2011 Playoff Contenders Baseball Box Break & Review

Design: 

I think Panini did a much better job with Contenders Baseball versus Contenders Football.  The overall design is a lot better.  When it comes to the on-card autographs, once again we have giant white boxes in the middle of the photographs.  I don’t mind the foil-boarded wood grain background that we all know looks like 1987 Topps, but the white boxes on these cards just stand out too much.  They should just let the players sign on a lighter part of the photo.

I don’t believe the Sweet Signs autographed cards are signed on real baseball leather.  It feels manufactured to me.  I’d prefer the real thing, but since most of the signatures are signed with a ballpoint pen, fading shouldn’t be that much of a problem.  The Whitey Ford signatures seem to be doing this though.

The use of MLB logos would drastically help this product too.  I pulled three different Ryan Howard cards, and its just not the same without seeing that Phillies logo.

Price: 

Boxes are currently selling for $135.00.

“Hit” Quality: 

Collectors can look for (6) autographs per box on average.  (2) of them should be on-card autographs.  I pulled the following:

Autos

• Kevin Quackenbush Draft Ticket Auto
• Shawon Dunston, Jr Draft Ticket Auto
• Sean Gilmartin Draft Ticket Auto SP #’ed/99
• Brandon Loy Draft Ticket Auto SP – limited to 400-499 copies
• Dillon Maples Rookie Ticket on-card Auto
• Jackie Bradley Jr Rookie Ticket on-card Auto SP – limited to 400-499 copies
• James Allen Sweet Signs Auto #’ed/99

Parallels

• J.P. Arencibia Season Ticket #’ed/299
• Jose Reyes Season Ticket #’ed/299
• Jake Floethe Draft Ticket #’ed/299
• Travis Shaw Draft Ticket #’ed/299
• Jordan Akins Draft Ticket #’ed/299
• Nick Tropeano Playoff Draft Ticket #’ed/99
• Jed Bradley Prospect Ticket #’ed/99
• Michael Kelly Prospect Ticket Artist’s Proof #’ed/49

First Overall

• Joe Mauer #7

Legendary Debuts

• Pete Rose #8
• Bruce Sutter #4

Future Stars

• Bryson Myles #18
• Matt Dean #10
• John Hicks #2

Winning Combos

• Danny Hultzen/John Hicks #10
• Derek Jeter/Robinson Cano #19
• Gerrit Cole/Josh Bell #8
• Josh Hamilton/Ian Kinsler #23
• Hudson Boyd/Dan Vogelback #5
• Clayton Kershaw/Matt Kemp #21

Award Winners

• Ryan Howard #43
• Ryan Howard #38
• Ichiro #47
• Anthony Rendon #9
• Michael Young #23
• Brad Miller #4

Rated Rookies

• Mike Trout #17
• Craig Kimbrel #19

Panini recently released the SP list for the autographs.

Overall: 

Overall, I give 2011 Playoff Contenders Baseball 3 baseballs out of 5 (1=poor & 5=perfect).  It was a lot more fun to break than Contenders Football.  Those white boxes need to be changed and I miss the MLB logos.  Its not too bad for Panini’s first MLBPA licensed product.