Card of the Day: Jim Thorpe 1955 Topps All-American #37

Card of the Day: Jim Thorpe 2018 Topps Allen & Ginter Indigenous Heroes Mini #21

Card of the Day: 1959 Fleer Ted Williams – Ted Williams & Jim Thorpe #70

Panini Takes A Beating With Flawless & Thorpe Relics

This industry of ours has taken a few big blows to the head within the last week.  Its always taking hits, but these kind hurt big time.  When you have an industry that’s based on trust and authenticity its going to happen.

First off, let me say that anyone who purchases a box of cards that costs over $1,200.00 is completely nuts.  I don’t care if you have more money than god, there is no reasoning for this.  The cards found in 2014 Panini Flawless Football are very nice looking, I’ll give them that.  But there is nothing in this product that we really haven’t seen before.  This is just my opinion, and I’m sure there are people out there that strongly disagree.  Slapping a high price on the same old stuff doesn’t make a product innovative.

By now you’ve probably heard about the tiny problem Flawless Football has with the event-used versus game-used swatches.  At first I didn’t think much about it, especially when it was just a couple of players.  Its happened before.  But then the list got longer.  I’m glad Panini is owning up to the problem, but that’s only happening because they got caught.  Event-used relics shouldn’t have been anywhere near a product of this caliber.  What grinds my cookies the most is how fast Panini responded with such accurate numbers.  Its almost as if they knew what they were doing.  If they wanted to play things out, they should have waited a bit to release the info on which cards were effected.  That would have at least made collectors believe Panini was doing some digging to get that info.  Releasing that much highly-detailed information so fast looks like they were documenting it in the first place.  This just shakes the trust all around.  And this is the company buying up all the licenses.  Someone needs to stop turning a blind eye to all those cleared payments.  Cutting corners to help the bottom line isn’t going to fix anything.  Can you really trust anyone?  The simple answer is no.  I wish we could, but in the words of Rocky Balboa “The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows.”  We live in a world where you need to question things and look beyond the flashy show.

I usually don’t write a lot of posts like this.  Panini has been very kind to Sports Card Info over the years by supplying boxes to review and including me in their NFL Player of the Day blogger promotion.  But something had to be said.  Even though what I’m saying has already been said before by other collectors.  I suppose another voice can’t hurt.  Things will just blow over though and not much will come of it.  Just like it has for years.  It won’t be long before another incident rises up.

Speaking of another incident, I’d stay away from every single Jim Thorpe baseball relic made from 2005-2014.  Apparently the jersey used to make over 2,000 relic cards never even was in the presence of Mr. Thorpe.  Its sad to see people still spending tons of cash for these cards.  Panini has really taken a beating the last week.

I will always enjoy opening up packs and boxes.  As long as there aren’t too many base cards.  I don’t need meaningless base cards and inserts.  Low numbered parallels and “hits” are what I enjoy.  But sometimes it can really hurt when you see what goes on behind the scenes.  This industry can be like sausage.  You may like to eat it, but you don’t always want to watch it being made.

Card of the Day: Jim Thorpe 1991 Pro Set #3

Card of the Day: 2011 Timeless Treasures Hall Of Fame Materials Quads Clark/Grange/Baugh/Thorpe

Card of the Day: Jim Thorpe 2011 Timeless Treasures Cut Signature & Relic

Card of the Day: Jim Thorpe 2008 UD Masterpieces #44

Card of the Day: Jim Thorpe 2000 Fleer Greats of the Game #81

Are Thorpe Relics Running Out?

I consider Jim Thorpe to be the Babe Ruth of football.  Its been almost 5 years since I opened up that pack of 2003 Leaf Limited and pulled a 2 color piece of jacket limited to only 25 copies.  Back in 2003, Donruss/Playoff purchased a jacket/sweater once worn by Thorpe so they could cut it up an include it with some of their products.  In 2005, Donruss/Playoff was able to obtain a baseball jersey worn by Thorpe too, which I’ve always thought was petty cool because I always considered Jim Thorpe to be associated only with football.  From 2003 to 2007, Donruss/Playoff used many pieces of that famous burgundy jacket/sweater for their cards, but none have been seen since.  Is it possible that there is nothing left for them to cut up other than baseball stuff?  I can understand the possibility of Donruss/Playoff running low and only saving pieces for their high-end products like National Treasures, but Thorpe relics haven’t been in that product either for the last two years.  This wouldn’t be the first time manufacturers have run low on relics for an athlete.  Larry Little hasn’t had any new relic cards made either within the last two years.  There will come a day when some of these older players just won’t have any relics for manufacturers to get their hands on.  Relics for Mickey Mantle, Babe Ruth, Michael Jordan, Bobby Orr, and Jim Thorpe will all run out someday.  Its only a matter of time.

Anyone have a Jim Thorpe jersey they could sell to a manufacturer? 🙂

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