Posts Tagged ‘Baseball’

Will your eyes see the twinkle in 2011 Topps Baseball? (Updated)

By Chris Olds | Editor

The first boxes of 2011 Topps Baseball have been ripped and the first reports of oddball findings are coming in, too.

The most notable previously unannounced finds are cards that have the twinkle or sparkle of a diamond digitally placed into the photograph of the card.

Topps reps are officially mum on the issue for now — expect an announcement soon — but cards confirmed to have this variation (so far) include: Roy Halladay, Derek Jeter, Ichiro Suzuki, Chipper Jones, Aroldis Chapman, Chris Carpenter, Mariano Rivera, Miguel Cabrera, Brent Morel, Alex Rios, Kyle Drabek, Jared Weaver, Justin Upton, Victor Martinez, Brian Matusz, Ubaldo Jimenez, Roy Oswalt, Jose Bautista, Justin Morneau, Brett Anderson, Desmond Jennings, Tommy Hunter and Chase Utley.

Given some of the names on the list, it might be an SP set that parallels all 330 cards in the set. However, they won’t be found easily. Brent Williams, an Arkansas-based dealer who specializes in breaking cases in bulk, has seen the cards fall one per case.

He pulled six through his first six cases and that held true for another breaker he is in contact with.

“I know of 22 other cases that each had 21 total,” he said.

The cards are also found in retail packs.

We’ll have more in 2011 Topps here soon — a Box Busters preview gallery will come later and our video will come soon (our Busters boxes are stuck somewhere in a snow drift.

Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an e-mail to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.

Update: These cards have been confirmed.

3 Jon Lester
5 Joey Votto
15 David Wright
20 Hanley Ramirez
25 Carl Crawford
35 Shin-Soo Choo
40 Justin Upton
42 Mariano Rivera
44 Martin Prado
50 Alex Rodriguez
60 Andrew McCutchen
61 David Price
70 Kyle Drabek
75 Jered Weaver
78 Mike Stanton
80 Desmond Jennings
100 Albert Pujols
102 CC Sabathia
108 Zack Greinke
110 Aroldis Chapman
120 Mat Latos
128 Manny Ramirez
140 Brett Anderson
150 Miguel Cabrera
165 Jeremy Hellickson
166 Josh Johnson
169 Chipper Jones
174 Roy Oswalt
177 Brian Matusz
195 Nick Markakis
200 Ichiro Suzuki
208 Clay Buchholz
209 Carlos Santana
210 Brian Wilson
214 Chase Utley
216 Jose Baustita
218 Victor Martinez
236 Nelson Cruz
240 Andre Ethier
241 Wandy Rodriguez
247 Starlin Castro
250 Carlos Gonzalez
255 Torii Hunter
269 Stephen Drew
270 Ubaldo Jimenez
271 Adam Dunn
275 Clayton Kershaw
290 Ike Davis
293 Justin Morneau
294 Luke Scott
299 Chris Carpenter
300 Roy Halladay
307 Alex Rios
315 David Ortiz
320 Michael Young
322 Brent Morel
330 Derek Jeter

Box Busters Preview Gallery: 2011 Topps Baseball

By Chris Olds | Editor

Today’s the day that many had marked on their calendars — well, after Topps pushed up the release date — as it marked the arrival of the annual baseball card-collecting staple.

You know, the annual Topps Baseball set.

While our Box Busters review boxes are somewhere in an iced-over UPS truck likely stuck in a snow drift and the Beckett Media offices are closed for a second consecutive day, a little lot of snow ice wasn’t going to stop your idiot intrepid editor from journeying through the tundra to a Target store.

After a blaster box, jumbo pack and way-too-many loose packs to mention, here’s a selection of cards from this year’s set … after the jump.

Also be sure to take our poll — on whether you think 2011 Topps is a winner or a loser.

Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an e-mail to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.

First look: 2011 Bowman Platinum baseball cards

By Chris Olds | Editor

You might not have fully digested your first helping of Bowman Platinum, but the next helping is already here.

Topps released preview images and basic product information for 2011 Bowman Platinum on Thursday, a product that will arrive in late-June — just months after the product made its baseball debut.

There will be two prospect autographs as well as one autographed Relic in every 20-pack hobby box. Each 12-box case will include one multi-autograph card and redemptions for on-card autographs from the latest crop of USA Baseball players.

The product will mark a high-end (Chrome) arrival of Bryce Harper autographs as the 18-year-old No. 1 overall pick is slated to have a Chrome Refractor Prospect autograph in the product as well as appear on the triple-autograph card (top) also signed by Stephen Strasburg and Ryan Zimmerman.

There will be four Bowman Platinum cards per pack along with one Chrome prospect card — which is down from 2010. The Prospect set will include 100 cards. The base set (non-prospects) will include 100 players — a mix of veterans and rookies — and will have Gold, Emerald and Ruby parallels.

The Chrome prospect autographs include 1/1 SuperFractors and Printing Plates along with Red Refactors (/5), new Gold Refractors (/50), Blues (/99) and Greens (/399). The crop of prospect signers includes Harper, Jameson Taillon, Manny Machado, Christian Colon, Matt Harvey, Matt Lipka, Brandon Belt and many others.

For autographed Relics, new this year are SuperFractor patches, while there will be Red, Gold, Blue and Greens to be found. Among the signers for that set are Evan Longoria, Clay Buchholz, Rick Porcello, Logan Morrison, Jason Heyward, Starlin Castro, Carl Crawford, Mike Stanton, Aroldis Chapman, Pedro Alvarez, and many others.

The multiple-autograph cards will feature duals (two prospects), triples (prospects and veterans), Hexagraph booklet cards — six autographs — which also will be found in patch versions (new this year). And it’s here where the combinations really take shape. Among the preliminary checklist inclusions are:

– Dual auto Relics: Heyward-Freddie Freeman, Buchholz-Phil Hughes, Stanton-Domonic Brown, Madison Bumgarner-Buster Posey, Adrian Gonzalez-Crawford, Yovani Gallardo-Zack Greinke.

– Dual autos: Harper-Taillon, Machado-Colon, Mike Montgomery-Moustakas.

– Triple autos: Strasburg-Harper-Zimmerman, Heyward-Stanton-Brown, Posey-Brandon Belt-Gary Brown, Nick Markakis-Matt Hobgood-Machado, Taillon-Chapman-Shelby Miller, Machado-Colon-Grant Green.

– Hexagraphs: Longoria-Robinson Cano-Dustin Pedroia-Jeremy Hellickson-Jesus Montero-Jose Iglesias, Harper-Heyward-Stanton-Josh Hamilton-Justin Upton-Brown, Joey Votto-Justin Morneau-Kendry Morales-Miguel Cabrera-Ryan Howard-Gonzalez.

Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an e-mail to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.