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NEW RELEASES: Panini, Topps kick off 2022 with high-end sets for football, basketball and baseball
The new year is filled with spectacular sports card releases and the month of January has set the tone with a number of high-end, significant products across all sports.
2021-22 PANINI NBA HOOPS BASKETBALL
We finally started to see some of this season's basketball rookie crop in their NBA uniforms on Jan. 7. The flagship and iconic Hoops Basketball will make an impact in a hobby starving for basketball releases. The product offers the first pack-issued true rookie cards of first-year players in their NBA uniforms.
You can also find a wide array of inserts and parallels, including NBA 75th Anniversary cards that pay homage to the recently announced 75th Anniversary team. Look for packs jammed with inserts, including hobby-exclusive High Voltage, Highlights, HIPnotized, Jamtastic, Legends of the Ball and Prime Twine.
The autograph selection is wide ranging and can be found in Hoops Hot Signatures, Hot Signatures Rookie or Rookie Ink format.
There are also red parallels that are exclusive and numbered to just 25 copies.
Hobby boxes offer eight cards and 24 packs per box with one autograph per box on average. Hoops Hobby is selling in the $200 range. I know everyone working at the shop and many of our customers are ready to see some current year NBA products.
2021 PANINI MOSAIC FOOTBALL
Mosaic Football returned in mid-January for its sophomore season. After a rookie campaign where it found traction and secured itself somewhere on the same level as Select, Optic and near Prizm, Mosaic is back for more.
The base set offers 300 cards, including rookies, former greats and a Super Bowl MVPs subset. There are several hobby exclusive parallels and they drop at a rate of 15 per hobby box. Find the classic silvers, red, blue purple, white, gold and black Mosaic cards.
The inserts come at you faster than the Kansas City Chiefs offense with two per hobby pack.
Look for Center Stage, Straight Fire, Staremasters and a number of other fun inserts. Beyond those listed, there are new case hit inserts that include a die-cut Bust, which is an image of many of the all-time great Hall of Famers as they are honored on their Canton bust. Also grab the Glass Mosaic, Masquerade Ballers and Storm Chasers super rare inserts.
The autographed cards include autographed Mosaic and Rookie Autographed Mosaic found exclusively in Hobby boxes.
Mosaic hobby boxes, which retail for around $700, offer 15 cards per pack, 10 packs per box and 12 boxes per case. You should find two autographs, five silver parallels, 15 Mosaic parallels and 20 total inserts per hobby box.
2022 TOPPS STERLING BASEBALL
Sterling comes across home plate as the first high-end baseball release of the new year. If you are looking for card quantity, this definitely isn't the product for you, but if you're looking for super high-end cards it’s worth considering. It offers one master box consisting of two themed boxes each holding a single card.
Sterling offers one autographed relic card numbered to 25 or less per box and a chance at a one-of-one card. It showcases the fact that no card will be numbered higher than 25 and it offers a wide array of on-card autos.
Sterling Debuts features top rookies; Sterling Seasons features players with outstanding years; Sterling Strikes features the top pitchers in the game; and Sterling Swings features, you guessed it, the top hitters in Major League Baseball.
This is one of the elite products where the cards are as much a piece of art as they are a piece of cardboard. You will find autographs, jerseys, cut signatures and more from the greatest players of the modern era and the greatest of all time.
In what might be the highest of the high-end product, Sterling offers Unique Relics and Unique Auto Relics. These rare items include Bat Knob, Autograph Bat Knob, Bat Nameplate, Autograph Bat Nameplate, Cut Signatures, Jersey Letter Patch, Legendary Relics, and Legendary Cut Signature Relics cards.
With retail prices hovering right around $1,000, this is a product to grab if you still have some Christmas money to spend.
2020-21 PANINI FLAWLESS BASKETBALL
Panini Flawless is in the upper echelon of basketball releases for the entire year with 10 card boxes — make that briefcases — offering at least eight autographs, one relic and a diamond card. You get 10 cards per pack, one pack per box and two boxes per case.
In this particular product the only cards that are not signed offer a real gem embedded on the cards. Every single card are copies numbered to 20 or less.
There are three subsets, including Flawless Picks, that pair two top ballers with two diamonds embedded on the card.
As you would imagine, the product and checklist are filled with huge hits. The autographed options include Draft Champ Signatures and Flawless Finishes that include current and retired greats. Breathtaking auto relic offerings include Flawless Patch Autographs, Signature Prime Materials and Star Swatch Signatures.
You can also find high-end memorabilia pieces, including Championship Tags, Laundry Tags and Logoman offerings that are all coupled with signatures. The icing on the cake is the three-player triple Logoman cards.
The cards come in a briefcase and you will need one full of cash to purchase them.
2021 PANINI IMMACULATE COLLECTION FOOTBALL
Hitting the field on Jan. 14, one of the nicer football products is available late in the season. 2021 Immaculate offers six cards with five premium hits per box. The cards can consist of a combination of autographs and/or relics. The sixth card in the box is a base card.
Right out of the gate, the on-card rookie lineup offers Rookie Patch Autographs, Premium Patch Rookie Autographs and Immaculate Signature Patches, all numbered to 99 or less. You can secure some of the most desirable RPAs of rookies Mac Jones, Trevor Lawrence, Zach Wilson, Justin Fields and others.
Other auto relic offerings include Immaculate Number Rookie Patch Autographs and Immaculate Player's Collection Autographs.
There is a wide range of on-card autos, including Comeback Signatures, Hall of Fame Signatures, plus Immaculate Moments and Signature Moves.
Cleat Impressions focus on players’ on-field kicks coupled with an on-card autograph.
New this season is a beautiful insert set called Name Plate and Ability Signatures. Name Plate showcases an oversized letter from a player's name plate covered with an acetate top and a signature.
The set’s breathtaking memorabilia inserts include Rookie Reserve, Brand Logo one-of-ones, Laundry Tag one-of-ones and Immaculate Dual NFL Shields.
New memorabilia offerings include Clearly Immaculate Rookie Jerseys and the interesting Gatorade Sideline Towels. You will also find jumbo versions of the memorabilia cards offering cleats, gloves, hats, helmets and other equipment.
This is a product for only serious collectors and it delivers in every possible way.
2021 PANINI PRIZM FOOTBALL
Rounding out an incredible sports card release month is quite possibly the most significant flagship card set with undeniable mass appeal. Prizm Football is not cheap with a price tag around $1,200 per hobby box. There are 12 cards per pack, 12 packs per box and 12 boxes per case.
Prizm has become the home of the flagship rookie card each and every season in various sports. The base set doubles 330 cards, including top veterans, legends and 110 of the aforementioned best rookies in the draft. Those rookie cards fall two per hobby pack.
There is also a wide range of parallels of each base card from the classic Silver Prizms, Black, Gold Forest, Navy, Hyper and Orange all the way down to extremely rare, one-per-case Snakeskin Prizms.
You will find first-time inserts, including Prizm Break, New Recruits and an anime-inspired, super-rare Manga offering.
There are also short-printed inserts, including Illumination, Instant Impact and Stained Glass.
The wildly popular and elusive Color Blast makes its appearance again this season. Falling only one in every 10 cases, there will be a mad rush on this fan favorite insert.
There are a wide range of autographs and autographed parallels for rookies and veterans to round out the iconic yearly offering of Prizm.
Aside from the outstanding products mentioned above, there are a wide range of other releases in January and February, including 2021-2022 Upper Deck Hockey, 2021 Upper Deck AEW Wrestling, 2021 Panini National Treasures Racing NASCAR, 2021 Topps Chrome Formula 1 Racing, 2021 Topps Finest WWE Wrestling and more.
Tony Reid spent more than a decade covering combat sports and has written about sports collectibles for such publications as Beckett and Sports Collectors Daily. He works full time at a sports card shop in Central Pennsylvania and collects RCs of star players in baseball, basketball and football. If you want to talk about the greatness of Michael Jordan, Bo Jackson or Ken Griffey Jr., you can reach him at @reidrattlecage on all social media platforms.
