Leaf Announces Their 2018 NSCC Wrapper Redemption Programs

Its been awhile since I participated in any of Leaf’s wrapper redemption programs, but this year that might change.  Leaf plans to have three redemption programs going on during the 2018 National Sports Collectors Convention.

Box Level Redemption Program

Open a box of 2018 Leaf In The Game Used Sports or 2018 Leaf Pop Century at the Leaf booth, and you’ll receive a 2-card pack of 1948 Leaf Metal cards.  These cards celebrate Leaf’s 70th anniversary.  This set covers a wide variety of sports stars such as Shohei Ohtani, Stephen Curry, Conor McGregor, Lionel Messi, Baker Mayfield, and Gordie Howe.  Watch out for low numbered parallels.

Case Level Redemption Program

Open a case of 2018 Leaf In The Game Used Sports or 2018 Leaf Pop Century at the Leaf booth, and you’ll receive a 2-card pack of 1948 Leaf Metal cards for each box in your case.  You’ll also receive a special 70th anniversary autograph #’ed/1.  These autographs include greats like Jerry Rice, Nolan Ryan, Shohei Ohtani, and Mike Tyson.

2018 Leaf Metal U.S. Army All-American Football Exclusive National Sports Collectors Convention Bonus Box Offer

Open a case of 2018 Leaf Metal U.S. Army All-American Football, and receive an exclusive 2018 National Sports Collectors Bonus Box.  Each one of these special boxes contain (12) autographs numbered to (2) or less.  (4) Metal Proof Autos, (2) Printing Plate Autos, and (6) Blank Back Autos make up a box.  Only (50) boxes will be made.

Stop by the Leaf booth every morning of the show as they will be distributing at random cards from their 39-card promo set.

Glebe Wraps Up Their 1st Sports Sculpted Sketch Card

Collectors are itching for something new.  You can feel it in the air.  Finding growth within this industry today has become quite difficult.  It needs a shakeup.  But yet, there is nothing more exciting than pulling a big “hit” from a nice box of cards.

In February I blogged about these really cool looking Sculpted Sketch Cards by Glebe.  At the time they were making them for comic book and movie characters.  Recently they wrapped up their first sports related Sculpted Sketch Card.  This Michael Jordan Sculpted Sketch Card was recently finished for a private collector.

These pieces look so awesome, and make unique additions to any collection.  From the moment I saw them, I knew it wouldn’t take long until sports collectors would want them.  I believe its only a matter of time until they strike a deal with a card manufacturer.

What famous sports scenes would you like to see done like this?  Babe Ruth’s “called shot” with the bat coming right off the card would be neat.

Be sure to follow Glebe on Twitter and Facebook to keep up-to-date on their latest artwork.

Topps Uses Classic Design For Their 2016 National VIP Set

Topps has let the cat out of the bag and showed off what their 5-card VIP set will be for those collectors attending the 2016 National Sports Collectors Convention.

This year’s set focuses on the 1951 Topps Red and Blue Backs design.  It has Phil Rizzuto, Bobby Doerr, Duke Snider, Bob Feller, and Warren Spahn.  Every VIP package will contain a 4-card pack.  If you want that fifth card, you’re going to have to trade for it.

Topps will be hosting the VIP party that takes place before the show opens Aug. 3rd in Atlantic City, NJ.  It all kicks off at 2:30 p.m.  Topps plans to have giveaways and free autograph guests – Hockey Hall of Famer Eddie Giacomin, 1974 National League MVP Steve Garvey, and former Phillies closer “Wild Thing” Mitch Williams.

Upper Deck Opens Up About Their 2016 National Plans

UPDATE – Here is a list of the qualifying products for Upper Deck’s Wrapper Redemption Program.

In an interview with John Broggi of the National Sports Collectors Convention, Upper Deck unveiled some of their plans for the industry’s biggest annual event.

VIPs will receive a 5-card set that features LeBron James, Martin Brodeur, Wayne Gretzky, Tiger Woods, and Michael Jordan.  Collectors taking part in Upper Deck’s wrapper redemption program will find (10) Prominent Cuts multi-sport base cards.  Autographs and cut signatures will randomly be thrown in.  Wrapper redemption packs and case breakers exclusive cards will also contain ten top NHL rookies.  Autographed versions of those can be found as well.

Without going into too much detail, Upper Deck did mention that they will have a special trading card tribute for Mike Berkus.  Berkus co-founded the National and passed away last year.  I’d like to see their tribute card designed to look like something you’d pull from 2016 Goodwin Champions.  Upper Deck traditionally doesn’t design their National promos around already existing products.  Topps does, and perhaps that’s why Upper Deck chooses not to.  Yes.  Prominent Cuts was a product they released in 2009, but it wasn’t seen again.  Goodwin Champions on the other hand is a product that Upper Deck continues to make.  It has a good following, and feels like their version of Allen & Ginter.  To those collectors who have never attended the National, the name Mike Berkus may not be that easily recognized.  At least not at first.  Issuing a card(s) of him in the 2016 Goodwin Champions design would help drive demand for it.  Set collectors want everything.

The 37th National Sports Collectors Convention takes place in Atlantic City, NJ Aug. 3-7.  I plan to be there with handfuls of my Sports Card Info pins to give out.  Find me!

How Can Panini Make Their New NASCAR Line Work?

NASCAR collectors have gone over a year without any type of new trading card product.  Press Pass went out of business a few days into 2015, and that’s the last we heard of anything.  Over the last year when asked whether or not we’d see cards anytime soon, NASCAR would come back with a generic response but never really answered the question.  During the 2016 Industry Summit that question was finally answered.  Panini will be giving NASCAR a shot on a very limited basis.

It doesn’t surprise me that Panini is the one who will be making NASCAR cards.  D.J. Kazmierczak who once was the head of Press Pass, now is the VP of Sales/Product Development at Panini.  Plus they have all that sticker money from their big daddy over in Italy.  NASCAR driver Chris Buescher kinda left the cat out of the bag before Panini’s announcement when he posted a bunch of sticker autographs he just finished signing on his Instagram account.

You can tell that Panini is really testing the waters with this new deal.  They only plan to release four NASCAR products this year.  The brands include Prizm, Certified, National Treasures, and a new product called Torque.

Panini is known for churning out one product after another.  Lots of cookie cutter stuff.  Releasing four products per year is how they should treat some other sports.  Trust me.  If NASCAR works for them, Panini will turn the printing machines on high.  I think initially it will be interesting to see what NASCAR looks like on these brands.  Over time, Panini will probably get repetitive though just like they do with everything else.  Collectors are so use to the designs Press Pass used, almost anything is going to look different to them now.  I hope Panini doesn’t make a mess of things with the NASCAR brand.  Starting off with sticker autographs isn’t the best sign.  Especially when Press Pass had so much on-card autograph content.  People that collect NASCAR have yet to really see any sketch cards or shadowboxes.  Too bad Panini isn’t known for either.  There are a lot of popular elements which have been used in other sports card products for years that haven’t been seen in NASCAR sets yet.  Including some of those things would make for a unique NASCAR product.  The key here is to do something different that NASCAR fans haven’t seen before.  Treating NASCAR like everything else they make will just end in disaster.  Perhaps getting into something digital would be the way to go.

Topps, Upper Deck, and Leaf I bet could’ve made some great looking NASCAR products.  Panini was the last company I really wanted to see NASCAR with.  But I knew it would be the first company to give it a try after Press Pass went under.

I haven’t opened a Panini product in almost two years.  Even though it didn’t qualify for any of their wrapper redemption programs, I decided to try a box of 2014 Elite Football during the National Sports Collectors Convention.  Panini should have some of their new NASCAR products ready for the National this year.  They would be smart to have them qualify for their promotions too.

Panini Exposes Their VIP Set For 2014 National Attendees

If your a VIP attending the 2014 National Sports Collectors Convention in Cleveland this year, be sure to check your bags for a coupon from Panini.  This coupon can be redeemed at the Panini Corporate booth for a 6-card set.  As you can see below, the set includes Johnny Manziel, Blake Bortles, Jose Abreu, Masahiro Tanaka, Andrew Wiggins, and Dante Exum.

ITG Celebrates Chi-Town With Their 2013 National VIP Set

ITG has unveiled their 9-card set that will be made available to VIPs that attend this year’s National Sports Collectors Convention.  As you can see, this set celebrates Chi-Town.  Players in this set include: Tony Esposito, Bobby Hull, Glenn Hall, Stan Mikita, Roy Conacher, Charlie Gardiner, Bill Mosienko, Max Bentley and Pierre Pilote.  I think these are nicer than those puzzles ITG has made for past VIP packages.

Panini Unveils Their VIP Set For The National

VIPs attending the 34th National Sports Collectors Convention this month will receive a 6-card set thanks to Panini.  The set will consist of E.J. Manuel, Geno Smith, Oscar Taveras, and Nail Yakupov.  Along with these four cards collectors will find a coupon which can be redeemed at the Panini booth for two additional mystery cards.  No word yet on who the mystery cards are of, but I feel confident that one of them will be Yasiel Puig.

Upper Deck Unveils Their VIP Set For The 34th National

Here we go!  Today Upper Deck unveiled the 6-card set that VIPs will find in their packages while attending the 34th National Sports Collectors Convention.  I don’t know what it is about these cards, but they make me crave Hi-C juice that comes in those little boxes.  Maybe its those green backgrounds.

I would like to see Upper Deck make specially colored Precious Metal Gems parallels and/or a National exclusive Animal Kingdom patch to give away during their redemption programs this year.  Promos that can be integrated into an already existing product are the most desired.

“Pin-Up” of the Week: 2001 Tiger Woods – What Famous Characters Might Say About Their McDonald’s Fries Promo Pin

What we have here is a promotional pin made by McDonald’s back in 2001.  It features the likeness of Tiger Woods (but it also looks like Obama) accompanied by the phrase “McDonald’s Fries And Me… “Masterful””.  This pin is part of a set called What Famous Characters Might Say About Their McDonald’s Fries.  Other pins in the set feature Captain Kirk, Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Elvis, Mr. T, and James Bond.  Its filled with quite the collection of real and fictional characters.  None of them are that rare, and can easily be bought for $5.00.  I think this is definitely one of McDonald’s coolest promos.