2010 Tri-Star Obak Minor League Baseball

I was a big fan of last year’s Obak set and am very happy to see that it will be returning in 2010.  With so many sets doing the same things with the same players over and over again, Obak is a breath of fresh air and a very fun set to collect.  The best part of these sets are the cards celebrating the history of baseball.  There’s a lot to be learned just reading the backs of these cards.

The Obak set isn’t licensed since Topps has the MiLB exclusive license, but for the best cards in this set it doesn’t really matter if they are licensed or not.  For the athletes in the set, if you don’t mind some airbrushing and lack of team names, then you’re going to end up loving this set.

Charles Ebbets is one of the cards that can be found in the Game Changers subset.   Other people in the set include Eberhard Anheuser for the beverage of choice during ballgames, George Eastman whose advancements in film helped get pictures of the game to fans and Jefferson Burdick who is known for The American Card Catalog which became the standard for identifying and organizing trading cards produced before 1951.

History’s Greatest Players includes Roger Clemens, Andre Dawson, Hank Greenberg, Dale Murphy and Cal Ripken Jr bringing some established star power to the set.

There’s a Minor League Player of the Year subset that includes such names as Don Baylor, Johnny Bench, Jose Canseco and Jason Heyward.

The Can You Believe subset looks like it will be both fun and informative.  The subset includes one-armed pitcher and Olympian Jim Abbott, Wally Pipp who supposedly sat out a game due to a headache which led to the start of Lou Gehrig’s legendary streak and Moe Berg who also a spy during World War II.

There’s a Multi-sport subset, but it seems like it would have been a better fit in last year’s set that included Bo Jackson and Gene Conley.  Throw Brian Jordan in there and you’ve got the start of a great subset.  This year’s set consists of “Hopalong” Cassady, Dave DeBusschere, Francis Ouimet, Kyle Rote Sr. and Charlie Ward.

Tri-Star also has the TNA Wrestling license and make use of it in this set.  There’s a one card Pop Icon subset that consists solely of Hulk Hogan.  The Historic Names subset has a Tinker, Evans & Chance card which is cool.  Those three players also appear individually on short prints along with Todd McFarlane and his balls and a card featuring both William H Taft and Barack Obama.

The mini autograph checklist looks to be a good one.  You can find Jim Abbott, Johnny Bench, Starlin Castro, Roger Clemens, Jason Heyward and Hulk Hogan in that set.

The modern sized cards have some nice autographs available as well.  You can find Heyward again as well as Castro, Drew Storen, Michael Trout, Abbott, Baylor, Bench, Canseco, Clemens, Dawson, Gooden, Hulk Hogan, Dale Murphy, Cal Ripken and Darryl Strawberry.  One of the more intriguing autographs available is that of Todd McFarlane.  I already have his autograph in my collection, but it would be interesting to have it one a baseball card.

There’s one cut autograph card that’s going to command a lot of attention and that is the card containing autographs of Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper.  If these were on-card autos that card might be the card of the year.  Who knows, it might still be with the cut signatures.  Other interesting pairings for cut signatures are Buster Posey with Matt Wieters, Hank Aaron with Tommie Aaron and Stan “The Man” paired with Pujols.  There are also cut autographs of Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle and Obama.

The box toppers look very cool this year.  They are oversized cabinet cards and it looks like they feature a picture of each team’s stadium with a player from that team on the reverse.

Each box contains 11 hits.  You get 4 autograph cards which are numbered to 125 or less, 2 parallel cards numbered to 50 or less, 1 T212 mini parallel cards numbered to 50 or less, 3 short print cards and one of the T4 cabinet cards numbered to 75 or less.

Last year’s Obak set was great and it looks like this year’s will be even better.  You’ve got fun facts, a great autograph checklist and something different than everything else out there.  Obak comes out on August 11th unless you are going to the National where you can pick up the product on the 5th.

Technorati Tags: TRISTAR,2010 Obak

Sponsored Blaster Box Break: TRISTAR 2010 TNA New Era

There’s been buzz about this release ever since it was first publicized.  Say what you will about the TNA product on television, but this release contains autographs from some of the biggest names in the history of wrestling.  Hulk Hogan was the driving force of the WWF for decades while Ric Flair was doing the same thing over in WCW.  Now they’re facing off in the same federation and TRISTAR is striking while the iron is hot.

Those two cards aren’t the only ones available in this release though.  The Jeff Hardy autographs in the set should prove to be popular as will RVD’s autographs.  There’s a large autograph checklist though and the majority of the 55 autographs don’t have the amount of name recognition that the average WWE wrestler does.  I know that I’d be tempted not to rip the card in half if I were to pull a Bubba the Love Sponge autograph.  He’s not a wrestler and doesn’t belong in this set no matter how good of a friend he is to Terry Bollea.

I doubt that there will ever be a market for wrestler “rookie cards",” but if there were, this would be RVD’s TNA RC.  TRISTAR did a great job with the quick turnaround of this set.  Hogan, Flair, RVD, Hardy and Mr. Anderson haven’t been in TNA all that long, but they got them into this set and did a good job of it.

The cards look very nice and the photography is great especially when you consider that a lot of these images were taken from the big TNA Monday night special and the show where Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair made their debut with TNA.  The time period between those shows and the release of this set wasn’t long at all.  You’ve got to give TRISTAR plenty of kudos for that.  They definitely struck while the iron was hot and it is paying off.  The cards have improved by leaps and bounds since the first TNA set.  I still don’t know of too many people who are a fan of the glitter, but it’s TRISTAR’s thing so I don’t mind them sticking with it.

Each blaster box contains 24 cards and that includes one autograph card.  So, you are basically paying $20 or whatever the blasters sell for at retail for just the one autograph card.  These are unnumbered retail versions of the autograph cards.  That seems pretty pricey for what you get in a box.

TRISTAR continues to deliver fun autographs on their cards.  The card of Mr. Anderson reads, “Mr. Anderson… Anderson!!” which is what the wrestler yells into an old school microphone lowered from the ceiling as part of his entrance.

On the downside of things, the stickers are once again on stickers.  I can understand it for this set since there was a quick turnaround time, but there’s no way that there should be sticker autographs on future sets.  All that TRISTAR has to do is send a representative or two down to Orlando on a Thursday night with cards to be signed and they’re all set.  It’s really inexcusable.  On-card autographs would really bring these sets to the next level.

Technorati Tags: TNA Wrestling,TRISTAR,box break,TNA The New Era

A Quick Heads up

I know that I don’t have a ton of wrestling fans reading this and I think there’s even fewer wrestling card collectors, but since there are some of you out there I just wanted to pass along a little heads up.  I got word today from TRISTAR that they would only be able to send out a blaster box due to the quick sell out of the new TNA New Era product.  I have a feeling that this might be a product that follows in the steps of Topps’ UFC sets as far as price after release goes.  There’s an amazing list of autographs to pull out of this product and I see it as being something that picks up in popularity as box breaks start to show up online and people see the Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair cards coming out of it.

I’m very appreciative that TRISTAR is sending something over to review and I should have that blaster box break in a couple of days.  I was always planning on buying a box for myself, but I know that I won’t be able to do it right at the release so I’m glad that I’ll have some cards to show off here on the blog.  I just hope that the box prices haven’t climbed too high once I am able to pick up a box.

Technorati Tags: TNA Wrestling,TRISTAR,2010 TNA New Era,Hulk Hogan,Ric Flair

TNA 2010: The New Era

TRISTAR will be releasing their next TNA set on April 28th and it looks like they’ve got a big winner here.  They were already doing a good job with the TNA sets and it looks like the quality continues to improve while the TNA roster gets better by leaps and bounds.  In fact, this past weekend I ordered my very first TNA Pay Per View and was very happy with what I saw.  The Ultimate X match featuring the Motor City Machine Guns and Generation ME was easily the match of the year so far in any federation.

One of the big selling points for this set is that there are over 30 different Hulk Hogan cards available.  This includes the base cards, relic cards, autograph cards, autographed relic cards and an Obak insert.  This set definitely has Hulkamania.

The base cards look great with excellent photography.  I count 11 cards in the base set with Hulk Hogan’s name on them so if you are a fan of the Hulkster then this is the set for you.  There’s a lot more than that though.  This set has content as recent as TNA’s big move to Monday night which included the return to wrestling of “Mr. Monday Night,” Rob Van Dam.  That’s a huge coup for TNA as the WWE had been trying to lure RVD back for a while now.  He did rejoin them for one night, but that would be it.  Jeff Hardy’s first TNA card is in this set as well with a picture from the Monday Night Special where he made a brief appearance.  Some other notable new additions are Scott Hall and Syxx-Pac, Shannon Moore, Mr. Anderson, Generation Me, The Pope, Desmond Wolfe and THE Brian Kendrick.

The two per box Obak cards should be very popular.  I loved the Obak set and can’t wait for these cards.  Hopefully they don’t prove to be too popular since this is a set that I’ll want to chase.

Each box contains one memorabilia card numbered to 1, 25, 50 or 199.  There aren’t any bums in the relic set.  The single relic set includes Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Mick Foley, Sting, Kurt Angle, Rob Van Dam, Mr. Anderson and Syxx-Pac.  There’s a dual relic card of Beer Money Inc.  Triple relic cards feature three Hogan swatches; Hogan, Flair and Sting (pictured) or the members of The Beautiful People.

Who wouldn’t love pulling a Hulk Hogan autograph out of one of these boxes?  Autographed cards are numbered to 1, 5, 25 or 50.  There are single signed cards of just about every member of the TNA roster.  Some of the highlights are Hogan, Sting, Angle, Kevin Nash, AJ Styles, RVD, Samoa Joe, Velvet Sky, Christy Hemme, Daniels, Daffney, Jeff Hardy and Ric Flair.

There are some nice dual autographed cards highlighting business partners such as Hogan and Dixie Carter, allies like Hogan and Abyss or bitter enemies like Kurt Angle and Mr. Anderson.  The Hogan/Angle and Hogan/Flair cards should be two of the more sought after cards from this set.

There are also triple signed cards as well.  There are four different cards with one featuring former nWo members Hogan, Nash and Syxx-Pac another with the current members of The Beautiful People, the third features The British Invasion and the last one features some of the more popular ladies of TNA (Tara, Christy Hemme and Traci Brooks).

Last, but certainly not least are the quad signed cards.  There are five different cards including the one pictured here that Beckett called the greatest wrestling card ever produced.  I think I’ve got to agree.

The other quads feature the current members of The Beautiful People along with former member Angelina Love.  The Hogan/Jarrett/Angle/Foley card should be popular as well, but not as popular as the pictured card.  There’s a card of TNA Knockouts Taylor Wilde, Sarita, Hamada and Awesome Kong and the final quad is of Hulk Hogan, Abyss, Ric Flair and AJ Styles who have been the subject of many main events lately.

There are 6 different single event-used, autographed cards.  Along with the pictures Ric Flair, you can also pull Hulk Hogan, Mick Foley, Sting, AJ Styles and Velvet Sky.  No bums there and these cards look great.

You can find the checklist and more details about the set on the official website.  Thanks to the generosity of TRISTAR, you can expect to see a preview of the set right here on the blog close to the release day.

Technorati Tags: TNA Wrestling,Hulk Hogan,Ric Flair,TRISTAR,new release information,Jeff Hardy,RVD,Rob Van Dam

Sponsored Box Break: 2009 TRISTAR Prospects+

This box break is brought to you by the fine folks at TRISTAR.  I apologize for not getting this box break posted earlier, but it was the perfect storm of construction and illness that kept me from pulling this together.  Now that everything is done except for the painting, I can get back into the swing of things.

Enough about me, lets get to the cards.  My first impression of these cards when I opened the first pack was that they were really nice.  TRISTAR used a really nice, thick card stock with a nice gloss on them.  The only other TRISTAR baseball product that I had opened prior to this was Obak and there was a huge difference between the two sets.  The Obak cards felt like old minor league cards and these cards feel like modern cards.

You don’t notice right away that these cards are unlicensed.  TRISTAR did a great job of selecting nice photos that show the player and when necessary, the airbrushing is well done.  The only card that feels a little strange is the sketch of Stephen Strasburg, but I’d rather a sketch card of a player in the set than no card at all.

The set consists of many of the top 2009 draft picks, a couple of minor league free agent signings and some veterans on the multiplayer cards.  The base cards are nicely designed with a nice large area for the picture with foil on the top and bottom.  The cards look really nice in person.  Unfortunately, my scanner seems to highlight my fingerprints on the foil more than anything else, but that’s not the case when you are holding the cards in your hand.

Each box of Prospects+ guarantees 11 hits.  I got the 11 hits that were promised, but my breakdown was a little different than what is listed on the sell sheet, but I’m not complaining because in my opinion it was an error in my favor.

Serial numbered cards are a staple of TRISTAR releases.  The sell sheet states that each box will contain 2 parallel cards, but my box only contained one; this gold parallel of Tony Sanchez numbered 15/50.

Sanchez played his college ball right here in Massachusetts for Boston College.  The Eagle was drafted 4th by the Pittsburgh Pirates after setting the B.C. single season record for runs scored with 63.  If Ryan Doumit can’t recapture 2008’s glory, his time behind the plate might be running out.  Pittsburgh usually has a good number of their draft picks pan out, it’s just a shame that the don’t end up playing in Pittsburgh for long.  They’ve traded away an All-Star team over the past 5 or so years.

This Matthew Hobgood card is one of the short print portrait cards.  The sell sheet states that there should also be two of these per box, but this one was the only one that I received.  There are also short printed color variations.  The above Tony Sanchez is actually a numbered version of the color variation as the regular version of the card has a yellow background.

Although variations get under the skin of some collectors, I don’t see any problem with them.  If it is a card that you like then you keep it and if not then you sell it.  As long as it isn’t a card that was supposedly pulled that “accidentally” made its way into packs, I have no problems with variations.

I love the Obak set.  I love that there are Obak update cards as inserts in this set and I will definitely be tracking these down.  My box contained the #2 draft pick Dustin Ackley who was overshadowed by the immense hype surrounding Stephen Strasberg.  I don’t think Seattle minded too much being able to select him with the second pick in the draft.

It’s tough to go wrong with the Obak update cards since there are only 5 of them so you’re either going to get Strasburg, Ackley, Donovan Tate, Sanchez or Hobgood.  There are back variations just like in the rest of the Obak set and these cards will complete that set beautifully.


The reason why I didn’t mind getting only one each of the short print and parallel cards is that I ended up with 4 of the Crystal Ballers insert cards.  I like these cards a lot.  They’ve got a really nice design and the backs are interesting.  Each card back has three statements about the player with the first starting with the letter P, the second with the letter R and the last one with the letter O.  My box contained Matthew Hobgood, Michael Leake, Jared Mitchell and Slade Heathcott.

The final four hits in each box are serial numbered autographs.  Prospects+ contains autographs of all of the top 40 signed 2009 draft picks including Strasburg so you’ve got a shot at some great cards.  The highest serial number you’ll find on the autograph cards is 199 which is very good.  In many other sets you’d have to find a rarer parallel for it to be numbered that low, but not in Prospects+.  In this set, it’s either that or better.

This card here is a fun autograph to pull out of the box.  Alibay Barkley was the 1521st overall pick in the 2009 draft.  For those of you counting at home, that was the final pick in the draft.  Yes, Barkley is 2009’s Mr. Irrelevant.  That’s a fun card.

Jeffrey Kobernus was the 50th pick overall by the Washington Nationals.  In 2009 at the University of Washington, Kobernus batted .341 with 14 2B, 3 3B,  8 HR, 40 RBI and had a .544 slugging percentage.  If he can continue that success in the minors, it shouldn’t be too long because he’s playing for the Nationals.

Next up is an autographed card of Randal Grichuk.  Grichuk was the 24th pick in the draft and will be joining the Los Angeles California Angels of Anaheim organization.

Grichuk was drafted out of high school were he batted .613 with 21 HR, 23 walks and 46 RBI in 28 games.  He continued to hit well in the Arizona League as a .322 clip with 53 RBI in 53 games.






My one parallel autograph was also the one of the highest draft pick in my box.  This is a green parallel numbered to 25 copies.  Allen Pollock was drafted 17th overall by the Diamondbacks.  A Notre Dame alum, Pollock hit .365 with a .443 on-base percentage during the 2009 season.  Pollock is said to have above-average speed and has played in the middle infield as well as the outfield.  That versatility could help him reach the majors more quickly.






Final Thoughts:
Design: I like the design a lot.  The fronts of the cards are a little busy, but it doesn’t intrude on the picture at all.  4/5
Collation: My box contained 12 duplicates and while it did have 11 hits, it didn’t contain the right assortment of 11 hits according to the sell sheet.  3/5
Condition: There were some cards with slightly dinged corners and you might be able to see a white spot along the bottom of the Sanchez card, but overall the cards were in good condition. 4/5
Value: These boxes look to be selling for around $60.  When you are getting 4 autographs numbered to 199 or less of potential future superstars, that’s a great deal.  When you also get some nice base cards and the other inserts, in my opinion you’re getting a great deal.  5/5

Total Score: 16/20

Technorati Tags: TRISTAR,Prospects Plus,Stephen Strasburg

TNA 2010: The New Era

A NEW ERA HAS ARRIVED:
TRISTAR ANNOUNCES UPCOMING RELEASE OF NEW TNA WRESTLING TRADING CARDS AS TNA MAKES HISTORY TONIGHT ON SPIKE TV WITH MOVE TO MONDAY NIGHTS

All-New, Exclusive-Licensed Trading Card Set Features Legendary Pop Icon HULK HOGAN

HOUSTON, March 8, 2010 – As TNA Wrestling begins a new era with “TNA iMPACT!” moving from Thursday nights to Monday nights beginning tonight, Monday, March 8 (9:00-11:00pm ET/PT), TNA’s exclusive trading card licensee, TRISTAR, announced the upcoming release of an all-new trading card release, entitled “TNA 2010: The New Era.”  The new product is scheduled for release in late April 2010.

“TNA 2010: The New Era” Trading Cards will hit stores worldwide in late April, featuring TNA’s many new talent additions this year, namely legendary pop culture icon Hulk Hogan, one of the most recognizable celebrities in the world.

Hogan is the subject of numerous cards in the new product and is featured prominently on the product packaging.  “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair, who debuted with TNA on the company’s first-ever Monday live “TNA iMPACT!” on January 4, 2010, will have his first-ever TNA trading cards in the set.  Plus, special cards of Jeff Hardy, Scott Hall, Mick Foley, Olympic Gold Medalist Kurt Angle and many more.  "The Icon" Sting, who has signed a new contract with TNA and will be at tonight’s historic broadcast on SpikeTV, will be featured as well.

“With Hulk Hogan’s arrival, “TNA iMPACT!” has delivered its highest-ever ratings and is growing its fanbase,” said Mandy Fuerst, TRISTAR’s Vice President of Operations.  “As a new era dawns in TNA with iMPACT!’s move to Mondays, we look forward to showing the TNA fans that TNA trading cards are a great way to collect their favorite stars.  Collectors recognize the quality and value of these cards with all of the autographs, serially-numbered parallels and event-used memorabilia cards.”

Among the cards to be most highly sought-after in the new product are a limited quantity of trading cards featuring Hulk Hogan’s hand-signed autograph, as well as cards including a swatch of the shirt that Hogan wore on his first-ever live appearance on “TNA iMPACT!” on January 4, 2010.

The new set of high-quality, glossy cards showcases never-before-seen photos, with parallel editions of each base card featuring serial numbering.  What can TNA Wrestling fans and collectors look forward to in “TNA 2010: The New Era” Trading Cards?  Highlights include:

• Special card subsets including
  • “Hulk Hogan: The Pop Icon”
  • “The Nature Boy” (Ric Flair)
  • “Dynamic Duos
  • “Monday Night Magic”
• TNA Debut cards of newcomers Flair, Hardy, Hall, Eric Bischoff, Jimmy Hart, Mr. Anderson, D’Angelo Dinero, Desmond Wolfe and many more.
• TNA Autograph cards with hand-signed signatures from 60+ different TNA stars. Dual, triple and quad autograph cards!
• TNA Authentic Action event-used memorabilia cards, featuring clothing right off the backs of top TNA stars, including Hogan, Flair, Foley, Angle, Kevin Nash, AJ Styles, The Beautiful People, Sting and more! Look for dual and triple event-used memorabilia cards, plus event-used memorabilia and autograph combo cards.

The TNA 2010: The New Era Trading Card checklists, as well as all the product details, will be available online next week at www.TNAWrestlingCards.com.

My Take: I just got finished watching the big TNA move to Monday night and it was a good show.  I like the current TNA roster a lot.  They’re not bogged down with geriatrics like they were when the Main Event Mafia was dominating the show.  The additions of Jeff Hardy, RVD and Shannon Moore should compliment an already great roster.

As usual with TRISTAR products, this set will be all about the fun autograph cards.  Each set keeps getting better as far as design and photography goes.  I’m excited to see what’s in store with this set.

Technorati Tags: TRISTAR,TNA Wrestling

A Closer Look: TRISTAR Pursuit

I’ve received some more images from the upcoming TRISTAR Pursuit set that I wanted to share.  The first image is the short print image variation of two-sport star D’Vontrey Richardson who was drafted by the Brewers.  The regular card pictures Richardson swinging the bat and this variation has him running with the pigskin.  There are five of these variations within the set.

Here’s an example of one of the inscription cards.  The inscription cards will be very limited with versions numbered to 25, 5 and single copies.  Due largely to Upper Deck, inscriptions have become very popular within the hobby as of late and these unique cards should be very popular with collectors.

Next up is an example from the Full Name Autograph variants.  I know that at times athlete’s signatures can be illegible, but it is easy to see that this signature begins with a V and not a C.  That is because Carter’s full name is Vernon Christopher Carter.  I doubt that you’ll find any other Carter cards which are autographed in this way.  These cards are numbered to 5 and single copies.

I have a feeling that this will be one of the more popular cards in the set.  You’ve got an all-time Braves great on the same card as the potential future of the Braves organization.  It also does a good job of showing the major difference between autographs from players of days gone by and current players.  Dale Murphy’s signature is very clean and legible while Heyward’s looks like “8tu” in cursive.

Last, but not least, here’s one of the triple signature cards featuring Grant Desme, Alexander Colome and Brandon Waring.

There are 6 dual signature cards to be pulled with 2 of them being short prints.  You can find 3 triple signed cards with one of those being a short print.  There are also two quad signed cards with one of those being a short print.

This will be an interesting set when it comes out.  For those only interested in the base set, you can break open a set and sell off the 15 hits or you can see if any prospectors sell off the set cheaply after pulling out the autographs.  For those looking for autographs there are a bunch of different kinds in different levels of rarity.  Should be something for everyone who collects minor league cards.

Technorati Tags: TRISTAR,baseball cards,minor league

Sell Sheet: TRISTAR Pursuit

TRISTAR kicks off their 2010 release schedule with Pursuit Series 1 which will be released on March 26th.  Pursuit will be a very limited product with only 60 24-box cases produced.  Like every TRISTAR release, all boxes and cases will be individually numbered.  Click on the image of the sell sheet on the left to view a larger version.

So, what do you get in each box of Pursuit?  Each box guarantees 15 hits and those hits break down the following way:

6 Autograph card numbered to 80 or less
4 Parallel cards numbered to 50 or less
3 Short Print Cards
2 Obak ‘10 Short Print Preview Cards

The other 75 cards in the box will be the base set of cards 1 – 75.  For those who enjoy a chase, they can go after the rest of the short printed cards as well as the Obak previews which will each have a variation.

Topps’ exclusive deal with MiLB does mean that no logos will appear in this product, but it looks like TRISTAR did a great job removing them from the cards.  Judging by the cards depicted on the sell sheet, it looks like they chose a lot of pictures where body parts did the obscuring naturally and it leads to nice looking cards.

Whether it be Minor League or TNA sets, something that TRISTAR excels at is fun autograph cards.  This set is no exception.  You’ve got Dual, Triple and Quad autographed cards.  Braves fans will love the Dale Murphy/Jason Heyward dual auto and I’m sure that the Roger/Koby Clemens cards will get plenty of attention as well.  There are also inscribed autograph cards to be found.  Inscriptions are currently the hot thing in the hobby when it comes to autographs and you can find them here.  There are also cards of players signing their First, Middle and Last names.  No tiny little squiggles to be found here.

I leave you with the checklists for the set.  You can find the base set and 8 short print cards on the left and the extensive autograph checklist on the right.  The Obak Preview checklist can be found on the TRISTAR website.  The highlights of that set are autograph cards of Jason Heyward and Kyle Drabek numbered to 10 copies.