2009 Team USA to be in 2010 Bowman
USA BASEBALL TO MAKE FIRST APPEARANCE IN 2010 BOWMAN
On the heels of announcing that it is now the official baseball card of USA Baseball, Topps is pleased to share the details of the program’s first appearance… Read more
Upper Deck releases statement on settlement with MLBP
Upper Deck released a statement on their settlement with MLBP yesterday. The biggest things coming out of the statement are that there is no recall, no matter what anyone at a card show says, on 2009 Signature Stars, Ultimate Baseball or 2010 Series One. The statement includes a quote from Richard McWilliams on the future of Upper Deck Baseball. Read more
Topps is Exclusive USA Baseball Licensee
USAB announces deal with Topps
Exclusive, multi-year agreement reunites former partners
DURHAM, N.C. — USA Baseball and the Topps Company, the leading creator and marketer of sports cards, today announced an exclusive multi-year licensing deal to make Topps the Official Baseball Card of USA Baseball. Topps will have exclusivity on USA Baseball trademarks, logos and other intellectual property, for use on cards featuring USA Baseball players.
From 1984-93 Topps was the exclusive card manufacturer for USA Baseball, producing cards for the U.S. Olympic Baseball Team. The new agreement calls for cards, autographs and game-used equipment of USA Baseball’s Collegiate, 18U and 16U National Team players to be featured in a variety of Topps products each year.
“Twenty-five years after collectors were first introduced to USA Baseball, our organization is pleased to have Topps, the industry leader, return as the exclusive home for USA Baseball trading cards,” said Paul Seiler, USA Baseball Executive Director/CEO. “We look forward to working closely with Topps as together we provide collectors with a look at the future of America’s game on trading cards.”
“Now we’re the only trading card licensed by Major League Baseball, Minor League Baseball and USA Baseball,” said Warren Friss, Vice President – General Manager of Topps Sports and Entertainment. “We are covering the game of baseball at every level.”
Each year USA Baseball selects close to 60 of the best young baseball players in the country to its National Teams, giving collectors the first opportunity to see the future stars of baseball on cards. The first product release with USA Baseball content will be 2010 Bowman Baseball which will be released in May and feature cards of the 2009 Collegiate National Team and 2009 18U National Team.
In addition to the Topps sets featuring USA Baseball inserts, the annual USA Baseball National Teams Box Set will also be manufactured by Topps and will continue to be the exclusive place to get all members of the USA Baseball National Team in one set. The box set is scheduled for a December release in 2010 and in each of the remaining years of the agreement.
Topps reveals Heritage SP list
THE QUIRKS OF 2010 TOPPS HERITAGE BASEBALL
Collectors of 2010 Topps Heritage Baseball are noticing some interesting short printed variations throughout the product. Topps is confirming the following: Read more
Collector Claims Panini Bounty
Panini sent out a press release yesterday to inform those who have been frantically busting and searching through their Leaf Limited singles that the bounty for the Manning Brees #44 Insert has been pulled and Dawn McNew of Lehigh Acres, Florida is the winner! She turned an 11 dollar investment in to $1,500 and a box of every Panini product in 2010! Read more
The Process of Making A Card – Part 1
So a lot of the cards I purchase are of former members of the Falmouth Commodores. This summer how ever working with the team and Mike from RedBlackRed.com , we produced a completely original team set of the 2009 Falmouth Commodores. There had only been two team sets of my team in the past, but we were assured that it would be fine for us to produce one this year. The 2006 set included newest Toronto Blue Jay Brett Wallace.
This year we had a few players who had previously had either AFLAC cards (Hunter Morris, Evan Danielli) or cards in the Upper Deck releases of Team USA sets (Hunter Morris, Cecil Tanner), but for many of them this was an opportunity to have their very first baseball card.
The first thing I wanted to make sure we did, and did well was pick out the best photographs of the players possible. Once those were picked out after a day or so Mike got back to me with the proof sheet that will be at the bottom of the various possible designs. You can see the mock ups and the raw image we used. We are going to end this post here, but this will be a continuing series about the production of my first card set.
How many autographs did USA players sign?
Check out the two scans I got from Chad Bettis USA cards this year. I don’t even want to know how many stickers he must have signed for his sig to change this much during it. I like the triple jerseys, but would have preferred the traps over stickers as in the past USA products.
Topps Clears up Tribute Relics
Topps has confirmed that the following five memorabilia cards in the recently released 2009 Tribute Baseball include pieces of stadium seat:
Babe Ruth Dual Relic — Bat/Old Yankee Stadium Seat
Babe Ruth Triple Relic — Old Yankee Stadium Seat/Uniform/Old Yankee Stadium Seat
Ty Cobb Dual Relic — Bat/Tiger Stadium Seat
Jackie Robinson Triple Relic — Ebbets Field Seat/Bat/Ebbets Field Seat
Mickey Mantle Triple Relic — Old Yankee Stadium Seat/Uniform/Old Yankee Stadium Seat
Topps will replace any of the above cards with a pack of 2009 Topps Tribute Baseball or comparable product for collectors that are not satisfied with their card(s).
In addition, every card in 2009 Topps Sterling Baseball features game-used bat and game-used uniform except for one subject — Carl Erskine, which features Erskine’s autograph with stadium seat. Topps will replace this card with a pack of 2009 Topps Sterling Baseball for collectors not satisfied with their card.
Moving forward, to ensure no confusion, stadium seat pieces will not be used as memorabilia pieces unless it’s part of a special stadium seat-specific insert.
Please send all items intended for replacement to the address listed below. Please allow 2-4 weeks for delivery.
The Topps Company
ATTN: Seat Relic Replacement
401 York Avenue
Duryea, PA 18642
Sharing some of my current pick ups and thoughts….
I figure occasionally I should share cards that I actually buy, I’d rather be someone who is actively buying things that I like, instead of just critiquing and bashing. I am getting in a decent bit in the upcoming week from the recent draft products and figured I would critique them as I get in, and do a small write up on them.
Razor signs CJ Spillers
Razor sent out a press release on the first of what they tout as many upcoming signings of exclusive autograph contracts of athletes in all sports. Keep reading to see their press release.
Read more
Panini offers $1,500 for One Special Card
Beckett has posted a story about a special promotion Panini is offering one collector either already holding or pulling the 2009 Limited Pro Bowl Combo Materials card featuring Super Bowl XLIV passers Peyton Manning and Drew Brees and, most importantly, also bearing sequential number 44/100.
Panini is offering $1,500 dollars for this card as well as the collector that has the card will get one box of every Panini NFL product that is released in 2010.