2011 Topps Triple Threads Baseball Box Break Recap and Review

There are certain card releases that collectors can’t wait to open. Topps Triple Threads is one of them.  Year after year, collectors clamor for this product. This year, 2011 Topps Triple Treads Baseball comes with a major change, an additional hit per mini box. So each mini box now contains one autographed relic and one relic card, bringing the total number of hits per master box to four.

Topps Triple Treads Baseball falls under our premium cards category.  Each box contains two mini boxes with 7 cards per mini. In addition to the autographed relic and relic card, each mini contains sequentially numbered base cards in regular and shorter printed parallels.

Here are all of the cards we pulled from our box.

Base Cards #/1500

 Stan Musial - Front and back

 Darryl Strawberry,  Mel Ott

 Carlos Santana,  Rickey Henderson

Roy Campanella

Sepia Parallels #/625

 Johnny Bench,  Josh Johnson

Emerald Parallel #/249

Tony Gwynn

The Hits

 Starlin Castro Gold Unity Auto Relic #25,  Fergie Jenkins Gold Unity Relic #/9 

Redemption Card - Ian Desmond Rookie/Future Phenoms Auto Relic Gold #/25

 Matt Kemp Letter Plus Relics Booklet Card #/3 - Front

Matt Kemp Letter Plus Relics Booklet Card #/3 - Inside

Overall Look

I’m not the biggest fan of the base card design here.  The contrasting patterns and lines are not that appealing to me.  In addition, there is some photography that has already been used earlier in the year in other releases.  But Triple Threads makes up for this ten fold in the design of the hit cards.  Kudos to Topps for the unity cards with interlinking backgrounds.  Take a look at the Castro and Jenkins cards above.  When you put them side by side, they form two thirds of Wrigley Field.  Great idea that separates these hit cards from others issued this year.  The other hit cards look great too.

Quality and Variety of Players

The majority of the checklist is high quality and in line with the feel of Triple Threads from years past.

Do the Hits satisfy? 

It is funny, some of the hits here are so desirable, it can make you loose sight that the other hits are really good too.  Are some of the sayings cheesy?  Yes and anything that brings fun to collecting is good by me.  (But there are some real groaners.)

Will you keep coming back for more?

For some collectors, this is a special occasion box, one that they look forward to each year.  For collectors with deep products, a case is an easy purchase that should yield some monster hits.

Rating

4 1/2 out of 5

2011 Topps Triple Threads Baseball delivers again this year while upping its game.


Review box provided by Topps

2011 Panini NFL Stickers For Week 6 And Players To Watch This Week

We are in week 6 of filling in our 2011 Panini NFL Sticker Collection Album and the football season.  Our weekly players last week put in respectable performances.

Here are the three players to watch this week

Mark Sanchez of the New York Jets has been seeing a lot of turf lately.  With an offensive line that sorely missed Nick Mangold under center, defensive teams have been finding it easy to reach Sanchez.  This week the Jets face off against the Miami Dolphins who have has their share of problems on defense.  With a little less pressure, Sanchez should have enough time to find his talented group of receivers.

Steve Smith of the Carolina Panthers has averaged over 100 yards a game this season.  Last week his production was slightly down against the New Orleans Saints, but look for him to rebound against the porous pass defense of the Atlanta Falcons.

Tony Romo of the Dallas Cowboys has not had the best start this season and you certainly would not think to pick him as someone to watch on a week when the Cowboys are in Foxboro to take on the Patriots.  But you have to remember two things.   1 – While Tom Brady puts up monster numbers every week, the Patriots pass defense is the lowest ranking team in the NFL this year, giving up over 325 yards per game on average.  2 –One of the Cowboys star wide receivers, Miles Austin, returns back to action this week, so Romo should have enough targets to keep his numbers up.

In addition to the players to watch this week, her are the stickers going into our album.

David Nelson, Jairus Byrd, Heath Miller

Felix Jones, LeRon Landry, Santana Moss

Earl Bennett, Johnny Knox, Antoine Winfield

Christian Ponder, Jason Snelling, Eric Weems

Jonathan Stewart, James Anderson, Jonathan Vilma

Tracy Porter, Stylez G. White, Adrian Wilson

Paris Lenon, John Skelton, Daniel Fells

Kenneth Darby, Mark Clayton, Troy Smith

Chris Clemons, Leon Washington, Lofa Tatupu

2010 NFC Champions, North Texas 2011, Super Bowl

Brandon Marshall, New England Patriots, Jerod Mayo, Peyton Manning

DeSean Jackson, Roddy White, Vernon Davis, Richard Dent

Be on the look out for more additions to our sticker album next week.

2011 Topps Football Complete Set Box Break and Review

A completed boxed set of cards seems counter intuitive in an era of collecting that covets the big hits and shuns base cards.  But 2011 Topps Football Complete Set NFL Trading Cards reminds you of the simplicity and beauty of card collecting.   Using great design as well as excellent photography, well-executed base cards can be as breathtaking as any mojotastic hit.  They also serve as a record of the year and are the cards you pull out of your collection, down the road, that allow you to reminisce about seasons past.

Clearly, this package gets classification as a boxed set for the purposes of this review. Inside you’ll find the complete 440 card base set, no alternate photo versions or inserts, and each boxes contains a pack of five Red-Bordered parallels.

For the most part, this review will mimic our previous review of 2011 Topps Football because the cards are the same.

Here is one of the base cards.

 Cam Newton - Front

 Back of the card

Here are the 5 red-bordered parallels.

 Deion Branch Red-Bordered Parallel - Front

Deion Branch Red-Bordered Parallel - Back

The red-bordered parallels are numbered to 77 in gold foil

Rookies -  Adrian Clayborn, Allen Bailey

 San Diego Chargers Team Card

Jason Campbell

Overall look

The design of the base set is attractive but it’s the photography that makes this set stand out.

Does the checklist of players feel complete?

The checklist is quite extensive, so unless there is an obscure lineman or kicker you crave, you should be happy.

Are there any bonus cards included?

Yes.  There are the 5 red-bordered parallels. They are all numbered to 77 and with 440 base cards it was easy to figure out that this complete set run is limited to 6,776 total boxes.  It could prove to be a difficult task to put together an entire red-bordered set, but there should be a few brave souls out there willing to take on the task.

Boxed Set vs. Set Building

No doubt, these cards are fun to collect pack by pack, but having the complete packaged set is convenient.

Rating

 

4 1/2 out of 5

2011 Topps Football Complete Set NFL Trading Cards is a great set housed in a well done package.

2011 Rittenhouse Archives The Complete Star Trek: The Next Generation, Series One 1987 – 1991 Box Break Recap and Review

When you are collecting non-sports cards based on one of your favorite shows, you are looking for three things, detailed episode cards, cool insert cards and big hit Auto and relic cards.  Rittenhouse Archives has packed all of this and more into The Complete Star Trek: The Next Generation, Series One 1987 – 1991.

This set falls under our classification of trading cards.  Hobby Boxes contain 24 – 5 card packs and feature four autograph cards.

Here is a look at some of the cards we pulled from our hobby box.

 Episode Cards

 The Best of Both Worlds, Part 2, Front and Back

Episode Card Parallels

 The Naked Now, Datalore, The Schizoid Man

 Contagion, The Emissary, The Vengeance Factor

 Allegience, Clues

Tribute Cards

 Frank Corsentino as Daimon Bok "The Battle, William Boyett as Lt. Dan Bell "The Big Goodbye"

 Walter Gotell as Kurt Mandl "Home Soil", Vincent Schiavelli as Minosian Peddler "The Arsenal of Freedom"

U.S.S. Enterprise NC-1701 – D cards

 E3, E6

Star Trek TNG Aliens Cards

These cards are two sided so there are three total cards, six sides, front and back.

 A1 - Acamarian, Aldean, Algolian, Android, Angosian, Antedean

 A9 - Mintakan, Mizarian, Nagilum, Napean, Ophidian, Ornaran

 A13 - Vorgon, Vulcan, Yridian, Zaldan, Zalkonian, Zibalian

Autograph Cards

The backs of these cards have a clear embossed text to ensure authenticity

 Normal Run - John Putch as Mordock in "Coming of Age", Sam Hennings as Ramsey in "Angel One"

 Limited Run - Rhonda Aldrich as Madeline in "Clues", Corbin Bernsen (L.A. Law, Major League) as Q2 in "Deja Q"

Overall Look

The episode cards pack a lot of information.  5 photos and a complete episode synopsis.  With that much going on, these cards could become “busy” looking, but Rittenhouse has found a way to lay everything out in a clean fashion.  Insert cards are great and Autograph cards are designed well.  Glossy parallels of the episode cards are a nice touch too.

Quality and Variety of checklist.

There is plenty here to collect.  88 episode cards and parallels, 18 Tribute Cards, 13 Star Trek TNG Aliens cards, 9 U.S.S. Enterprise NC-1701 – D cards, 5 Star Trek Communicator Pin Cards, 49 Autograph Cards, and a Gene Roddenbery cut signature card limited to 30. There is a great mix of autographs.  Insert go deep into the actors who appeared on the show.

Do the hits hold up?

If you don’t recognize some of the names, you will recognize the faces, which helps to keep the extensive autograph list desirable.  Limited edition Communicator Pin Cards and the Roddenbery cut autos are the chase cards here.

Will you want to collect them all? 

You should be able to pull a complete episode base card set out of a box, as we did.  But you will want more.  Set builders will chase a complete Parallel base set.  You’ll also want all the insert cards, in particular, the Aliens cards.  For deeper pockets, there are large purchase incentives. An exclusive 5"x7" card featuring one of Gene Roddenbery’s authentic TNG business cards from when he worked on the show in the late 1980s is included with orders of 3 cases.  If you buy 6 cases, you get an exclusive autograph card signed by Patrick Stewart as Locutus of Borg.  If you can swing an 18 case purchase, you get an archive box from the Complete Star Trek: The Next Generation, Series One 1987 – 1991.

Rating

4 1/2 out of 5

2011 Rittenhouse Archives The Complete Star Trek: The Next Generation, Series One 1987 – 1991 is a must purchase for fans of the show.