2007 Topps Sterling Baseball was recently released promising the utmost excitement to those who can afford to buy a pack of cards for the same price that many people pay for their car payments. Once again Sterling is a shockingly beautiful product. You may also be shocked when you see Justin Morneau on the checklist.


1 Player Sepcific Wood Box, 1 Mystery Pack
Each Topps Sterling Box is guaranteed to offer one triple relic or autographed triple relic card numbered to 10 or less. Three base cards numbered to 250 and one mystery pack featuring a 1-of-1 letter patch or a base set parallel numbered to 50 or less. Each 10-box case garantees one Micky Mantle and Barry Bonds card, five autographed cards, a 1-of-1 autographed triple relic or parallel. The 29-card base set features a mix of current and retired stars. Among the retired stars in the set are Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams and Roberto Clemente!!!!!

Product Highlights:

Base Cards: 29 Legends on 254 cards. Sequentially numbered to 250

Mystery pack Cards: found only in Mystery Packs
-Framed Parallel Cards: All of the 29 Legends appear on 254 cards in the following versions:

-- Cherry Wood Frame: Each is a One of One
-- Sterling Silver: Each is a One of One
-- Gold: Sequentially Numbered to 9
-- Burgundy: Sequentially Numbered to 14
-- White Suede: Sequentially Numbered to 50

- Letter Patches: 1900 cards featuring a full letter patch from the jersey of hundreds of stars from today and yesterday! Each is a One of One!

Relic Cards: (5) Per 10-Box Case

- Sterling Stardom Relic Cards:
-- Triple Relics: Sequentially numbered to 10.
-- Quad Relics: Sequentially numbered to 10.
-- Five-Piece Relics: Sequentially numbered to 10.
-- Six-Piece Relics: Sequentially numbered to 10.
-- Eight-Piece Relics: Sequentially numbered to 10.

- Sterling Moments Relic Cards:
-- Triple Relics: Sequentially numbered to 10.
-- Quad Relics: Sequentially numbered to 10.
-- Five-Piece Relics: Sequentially numbered to 10.
-- Six-Piece Relics: Sequentially numbered to 10.
-- Eight-Piece Relics: Sequentially numbered to 10.

- Career Stats Relic Cards:
-- Triple Relics: Sequentially numbered to 10.
-- Quad Relics: Sequentially numbered to 10.
-- Five-Piece Relics: Sequentially numbered to 10.
-- Six-Piece Relics: Sequentially numbered to 10.
-- Eight-Piece Relics: Sequentially numbered to 10.

* All of the Sterling Stardom, Sterling Moments, and Career Stats Relic Cards are also featured in a One of One Sterling Silver Prime Parallel!
-- Sterling Silver: Each is a One of One!

Autographed Relic Cards: (5) Per 10-Box Case:

- Sterling Stardom Autographed Relic Cards:
-- Triple Relics: Sequentially numbered to 10.
-- Quad Relics: Sequentially numbered to 10.
-- Eight-Piece Relics: Sequentially numbered to 10.

- Sterling Moments Autographed Relics;
-- Triple Relics: Sequentially numbered to 10.
-- Quad Relics: Sequentially numbered to 10.
-- Eight-Piece Relics: Sequentially numbered to 10.

- Career Stats Autographed Relic Cards:
-- Triple Relics: Sequentially numbered to 10.
-- Quad Relics: Sequentially numbered to 10.

* All of the above Sterling Stardom, Sterling Moments, and Career Stars Autographed Cards are also featured in a One of One Sterling Silver Parallel featuring all patch relics!!
- Sterling Silver Prime: Each is a One of One!

Sterling Jumbo Swatch Autograph: 21 Cards featuring an oversized Relic Swatch and an Autograph. Sequentially numbered to 10.

Sterling Cut Signatures: 10 Cards of each of the following all-time greats: Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Roberto Clemente, Roger Maris. Each features a Cut Signature and (3) Relics! Each is a One of One!

Every 10-Box Case of Topps Sterling Guarantees:
- A One of One Letter Patch Card
- A One of One Relic, One of One Autographed Relic, or One of One Parallel Card
- One Mickey Mantle Player Box
- One Barry Bonds Player Box

Box 1 Jlsobe



Not a bad start when you pop out a Dimaggio triple game-used 1/1

Box 2 Jlsobe



Another nice hit with an A-Rod Autograph Relic /10 and the Seaver Gold Parallel /9 isn't too shabby either.

Box 3 Jlsobe



As KoolJazz would say, "MICKEY MANTLE!" Incredible first 3 boxes by Jlsobe.

Box 4 & 5 Chri5764



The Mantle from the Mystery pack /18 is rather nice. The Reggie Jackson isn't so bad to look at. The Barry Bonds is also a rather attractive card.


While I would love to have the cash to bust a few dozen boxes of this product I certainly would recommend against it. At $250 a pop I don't see any of those boxes being profitable.

A Dimaggio 1/1 Relic recently sold for just over $200 falling short of covering the cost of the box.



Mantle Relic /10s being snatched up for under $150.



The Alex Rodriguez Auto should get them back 2 Benjamins.



Of course the above breaks are not the normal. There are also players like Justin Morneau and Johan Santana in the product. Certainly fantastic players but they get no hobby love.

Imagine dropping $250 on a pack and pulling one of these...



Those sell for about $25 on eBay.

So just like UD Black, this set is perfect for the player collector but will be very hard on those who break the wax.

Do you have Patrick Kane's "Rookie" card?

There was a very interesting story released in the last few weeks surround the 1994-95 Pinnacle card of Sylvian Turgeon.




See the kid sitting there in the guys lap with the Bill Cosby sweater and the Adam Morrison mustache? Well that's 2007-08 NHL Rookie and Calder Memorial Trophy candidate Patrick Kane. It seems he was a big Sabres fan growing up and just happened to be at this game at age 6 when the photo was snapped.


The card has recently sold on eBay for $86.50
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180199010982

The card books for a whopping TEN CENTS in the most recent issue of Beckett Hockey!

Considering the recent popularity in cards such as below I think there is a tremendous market for this card.









The 1994-95 Pinnacle is by no means a short printed product. It is important to remember than there are two series and the Sylvian Turgeon card is in series two. Series 2 was not produced in the numbers of series 1 and most importantly the wax was not busted as much due to a lack of overall inserts in the second series.
The story with this card has been live for a little over a week now and still there are less than a handful on eBay for sell. Even before the Jeter/Mantle/Bush Topps story there were thousands on eBay. I think we must also recognize that it was a hockey product and not nearly as produced as the other major sports. Only recently have NHL products bridged the gap when it came to sports card collectors and the market could explode for a card like this.

There are also two parallels of the base card with this set
Rink Collection


Then the more rare Artist Proof of which I could find no picture.

I would not be surprised that after word of this card reaches the public by way of an article from Beckett or a mention on ESPN or Sportscenter that it will sell in excess of $100 on eBay.

Now what we need is a 2007-08 card of Patrick Kane with Sylvian Turgeon serving concessions in the background.

A Black day for UD...or is it?

On this month in which we celebrate the birth of this guy










Dionysus

We were given the next great step in high end baseball product in the form of Upper Deck Black. UD Black is a 2 pack per box product that carries an SRP of $125 per pack. Each pack contains 1 card. The card is guaranteed to be autographed and serial numbered to 99 or less.

There is no denying that UD Black is a stunningly aesthetic set. I personally think these are some of the most beautiful cards created.






So if you're a fan of one of the players in the sets this is one of the best all-time products for the player collector. If you like to bust wax...

Well wax busters are in trouble. 1 box is going to set you back $200+ for 2 cards. Now what if those two cards were






Well you would have paid $200 for 2 cards that recently sold on eBay for a combined $6. If you are a fan of Blanton and Crisp then this product is the jackpot.


The big hits in the product appear to be

Joba Chamberlain




Dice-K



The Joba is selling for $300+ on eBay and the Dice K has sold for over $700. The bad thing is that besides pulling a nice 1/1 even a Jeter or Ripken Jr. is going to get you your money back from the cost of the break.

This product is a HUGE thumbs down as for value in busing the wax but a MASSIVE thumbs up in design and innovation. The set is sure to be a favorite of the player collector as they can pick up singles for much cheaper than the price of a pack.

All-Time Favorite Box Breaks

My favorite breaker is not surprisingly responsible for my favorite break on YouTube. The product is 2006 Bowman Sterling Baseball. The Youtube account is kooljazz1966 representing TCC.com.

This is by far the best break ever.

First of all kooljazz is the Jackie Robinson of YouTube box breaks. Not just in breaking the color barrier but in being an MVP in performance. There is not any better, believable emotion relating to breaks than in this video. If you pause in just the right place at 1:43 you will witness an almost orgasmic response to pulling a "Salty Dog" autograph. That however is just the foreplay. We get a second go round at 2:15 as kooljazz sprays us with a happy ending that in fact is just the happy beginning. If a Prince Fielder autograph jersey would only get my wife that excited.

Great first pack and kooljazz says it best, "This is the bomb already!"

The mocking of the local shop owner is classic but climbs to the level of legend when he tells Bruce he loves him. 3:05

There's a nice bit of energy when he pulls a little something for "A-Train" @ 5:25 but he seems to be losing steam saying, "I'm done. I'm done."

He manages to make it to the next pack and it appears he will faint at the site of the first card 6:15.

The best hobby statement in history comes at 8:19 "Ewwwwww shiney!"

kooljazz sets the Youtube record for using the word "baby" at the 8:25 mark beating a mark held for 5 years by R. Kelly.

The excitement is a beautiful thing. The whole time he's managing shoutouts. He makes it look easy.

Just when you thought it was over kooljazz hits the motherload 9:37. He seems to be able to channel Dave Chapelle when hitting the Mickey Mantle game-used bat.

Box Review 2007 Topps Co-Signers

2007 Topps Co-Signers Football

12 Packs per box
2 Autographs per box with one being a dual autograph. Each box also includes 10 parallel cards and two rookie cards.

You can get these boxes on the internet for around $95 shipped. In your local shop it can run upwards of $120 per box.

Break #1 Chri5784
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3djUnAZE10

Ryne Robinson Auto
Jacoby Jones/James Jones Dual Autograph

That's about $15 eBay value for the hits and maybe another $10 for the base and parallels? That's a $75 kick in the junk!

Break #2: Mainlyrookies
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGCWRvUlVfo

Rookie Augographs: Jeff Rowe, Zach Miller.
Dual Autographs: Williams/Posluszny & Glenn/Thomas

Looks like about $15 eBay in hits and we'll give a liberal $20 for rookies, base and parallels.

That's $165 kick in the junk.

Break #3: Topps Rip Party Warning, turn down your volume.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xn2nZQjsz98

This is a 24 box break and it's awful. There are a couple of nice cards like the Ginn Jr. dual and the Romo dual. The Adrian Peterson /10 is sweet and may be a $300 eBay value but considering you just dropped $2k on a case you just got a stiff kick in the junk.

Break #4: Chri5784 and the reason we buy wax.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uroCy3gtMEE

This is a great break. I'm guessing the Smith/Dorsett Dual 1/1 will be a $500+ card on eBay. I see that they listed it on Ebay and it didn't sell.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170174173663&ru=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.ebay.com%3A80%2Fsearch%2Fsearch.dll%3Ffrom%3DR40%26_trksid%3Dm37%26satitle%3D170174173663%26category0%3D%26fvi%3D1

The break gives a profit of $300+. If it weren't for the 1/1...my oh my. The Papale autograph is sweet also.

Overall this product is a huge risk. There are some terrific cards in the product but they are few and far between. It's a GREAT set for autograph collectors as they can pick up autographs cheap on eBay. The base set is crazy with around 18 parallels per base card. It's a sharp looking set and certainly worth picking up singles but I say let someone else bust the boxes on this product.