The trading card release calendar is focused on sports cards to close out the month of April. The prospect heavy Bowman Baseball is this week’s main event, as collectors search for future stars first-ever baseball cards. Meanwhile, Panini releases a trifecta of sets including the debut of Prizm UFC. The one high-end release of the week comes to us from Upper Deck. Check out all of these releases in the latest edition of The Rip.
2021 Bowman Baseball
Bowman Baseball is a prospect-heavy set with many future stars getting their first baseball cards ever that come affixed with the coveted “1st Bowman” stamp, making it one of the most exciting annual releases for collectors. There are two main checklists within the set – the 150 card prospect set made up of current minor league players, and the 100 card veteran and rookie set that includes current Major Leaguers. The 1st Bowman to chase this year is the Toronto Blue Jays mega prospect, Austin Martin.
Much like past years, 2021 Bowman Baseball will see a split between the traditional Bowman paper cards and the reflective Bowman Chrome cards with several different color variation parallels available for each card in the set. 2021 Bowman Baseball Hobby Boxes will be offered in two different formats. The first format is the standard 2021 Bowman Baseball Hobby Box, this will come with ten cards per pack, 24 packs per box, and averages one autograph per box. The second option is the 2021 Bowman Baseball HTA Jumbo Hobby Box, which includes 32 cards per pack, 12 packs per box, and three autographs.
2021 Bowman Baseball Hobby Boxes and HTA Jumbo Hobby Boxes release on April 28. Hobby Box pre-sales are around $320 per box, while HTA Jumbo Hobby Boxes are available for around $650. 2021 Bowman Mega Boxes and Blasters will release around this same time and can be found at retail stores such as Target.
2020 Panini Chronicles Football
2020 Panini Chronicles Football acts as a catch-all for football card collectors. While Panini Chronicles Football does include a standalone base set, it is also a place where Panini is introducing subsets that did not have their own release this year, as well as testing out new concepts for possible future card products. Prizm Black is the most highly anticipated new design in 2020 Panini Chronicles Football. Prizm Black takes the optichrome card design of the traditional Prizm Football line but replaces the silver background with a black backdrop, the subset will be made up of 25 rookies from the 2020 NFL season, and will also come in a variety of limited print-run color parallels and autographs. Other previously unreleased subsets bundled into Chronicles include Panini Clearly Donruss, Crown Royale, Score Tribute, Panini Dynagon, and the very rare Panini Gala set. Much like Prizm Black, Panini Gala is made up of all rookies but is much more limited with only eight copies of each player’s card being made.
The 2020 Panini Chronicles Football Hobby Box comes with six cards per pack, and eight packs per box. On average you will find two autograph cards, one memorabilia card, six Optichrome cards, one Silver Optichrome rookie, four Acetate rookies, four limited print run color variation parallels, and 13 additional rookie cards. While a full checklist has yet to be revealed, the subsets do appear to be very heavy on rookie cards.
The 2020 Panini Chronicles Football Hobby Box releases on April 30 at online and local trading card hobby shops.
2021 Panini Prizm UFC Hobby Box
2021 Panini Prizm UFC is the first Mixed Martial Arts set Panini has produced since it acquired the UFC license earlier this year. With UFC continuing to rise in popularity across the globe, this set has the potential to hold a lot of historical significance. The full checklist has not yet been released, but cards for some of the heaviest hitters in the sport have been teased including top-ranked fighters Jon Jones and Kamaru Usman. Much like Prizm sets in other sports, the UFC edition will include several limited edition color parallel cards, autographs, and chase-worthy inserts such as the popular Color Blast cards.
The 2021 Panini Prizm UFC Hobby Box is loaded with 12 packs per box, and 12 cards per pack. Inside you can typically find two autographs, 12 inserts, and 22 color variation Prizm parallel cards. While the top stars included are not rookies, these will be their first licensed Panini trading cards ever, which adds potential value to every card included in the set.
The 2021 Panini Prizm UFC Hobby Box will release on April 28 via the Panini America website and app.
2021 Panini Diamond Kings Baseball Hobby Box
Panini may not hold the MLB license, but that didn’t hold them back from creating some of the wildest card designs to date with 2021 Panini Diamond Kings Baseball. The cards do not include any trademarks of Major League Baseball including team logos, but they do feature baseball Hall of Famers, as well as current and future stars from the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA). For each card in the base set checklist, there will be seven low print-run color parallels.
In each 2021 Panini Diamond Kings Hobby Box, you will find one autograph, one memorabilia card, two Gray Frame parallels, one Plum Frame parallel, and 12 inserts on average. In total, you will receive eight cards per pack, 12 packs per box with a chance to find super rare DK Delong or Blackout inserts.
The 2021 Panini Diamond Kings Hobby Box releases on April 28 at local and online trading card hobby shops.
2020-21 Upper Deck SP Game Used Hockey
2020-21 Upper Deck SP Game Used Hockey focuses on limited print-runs, autographs, and of course memorabilia. The base set checklist includes cards that are serial-numbered to the player’s uniform number, for example, Alexander Ovechkin wears the number 8 so only eight base set Alexander Ovechkin cards will be printed. There are 198 cards in the base set checklist with 79 of them being rookie cards. The set includes talked-about rookies such as Kirill Kaprizov, Tim Stutzle, Alexis Lafreniere, and more.
The 2020-21 Upper Deck SP Game Used Hockey Hobby Box is a high-end product that comes with one pack per box, and six cards per pack. Two of the cards in each box will come from the base set checklist, the other four cards will come from the various autograph and memorabilia subsets making most of the cards in the box a hit.
2020-21 Upper Deck SP Game Used Hockey Hobby Boxes release on April 28 at online and local trading card hobby shops.
