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.

1997 Pinnacle X-Press Metal Works Gold

Set Size: 20 cards

Design Notes: This is the gold-plated parallel to the solid bronze Metal Works insert set. Like the silver version, the card is really bright and shiny, with pretty good detail to the player photo (though it may not exactly be realistic). The cards are serial-numbered on the back, at the top.

Parallels and Similars: As mentioned, the "regular" insert set is solid bronze, and a silver-plated version also exists.

Distribution: Redemption cards for the gold-plated parallels were inserted into packs at a rate of 1:950 and home plate master deck boxes at a rate of 1:108. These are the most-limited of all card sets inserted into Pinnacle X-Press.

Thoughts: The gold plating is awesome. It looks and feels like you robbed Fort Knox of a gold bar that happens to be the same size and design as a baseball card. If they weren't so tough to find and thus expensive, this would be the ultimate set to complete. The bronze coins are easier to view as far as detail, but the gold cards are really beautiful. Besides, not many people can say they have baseball cards made of gold. And no, those ones inserted in WalMart repacks don't count. But those solid-gold cards issued by Topps this year does. I'd love to get my hands on one of those!

1997 Pinnacle X-Press Metal Works Silver

Set Size: 20 cards

Design Notes: Identical in design to the (solid) bronze version I showed yesterday, this parallel is silver-plated. The surface is very shiny, almost mirror-like (especially on the flatter back) and is serial numbered on the back at the very top. The "cards" are very thick and heavy.

Parallels and Similars: An unnumbered bronze base version and a gold-plated parallel set also exist.

Distribution: Each silver parallel card is serial-numbered to 400. They were acquired via redemption cards (no longer valid). Apparently you knew whether you were receiving a silver or gold card, but you wouldn't know which player until you received your redeemed Metal Works card. The odds of receiving a silver Metal Works redemption card in packs was 1:470, and in master deck "home plate" boxes 1:54.

Thoughts: The metal cards are really heavy and thus difficult to store, ship, and transport (a full set of 20 would seriously weigh down a box). However, they look really great and, while not unique, they stand out from other inserts. The bronze cards are the best-looking because they have a more matte finish, making it easier to see detail. But holding a silver or gold card feels like you're holding a pure silver or gold brick and it looks much more valuable. I'm glad to have a silver card and gold card in my collection, but I prefer the bronze for building a complete set.

1996 Zenith Diamond Club Real Diamond

Set Size: 20 cards

Design Notes: A foil border in the shape of a diamond surrounds the player's photo, with the Zenith logo in an upper corner and a large portion of the bottom devoted to the set name and player's name. In the real diamond version, a small diamond is mounted at the base of the diamond. The backs contain a sepia photo of a baseball field in the background, with a player photo and short highlight paragraph.

Parallels and Similars: The regular version uses Pinnacle's Dufex technology, but there is no diamond.

Distribution: Regular cards were inserted one per box, and cards with real diamonds were found one in every 350 packs.

Thoughts: Pinnacle Brands tried a whole bunch of "gimmicky" ideas in the 1990s, including what I believe is the first card to contain an embedded gem. The actual diamond is pretty small and unimpressive, but the card is quite rare for its time. Actually, the diamond sticks out from the surface of the card a bit. I wonder if people pulling these from packs in 1996 were upset that the card preceding the diamond card most likely had a small dent in the back. Did it damage multiple cards? Or was there a filler card inserted to fix this? In addition to probably being the first embedded-gem card, it has to be one of the first "manu-relic" cards too!

1988 Topps Gallery of Champions

Set Size: 12 cards, 1-1/4" x 1"

Design Notes: These cards are made of aluminum, using the 1988 Topps design in a relief format. The backs contain statistics and biographical information. The cards are actually parallels of the players' flagship 1988 Topps cards.

Parallels and Similars: Bronze and silver parallels exist.

Distribution: Complete sets in velvet cases were sold through dealers; 1000 of the silver sets were produced.

Thoughts: I really like these sets, despite their small size. The detail is pretty good, especially for such a small card, and they can display well.

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 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.

2004 Donruss Production Line OPS Black

Set Size: 10 cards

Design Notes: A diamond shaped logo holds a baseball identifying Giambi as a leader in OPS. The fronts are mostly black other than the player's photo. Unfortunately this means a little bit of my card's image was cut off by my slightly inferior scanner. Backs list the top 25 players in OPS.

Parallels and Similars: This is the black parallel. The regular insert has color to it, and a die-cut version was created as well. There are a few Production Line sets under different categories.

Distribution: Cards were randomly inserted into packs. The regular Production Line OPS are serial-numbered to the player's 2003 OPS (somewhere between 910 and 1278). Black parallels are numbered to 125, and die-cuts are numbered to 100.

Thoughts: I like sets that recognize leaders in categories and award winners, so the set concept is pretty nice. However, the set doesn't include some of the leaders in this category, and the checklist isn't numbered according to actual OPS. The insert has a nice modern look to it, and the black parallel looks even more sleek. With a few minor tweaks to the checklist, I could have been happier with the set.

2002 Donruss Diamond Kings Inserts/Studio Series

Set Size: 20 cards

Design Notes: This grey-bordered insert set used paintings of the players on the front. The Diamond Kings logo is at the bottom and uses blue foil. The back explains why the player was chosen as a Diamond King.

Parallels and Similars: A "Studio Series" parallel was issued using silver foil and a canvas style card surface. Randy Johnson was also issued as a Jersey Kings memorabilia card in regular and Studio Series formats.

Distribution: All cards were randomly inserted in packs. Diamond Kings had a print run of 2500 serial-numbered sets, Studio Series and Jersey Kings are numbered to 250, and the Jersey Kings Studio Series card is numbered to 50.

Thoughts: Diamond Kings is one of my favorite sets. Where the DKs of the early 1990s were generally bright, loud, and vibrant to match the neon colors of fashion, Diamond King cards found after Donruss's return are generally designed to look like it belongs in a museum. The artwork here is very realistic and attractive.

Additional Images: Studio Series parallel

1997 Studio Gold Press Proofs

Set Size: 165 cards

Design Notes: The set features studio images with a striped background. Gold foil is used for text and the side borders. Backs feature an action shot and highlight biography.

Parallels and Similars: This is one of two parallels for the regular 1997 Studio set (the other being a silver parallel).

Distribution: 500 copies were produced for each card and randomly inserted into packs.

Thoughts: By 1997, parallel inserts could be found in every product, though a serial numbering to only 500 was still pretty low. The design is simple and attractive, which could make this a very collectible set... if you don't mind studio-style portrait photos instead of action photos on the front of your cards.