There are quite a few opinions out there on the place Panini holds in the sports card marketplace.
It seems like the majority would like another licensed manufacture in addition to Topps (I hold this majority opinion) but as we know that won't be happening for a few more year. It seems like most dislike the different ways that Panini has gone about producing baseball cards to avoid using logos. To me it isn't ideal but I feel they have done a pretty solid job working within their limitations. Much better than a product like Upper Deck Goodwin Champions in my humble opinion.
The main reason I am so happy about the presence of Panini and the reason I will continue to support them as much as possible are cards like these 3 fairly recent pickups:
The first is a cut auto of Bobby Thomson - Mr. Shot Heard Round the world. The opportunity to get a certified autograph of an Immortal such as Thomson is great. There are a few other certified autos of his out there but this National Treasures release added another 99 to the marketplace (mine is 85/99) and helped make it affordable on my budget. I also think this is one of the best cut auto designs I have seen, despite the hat being cut off.
The second card also suffers from cut off had syndrome, but it really doesn't bother me too much. I actually had a card with a piece of bat by Bill Terry coupled with Willie McCovey in my McCovey collection but the same National Treasures release allowed me to pick up another featuring just Mr. Terry. This is again numbered to 99 (mine is 26/99) and was very affordable. I also like this design quite a bit, it much be the color scheme or something but I just think these cards look sharp.
The third and final card of this post is another Bill Terry bat card. If I really liked the other two designs, this one is elevated to love. The picture is fabulous, you get the full hat and the removal of any logos doesn't stand out. If I had one suggestion, it may be a slightly bigger picture and less border but I love this card out of 2013 Golden Age. Again, most likely because there are more of his bat cards on the market, this came at a very reasonable price, I think it was less than $10 on my LCS bid board.
So what are your thoughts on Panini's role in this great hobby?
I like Panini glad they took over the Donruss lines. I don't like the Topps exclusive licensing that keeps Panini and the others from using team names and logos, but Panini handles that pretty well most of the time.
ReplyDeleteThey are also great at redemption filling. A few months back I had gotten a couple of redemptions from group breaks and one of them had expired about a month or two before the break, but they accepted the request and I got the card the redemption indicated.