Tampa Bay Rookie OF Wil Myers, one of the most touted prospects in the game, will make his Major League Debut today for the Tampa Bay Rays series opener against the Red Sox! To celebrate this accomplishment, the Bowman Team announces that Wil Myers will be Lucky Redemption #5 in 2013 Bowman Baseball. Wil Myers Lucky Redemption #5 will feature the 65th Anniversary Bowman Blue Sapphire Refractor design and it will include an on-card autograph.

Be sure to look for Lucky Redemption Card #5 in Packs of 2013 Bowman Baseball. Get in on the Ground Floor and Uncover Greatness.

I saw 3 cases opened yesterday.  I must say that I was surprised when I saw it.  The base cards are decent looking.  Not overly fond of the winged look.  However, the gold foil does stand out and it’s a relatively basic looking card.  One thing Panini did a GREAT job of was including RCs in the base set.  They didn’t include all of them.  Just a handful of the best ones.  Here is a scan of the Kyrie base.  You can click on any of the pictures for eBay links.

Panini also did a solid job with the inserts.  They fall only 1 per box.  They actually have some value because Panini made the sets pretty large and fairly hard to get.  So getting a specific guy isn’t easy.  And because they put current stars and past stars, the checklists are pretty strong.  Here is a LeBron Nobility.

The Jersey cards are nice looking.  They are all jumbo swatches.  The checklist is huge.  There is a Majestic jersey with 100 different guys and a Quest jersey with 100 different guys.  There are some good names and some not so good names on the checklist.  Panini did a good job with this because it prevents from getting too many duplicates when you open a lot of this product.  Out of the 3 cases I saw, there weren’t many that I saw show up again and again.  Even if you’re getting bad names, it at least keeps it interesting.  Here are the jersey cards.

The patches are absolutely awesome.  This is where Panini really made a difference with this product.  They put GREAT patches on these cards.  And they are all #ed to 25 or less.  Since the checklists are so big, the patches aren’t terribly hard to hit.  The 3 cases had 8 patches.  First case had 1, second case had 3 and the third case had 4.  The player selection for these cases was fantastic.  Really only 1 bad player in the bunch.  Check out these patches:

Those patches are ridiculous.  The only one that’s not amazing is the Wall and it’s still a solid 2-color.  Great job Panini.

Now the autographs are a bit of a different story.  I saw about 5 or 6 autographs that I would call “good” in the 3 cases.  There was a Larry Bird #ed /25.

The other really good one was a Kevin Durant.  Sadly it was a redemption.  Still a nice card.   The other good ones were Kemba Walker, Bradley Beal and maybe Jimmy Butler or Chandler Parsons.  The autograph checklist is also huge and has some good names on it.  However, most of the better players are clearly short-printed.  I saw 3-4 of some of the lower end guys like Jordan Hamilton, Chris Copeland, Tornike Shengelia, Miles Plumlee, Kevin Jones and others.  Overall, the autographs are pretty disappointing.  You only get about 1 numbered autograph per case as well.  In addition to the Bird, these cases had a Danilo Gallinari /10, DeQuan Jones /25 and Joan Valanciunas /25.  Nothing too exciting.  And there are a decent amount of redemptions, which I don’t get since these are all sticker autographs.  I think there were 23 redemptions in 36 boxes.  That’s close to 20% of the autographs.  That’s tough.

Next up is the meat of the product.  That would be the Crusade inserts.  These cards look absolutely awesome.  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE these cards.  There are 6 different variations.  The base are Blue and are not numbered.  The Red are #ed to 99.  The Purple are #ed to 49.  The Green are #ed to 25.  The Gold are #ed to 10.  And the Black are #ed to 1.  The checklist is 300 cards.  That’s a HUGE checklist.  I really like that.  They put a ton of great retired players like Pete Maravich, Wilt Chamberlain, Yao Ming, Anfernee Hardaway, Patrick Ewing, Allen Iverson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and so many others.  There are also a ton of rookies in the set as well.

Nearly every box has 2 numbered Crusade variations.  The ones #ed to 25 and less are certainly the ones everyone will be chasing.  In the 3 cases we saw 9 Green /25 and 4 Gold /10.  So about 35% of the boxes had at least a Green /25.  I didn’t see any Blacks.  The kicker on these cards is that they seem to be selling very well on eBay.  I imagine a lot of people would like to build sets or rainbows of their favorite players.  Here are a few of the cards.

Overall, I’d give the product a solid B+.  I love the Crusade inserts and the patches.  And Panini did a great job making the sets large so that they would be collectible and harder to hit a specific player.  The autographs definitely could have been better in terms of quality or player and some on-card.  A solid job by Panini across the board though and not a bad buy for around $105.

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mgoodwin
Webmaster ~ Atlanta Sports Cards

Take a journey back in time and get a little nostalgic with Topps Archives Baseball.

Archives Baseball takes you back by celebrating the most epic years in card collecting, the 70s 80s and 90s. Archives features classic Topps card designs and autographs from many of your favorite players from today and yesterday such as Bryce Harper, Mike Trout and Mike Schmidt. In its celebration of the past, Topps Archives takes it a step further and goes beyond baseball to include autograph cards from some of the heavy Metal icons that made the 80s and 90s so awesome! Look for autographs from Tommy Lee, Dee Snider Axl Rose and more!

Ripping Topps Archives will be a fun, nostalgic experience for all collectors and the Archives Hobby Store promotion will just take this experience to another level.

Week 1 – $0.25 packs: June 10th – June 16th: Collectors can experience their youth again and buy special 5 card packs for $0.25! These cards will feature a unique Day Glow Parallel.

Week 2 – Redeem 1980’s Cards: June 17th – June 24th: Celebrate Father’s Day and get Dad a new pack of cards. Customers can bring in any of Dad’s old cards from the 80s and go to the store to redeem it for a unique cello pack of 2012 Baseball Series 2.

Vintage Card Redemption: June 10th – While Supplies Last: Special redemption cards are inserted into Hobby boxes of Topps 2013 Archives. Customers can redeem these cards for a free Vintage card from the Topps Vault! The Vintage card will be from the 1950s-1980s and it will be foil wrapped. Collectors will enjoy ripping these packs to see which great they will get from the past!

Enjoy your Journey back in Time with Topps Archives Baseball.

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It’s a little hard to see that card in the small scan, but they do look really nice.  Now a lot of them aren’t autographed.  And I do wonder what the value on non autographed mirror reds, blues, golds, etc. will be.  There’s never been a super strong market for non-autographed USA stuff.  Maybe this year will be different.

The Stars & Stripes autographs look so-so to me.  There are some big names in there like the two guys below.  However, I doubt the guys numbered to 500+ will sell for anything.

The first thing I noticed about all the autographs is that they are all on stickers.  USA stuff used to have a lot of on card stuff.  There are no on-card in this product that I am aware of.  I hate to say it, but I wish Upper Deck still had the USA license.  Those sets they did back in 2008 & 2009 were awesome.  There was tons of chase with autographed patches, flag patches, line-up autographs and more.  Plus they had the cool inscriptions from all the young players.

I do like the idea of this being a pack product instead of a set product.  I think this really helps the shops and makes it a little more fun to open.  Opening up the item as a set was a tad boring for sure.

The chase element is here with some high end autographs and some very cool looking patches.  I’m not sure how the box-by-box value will be though.  For every McGwire, Chipper, Griffey, Trout, etc. Auto in here, there have to be several cheap autographs.  The USA market used to be really strong when there wasn’t as much of this stuff out there.  Now it seems like all the players have had so many USA cards by the time they get drafted.  This really hurts the lower tier type guys that I suspect will be in many of the boxes.  The box I saw had autographs of Hunter Morris, Mychal Givens and Robbie Grossman.  Those guys have all had TONS of autographs.  I suspect they won’t sell for more than a couple dollars each.

It did come out at a good time as there isn’t a ton out this week.  Plus the MLB Draft is next week and you have to think a handful of the players in this product will get picked.  That should help single card sales for sure.

Here is a link to all the new items listed from this product on eBay.  Check them out and see what you think.

Overall, I would give this product a B-.  It’s still a little early, but I just wonder if there will be enough bang for your buck.  Time will tell.

The boxes deliver great value for the money.  The set is super large and should be somewhat challenging to build.  We didn’t have a set after 3 boxes.  The parallels look awesome and many of them are #ed to 100 or less.  They may not sell for much, but I think the sets would be a lot of fun to build.  All-in-all, I’d say Panini did a quality job with this nice.  Nice work guys.  Here are some of the cards from the 2 boxes plus some eBay links.

2013 SCORE FOOTBALL AUTOGRAPHS ON EBAY!

2013 SCORE FOOTBALL RCS ON EBAY!

2013 SCORE FOOTBALL PARALLELS ON EBAY!

Orioles Pitching Prospect Kevin Gausman got the call!   He will make his Big League debut today when the Orioles face the Blue Jays.  To celebrate, Kevin Gausman’s rookie card will be Lucky Redemption #3 in 2013 Bowman Baseball!

Be sure to look for Lucky Redemption Card #3 in Packs of 2013 Bowman Baseball  to Get in on the Ground Floor with Baseball’s newest rookie.  For more information on Bowman Lucky Redemptions be sure to follow on twitter  @toppscards or @BowmanScout and on facebook.com/BowmanBaseball

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Shortstop Jurickson Profar, who many believe is Baseball’s Number 1 prospect, was called up on Sunday to the Texas Rangers. To celebrate this enormous accomplishment, Profar will be Lucky Redemption #2 in 2013 Bowman Baseball.

This exclusive rookie card will be a 65th Anniversary Bowman Blue Sapphire Refractor card along with an on-card autograph and a new image.

Be sure to look for Lucky Redemption Card #2 in Packs of 2013 Bowman Baseball. Get in on the Ground Floor and Uncover Greatness.

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NEW YORK – May 13, 2013 - Topps and Major League Soccer (MLS) today agreed to a partnership that makes the Topps Company the official trading card producer of Major League Soccer.  Through the terms of the multi-year agreement, Topps will produce not only trading cards but player stickers, sticker albums and other Major League Soccer collectibles.

“We are excited to produce and offer Major League Soccer collectible products,” said Jeff Heckman, Brand Manager on MLS business at Topps.  “The popularity of soccer and MLS in the United States and Canada is growing immensely and it is a great opportunity for us to reach new consumers among this passionate and diverse fan base.”

Topps will launch its first MLS collection in July.  In accordance with Topps’ current offerings, collectors and soccer fans will find autographed cards, memorabilia cards and other special cards featuring MLS’ biggest and brightest stars including Thierry Henry, Robbie Keane, Graham Zusi and Omar Gonzalez.

“MLS is excited about this new partnership with Topps,” said Maribeth Towers, MLS senior vice president of consumer products. “We regularly hear from MLS supporters that they want a variety of cards and collectibles and this new relationship will allow us to super-serve our incredibly supportive fans.”

About Major League Soccer

Headquartered in New York City, Major League Soccer is the top-flight professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. MLS features many stars from the U.S., Canada, and around the world. Major League Soccer’s 18th season features 19 clubs each playing 34 regular-season matches. Those clubs include the Chicago Fire; Chivas USA; Colorado Rapids; Columbus Crew; D.C. United; FC Dallas; Houston Dynamo; 2012 MLS Cup champion LA Galaxy; Montreal Impact; New York Red Bulls; New England Revolution; Philadelphia Union; Portland Timbers; Real Salt Lake; San Jose Earthquakes; Seattle Sounders FC; Sporting Kansas City; Toronto FC and Vancouver Whitecaps FC. For more information about MLS, log on to the league’s official website at www.MLSsoccer.com.

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The first round was relatively boring, honestly.  The Heat and Spurs looked unbeatable.  There was only 1 Game 7 after it looked like there would be at least 2 or 3.  The most interesting thing about the first round were all the injuries.  The Thunder lost Russell Westbrook.  The debate raged on about when/if Derrick Rose would return.  The Bulls lost Luol Deng and Kirk Hinrich while already dealing with a limited Joakim Noah.  The Nets saw Joe Johnson play on one foot.  Blake Griffin sprained his ankle and was ineffective.  Steph Curry had another ankle scare.  And the Lakers threw out you, me, Gasol and Dwight Howard in Game 4.  The biggest of all these injuries has to be Westbrook.  OKC looked like a sure fire bet to, at least, reach the Western Conference Finals.  Now they will be happy just to beat Memphis.

That brings us to Round 2.  Rounds 2 is shaping up to be fantastic.  Let’s look at each Series individually.

The Bulls shocked the Heat in Game 1.  I don’t think many people saw that coming.  There was definite rust for the Heat (whether they admit it or not).  LeBron played a poor first half.  Wade and Bosh were both lacking for pretty much the entire game.  Mike Miller, Shane Battier and Ray Allen missed a ton of open jumpers.  However, let’s give credit to the Bulls.  They played great defense.  Nate Robinson was an absolute monster in the 4th quarter.  This team just buys in to their coach and their system.  Take out Derrick Rose and Kirk Hinrich and plug in Nate Robinson, no problem. Lose Luol Deng and throw Jimmy Butler in there for 48 minutes, no problem.  It doesn’t seem to matter who you plug in for the Bulls.  We know they are going to play their butts off and give it everything they have.  LeBron hit it on the head with his comments yesterday.  He said it wasn’t about adjustments, it was about effort.  If the Heat give the same effort as the Bulls, these games will not be close.  I do expect the Heat to change a few small things in Game 2 tonight.  I think LeBron may guard Nate in the 4th quarter if the game is close.  I also think Chris Andersen will play more.  Don’t panic if you’re a Heat fan.  If the Heat hit 2 or 3 more 3′s, they win Game 1.  And I don’t expect the Heat to shoot 29% from downtown again.

With that being said, I do think this will be a tougher series for the Heat than most expected.  I think the Heat thought they had this in the bag with all the Bulls’ injuries.  I do still think the Heat will win the series.  And it wouldn’t completely surprise me if they rattled off 4 straight wins.  However, I’m more inclined to think it will go 6 games now.

The Knicks and Pacers series appears to be going 7 games.  Game 1 was a nice win by Indiana.  Game 2 was the exact opposite.  This series will come down to Indiana stopping New York.  If New York can score like they did in Game 2, then Indiana is in trouble.  If Indiana slows them down like the did in Game 1, New York is in trouble.  New York shot almost 50% in Game 2 after shooting only 43% in Game 1.  All the other stats were a little more in favor of New York, but shooting is the most important stat for New York.  And a lot of that comes from Carmelo.  He was abysmal in Game 1 shooting 36%.  In Game 2 he shot 50%.  Indiana has to slow him down to have a chance.

I really do see this series going 7 games.  Neither of these teams in dominant enough to win in 5 or 6 games.  Look at both of their first round match-ups.  Indiana got killed twice in Atlanta.  And New York nearly let Boston back in the series by mailing it in for 2 games.  I still think New York will win the series, but I’m saying in Game 7.

I really thought the San Antonio/Golden State series was going to be a blowout for San Antonio.  Then I watched Game 1 and thought Golden State had a legit shot to win the series.  That is until the last 3 minutes of regulation and the OTs that followed.  Now I think it might be a blowout again.  Can Golden State recover from a devastating loss?  If San Antonio comes out in Game 2 and takes an early lead, I think Golden State is in trouble.  Golden State has a ton of talent and Steph Curry is AMAZING.  But they are young and they have shown their youth twice now.  They almost gave Game 6 away against Denver by turning into the Harlem Globetrotters and trying to do way too many fancy things.  Then they did the same thing in Game 1 against SA.  They were up by 16 with about 4 minutes left.  They thought it was over and they stopped executing.  Both on offense and defense.  They were giving Tony Parker anything he wanted.  And Danny Green was left alone to shoot practice-like 3′s.  San Antonio had 4 layups in the last 3 and a half minutes.  On offense they played hero ball and took some truly terrible shots.

Mark Jackson has to make sure this team doesn’t lose focus.  I think Bogut should have been put in to protect the rim at the end of regulation.  Parker can’t drive the lane and get wide open layups if Bogut is down there.  I don’t care if Duncan is playing or not.  Golden State needed their best defensive team out there.  After all, all they had to do was protect a 16 point lead.  Jarrett Jack is a heck of an offensive player, but I believe he should have been pulled to help the defense.  Heck, play Kent Bazemore to try and slow down Parker.

I think San Antonio will end up winning this series in 5 or 6 games.  Golden State has the talent, but I don’t think they have the experience or the ability to really shut it down on defense.  I know they had good defensive stats during the year, but that’s a lot different than doing it in the playoffs.

Last up is the OKC/Memphis series.  This is another series I see going 7 games.  OKC is going to struggle at times to score.  Other than Durant, there isn’t really anyone who can create their own shot.  Reggie Jackson has some potential, but hasn’t been able to put it all together.  Kevin Durant is absolutely amazing.  But he needs some help.  He can’t play 43-44 minutes per game at this level. Since Westbrook went out here are his minutes per game: 45:30, 47:16, 42:00, 44:42, 43:13, 43:42, 42:34.  That’s nearly 44 minutes per game.  I just think he’s going to tire out.  OKC is going to have trouble winning big and giving him time to rest.  Honestly, I know this sounds crazy, but I think it would be best if they got blown out one game and he could sit for 10-12 minutes that game.  Memphis is a tough, physical team.  Playing that many minutes against them would wear anyone down.

I also believe OKC needs to change up their rotation.  Kendrick Perkins, Nick Collison and Hasheem Thabeet combined for the following line in Game 2: 1-5 FG, 2-2 FT, 4 points, 9 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block, 0 steals and 7 turnovers.  They were a minus 9 point differential in about 52 minutes.  Game 1 wasn’t much better.  2-9 FG, 4 points, 12 rebounds, 0 blocks, 0 steals and 4 turnovers with a -10 point differential in about 57 minutes.  Now I know these guys provide decent defense.  However, they absolutely kill you on offense.  When you had Durant and Westbrook, you could live with that.  Now, not so much.  Plus Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol are big guys, but they play below the rim.  I think OKC would be better off going small sometimes with a line-up like Reggie Jackson, Kevin Durant, Thabo Sefolsha, Serge Ibaka and Kevin Martin.  That line-up gives them more scoring and I don’t see why Thabo can’t guard Z-Bo or Gasol for at least a few minutes.  I would absolutely go to this line-up anytime Gasol or Z-Bo is out.  Perkins/Collison/Thabeet should never be in the game if one or both of the Memphis big men are out.

I’m picking Memphis to win in 7.  I still think OKC can do it, but I don’t like Brooks as a coach.  I don’t think he’s great at making adjustments.  And Memphis is too good defensively to just let Durant beat them 4 times.  He’s had 2 amazing games and OKC is 1-1.  I don’t believe he can average 35.5 points, 13 rebounds, 7.5 assists, 1.5 blocks, 1 steal and shoot 51%.  Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t see it against Memphis.  I see him having a game like he had in Game 2 against Houston.  The reality is that he needs to be even better than he’s been for OKC to have a good chance.

Enjoy the games tonight everyone.

Josh