An earlier than usual baseball release, basketball and hockey products and a familiar high-end NFL issue are among the new sports card arrivals over the latter half of March.
Here’s a roundup of what’s heading to market, courtesy of The Break Exchange.
2019 Topps Inception Baseball (3/20)
Arriving three months before last year’s product, Inception boxes will have seven cards, one of which will be an autograph or auto patch card. Two others will be parallels. The focus will be on rookies and prospects.
The base set includes only 100 cards but will have eight parallels to chase.
Base Rookies and Emerging Stars autographs will have numbered on-card autographs of the top 2019 rookies and young players. A variety of low-numbered book cards have been created for Inception, which will be among the lowest cost products of the entire year. Boxes have been selling online for as low as $55.
2018-19 Panini Cornerstones Basketball (3/20)
Each six card box of Cornerstones will have two autographs, one memorabilia card, one PVC insert and two base or parallel cards.
Rookie Cornerstones cards will be among the highlights, with four jersey swatches and an on-card autograph.
Memorabilia Super Prime cards will be major 1/1 hits with game-worn jersey tags from the NBA’s top players.
Among the more eye-catching inserts is Downtown, with a design that features players against a backdrop of his home city.
2019 Topps Gypsy Queen Baseball (3/27)
Back for another year, GQ’s arrival coincides with the start of the MLB regular season, which usually creates a natural hobby buzz. Topps is promising two autographs and will debut a three-card chrome topper pack in every hobby box this year. The cost has gone up a bit but boxes are sitting at about $100-$110 right now.
Those toppers will have Refractor parallels that will be available in indigo (numbered to 150), gold (50), red (5) and SuperFractor (1/1), along with autographed versions numbered to 25.
Interesting hits to look for include Bases Around the League Autograph Relics, which feature an on-card signature and pieces of bases from a 2018 Opening Day game. The cards are numbered to 20. Pull-Up Sock Autograph Relics are numbered to 10 and have swatches of colorful socks of major-leaguers next to the autograph. There are also 1/1 black parallels.
Topps has teased some “unannounced parallels and hidden gems” that will reveal themselves when the product is released.
2018-19 OPC Platinum Hockey (3/27)
Upper Deck owns the O-Pee-Chee brand and brings it back with Platinum, a lower cost product that is heavy on parallels. While it’s not heavy on autographs, Upper Deck plans to keep its streak of zero redemption cards going. On-card rookie autos on Platinum stock will be a big part of the chase.
Each box will have six Retro Variations, nine parallels including two numbered and an on-card autograph. Some new parallels are planned including one called ‘Arctic Freeze’ Golden Treasures parallels will be 1/1.
New inserts include Net Magnets and The Future is Now.
2018 Panini Flawless Football (3/27)
Arriving on the heels of National Treasures, Flawless briefcases will contain six autographs, two memorabilia cards and two gem cards for around $1700. Every card in the product will be numbered no higher than 25 with all living player autographs signed on card. Panini says Flawless will include “more patch autographs and 1/1s than ever before.”
Among those who’ve signed for Flawless: Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Joe Montana, Drew Brees, Jared Goff, Carson Wentz, John Elway, Dan Marino, Jerry Rice and Patrick Mahomes. The cut autograph checklist will include deceased former stars including Walter Payton, Derrick Thomas, Reggie White, Johnny Unitas, Pat Tillman and Sean Taylor, among others.
2019 Panini Prizm Collegiate Draft Picks (3/29)
Panini uses its popular Prizm line to produce a pre-draft product that includes five autographs in each box for $100-$115. Most cards will feature players who could be taken in the 2019 draft. Some current NFL players will also have cards showing them in their college uniforms.
College Ties Autographs features autographs pairing two rookie collegiate teammates from the same alma mater.
Among the inserts will be one called Stained Glass.
Other products due for release before April 1 include: Topps Alliance of American Football (3/22); Topps MLS (3/27); Leaft Metal Sports Heroes (3/22); Historic Autographs HOF Inductees (3/27); Historic Autographs The Streak (3/27) and Leaf Metal Draft (3/29).
The Break Exchange will be breaking some of these products in the coming days. The company offers daily breaks of current and past products you can participate in and watch online. You can learn more about how to get involved in their box and case breaks and even sell your cards through their website by clicking here.
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