One Card Post- Nelson Cruz Sleeve Patch

A one card post today from the 2017 Hits Memorabilia release. This En Fuego Nelson Cruz patch card is #3/3 and I found it for under $5 delivered.

At first, I was confused about the logo because the Mariners have been using the nautical compass as the logo since 1993 but then I remembered that this past season they wore a 40^th Anniversary patch on their sleeve.

It's Got To Be The Patches!

Yesterday I came across a Panini tweet where they previewed a Kobe Bryant patch card that I believe will be included in this year’s Father’s Day promotion. What caught my attention was not the large Nike swoosh patch but how horrible the card looks as a cracked ice parallel. This card is the epitome of the appalling direction that some designs are going. Instead of just designing a good looking card it is moving towards making the cards with the S!CK..MOJO!!! patches and parallels upon parallels. The next step is removing the athlete image from the card all together and just making a card with a patch and 10 different parallels. The companies have already begun to list relics as “Not from any specific game or event” why not just make it “This patch is not from any specific athlete, event or game”. Panini has already set the precedent with their Triple Play Real Feel relics.

My Personal Tribute To Brian Urlacher

With Brian Urlacher’s retirement announcement another Chicago Bear legend is in the books. After 13 seasons in Chicago he closed out his career, regrettably, as a free agent after the Bears unceremoniously released him in March. I wish that they could have worked out at least a one-day contract to let him retire as a Bear properly.

I believe that Urlacher will get elected to the Hall of Fame; he had a solid career that includes 8 Pro Bowls, 5 All-Pro selections, Defensive Player of the Year (2005) and Defensive Rookie of the Year (2000). Add on that he set the Bears’ season tackle record (2002) and career tackle record and he ended up playing 182 games in a Bears uniform, only 2 games less than the one of the greatest Bears ever, Sweetness himself. The only knock would be the lack of a Super Bowl ring but at least he made it to the big game, Super Bowl XLI vs. the Colts.

One of my best pulls ever was this Brian Urlacher patch card that I pulled in 2005 from a box of 2005 Leaf Certified Materials. How do you top a three colored patch? You pull an eBay 1/1 card (I don't like it when sellers claim a card is a 1/1 because of a certain number, aren't all cards 1/1 in some way?), card #1/25.

More Playoff National Treasure Rookie Signature Preview

Panini posted a few more images from the 2009 Playoff National Treasure Rookie Colossal Prime Jersey Number Signature inserts and I think this is one of the most bad-ass patch cards that I have ever seen. If I was offered this card or an NFL Shield patch version I think I would actually take this one.

2009 Playoff National Treasure- Rookie Signature Preview

The 2009 Playoff Nation Treasure football set is scheduled to be released on January 27, 2010 and Panini recently released some photos of the actual Rookie Colossal Prime Jersey Number Signature inserts. These cards are numbered to /50 or less and contain on-card signatures.

You will find the top rookies of 2009 in the set including Matt Stafford, Knowshon Moreno, Beanie Wells and Mark Sanchez. This looks to be a nice set and Panini finally learned to keep the design simple and forget the sticker autographs.

I will review the entire product at a later date, I just wanted to get out some of the images of the Rookie Signature inserts. Hopefully this will be a trend for Panini.