2011 Topps Lineage Printing Plates

Set Size: 200 cards

Design Notes: The front of the card is one of the four printing plates used for the product - black, magenta, cyan, or yellow. The backs are the same as the regular 2011 Topps Lineage cards, except for a foil-stamped serial number in the upper-right corner.

Parallels and Similars: This set is a full parallel of the base Lineage set, and comes in four colors. There are other parallels for Lineage - four refractor parallels and a 1975-style mini set.

Distribution: Each of the four plate colors are stamped 1/1 and were randomly inserted into hobby packs.

Thoughts: Printing plates are nice to pull from packs, though they aren't true 1/1 cards in my mind. But as far as this card goes, there's not much special about the plate - the back is normal and the front isn't reversed - it looks like a blue tinted parallel.

2011 Donruss Elite Extra Edition Base and Prospects Aspirations

Set Size: Base: 25 cards, Prospects: 190 cards

Design Notes: Just like yesterday's base set, a shield border surrounds a color photo of the player. Logos are airbrushed out. The Aspirations parallel has a strange die-cut on the side borders, just an arc in the middle, and a holographic foil is used. Plus, serial numbering appears prominently on the front.

Parallels and Similars: This is a parallel of the regular Elite Extra Edition set. A Status version (with different die cut) is also included, as well as an autograph version.

Distribution: Cards were randomly inserted into packs and serial numbered to 200. Autograph versions are serial numbered to 100.

Thoughts: The holofoil background is kind of neat, and even when scanning makes the card more vibrant. However, the lack of interest in prospects makes this set fairly uninteresting to me.

2011 Donruss Elite Extra Edition Base and Prospects

Set Size: Base: 25 cards, Prospects: 190 cards

Design Notes: A teacup-shaped border (meant to be a shield shape, most likely)  surrounds a photo of the player - backgrounds fade from black to brown and no team logos are found on the cards. The player's name, team location, and position are at the bottom, and "PROSPECTS" appears above the player's name on the left and right for prospects cards. Backs follow the same basic design and include a short biography and recent statistics.

Parallels and Similars: The Base and Prospects sets each have four regular parallel sets plus seven autographed parallel sets. The "base" Elite Extra Edition set differs only by the lack of "PROSPECTS" notation on the front of the card.

Distribution: Cards were included in packs of Elite Extra Edition - since the Prospects set is almost eight times larger than the base set, more of those cards appear in packs.

Thoughts: EEE has never really appealed to me. I'm not a prospector and the design doesn't interest me. On the other hand, one of the cards I pulled from a pack is quite scary and that makes it worth looking at (see below). Because the college logos for prospects are airbrushed out, the one redeeming quality of these sets (seeing college logos) is gone. I guess you can still see the team colors, which are usually different from MLB colors. You can almost make out Dillon Maples' hat logo - and is that a military camo style hat he's wearing?

Additional Images:

 Scary! And not a prospect!

 Another prospect.

And one last prospect.

2011 Bowman Chrome Prospect Autographs

Set Size: 70 cards

Design Notes: The set uses the 2011 Bowman design with white borders, since the players are prospects. A white semi-opaque box at the bottom holds an on-card autograph.

Parallels and Similars: Refractor autographs are available in regular, superfractor, blue, gold, orange, and red, plus four printer plate versions.

Distribution: Cards were randomly inserted into packs of 2011 Bowman products. Refractor versions are numbered between 1 and 500.

Thoughts: Bowman's rookie autographs are some of the most sought-after because they are usually a player's first MLB-release autograph. However, out of the 70 players in this set, only one or two might make it big. Reese Havens, for example, had a successful 2010 and a good 2011 in the minors, but hit only .215 in 2012 with the Mets' AA affiliate.

2011 Bowman/Chrome/Draft Parallels

Set Size: Regular parallels have 220 cards, and Draft parallels have 110 cards. Plus, prospect parallels are an additional 220 cards, and prospect Draft parallels have a set size of 110 cards.

Design Notes: The design looks like a modern TV screen, with colored arcs in the bottom corners. The borders on the base version of the card is black for regular cards and white for prospect cards.

Parallels and Similars: Regular cards come in blue, gold, and red parallels, with Chrome parallel refractors in blue, gold canary, gold, orange, purple, red, regular, and superfractor versions. Plates for regular and Chrome versions were also issued.

Distribution: Cards were randomly inserted into packs of 2011 Bowman products. Some parallels are serial numbered as low as 1. Purple parallels were included in retail rack packs.

Thoughts: The red refractor parallel shown above (numbered out of five) is my favorite color combination: the green RC color in the bottom arcs matches perfectly with the red border to make this a very Christmas-y card. Keeping track of all the different sets (regular, Chrome, regular Draft, Chrome Draft) and the multiple parallels is quite difficult but the different refractor colors are attractive.

Additional Images: Various parallels.

 Bowman Chrome Draft version (RC green).

 (back)

Bowman Chrome Draft Prospects Refractors.

 (back)

 Bowman Draft.

 (back)

 Bowman Chrome Draft Prospects Gold Refractors

 (back)

 Bowman Chrome Draft Prospects Blue Refractors

 (back)

 Bowman Chrome Draft Blue Refractors

 (back)

 Bowman Draft Prospects Blue

 (back)

 Bowman Draft Blue

 (back)

 Bowman Chrome Draft Refractors

 (back)

 Bowman Chrome Draft Prospects Refractors

(back)

2011 Bowman Chrome Throwbacks

Set Size: 25 cards

Design Notes: The set uses the 2001 Bowman design, with black and red borders (the black got cut off by my scanner) and a grey/silver arc with a facsimile player signature.

Parallels and Similars: Three refractor versions were made.

Distribution: Cards were randomly inserted into packs of 2011 Bowman Chrome.

Thoughts: Is 10 years long enough to do a throwback insert? I think Bowman's design has been quite stagnant and really the 2011 design isn't much different from the 2001 design. This is a set I have zero interest in.

2011 Finest

Set Size: 100 cards

Design Notes: A starburst design background and a colored, rounded frame are around a player photo. The backgrounds are silver. The back copies the design elements from the back.

Parallels and Similars: There were 13 different parallel versions: nine refractors and four printing plates. You can see a regular refractor card in my post here.

Distribution: Cards were sold in packs.

Thoughts: I think the refractor version looks really good with this design. It's attractive and dynamic, yet mature for the adult collectors who are the target consumers. I'm actually really happy with this version of Finest. Perhaps I'll try to put together a set someday.

2011 Bowman Chrome Futures

Set Size: 25 cards

Design Notes: A silver background that resembles a futuristic computer disc is the background behind a player photo, the top and bottom are black with light blue highlights at the bottom. The backs are blue and black and contain a "scouting report" with some career highlights and strengths.

Parallels and Similars: There are four parallel versions, some of them numbered. All use various forms of refractor technology.

Distribution: Cards were randomly inserted into packs of 2011 Bowman Chrome.

Thoughts: If there was a set that ever looked like it was designed by the set designers of Minority Report, this would be it. The use of futuristic shapes and blue and black really hits that home.

2011 Topps Finest Refractors

Set Size: 100 cards

Design Notes: A starburst design is behind a photo of the player surrounded by a rounded frame in team colors; the design elements are mimicked on the back.

Parallels and Similars: There are 13 parallels (including the four printing plates) to the base card; this is the most plentiful parallel.

Distribution: The card was randomly inserted into packs of 2011 Finest and are serial numbered to 549.

Thoughts: 2011 Finest has an an attractive design and in refractor form the bright shiny background really stands out. If I was to ever put together a refractor set, this might be the one.

2011 Gypsy Queen Framed Stamps

Set Size: 350 cards

Design Notes: The design follows the basic look of 2011 Gypsy Queen in a horizontal format. The artwork is seem on the left side of the card, and a stamp related to the player's hometown is included as a relic on the right. The backs look essentially identical to the regular Gypsy Queen cards except for a serial number in the upper-right.

Parallels and Similars: The set is a parallel of the base Gypsy Queen set, and there are a handful of other parallels.

Distribution: Cards were randomly inserted into packs (1:93 hobby, 1:530 retail).

Thoughts: While I really enjoy the art of Gypsy Queen and thus put together the base and insert sets in 2011, I had no interest in collecting the parallels and minis, and this set is no different. Stamps are a simple novelty as far as "hits" go, and while I enjoy gimmicks at least as much as the next man I don't care much for them in parallel form. Thankfully, I picked this up much cheaper than I expected as it was included in a lot of other Delmon Young cards.

2011 Panini Black Friday

Set Size: 20 cards, numbered 1-19 and JH (for Josh Hamilton)

Design Notes: This is a black-background foilboard card set featuring the spokesmen and stars of Panini's sports product. Due to a lack of licensing, some players (such as Rivera, above) appear without any logos. The set is similar in design to several other Panini sets, with a two-lined ornate border around the photo.

Parallels and Similars: There are some autograph versions of a few cards from the set, and a Rookie set with the same basic design.

Distribution: Cards were sent to dealers in packs to be given away to customers purchasing Panini products.

Thoughts: I love free cards, though I actually picked this up in a card draft. The design isn't special, but the promotion was about the random hits. Lots of autographs and relics were included in the packs. I don't mind the lack of logos for the MLB players, though set after set of posed shots in t-shirts feels too much like a semi-pro league's attempt to look legit. I'm not a fan of foilboard in general, though this is a nice looking card. I miss the National Baseball/Trading Card Day promotions, though I doubt Topps would willingly combine their baseball offerings with Panini's since they still consider Panini to be bush league.

2011 Topps Heritage Minors Real One Autographs

Set Size: 50

Design Notes: The cards are designed to look similar to 1962 Topps - you know, wood borders - with the small addition of a gigantic off-white stripe for a stickered autograph to go. The backs still follow the 1962 Topps design, but have an RA- prefixed card number.

Parallels and Similars: The set is a parallel of the base 2011 Topps Heritage Minors base set, which is nearly identical to the 2011 Topps Heritage set, which is nearly identical to the 1962 Topps set. Yeah. There's a lot of reuse of card designs going on here. The autograph set has blue, green, and red tint variation parallelss, black border parallels, and printing plates.

Distribution: Cards were randomly inserted into boxes of 2011 Topps Heritage Minors. Two autographs are found in each box of Minors.

Thoughts: I understand the interest in the Heritage line, and while I don't collect the set I like some of the basic ideas behind it. Heritage, with minor leaguers, though, just doesn't interest me. Especially when a gigantic swatch of off-white wood grain shows up for a sticker autograph. There isn't much interest in minor league cards anyway, and Bowman has Topps' prospect bases covered. I like minor league issues, but I wish Topps wouldn't take their MLB designs and stick them on MiLB sets. Tekotte made his MLB debut last year, but the statistics just aren't there. He's currently at .133 for the year, though he's only had 15 at-bats.

Additional Images:

Forgotten 2011: 2011 Topps Marquee Monumental Markings

Set size: 75 cards

Front Design: A player photo, usually a portrait, is overlaid with foil across the bottom. The lower portion of the card has an on-card autograph of the player represented, followed by his name. The cards are serial numbered in the lower-right portion of the photo.

Back Design: The backs have a grey frame. A box at the top has the player's name, team, and position, which is followed by a short biography. An authenticity guarantee follows. At the bottom of the grey frame is the card number, and beneath the frame is a tan/gold fancy victorian design.

Parallels and Similars: A gold parallel version exists.

Distribution: Cards were randomly inserted into boxes/packs of Topps Marquee. The Monumental Markings set appears about one per box. The serial numbering for any specific player depends on that player's popularity (and thus cost for obtaining signatures) - superstars like Sandy Koufax signed only 10 cards, and many of the "common" players signed up to 600 copies.

Thoughts: This set was forgotten soon after its release due to another high-end issue arriving within a couple weeks. It's my favorite high-end set of the year. I could never afford Triple Threads or Tribute, and this set provides cards that are just as attractive at a better price point. Plus, all the autographs here should be on-card, which is important for today's collectors.

2011 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions Memorabilia

Set size: 51 cards

Front Design: The fronts are designed similar to the regular Goodwin Champions release. The player's photo is at the top, with his or her name and sport over the photo. A curved banner containing an eagle and the letters "M" and "C" identifies this as the memorabilia set. The memorabilia itself is contained in a gold-bordered "M" cutout, with embelishments on either side. The Goodwin Champions logo banner is across the bottom.

Back Design: The backs are much less detailed, and are printed on gray cardstock. The card number (or letters) are at the top, followed by authentication text. Copyright and logos are at the bottom.

Parallels and Similars: A dual memorabilia parallel exists for 11 players, but they are easily distinguished from the regular set.

Distribution: Memorabilia cards were inserted about one per box of 2011 Goodwin Champions. They are separated into groups, with the easiest group being 1:22 packs and the most difficult single-memorabilia tier at 1:14,613.

Thoughts: Goodwin Champions had its detractors because of the use of casual images, but I think it is one of the best releases of the year. The memorabilia checklist is pretty impressive across several sports, which makes this set even better of a multi-sport release. This is the first 2011 card featured in a long time, and the first relic card on the blog.