Mayweather/McGregor Highlight Leaf’s 2017 NSCC Cards

Leaf usually has one of the largest booths in the corporate area.  They also have multiple promotions going on for the 2017 National Sports Collectors Convention.  Even if you don’t participate in any of their wrapper redemption programs, their booth is still worth stopping at.  Leaf likes to show off a lot of new cards which will be featured in upcoming products.

Just by opening a hobby box of Leaf cards (2011-present) at their booth will get you entered to win one of five Floyd Mayweather/Conor McGregor dual autographs.  Each day of the show one will be given away.  You must be present to win.

Collectors opening boxes of 2017 Leaf Pop Century will receive a Pop Century NSCC proof card #’ed/1.  A case will get you six proof cards and a Century Signature #’ed/1.

Opening a box of 2016-17 In The Game-Used will yield a specially made Jack Eichel relic card.  These will have parallels.  Nolan Patrick/Nico Hischier dual autograph cards and a full set of Eichel relics will be waiting for those who open a case.

VIPs will find a non-autographed version of the dual Mayweather/McGregor card in their bag.  A card of Vin Scully will also be thrown in.

Upper Deck’s 2017 National Sports Collectors Convention Plans

Upper Deck continues to make great products.  I just don’t open them very often mainly because they’re hockey and entertainment driven.  During the National in Atlantic City, NJ last year I opened a box of Goodwin Champions at their booth and pulled a Kevin Smith autograph #’ed/25 from a promo pack.  That was the first time I had pulled anything major while taking part in their wrapper redemption program.

VIPs visiting the ’17 NSCC will receive a 5-card Prominent Cuts set from Upper Deck.  The set includes: Michael Jordan, Connor McDavid, LeBron James, Ben Simmons, and Patrick Kane.

Upper Deck announced all of their plans for the National over on their blog.  They’ve got tons going on.

Topps Readies Exclusive Bowman Chrome Cards For The 2017 National

Of all the promotional programs that take place during the National Sports Collectors Convention, Topps usually draws the largest crowd.  For 2017, specially made Bowman Chrome cards make a return.  The 50-card set includes Hall Of Famers, current stars, and rookies.  Randomly inserted parallels and autographs will be thrown in.

Other than Opening Day, Bunt, and Sticker Collection, all 2017 Topps baseball products are eligible for this promotion.  Boxes of 2017 UFC Knockout and 2017 Major League Soccer can also be used.

Compared to last year, the biggest change is that (1) 4-card promo pack will be given out for each hobby box opened in front of a Topps employee.  This should drastically speed up the line while helping to extend the lifespan of the promo packs.  Before it was (1) promo pack for every (5) packs of Bowman and (1) promo pack for every (10) packs of everything else.  I would think that once the plastic is off the box you’d receive your promo pack.  It doesn’t sound like you would need to stand there and open every pack in front of them.  This should help move things along.

This promo was a big hit in Atlantic City last year.  I participated in it a lot and pulled numerous gold refractors including one of Babe Ruth #’ed/50 and an autograph of Julio Urias #’ed/30.  Both Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger will have cards in here.  As long as they’re still playing like they are, it’ll be fun to see the values of those cards.

Update:

Certain boxes will get you more than (1) promo pack.

Card of the Day: Brooks Koepka 2015 Sports Illustrated for Kids #407

Check Out The 2017 NSCC Topps VIP Set

Topps is the first company to strike first when it comes to unveiling their plans for the 2017 National Sports Collectors Convention.  VIPs will find a 4-card pack inside their packages.  There are actually five cards to the set, but you’ll need to trade in order to obtain them all.  The set is designed to look like 1987 Topps Baseball in honor of it’s 30th anniversary.  It includes Cal Ripken Jr., Ken Griffey Jr., Nolan Ryan, Johnny Bench, and Ted Williams.

One of these years it would be fun to see some randomly inserted parallels and/or autographs thrown into the VIP bags.  I also think it would be cool to see Topps use cards such as these for buyback autographs in future products like Archives Signature Series.

The 2017 NSCC takes place in Chicago, IL July 26-30.  Tickets are now on sale.

Product Highlight: Greatest Sports Legends – Video Baseball Cards

Over the years, multiple attempts at merging video with trading cards have been made.  Most were met with poor reviews from collectors.  Upper Deck gave it a shot with their line of Evolution cards in 2011.  They did their best to make them look like a card, but in all honesty I think they resembled a small portable gaming system like the Nintendo Game Boy.  In good old Panini fashion, they too tried their hand at it with their line of HRX video cards.  Despite some coming with autographs, Panini’s HRX cards were met with even a poorer response.  The video on many didn’t function very well or at all.  It wouldn’t surprise me if some collectors are still waiting on their redemption.

Perhaps Steve Rotfeld Productions did it best in 1990.  Greatest Sports Legends is a series of 207 documentaries covering some of the best athletes from the 20th century.  They first began airing in 1972, and even won an Emmy Award for their 1983 film about Jackie Robinson.  Throughout the 80’s, these documentaries were heavily distributed on VHS tapes.  The ones with a 1990 copyright date are my favorite.  You have to admit the words “video baseball card” couldn’t have been taken more literally.  Its very primitive.  The front and back of the VHS sleeves are designed to look like a card.  Whether or not all 207 athletes got this treatment is unclear.  I know it carried over into football too.

Unlike some VHS tapes, these don’t carry much collecting weight.  Its unlikely that many of us still own a device that could play one of these.  Funai Electronics was the last company to make video cassette recorders for home-use, and they ceased production in July 2016.

I use to own tons of VHS tapes, but got rid of them years ago.  Only a few remain in my possession, mainly for nostalgic purposes.  I couldn’t let go of my Star Wars and Batman (1989) VHS copies.

Flashback Product of the Week: 2002-03 Upper Deck LEGO Sports

Before OYO and C3 Toys showed up, the only sports licensed minifigures on the block came from a team-up between LEGO, Upper Deck, and the NBA.  This all took place between 2002-2003.  It was a short-lived relationship, but created some unconventional items that can easily stand out in your basketball collection.

LEGO made a handful of NBA licensed building toys.  Some contain generic NBA minifigures, while others are player specific.  A majority of the player specific minifigures can be found in the NBA Collector Sets.

There are eight different NBA Collector Sets.  Each one comes packaged with (3) minifigures, (3) stands, and (3) Upper Deck cards.  They include:

• Tim Duncan, Ray Allen, Paul Gasol #3560
• Tony Parker, Antoine Walker, Shaquille O’Neal #3561
• Gary Payton, Vince Carter, Dirk Nowitzki #3562
• Toni Kukoc, Jason Kidd, Kobe Bryant #3563
• Steve Francis, Karl Malone, Allen Iverson #3564
• Steve Nash, Jerry Stackhouse, Paul Pierce #3565
• Jalen Rose, Kevin Garnett, Peja Stojakovic #3566
• Allan Houston, Tracy McGrady, Chris Webber #3567

Every minifigure within the NBA Collector Set has a corresponding Upper Deck card.  You’ll find (1) gold parallel inside each pack.  Randomly inserted are autographs of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Jason Kidd, and Kobe Bryant.  When I mean randomly, its almost to the point where they don’t even exist.  You rarely see them.  The autographs aren’t serial numbered, but the print run on them has to be extremely low.  I sent an e-mail to Upper Deck attempting to obtain an actual print run, but all I got back was “We are not releasing print run information on those, rather letting the market determine scarcity levels.”

Instead of using a regular photograph, I think Upper Deck should’ve used an animated image of the player’s LEGO minifigure.  That would’ve been something different, at least for the autographs.