After a slow period, the pace of new product releases is picking up. The first MLB-licensed baseball cards are starting to arrive but there are football, basketball, hockey, racing and soccer cards in the pipeline for the next couple of weeks.
Courtesy of Maine Sports Cards, here’s a roundup of what’s ahead:
2018 Topps Baseball Series 1 (1/31/18)
An annual tradition for fans and collectors, the arrival of the upcoming season’s first cards gets plenty of attention. Topps always puts a big promotional push behind it. The numbered checklist is now out and some card shops were expected to stay open until after midnight when the product officially goes live.
Not a lot has changed. There’s a 350-card base set, done on a borderless design with the usual array of parallels, photo variations and relic/autograph hits. Retail exclusive cards and a contest are also part of the mix.
Hobby, Jumbo, Retail, Blaster…you name it, Topps has a box for it. Traditional hobby boxes are available for around $60. Maine Sports Cards will be breaking boxes online all week.
2017-18 Upper Deck SPx Hockey (1/31/18)
Each pack of SPx contains only one card and there are four packs per box. Each will have at least one autograph, one relic and one “Tech” card with another bonus hit from one of those three groups. Among the highlights are SPx Shadow Box rookie cards, which are numbered to 298 or less.
There are also UD Black insert cards within the product mix including autographs and memorabilia cards of stars, legends and rookies.
Boxes are selling online for a little over $100 each.
2017-18 Panini Status Basketball (1/31/18)
A lower cost product, Status nevertheless does offer some value with one autograph per box and a focus on what’s developing into an erstwhile rookie class. Look for inserts featuring special inscriptions signed at the NBA Draft with the Draft Night Autographs Inscriptions and Draft Night Hats autograph inserts.
Elite Signatures has a checklist that includes Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, Damian Lillard and other stars. Die-cut Pursuit Parallels will be rare, falling approximately one per case.
Status is available for a little over $60 per box online.
2017 Panini Vertex Football (1/31)
Yes, Wednesday is a busy day for new releases. Vertex makes it a quadruplet kind of day. There are three packs in each box with eight cards per pack. You’ll find four autos and two memorabilia cards in each box including a Capstones card with four swatches and an autograph (# to 99). Boxes are currently running $265-$300.
Two autograph inserts to watch for include Number Ones, which has autographs from players who were picked No. 1 overall in the NFL Draft, while One of a Kind features signatures of NFL superstars.
You can participate in Vertex breaks at Maine beginning on release day.
2017 Panini Plates & Patches Football (2/9/18)
One pack per box with five cards in each and Panini spells out exactly what’s inside: one autograph or auto relic (numbered to 99 or less), one memorabilia card, one printing plate, one parallel numbered to 50 or less and one base card.
Current and future legends are highlighted in Marquee Marks, where each card features bold on-card autographs (all #’d/50 to less) while Canton Calligraphy features autographs from members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Plates & Patches boxes run a little under $100.
2017-18 Upper Deck Series II Hockey (2/14/18)
The follow-up to the NHL’s flagship trading card product will bring 200 more base cards and a new collection of Young Guns.
Other highlights in Series II are Rookie Breakouts, printed on acetate stock and #’d to 100 and the new Upper Deck Fluoresence, a selection of 50 top rookies printed with spectrum light FX.
Each box will have 24 packs with eight cards per pack and are being pre-sold now for $80-$90.
Also set for release are Donruss Racing (2/7), Leaf Greatest Hits Baseball (buyback) 2/9 and Panini Premium Gold Soccer (2/12).
Maine Sports Cards offers daily breaks of current and past products you can 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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