Panini Throws Everything Into 2012 National Treasures Baseball

We’ve had glimpses of what Panini has in store for the initial release of 2012 National Treasures Baseball, but now we have a larger picture.  Costing around 400.00 per box, this product is not for those collectors on a tight budget.  Every box will have (8) autographs/memorabilia cards and (1) booklet.  Bat knobs, buttons, and cut signatures highlight some of the high-end “hits”.  Panini is really taking advantage of the color white and allowing the relics/signatures to pop.

This is easily one of the most expensive non-MLB licensed products to hit the market.  If it weren’t for Panini’s agreement with the Baseball Hall of Fame, I doubt this product would see the light of day.  $400.00 is a lot of money, and I’ve got the feeling having all these on-card autographs that look good will probably yield many redemptions.  Let’s not forget a good chunk of these players already have plenty of autographs on the market, i.e. Fisk, Bench, Boggs, Yastrzemski, etc…

According to Panini, they’ve included the first memorabilia cards of the following stars: Wee Willie Keeler, Jake Daubert, Goose Goslin, Pete Reiser, Dave Bancroft, Heine Groh, Willie Kamm and Billy Southworth.  It also sounds like they’ve got memorabilia cards of Walter Johnson.  Johnson has had cut signatures in the past, but no game-used memorabilia cards.  Panini is throwing everything into 2012 National Treasures Baseball attempting to compete with Topps.  It should be interesting to see what else Panini has planned for this product.

Buttons include: Gehrig, Paige, Hornsby, Clemente, DiMaggio, Robinson, Gehringer, Dickey, Grimes, Thorpe & Campanella

Bat Knobs include: Wagner, Gehrig, Clemente, Hornsby, Williams, Cobb, Pujols, Cabrera, Wilson, Collins, Jackson, Heilmann, Lajoie, DiMaggio, Keeler, Waner, Foxx, Klein, Speaker & Goslin

Legends Booklets include: Shoeless Joe Jackson, Thorpe, Wagner, Lajoie, Gehrig, Huggins, Cobb, Hornsby, DiMaggio, Williams, Clemente, Foxx, Dean, Robinson, Paige, Simmons, Dickey, Grimes, Wilson, Campanella, Heilmann, Speaker, Gehringer, Klein, Bancroft, Collins, Frisch, Goslin & Ott

Legends Booklet ID Tags include: Robinson, Ryan, Jackson, Rose, Henderson, Sandberg, Dickey, Reese, Fisk & Schmidt