Card of the Day: Bill Romanowski 1997 Score Showcase Artist Proof #260

Card of the Day: Ryan Leaf 1998 Score Showcase Artist Proof #141

Card of the Day: Scott Rolen 1997 Flair Showcase Wave of the Future #19

Card of the Day: Mickey Moniak 2015 Leaf Perfect Game National Showcase Pure Green Parallel Auto

Malmö FF 2015-16 Topps UEFA Champions League Showcase Auto Contest Winner Announced

Congrats to bumfleetblog1 on being the lucky winner of the Markus Rosenberg 2015-16 Topps UEFA Champions League Showcase Auto.  Once bumfleetblog1 sends me their mailing address, I will ship this card ASAP.  Thanks!

Malmö FF 2015-16 Topps UEFA Champions League Showcase Auto Contest! – NOW CLOSED

This contest is for a Markus Rosenberg 2015-16 Topps UEFA Champions League Showcase Auto.  Good luck!!!

Contest Details:

• This contest will end Friday, April 22, 2016 @ 8:00 p.m. EST.
• To enter, please leave a comment in this post.
• You can enter once per day.
• The winner will be selected at random.
• Please provide a valid e-mail address when entering.
• The winner will receive an e-mail when the contest is over.
• The winner has one week to send me their contact information or the contest will be held again.
• Once the contest is over, I will need the winner’s mailing address so I can ship them this card for FREE!!!

2015-16 Topps UEFA Champions League Showcase Box Break & Review

Major League Baseball started up again this week.  You wanna know a great way to commemorate that?  By opening a box of European soccer cards.  That makes about as much sense as the Phillies pulling out Hellickson only to have the bullpen blow it.

2015-16 Topps UEFA Champions League Showcase is setup a lot like Finest Baseball.  Inside each master box you’ll find (2) mini boxes that contain (6) packs and (1) autograph each.  In case anyone was wondering, UEFA stands for Union of European Football Associations.  Its usually just referred to as the Champions League though.  When it comes to European soccer, the Champions League is about as prestigious as you can get.

The look and feel of these cards is similar to what you would find in some of the UFC products Topps makes.  Cards have that matte background and then the player photo is glossy.  From what it looks like, all of the autographs are on stickers.  The only spots that I could see where they stick out the most would be on cards that have a dark background.

As far as the base set goes, you’ve got (200) cards.  No short prints, photo variations, etc…  There are six different parallels – Green, Gold, Red, Black, Champions, and Printing Plates.  I think the best looking cards are the base autographs along with their respective parallels.  They have a simple design, matte background, glossy player photo, and the sticker autograph doesn’t jump out at you.  The diagonal lines add some character to the cards without drawing too much attention away from the player.  I did notice however that some of the player’s names can be difficult to read.  Light silver text with a bright background can do that sometimes.

Soccer is one of those sports that isn’t isolated to one country.  Its played all over the world vastly expanding it’s collecting base.  Opening products like this make you a well-rounded collector.  Niche products can offer some unique cards for those very specific player collectors.

Here is what I pulled:

Autos

• Luke Shaw Gold Auto #’ed/50
• Markus Rosenberg Auto

Parallels

• Sergio Ramos Decorated & Dignified Red #’ed/25
• Gaston Pereiro Gold #’ed/50
• Yacine Brahimi Green #’ed/150

Inserts

• Danny Decorated & Dignified
• Jose Antonio Reyes Decorated & Dignified
• Vincent Kompany Decorated & Dignified
• Maicon Decorated & Dignified
• Diego Benaglio Decorated & Dignified
• Gabi Decorated & Dignified
• Sven Kums Champions Pedigree
• Xabi Alonso Champions Pedigree
• Markus Rosenberg Champions Pedigree
• Zlatan Ibrahimovic Champions Pedigree
• Ivan Rakitic Road To Victory
• Luis Suarez Road To Victory