Trading card manufacturer In The Game will expand into the baseball card market later this year. Preliminary details were released to collectors Wednesday at the 2010 National Sports Collectors Convention in Baltimore.
2010 In The Game Heroes and Prospects Baseball Hits will be the company’s first foray into the world of baseball cards. In The Game released some mock-up sample images on Wednesday.
For collectors that are familiar with the company’s releases for the hockey card market, the company’s Heroes and Prospects set is immediately associated with bringing the first autograph cards of hockey’s brightest young stars to the hobby. Since the 2004-05 season, the Heroes and Prospects brand has seen the cardboard debuts of Sidney Crosby, Alexander Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, John Tavares, Steven Stamkos, Patrick Kane, Carey Price and many other current and future superstars.
“Over the past few years, In The Game’s Heroes and Prospects releases have remained among the most popular on the hockey card market and as the brand heads into its seventh season, we wanted to extend it into the baseball card market,” said In The Game’s President, Dr. Brian Price. “Our deep appreciation for the amazing history of the sport of baseball allows us to also go after some great names that are sure to appeal to collectors and we look forward to producing something that is sure to stand out in the marketplace.”
Each box of 2010 In The Game Heroes and Prospects Baseball Hits will contain four cards – all ‘hits’.
“We feel that the hobby is always moving in different directions, by making this product, it allows us to focus on what many collectors want the most – the “hits,” said Price.
On average, there will be 3.5 Prospect Autographs per box and every other box will contain one Heroes Cut Signature or Heroes Game-Used Memorabilia card.
The premier edition of In The Game Heroes and Prospects Baseball Hits will be released in November and the company promises the product will be “extremely limited”. Confirmed prospects to be featured include young stars Jason Heyward and Tim Beckham. A complete checklist will be available on the company’s website October 1.
As for the Heroes component of this product, Heroes Cut Signatures or limited Heroes Game-Used Memorabilia cards will feature Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams and Hank Aaron. Collectors can view the checklist for this portion of the product on September 15, 2010. The company released images Wednesday, showing cut autograph cards of Aaron and Williams.
“Who knows what direction that the success of 2010 In The Game Heroes and Prospects Baseball Hits will take us,” said Price. “If our new products appeal to enough collectors, I would love to see an expansion into the basketball and football prospect market as well. Only time will tell if we can accomplish this, but with the support of collectors we can certainly work hard to deliver what they want to see.”
There are currently over 35,000 In the Game cards and other items on eBay.
