UPDATE: FIRST LUCK LOGO HAS BEEN PULLED:

2012 Topps Five Star Andrew Luck / Trent Richardson Dual NFL Logo Auto 1/1 Book

When 2011 Five Star was released, there was a lot of talk about whether or not the high end tag should have really been applied. Books didnt have patches in them, chipping on the cards, and checklist was lackluster. Although I LOVED the product for the amazing singles it did produce, I know it fell short in a lot of areas.

This year’s product looks to have not only improved on these situations, but made a mockery of what came before it. Not only are there many more jumbo patch auto cards, but the checklist is a lot better, and the books are incredible.

2012 Topps Five Star Andrew Luck Auto Book Quad Patch

2012 Topps Five Star Jerry Rice Auto Patch

2012 Topps Five Star John Elway Auto Book Logo Patch 1/1 – This might be the best Elway card ever produced.

2012 Topps Five Star Victor Cruz Inscription Auto /10

2012 Topps Five Star Brett Favre Auto SP

Five Star will continue to be a beacon of hope for all the autograph collectors out there, and goes to show what can really be accomplished with superior design, and a dedication to giving collectors what they want. I was able to bust two boxes at Sports Cards Plus here in San Antonio, and I was MORE than impressed. Not only did both of the books I pulled have multi colored patches, but the cards themselves were absolutely stunning. The inscription card I pulled was easily one of my favorites, even though the player wasnt top tier.

I have to say that this might be my favorite product of the year – which is saying a lot considering how much I loved Chrome. With National Treasures clearing 575 a box and sometimes 600, this is beyond a more suitable bust for collectors who still want the rush. I have a feeling we have only scratched the surface, and I will have no doubt that Topps is feeling as proud of their efforts as I am with the results.

I was expecting to do a post on the release and auctions popping up for 2012 Topps Five Star football, which from the initial breaks looks to be the best its ever been:

2012 Topps Five Star Brock Osweiler Booklet Logo Patch Auto 1/1

2012 Topps Five Star Ryan Broyles Auto Patch /100

2012 Topps Five Star Brandon Weeden Auto

However, during my search, I came across a few cards that REALLY piqued my interest. A few months back, Topps announced that they would be rewarding their top wax customers with admission into an exclusive club called the Five Star club. As a member, they would receive all sorts of stuff for their patronage, one of which was a set of exclusive cards.

The first of the exclusive cards have started to pop up on eBay, and for the most part look pretty cool.

2012 Topps Five Star Club Set Andrew Luck

2012 Topps Five Star Club Set – 10 Cards

2012 Topps Five Star Club Set Mickey Mantle

2012 Topps Five Star Club Set Mike Trout

Its interesting to see the mix of players available, which include both baseball and football on the design from 2012 Topps Five Star Baseball. They are extremely short printed, and quite exclusive, so its likely that only a few of them will end up on ebay. It could be that many of the members will keep the cards, either not caring to sell them, or not wanting to sell them.

Topps caught some flack during the announcement of the club due to the wording in the application, and its going to be interesting to see what happens with these cards. More to come on Five Star Football as it is released. In the meantime, feast on this incredible design:

2012 Topps Five Star Ryan Tannehill Jumbo Patch Auto /55

As you guys are probably aware from my myriad of posts on Prizm Basketball and Football, I am about as much of a hater as there can be. Not only do I hate the name, which is obviously created just to eventually trademark as their version of “Chrome”, but I hate the design as well. Yesterday, Prizm baseball went live as a logoless MLBPA product, completed with the exact same look as the other two sets that have already been released under the name. I am not enjoying the way this is translating to its third sport.

2012 Prizm Baseball Derek Jeter Gold Refractor /10

2012 Prizm Baseball RA Dickey Auto

2012 Prizm Baseball Matt Harvey Gold Refractor /10

2012 Prizm Baseball Buster Posey Gold Refractor /10

2012 Prizm Baseball Joe Girardi Auto – hooray for Manager Autos.

2012 Prizm Baseball Yu Darvish Rookie Relevance – Top echelon for Panini’s rookies? Being relevant.

People have put an undue amount of gravitas on Prizm’s impact on the hobby, in my opinion, solely because of its performance in Basketball. In all reality, the landscape of the basketball market is more of a driving force behind its success than anything, as the exclusive license has done them a huge favor in eliminating competition. As a result, something this occurs.

In baseball, Chrome is about as king as you can get, with the Bowman brands ruling over the hobby with a grip unlike any other sport. Considering that Prizm is pretty boring to begin with, I have no idea why people are getting excited over this. Not only does it feature mostly sticker autographs on a HIDEOUS autograph design that slices the players at the waist, but it also presents the players in poorly airbrushed jerseys. One of the reasons basketball was so successful, is that there had not been a Chrome style product with actual jerseys for years. This is the complete opposite.

My biggest complaint in football was the autographs, and how they were designed to work on the stock Panini used. The separated design with ENORMOUS white boxes behind the stickers ruined the cards, which I believed to be exceptionally boring to begin with. Sure doesn’t hurt that Panini continues to believe that a rookie logo AND 200 point text saying “ROOKIE” is necessary just to make sure you know you have a rookie card in your hands. To add in a big white box, and all of a sudden, more than 50% of the card’s surface area is obscured by needless elements in the design. At least with the Veteran autos for football, the auto box was slightly transparent, so the players weren’t completely amputated. This is not the case in baseball.

In both Football and Baseball, Chrome has established itself even further with on card autos, and yet, we don’t see the same focus from Panini, even though there is very little reason to expect they understand that need. I personally wouldn’t touch boxes of this crap with someone else’s ten foot pole, but I know that the allure of the Gold Refractors will draw people in. This is just another after effect of Basketball’s success, with many collectors going into the buy with a pre-conceived understanding of the Gold’s worth. I credit Panini for this tactic, but laugh in the face of anyone who doesn’t see what’s going on.

Chrome has always been one of, if not my top, favorite product of any release year. The technology is just too awesome to ignore. Add in on card autographs, and low numbered parallels with top notch design work, and you have the perennial winner that Topps has made a staple. This is a cheap knock off, with sticker autos, few parallels, and poor design work. I only wish people would see the evident boredom and amateur work that has made Prizm what it is. I mean, when you cant even carve out your own identity from the creativity woodwork, there is a major problem. Let’s just call this Diet Chrome with a little bit of Strasburg Splenda.

If you have been reading this site over the last three years, you know that I love autographs. In fact, I believe I have mentioned a few times that I am not a card collector by the traditional definition, because almost every card in my collection is autographed. With the changed landscape in 2010, Topps released what I believe to be the only true dedicated product left. One that sings more to people like me than anyone else – Five Star Football.

Five Star is about to be released for the third time, and for the third time, I am beyond excited. Topps had posted some live cards on their facebook page earlier this week, and after seeing the results, its clear that we are going to be in for a treat. Previous years have been incredible, but this looks to be better. Not only has the design continued to evolve, but with a rookie class that is likely to be the best since 2004, it is going to be a fun product to watch in action.

The allure of Five Star is not driven by the usual tactics we see employed by both companies after their participation in the Rookie Premiere last May. That is one of the main reasons I love this product so much, as it focuses on highlighting the autograph content as much as possible. Aside from featuring 100% hard signed signatures, and quite a few surprises along the way, the relics are only present as embellishments for the main event. Where National Treasures has continually been the top high end product available since the demise of Upper Deck’s NFL license, its mostly because of the continued dedication to providing top swatch content instead of delivering the top autograph content people have asked for.

As a result, autograph collectors have flocked to Five Star’s spectacular look and top checklist, while other collectors have gone to the more relic centric Panini product. That’s not saying Five Star does not have its share of cards that feature relic content, but the design has always been done in a way that promotes space for a larger than life signature. As we have seen in the past, this was not always the case for National Treasures.

Five Star is a representation of what I believe a Super High end product should look like. All hard signed signatures, beautiful presentation and design, and a checklist that features more of the top talent and a lot less of the lower tier players. Its not saying there wont be less desirable autographs, but they are fewer and far between than many of the other sets that either company has put out.

The best part is obviously the inscription cards, which have been my favorite cards of the year for the last few years. These cards are, by far, the most desirable in the set for good reason. Although Panini has shown that they have also tried to get these types of cards in their products, with inscriptions from Andrew Luck and also from Robert Griffin III, its nothing like what we get from Topps.

Bottom line, Five Star is about as close to autograph perfection as it comes. Its not everything that it could possibly be, we all know that, but its something that I believe to be a beacon of hope for what the future could hold. It has already spurred Panini to add hard signed veteran and retired signatures into NT for the first time in almost 7 years, and I hope more competition will lead to bigger developments.

We saw that Topps has already created the first card with 35 on card autos, posted earlier this week on eBay, and we know there will be more surprises in store as we see full sized redemptions are back this year as well. I will be refreshing my eBay searches like a mad man on thursday night and all through the weekend, and I assume I am not going to be the only one.

Congrats to Topps on a great looking set.

The new MLB season is still in its infancy, but there are two players that just about everyone is keeping an eye on. Bryce Harper has been the most touted prospect of our generation, and has started the year on an absolute tear. The other is Mike Trout, who hasnt had the same type of success for his sophomore campaign. While Harper’s cards have gone from expensive to EXPENSIVE, Trout’s are staying put for now while people are waiting to see if he can turn it around after a slower start.

Check these out:

2013 Topps Tribute Bryce Harper Auto 15/15

2011 Bowman Chrome Bryce Harper Auto BGS 9.5

2012 Topps Archives Bryce Harper Throwback Auto

2011 Bowman Sterling Bryce Harper Gold Refractor Auto /50

I have often said that there are very few people in baseball that can carry a product. With Harper’s autographs bringing higher than 200 a pop, now in their third year, he is quickly entering company that Trout joined at the end of last year. That’s not saying that this season could easily tank for Harper and go nuts for Trout, but this is the joy of small sample sizes. Harper is batting close to .350, and already has 5 HR, which is something that is quite an accomplishment with all the pressure already in play. I mean, his rookie cards are still selling for more than anyone ever has in this era.

Trout is still selling pretty well:

2009 Bowman Chrome Mike Trout Auto RC BGS 9

2009 Bowman Sterling Mike Trout Auto RC Refractor BGS 9.5

Both teams are primed to make a deep playoff run, and its likely that Harper should end up being an integral part of said success. Trout is going to be buffered by Pujols and Hamilton, as long as all three are raking, its going to be a Yankee level lineup to stop. Its interesting that collectors are paying what they are for Harper’s and Trout’s cards, as the relative value of MVP hitters does not measure up. However, the potential that both have is about as high as can be seen in any sport, maybe only out shined by a guy like Andrew Luck in football.

Prospecting has become a juggernaut of its own in baseball, almost to the point where the draft based products have become on par with the non-prospect stuff. Considering that many of the guys are talent that has yet to see a major league at bat, its odd how much money people want to dump into these cards. Oscar Taveras and his crazy prices are a great example. If that’s your thing, more power to you, but man, I dont know if I could deal with that type of risk. Harper and Trout have both exited that phase of their collecting career, and Harper did so the second his first card was released. Its NOT the right time to buy either guy, it just isnt. You cant prospect a guy who is already selling so high.

I love that both Harper and Trout are the apple of the general collector’s eye right now, as baseball has become less and less a focus for me. They kind of bring me back in, as its tough to avoid noticing their prowess in a sport that functions on stats. Im just curious to find out what might happen if both end up tanking like prospects have been known to do.