Trader's Retreat - Sports Cards Weekly
By Jim Van Nest
April 7, 2015
BoxOfficeProphets.com
This will be a weekly column that will highlight all the new releases in the world of trading cards and will feature some box breaks and reviews. For those who were visitors of TraderRetreat.com - these will be the same top notch breaks and reviews you were used to seeing over there, just in a new and fancier home!
One note of caution: while most of these dates are solid, there is the chance the release dates could change without notice. That being said, let's take a look at the offerings for April 8th - April 14th!
April 8th
2014-15 Upper Deck SP Basketball - Just in time for the stretch run in the NBA, Upper Deck is dropping SP Basketball. This box will have 20 four-card packs and will run you about $135. Included in each box will be a numbered Rookie Future Watch Autograph as well as two other autos and a handful of rookie short prints. This set will mark the end of the run, as Upper Deck's contract to produce NCAA licensed cards is up this year.
2014 Panini National Treasures Football - Panini will close the door on the 2014 Football season with the release of National Treasures Football. Each eight-card box is priced around $450/box and will feature three Autographs and three Memorabilia cards! Panini likes to close down every season with style and this is no different.
2014 Topps Five Star Football - Not to be outdone, Topps is dropping Five Star Football on the same day. This six-card box will run you about $375, but there will be no filler in this set. You'll pull four Autographs, one Auto-Relic/Multi-Auto/Silver Signature or Golden Graph and either a Cut Signature, Legend Relic, a 1/1 Relic or an extra Autograph. As you can see, the card companies are not playing around with the end of the season sets!
2014 Upper Deck Exquisite Collection Football - As if the others weren't enough, Upper Deck will drop its crown jewel of the football season on us on the very same day! Also very high-end, this six-card box will cost you about $600! Each box will feature an autographed rookie patch and four additional autographs! You can't deny that the big boys will definitely be duking it out this week!
2015 Topps Star Wars Illustrated: The Empire Strikes Back - As counter programming to the super high end football cards released on 4/8, Topps is also dropping Star Wars Illustrated: The Empire Strikes Back. This is the follow-up to 2013's Star Wars Illustrated: A New Hope and focuses on the NPR Radio Play version of the famous trilogy. Each box will contain 24 six-card packs that highlight the NPR Radio Drama version of the film. Inserted in some packs are sketch cards autographed by the artist or one of the actors from the film or radio show. Some lucky traders will also find cards with a film cel from the movie attached. Coming in at about $85/box, I'm sure the Star Wars fans out there will grab these right up.
April 10th
2015 Panini USA Stars and Stripes Baseball - Switching to baseball now, Friday will see the release of Panini's USA National Team baseball set, USA Stars and Stripes. Each box will contain 24 eight-card packs and you can expect to find four hits (combined autograph and memorabilia cards) and well as a slew of inserts, all commemorating the players who leave it all on the field for their country. Included in this set are Team USA Letterman jersey cards and some fantastic Stars and Stripes autographs on acetate window cards. For around $85/box, collectors can show their Team USA Pride by picking up some Panini USA Stars and Stripes Baseball!
2015 Topps Museum Collection Baseball - Topps is wasting no time getting the Baseball season off to a roaring start with 2015's Museum Collection. Each box contains four five-card packs and you can expect one hit in each pack. All told, you should end up with one auto-relic, one on-card auto and then a multi-relic and jumbo relic. Priced around $185/box, Museum Collection is one of the first higher end baseball sets of the 2015 MLB Season.
And that'll do it for this week...please make this a weekly stop as we'll be highlighting the hottest new releases every week. Also, keep an eye out for Reviews of 2015 Topps Opening Day Baseball and 2015 Topps MLs Major League Soccer later this week!