#PaniniWildCard Promo

Over the weekend Panini held a cool contest via Twitter where you were supposed to snap a picture of yourself holding your favorite 2012 Panini football card.  Up for grabs are 1 of 30 boxes of 2012 football cards!  In between the chaos that is called the weekend around my house, I grabbed my 2012 Panini Rookie & Stars Greg Olsen auto and snapped a quick pic of my ugly mug.  To my surprise when I checked my e-mail yesterday I saw that my photo was included in this giant collage.  Can anyone find me in the image above?  I don't yet if I won anything, but Panini certainly knows how to interact with their fan base via social media.

Pack Break - Panini Hello Kitty

Yes.  Your eyes are not deceiving you.  This post is about Hello Kitty.  "What's this all about?"  "Why is Hello Kitty showing up on this manly (mostly) baseball card blog" you may be wondering.

The answer is easy - my 2 year old daughter.  While she may not be old enough yet to enjoy sports and sports related trading cards I can enjoy sitting down with her and her sticker album.  I believe Hello Kitty makes the third Panini sticker album we've bought for her (Tinkerbell was the first and the Disney Princesses was the 2nd).  It's a lot of fun for her and for me.  I get to share a little piece of my collecting with her.  Besides - it could always be worse.  At least she didn't ask for the Justin Beiber sticker album!  Although I fear that one day may happen.  Please pray for me now!

Like most of the Panini sticker products the stickers are sold in packs containing 7 stickers for the low price of $1.00.  As a parent I like this price point.

Judging by how fast these have been selling in my area I'm going out on a limb and say this release has been a hit for Panini.  I'm also guessing there are more people older than my 2 year old that are collecting these too.

The sticker in the upper left corner is a fabric sticker.  I first saw these used in Panini's NBA effort last season.  My daughter got one of these in an earlier pack and loved it.  Shoot - who am I kidding.  She loves ALL the stickers!

Are any of my fellow blogger dads collecting cards and or stickers with your kids?

Panini acquires baseball license! Move over Topps...you've got some competition again!

Woohoo!  For a full story head over to Panini's blog.  I know these cards aren't fully licensed yet, but at least it's a step in the right direction for Panini.  I like the player selection for marketing.  So, who else is excited about this news? 

Panini Redemption Cards Fulfilled!

I couldn't believe it when I checked the mail yesterday.  Panini America had sent me not one, not two, but three bubble mailers each with it's own fulfilled redemption card!  I redeemed these codes in early January 2011 and I already have these in hands.  I'm still waiting for Topps to fulfill a 2010 Topps Chrome autograph redemption!

Up first is a 2010 Panini Leaf Certified Mirror Red autograph of Panthers rookie WR David Gettis numbered 071/250.  I always like the old Certified cards and Panini has done a good job recreating this brand.

Next we have a 2010 Panini Gridiron Gear Gold Signatures autograph of David Gettis numbered 24/99.  Not my favorite Panini football card design, but I like the low numbering.

The last card Panini put in my mailbox was this 2010 Panini Limited Silver Monikers autograph numbered 055/199.  I should have scanned in the back of this card as it's the nicest of the trio.

Sure all 3 cards are sticker autos.  I'm just thrilled that Panini included a low draft pick (6th round) like Gettis in their autograph checklist and that they delivered in a relatively short amount of time.  At least if redemption cards must be used Panini delivered with the goods and made a collector happy.

Behind the scenes @ Panini America

While on Panini America's website today to redeem a autograph redemption card I got I noticed a new YouTube video. The video shows all the hits being placed into packs. I find the behind the scenes things really interesting and I like how Panini is posting several videos of their operations. The video is a little long, but take a look anyhow.

Can you imagine all of those autographed cards just sitting there? I know stolen toys of the production line in China is a big problem. What about employee theft of trading cards?

In the mail 4/6/10

I love getting mail, especially bubble mailers filled with baseball goodness! 3 packages today to open. 1 for my wife and 2 for myself. Let's start with the wife's bubble mailer.

I'm so glad that Brooks Conrad made the Atlanta Braves team this season for several reasons, but the one main reason is now perhaps Topps will get him on a card in a Braves uniform. He had a 6 game stint in the majors (2008) when he was with the A's organization...but the wife doesn't want those cards. Even though Brooks was called up late last season I don't know of any MLB cards so for now we'll have to settle with minor league Braves stuff.

2009 Choice Marketing Gwinnett Braves #10

Since I wasn't buying baseball cards in the 80's I missed out on a lot of those releases, but thanks to eBay I've been able to pick up some Braves team sets for not a lot of coin. We'll start with the 1982 set that arrived today.

1982 Fleer
Bob Horner, Dale Murphy, Phil Niekro, Gaylord Perry

I knew the Braves uniforms were ugly, but boy do these cards do a good job of showing these off. I also have to mention the horrible photo quality. I know that digital cameras didn't exist in 1982, but couldn't have Fleer done a better job? The poses of some of the cards are also horrible. I was surprised at how little there are of action shots. Most of the pictures are of the players just standing around @ spring training or at practice. What fun is that?

And my last package was full of baseball "cards" from Panini? I didn't even know these existed!

1989 Panini Stickers
Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, Jeff Blauser, Ron Gant, Dale Murphy, Tom Glavine

These are small stickers designed to fit inside an album I do believe. They are a little bit smaller than a traditional baseball card. The backs are rather plain just featuring a number and the cartoon knight logo of Panini. The Braves logo and stadium have that silver prismatic like background. I could care less for that effect, but seeing a picture of the old Fulton County Stadium brings back lots of memories when my late dad and grandfather would take me to games. I love odd ball cards and sets so I was very pleased with this purchase.