Panini America continues to utilize its NCAA license with a first time release honoring the college baseball careers of some familiar names. In early January, the company will conclude its triple play of high-end products with the release of 2016 Immaculate Collegiate Baseball.
The baseball product follows Panini’s releases this year of Immaculate Collegiate Football on Sept. 14 and Immaculate Collegiate Basketball on Nov. 2. The format is the same — one base card and five hits in a one-pack hobby box. And the price is steep, topping $400 depending on the retailer.
2016 Immaculate Collegiate Baseball Basics
Panini says the production of Immaculate Collegiate Baseball will be “limited.”
The emphasis, as one might imagine from the product name, is on players when they played college baseball. On-card autographs and generous memorabilia swatches of baseball legends and up-and-coming rookies will dominate Immaculate Collegiate Baseball. However, you’ll also see Hall of Famers and former stars (see Reggie Jackson of Arizona State).
Sure, there will be one base card or parallel per pack, but the lure of this product will be the big hits.
Immaculate will have a base set with each card numbered to 99 with Silver, Gold, Black and Blue parallels numbered from 25 to only one.
Jewel cards, a staple of Panini’s high-end products, will be in this one, too and include rubies, sapphires, emeralds and diamonds numbered from 20 to 1/1.
Autograph and Relics
Immaculate Ink will deliver autographs of top stars and rookies, while Sports Variations will showcase hard-signed cards from the top names in college baseball, basketball and football. The Sports Variations cards will be numbered to 99 or less. Immaculate Autographs, in addition to sticker signatures will feature 1/1 platinum versions. Rookie Autographs will be hard-signed cards and will feature major-league newcomers as they looked in college.
Memorabilia comes into play with Premium Patches Autographs, which feature signatures and jumbo swatches of baseball’s top rookies. Immaculate Numbers Memorabilia will include a small swatch and the player’s number featured on the card. Taking memorabilia a step further, RPS Rookie Player caps will feature jumbo pieces of players’ event-worn hats, with Brand Logo, Team Logo and Button parallels numbered to 10 or less.
Game-worn college uniforms from Barry Larkin, Buster Posey, Mark McGwire, Paul Molitor, Gerrit Cole and more are in the works.
The Tools of the Trade subset will feature quad swatches of player-worn cleats, gloves, hats and jerseys, along with a prime version that will be numbered to 10 or less. Even scarcer will be Immaculate Fielding Gloves, 1/1 cards that will feature pieces of player-worn gloves.
Like the other college-oriented products in Panini’s line, 2016 Immaculate Collegiate Baseball does allow the use of team logos and trademarks, something the company can’t do with its big league baseball products. You can see boxes for sale on eBay by clicking here.