Every once in a while you get a box of cards that just seemsoff. Our box of 2011 Donruss EliteExtra Edition Baseball Trading Cards was weird., mostly with the collation but there are some other issues too.
Panini just signed an agreement withthe Major League Baseball Players Association so a Major Leaguer’s card isincluded in every pack. Since there are 20 packs and 25 players appear oncards, you would expect close to no doubles. In our box we received 4 doubles and they were in back toback consecutive packs. Another collation issue was we didn’t receive a singlebase card within the number range of 101 to 150. Odds dictate that this could happen, butit still seems unusual. We wouldlove to hear from any of you that have busted this product. Have your experiences been the same ordifferent?
With the addition of the new license the question becomes “Has the agreementmade the cards better?” In thiscase, I would have to say no. Lastyear there was the possibility of pulling former big leaguer’s autos like TomSeaver, Bob Gibson and Don Sutton, not the emphasis of this product, but a nicebonus. This year, with the license, no veteran autos. You will have to wait forPlayoff Contenders for that. Honestly, this is a prospecting product and thelicense seems unnecessary.
Now taken as the prospecting product that collectors havecome to know, it still works. Thisyear features more on-card autos, most of them first round draft picks in 2011.
Donruss Elite Extra Edition Baseball fits nicely into ourpremium cards category. Each hobbybox contains 20 – 5 card packs with a promise of six autograph cards per box with hot boxes containing 10 autographs. Lets take a look at the cards we pulled from the box.
First from the base set
2011 1st round draft picks
Tyler Anderson, front & back, Taylor Guerrieri
2011 supplemental 1st round draft piks
Jeff Ames, Michael Kelly, Blake Snell
Kevin Comer, Grayson Garvin, James Harris
Major League Players
Ichiro, Josh Hamilton, Jordan Walden
Seeing Double - Pulled from 8 consecutive packs
BrIan McCann, Curtis Granderson, Troy Tulowitzki, Michael Pineda
From the inserts
Aspirations die-cut
Sonny Gray #/200
Status die-cut
Dwigth Smith Jr. #/100, Jordan Walden #/25
Elite Series
Brad Miller, Abel Baker
Yearbook
Matt Purke, Sean Gilmartin
Building Blocks Dual
Jace Peterson & Lee Orr, Aaron Westlake & Dean Green
Building Blocks Triple
Anthony Rendon, Brain Goodwin & Matt Purke, Danny Hultzen, Jed Bradley & Tyler Anderson
Building Blocks Quad
Francisco Lindor, Javier Baez, Levi Michael & Jake Hager
Bubba Starling, Josh Bell, Brandon Nimmo & Dwight Smith Jr.
The Autographs
Austin Hedges #/201, Alan DeRatt Status die-cut #/50, Blake Swihart Elite Series #/99
Overall Look
There is no agreement with the MLB yet, so there are nomajor league logos. Some thoughtthis would be a big problem. Intruth sometimes it works, other times, not so much. The Ichiro is the best example, the Josh Hamilton just kindof seems goofy and the Jordan Walden is the worst of them. For future releases, it would begreat if Panini mimicked what they did handling the Winnipeg Jets cards forPinnacle Hockey this year. Players inpost game interviews, on the red carpet, even getting off the team bus would bebetter than these static poses. AndI know there can’t be MLB logos, but what happened to the college logos? The majority of them seem to have goneaway. Add to that taking theprospects, separating them from the backgrounds and putting them on foilwithout logos is dull. What workshere is the Elite Series cards, the die-cuts and the really nice Yearbookinserts.
Quality and Variety of Players
From a prospecting level, this is a deep checklist, which iswhy collectors love EEE. With 25Major League players on cards and 30 teams in the MLB, it feels like thesecards are late add-ons that could just as easily be held back without affectingthe quality of the product.
Do the Hits satisfy?
It is all autographs here and at 6 autograph hits per box with thepossibility of 10 autos in a hot box, it is a nice amount of hits. But the hits are all of prospects. Not a problem, but, again, odd when youare featuring your agreement with the player’s association for the first time.
Will you keep coming back for more?
This is a product that works best for prospectors somultiple box purchases are understandable.
Rating
3 out of 5
2011 Donruss Elite Extra Edition Baseball Trading Cardsproves the theory that sometimes more is not better, but it still has potentialfor some good prospecting.
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2011 Donruss Elite Extra Edition Baseball Trading Cards Box Break Recap and Review
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