph cards.

For the purposes of review, we classify HIT High Series as trading cards.  Each box contains 27 – 5 card packs with the promise of 9 autographs per box.

Here are some of the cards we pulled.

Base Set
 Trent Richardson, front and back

 Darron Thomas, Dwayne Allen

 Justin Blackmon, Jarius Wright

Base Set Parallels - Silver
 Case Keenum, Chris Polk

 Daniel "Boom" Herron, Justin Blackmon

 Kendall Wright, Marvin McNutt

 Kirk Cousins, Kendall Wright

 Alshon Jeffery, Brock Osweiler, Daniel "Boom" Herron

 DeVier Posey, Ryan Tannehill, Trent Richardson

 Base Set Parallels - Gold
 Corvell Judie, Mike Willie

 Juron Criner

The Write Stuff Inserts
 Kendall Wright, front and back that offers handwriting analysis

 LaMichael James, Ryan Tannehill

 Nick Foles Gold Parallel

Artistry Inserts
 Brandon Weeden, Brock Osweiler, Case Keenum

 Daniel "Boom" Herron, Justin Blackmon, Marvin McNutt

 The Hits - Autographs
 Broderick Green Base Auto, G.J. Kinne Gold Auto #/250, Vontaze Burfict Gold Auto #/250

 Donnie Fletcher Base Auto, Ronnie Hillman Base Auto, Jarius Wright Gold Auto #/250

 Juron Criner Gold Auto #/250, Mark Ingram Sophomore Auto, Blaine Gabbert Sophomore Auto

Overall Look
As we mentioned before, this really is a step up in design for HIT Series with some of the best looking base and autograph cards we’ve seen from SAGE.  We really like the look of this year’s Artistry insert set.  The handwriting analysis on the backs of the Write Stuff cards adds another dimension of understanding about the players that you wont find any other place.

Quality and Variety of Players
This is a continuation of HIT's excellent checklist for prospecting.  The best of the best make it to the Write Stuff and Artistry inserts and the unannounced Sophomore Autos give you a chance to snag an autograph from the best of last year’s rookie class. 

Do the hits hold up?
As with all prospecting products, the proof of how the hits hold up comes down the road a bit.  How good your autos are will be determined not only by where these players are selected in the 2012 NFL draft, it will come from how these players do in their rookie season and beyond.  But with 9 autographs per box and some of the anticipated top draft choices signing, High series provides some of the best odds that you will pull a future great.

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 High Series Football delivers a fantastic set of cards at a great price point that will keep rookie prospectors satisfied.