Complete Upper Deck Prominent Cuts Checklist

Upper Deck Prominent Cuts Checklist (Google Docs)

If you've been browsing autographs on eBay this week you've probably noticed tons of cut signatures from Upper Deck's new Prominent Cuts set. Thanks to Upper Deck for forwarding on the checklist to me, which is massive. As in nearly 900 cut signature subjects.

The set is pricey, running about $200 per box. Add to that the largely hit-and-miss cut signature subjects, one of which is guaranteed in a box, and it's a risk I'm not sure I'd consider. While there is a lot of big hits on the checklist, some of the names among the cut signatures are really horrible. Take Bai Ling for example. Her Donruss Americana autograph (which includes her picture) can be found for around $10. And that's the hit in a $200 box? I hear the banjo tuning up in the background to a familiar chorus. I've also got huge issues with cut signatures on cards of folks who are still very much alive. Bai Ling fits that category as well.

After browsing through the set, Prominent Cuts is a confused product. The eclectic base set checklist of politicians, actors and athletes, and plentiful movie costume cards give it a definite Donruss Americana feel. The gazillion cut signatures inserted at reasonable rates compares to Razor's cut signature products. The MMA toss-ins are another Donruss Americana nod, as well as a spin on Topps' UFC products. Does that mean Prominent Cuts' personality is made up from the shadows of others?

At any rate, if you're looking for the checklist, I've put it into a Google Docs spreadsheet and organized it in a way that's useful for me. I'm not super familiar with spreadsheet creation so I'm coming at it from an angle that's aimed at finding things in an organized fashion, hence the multiple sheets to keep the various aspects separate.

Please comment if you find checklists like this useful (even if Prominent Cuts isn't your thing). I've been preparing some on my own using pre-existing sheets that I have a tough time navigating through. If it's helpful I'd be happy to share what I've got and maybe be a little more motivated to put together others in the future.

Cards That Really Don't Look Like Cards: 1997 Flair Showcase Diamond Cuts

Through the advent of new technologies that add extra shine, fancy die-cuts and other fan-dangled gimmicks, there's cards a plenty out there that don't at all resemble the baseball cards from yesteryear. Here's one.


1997 Flair Showcase Diamond Cuts

1997 Flair Showcase was a landmark release. It had a three levels of base sets. I guess you could call the uncommon and rare levels parallels, but I've never really seen it that way. It had tons of foil. And the foil actually looked good.

But what 1997 Flair Showcase will forever be remembered for is the introduction of the 1-of-1 with the Masterpiece parallels. They set a new standard for the hobby that hasn't looked back.

In all the years since 1997 when this set was first released, I'd never come across the Diamond Cuts inserts. They were clearly lost in the shuffle of all Flair Showcase's other gimmicks and beauty. These are some funky looking cards. Die-cut in the shape of facing diamonds, the card also features prominent holo-foil giving the top background a diamond look. The name plate and Flair Showcase logo both contain additional gold foil.  There's also a full-body player photo and a glistening baseball diamond on the card's bottom portion.

Card backs are fairy generic with a diamond photo in the background, a small photo and a generic-reading bio.

Diamond Cuts definitely don't resemble anything close to traditional baseball cards. Nonetheless, they work. For all the techno-gimmicks going on on this card, it's not overwhelming. Often, cards that take on too much look like Franken-cards that resemble something that belongs to be sewn onto the crest of a bowling shirt or like a nameplate that belongs on an office door. 

Diamond Cuts were inserted 1:20 packs. Most of the cards should be found for a couple of dollars with none going more than $5 or $6. Here's the checklist:

1. Jeff Bagwell

2. Albert Belle

3. Ken Caminiti

4. Juan Gonzalez

5. Ken Griffey Jr.

6. Tony Gwynn

7. Todd Hundley

8. Andruw Jones

9. Chipper Jones

10. Greg Maddux

12. Mark McGwire

13. Mike Piazza

14. Manny Ramirez

15. Cal Ripken Jr.

16. Alex Rodriguez

17. Frank Thomas

18. Mo Vaughn

19. Bernie Williams

20. Matt Williams

In the Game Gets in the Olympic Spirit With a Hockey Set Sold Directly to Collectors

In the Game is offering a hockey set direct to collectors connected to the 2010 Olympic Winter Games. Starting Friday, Vancouver 2010 will be available at the company's online store. Those who are interested in cards from the set will have to submit a request, which will be filled in the order they're received. The print run: 10 of each card. The set is comprised of autographs, game-used jersey, game-used patch and autographed game-used cards.

Here's the checklist:

Autographs

1	Martin Brodeur	Canada	$99.95
2	Roberto Luongo	Canada	$79.95
3	Joe Thornton	Canada	$49.95
4	Dany Heatley	Canada	$49.95
5	Patrick Marleau	Canada	$39.95
6	MA Fleury	Canada	$79.95
7	Ryan Getzlaf	Canada	$39.95
8	Patrice Bergeron	Canada	$39.95
9	Eric Staal	Canada	$49.95
10	Jaromir Jagr	Czech Republic	$89.95
11	Miikka Kiprusoff	Finland	$69.95
12	Niklas Backstrom	Finland	$49.95
13	Teemu Selanne	Finland	$69.95
14	Saku Koivu	Finland	$49.95
15	Semyon Varlamov	Russia	$59.95
16	Evgeni Nabokov	Russia	$49.95
17	Ilya Kovalchuk	Russia	$69.95
18	Sergei Fedorov	Russia	$49.95
19	Marian Gaborik	Slovakia	$69.95
20	Nicklas Lidstrom	Sweden	$69.95
21	Ryan Whitney	USA	$39.95
22	Zach Parise	USA	$39.95
23	Tim Thomas	USA	$39.95
24	Scott Niedermayer	Canada	$49.95
25	Mikko Koivu	Finland	$49.95
26	Vladislav Tretiak	1980 Lake Placid	$69.95
27	Igor Larionov	1984 Sarajevo	$49.95
28	Borje Salming	1992 Albertville	$39.95
29	Mats Naslund	1994 Lillehammer	$49.95
30	Mike Modano	1998 Nagano	$49.95
31	Mario Lemieux	2002 Salt Lake City	$129.95
32	Mats Sundin	2006 Turin	$49.95
33	Joe Sakic	2006 Turin	$69.95

Game-Used Jersey Cards

1	Martin Brodeur	Canada	$59.95
2	Roberto Luongo	Canada	$49.95
3	Joe Thornton	Canada	$39.95
4	Dany Heatley	Canada	$39.95
5	Patrick Marleau	Canada	$39.95
6	MA Fleury	Canada	$49.95
7	Ryan Getzlaf	Canada	$39.95
8	Patrice Bergeron	Canada	$39.95
9	Eric Staal	Canada	$39.95
10	Jaromir Jagr	Czech Republic	$59.95
11	Miikka Kiprusoff	Finland	$39.95
12	Teemu Selanne	Finland	$39.95
13	Saku Koivu	Finland	$39.95
14	Semyon Varlamov	Russia	$39.95
15	Evgeni Nabokov	Russia	$39.95
16	Ilya Kovalchuk	Russia	$49.95
17	Sergei Fedorov	Russia	$39.95
18	Marian Gaborik	Slovakia	$49.95
19	Nicklas Lidstrom	Sweden	$49.95
20	Ryan Whitney	USA	$39.95
21	Zach Parise	USA	$39.95
22	Tim Thomas	USA	$39.95
23	Scott Niedermayer	Canada	$39.95
24	Mikko Koivu	Finland	$39.95
25	Vladislav Tretiak	1980 Lake Placid	$49.95
26	Igor Larionov	1984 Sarajevo	$39.95
27	Borje Salming	1992 Albertville	$39.95
28	Mats Naslund	1994 Lillehammer	$39.95
29	Mike Modano	1998 Nagano	$49.95
30	Mario Lemieux	2002 Salt Lake City	$69.95
31	Mats Sundin	2006 Turin	$39.95
32	Joe Sakic	2006 Turin	$49.95

Game-Used Patch Cards

1	Martin Brodeur	Canada	$89.95
2	Roberto Luongo	Canada	$69.95
3	Joe Thornton	Canada	$59.95
4	Dany Heatley	Canada	$59.95
5	Patrick Marleau	Canada	$49.95
6	MA Fleury	Canada	$79.95
7	Ryan Getzlaf	Canada	$49.95
8	Patrice Bergeron	Canada	$49.95
9	Eric Staal	Canada	$49.95
10	Jaromir Jagr	Czech Republic	$79.95
11	Miikka Kiprusoff	Finland	$49.95
12	Teemu Selanne	Finland	$49.95
13	Saku Koivu	Finland	$49.95
14	Semyon Varlamov	Russia	$49.95
15	Evgeni Nabokov	Russia	$49.95
16	Ilya Kovalchuk	Russia	$69.95
17	Sergei Fedorov	Russia	$49.95
18	Marian Gaborik	Slovakia	$79.95
19	Nicklas Lidstrom	Sweden	$79.95
20	Ryan Whitney	USA	$49.95
21	Zach Parise	USA	$49.95
22	Tim Thomas	USA	$49.95
23	Scott Niedermayer	Canada	$49.95
24	Mikko Koivu	Finland	$49.95
25	Vladislav Tretiak	1980 Lake Placid	$69.95
26	Igor Larionov	1984 Sarajevo	$49.95
27	Borje Salming	1992 Albertville	$49.95
28	Mats Naslund	1994 Lillehammer	$49.95
29	Mike Modano	1998 Nagano	$49.95
30	Mario Lemieux	2002 Salt Lake City	$89.95
31	Mats Sundin	2006 Turin	$49.95
32	Joe Sakic	2006 Turin	$69.95

Autographed Game-Used Jersey Cards

1	Martin Brodeur	Canada	$129.95
2	Roberto Luongo	Canada	$99.95
3	Joe Thornton	Canada	$79.95
4	Dany Heatley	Canada	$79.95
5	Patrick Marleau	Canada	$69.95
6	MA Fleury	Canada	$99.95
7	Ryan Getzlaf	Canada	$79.95
8	Patrice Bergeron	Canada	$69.95
9	Eric Staal	Canada	$79.95
10	Jaromir Jagr	Czech Republic	$109.95
11	Miikka Kiprusoff	Finland	$89.95
12	Teemu Selanne	Finland	$89.95
13	Saku Koivu	Finland	$89.95
14	Semyon Varlamov	Russia	$79.95
15	Evgeni Nabokov	Russia	$69.95
16	Ilya Kovalchuk	Russia	$89.95
17	Sergei Fedorov	Russia	$89.95
18	Marian Gaborik	Slovakia	$99.95
19	Nicklas Lidstrom	Sweden	$99.95
20	Ryan Whitney	USA	$69.95
21	Zach Parise	USA	$69.95
22	Tim Thomas	USA	$69.95
23	Scott Niedermayer	Canada	$79.95
24	Mikko Koivu	Finland	$79.95
25	Vladislav Tretiak	1980 Lake Placid	$99.95
26	Igor Larionov	1984 Sarajevo	$79.95
27	Borje Salming	1992 Albertville	$69.95
28	Mats Naslund	1994 Lillehammer	$69.95
29	Mike Modano	1998 Nagano	$69.95
30	Mario Lemieux	2002 Salt Lake City	$149.95
31	Mats Sundin	2006 Turin	$69.95
32	Joe Sakic	2006 Turin	$99.95

T206 Honus Wagner Gets the Metallic Shine

Topps' online arm eTopps has released their T206 Tribute set. Available only for the week and initially as a complete set, it's a convergence of the old school hobby and new school technology. While I'm already pretty bored of the T206 design (I prefer the gold border T205 design), if these are anything like the eTopps Allen & Ginter cards as far as asthetics, they will be very nice.

The eTopps T206 Tribute set consists of 10 retired players. The photo selection is nice and the rainbow spin on the Wagner should be interesting. Sets are being offered for $69.99 and are limited to a maximum of 749 copies (I think it's a safe prediction that they're going to sell out). Cards are then placed in buyers' eTopps portfolios with an initial value of $7.00 each. If you just want a couple of singles you'll have to fight for them on eBay.

My guess is that a few of these will really take off. The T206 design is new to eTopps and the print run is quite low. The combination should keep most of these above their initial price offering (IPO). How much? I'm not sure. I do know I'm not willing to take the risk and will probably look for the Babe Ruth and the Nolan Ryan somewhere down the line on the secondary market.

Here's pictures of the complete set:

Here's the checklist:

1. Ernie Banks
2. Jackie Robinson
3. Babe Ruth
4. Lou Gehrig
5. Cy Young
6. Stan Musial
7. Mickey Mantle (who would have guessed he'd be #7)
8. Cal Ripken Jr.
9. Honus Wagner
10. Nolan Ryan

Griffey Eats Cake and Squishes Alex Rodriguez

Something about this card makes me think of Alice in Wonderland. Either that or some recently fed baby sitting in his playpen. But it's been a long time since one could look at Ken Griffey Jr. and really think of him as "The Kid."

The card in question comes from 1996 Pinnacle Summit Baseball. I'd actually forgotten that the Summit brand made it past its first year. Although 1995 Pinnacle Summit had a clean design, it wasn't exactly memorable. But at least I remember how they looked. I can't say the same for the 1996 follow-up off the top of my head.

Ballparks is an 18-card insert set that I'd assume would be used to showcase various stadiums. But then you have the Godzilla-looking ballplayers doing their thing and scaring the bahooey out of everyone in attendance (except for the Gwynn below who appears to be playing to only a handful in San Diego).

Each of the cards in the set are serial numbered /8000 copies and were inserted 1:18 packs.

Here's the complete checklist:

1. Cal Ripken Jr.

2. Albert Belle

3. Dante Bichette

4. Mo Vaughn

5. Ken Griffey Jr.

6. Derek Jeter

7. Juan Gonzalez

8. Greg Maddux

9. Frank Thomas

10. Ryne Sandberg

11. Mike Piazza

12. Johnny Damon

13. Barry Bonds

14. Jeff Bagwell

15. Paul Wilson

16. Tim Salmon

17. Kirby Puckett

18. Tony Gwynn