01.27
Story Copyright 2009 Beckett Media
See an interview related to this story by clicking here.
The NBA announced today that it has entered into an exclusive, multi-year agreement with Italian collectibles company Panini to become the sole manufacturer of NBA licensed trading cards and stickers beginning with the 2009-10 season, and running through 2012-13. The deal calls for the production of 15 to 20 products per season.
Panini is established in more than 100 markets worldwide, but its U.S. market involvement has been modest by comparison. Panini plans to “re-create the domestic trading card market” and has announced that a new business will be set up immediately called Panini America Inc. with offices in the New York area.
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01.27
Upper Deck released the following information for its 2009 Icons baseball set on Tuesday. It’s slated for a July release.
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01.27
Story copyright 2009 Beckett Media
Major League Baseball Properties Inc. has filed a lawsuit against Donruss Playoff in a U.S. District Court over unauthorized use of trademarks, dress rights, rights of publicity and “breach of the surviving terms of its contracts” in its products released since last fall.
According to the complaint, MLBP says “Donruss cards depict certain Major League Baseball and Minor League Baseball players in their team’s proprietary uniforms. The trademarks featured on the uniforms (as well as the overall trade dress of the uniforms) remain visible and identifiable to consumers, despite Donruss’ calculated attempts on some cards to have such marks modified or partially obscured.”
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01.26
Still digging through my January’s worth of e-mail …
Upper Deck announced last week that it will be including a subset of Historic Firsts in 2009 Series 1 Baseball — a 10-card set that will include additional cards of President Barack Obama as well as Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin.
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01.26
Here’s the complete final checklist for the forthcoming Playoff Contenders baseball set, which arrives on Feb. 4. …
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01.26
Donruss recently announced its plans for this year’s NFL Experience, which includes its sponsorship of the official autograph pavilion, and the company also will sponsor the card show that takes place at the seven-day event, which kicked off during the weekend and continues later this week.
As part of the festivities, the company created a 440-card factory set that will be sold at the event and has several other exclusive cards.
The Score set will feature the Super Bowl XLIII logo and those who buy it also will receive an exclusive 18-card set of players in this year’s Super Bowl — nine cards for the NFC’s Arizona Cardinals and nine for the AFC’s Pittsburgh Steelers.
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01.26
Collectors who have opened packs of the recently released Barack Obama set (in pursuit of the Obama basketball card and first puppy redemption cards, I’m sure) from Topps might have found what I’d loosely call Oprah Winfrey’s “rookie card.”
The Chicago icon appears on a card with Michelle Obama in the 90-card set. So far, it doesn’t appear that any collectors are paying a premium for the card. Sets did sell for around $70 at their peak on eBay shortly after release, but have since settled down.
Chris Olds has collected sports cards and memorabilia since 1987. Before coming to Beckett Media, he wrote about the hobby for the Orlando Sentinel on his blog, SportsStuff, and for the San Antonio Express-News and The Tuscaloosa (Ala.) News. Do you have a comment, question or idea? Send e-mail to him at colds@beckett.com.
01.26
Here’s some more behind-the-scenes preview action from a busy month here at Beckett HQ — a preview of the next Beckett Sports Card Monthly cover with New York Yankees slugger Mark Teixeira on the cover.
Note that you’ll have a chance to win a Joe Jackson game-used bat card from Prime Cuts if you pick up the magazine — a contest found only in its pages (not here or on Beckett.com; sorry guys).
And, by the way, the new Beckett Baseball has a smattering of contests inside it as well.
Chris Olds has collected sports cards and memorabilia since 1987. Before coming to Beckett Media, he wrote about the hobby for the Orlando Sentinel on his blog, SportsStuff, and for the San Antonio Express-News and The Tuscaloosa (Ala.) News. Do you have a comment, question or idea? Send e-mail to him at colds@beckett.com.
01.26
Topps will release a 55-card set of World Baseball Classic cards as a $10 box set on March 11. Here’s a sneak peak and look at the checklist, which leads off with Japanese star Yu Darvish as card No. 1.
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01.26
It’s been relatively quiet here on the ol’ blog because yours truly has had his hand in putting out four magazines in the last three weeks. The first arriving should be this month’s Beckett Baseball, which is the annual Rookie Rolodex issue. It’s the largest ever at 738 players and has American League Rookie of the Year Evan Longoria on the cover.
Chris Olds has collected sports cards and memorabilia since 1987. Before coming to Beckett Media, he wrote about the hobby for the Orlando Sentinel on his blog, SportsStuff, and for the San Antonio Express-News and The Tuscaloosa (Ala.) News. Do you have a comment, question or idea? Send e-mail to him at colds@beckett.com.
