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!

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.

2004 Fleer Showcase Grace Game Used

Set Size: 10 cards, mainly with jersey relics (Jeter has a bat card instead)

Design Notes: The fairly simple design has a parchment-style border, a photo, and lots of foil printing - colors change depending on the player's team. A circle contains a relic piece, while the back has a certificate of authenticity.

Parallels and Similars: This card is a parallel of the Grace insert set, which has a team logo where the relic window appears on this card. There are Gold #/150, Reward #/23-55 depending on the player, and Patch #/50 parallels (Jeter doesn't have a patch parallel, since his relic is a bat).

Distribution: Cards were randomly inserted into the mid-high range Fleer Showcase packs. One Grace relic card appeared in every two boxes (1:48 packs).

Thoughts: In the mid-2000s parallel/relic craze, the Showcase release is one of many forgotten soon after it hit shelves. The Grace set doesn't break any design grounds, and it hardly stands out, but if your favorite player has a relic in the set, it displays well, with a classy feel.

Additional Images:

2003 Topps Pristine Factor Bat Relics

Set size: 15 cards

Front Design: The shiny Finest-like card front has a horizontal foil-etched pattern of blue lines that fades into a black border. A photo of the player is placed over the blue lines, with the set name, player's name and position in white over the black bottom border. The bat piece is contained in the "O" from the set name.

Back Design: The set name is repeated at the top, with a cropped blue-tinted version of the front photo placed in the O. The player's name and "factor" (highlight/reason) for appearing in the set follows, succeeded by the "authentic bat" notification. The card number is in a red box in the lower-left corner.

Parallels and Similars: There is a refractor parallel of the set, serial numbered to 25 copies.

Distribution: Pristine Factor bat relics were inserted 1:9 packs of 2003 Topps Pristine, a high-end release that focused mainly on uncirculated cards..

Thoughts: The cards appear to be made from the same card stock and printing processes seen in the Finest line. The background reminds me of a TV with no reception, but it's a fairly clean design. The photos on Pristine always appear plastic and two-dimensional, partly due to the card stock and partly due to the lack of context background to add some depth to the photo. Alex Rodriguez, Mike Piazza, and Nomar Garciaparra are the standouts in the checklist, making this a fairly simple relic set to collect, if it your style of design.

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.