By Susan Lulgjuraj | Beckett Football Editor

The commercial was one of the favorites during the last Super Bowl – Deion Sanders thought he had plenty in the tank. He put on a wig and a fake mustache to become Leon Sandcastle and impressed the scouts so much at the combine he became the first overall pick at the 2013 NFL Draft.

Panini America will be making cards of the fictional character for 2013 Score and Prestige.

He will appear as a member of the Kansas City Chiefs on his card.

The first card will be exclusively in retail packs of Score, according to Panini. Score releases in late May.

Autographed Leon Sandcastle cards will show up in hobby packs of Prestige, set to come out in June.

“Leon Sandcastle’s larger-than-life persona took the NFL world by storm earlier this year and his presence in our first two products of 2013 season is a direct result of that,” said Panini America CEO Mark Warsop on the Panini blog. “We had fans and collectors from all over asking us to make Sandcastle Rookie Cards a reality. Now that we’ve done that, we’re confident that his first trading cards will deliver a definite fun factor along with other 2013 NFL Rookies.”

Panini is celebrating the 1989 Score card design in its product this year, which is the year of Sanders’ actual football Rookie Card.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Susan Lulgjuraj is an editor of Beckett Football. You can email her here with questions, comments or ideas. Follow her on Twitter here. Follow Beckett Media on Facebook and Twitter.

By Susan Lulgjuraj | Contributing Editor

With 2012 Score on its way on to shelves, the product brings a reminder of the popular football brands of the past.

Specifically, the iconic 1989 Score with a number of great Rookie Cards.

This year’s set includes Rookie Reprints on their original designs, but with different pictures. Of the 50 Rookie Reprints, 10 of the cards are from the 1989 set, including Score Supplemental (20 percent).

The original 1989 Score is one of the most popular football sets from the past 30 years. Just look at the rookies from that year: Barry Sanders, Deion Sanders, Troy Aikman, Cris Carter, Michael Irvin, Rod Woodson, Thurman Thomas and so many others  (Need an OPG or checklist from 1989 Score? Click here).

The fun thing about the Rookie Cards from that year are the mug shots. Being so early in the release, some of the players were shown as just simple head shots of young, smiling men. But now Panini America is showing off these cards in what it would look like if these were action shots.

Will these be as popular as the originals?

That will be hard to beat. A raw Barry Sanders 1989 Score RC is valued between $15-$30, but high graded cards can sell for around $200. Part of the reason is that it’s just one of three Sanders RCs on the market. His other two are from Topps Traded and Pro Set. In addition, Sanders and Aikman’s Score RCs were the first on the market. Neither were in the original Pro Set or Topps products that season (Need a Barry Sanders OPG or checklist? Click here).

The stock and design made collectors fall for the 330-card set along with the 110-card supplemental card set coming out in January 1990.

As the years went on and more and more football products became available, the Score cards weren’t valued as much as they once were. Instead, RCs appeared with autographs and jersey cards.

Nothing will be like 1989 Score again, but here’s a chance to get a look at how cards might have looked.

Here’s the checklist from 2012 Score’s Rookie Reprints and some extra pictures (Also, click here for more information on 2012 Score):

Preliminary checklist:
Troy Aikman
Tim Brown
Cris Carter
Michael Irvin
Andre Rison
Barry Sanders
Deion Sanders
Thurman Thomas
Rod Woodson
Sterling Sharpe
Haywood Jeffires
Mark Carrier
Junior Seau
Emmitt Smith
Brett Favre
Jimmy Smith
Jerome Bettis
Marshall Faulk
Kerry Collins
Keyshawn Johnson
Mike Alstott
Marvin Harrison
Eddie George
Tiki Barber
Warrick Dunn
Tony Gonzalez
Peyton Manning
Randy Moss
Charles Woodson
Hines Ward
Ricky Williams
Donovan NcNabb
Champ Bailey
Kurt Warner
Brian Urlacher
Tom Brady
LaDanian Tomlinson
Michael Vick
Drew Brees
Edward Reed
Jason Witten
Dallas Clark
Eli Manning
Philip Rivers
Larry Fitzgerald
Ben Roethlisberger
Alex Smith
Aaron Rodgers
Roddy White
Frank Gore

Susan Lulgjuraj is a contributing editor for Beckett Media. You can email Susan here. Follow her on Twitter here.

By Susan Lulgjuraj | Contributing Editor

There are a couple different products set collectors look forward to during the football season. One of the big ones comes out next week – 2012 Score from Panini America.

One of the greatest appeals is the price point. Packs cost about $1. Again, that’s one whole dollar.

But at that kind of price, one would think there wouldn’t be much to offer in 2012 Score. However, that doesn’t seem to be the case.

The set includes 400 cards: 300 commons and 100 Rookie Cards. In one box, collectors can expect 24 Rookie Cards, 36 Glossy, six parallels, 25 inserts and another three to four cards of either parallels or inserts. With 36 packs in a box and prices for hobby boxes n the $30 range, football set collectors could enjoy this.

Beckett did a first look at 2012 Score in May, but with the product closer to release, let’s break it down even more with a gallery of pictures from Panini … after the jump.

One of the reasons Score is able to keep the price down is the company keeps the hits down. With four autographs in every case, the hits are rare, but not impossible to get.

Panini adds value with numbered parallels (Artist’s Proofs, Red Zone and End Zone will be numbered), glossy cards, printing plates (1/1) and inserts.

After 24 years of the name brand, collectors might recognize some of the reprints.

Panini has put together reprints of original designs using different photography from years such as 1989, 1995 and 2001. In the preview images, you can see Deion Sanders, Drew Brees and Peyton Manning featured on the reprints – some of the all-time best.

We’re still waiting on a checklist, but with 400 cards, can we just say everyone is included?

Susan Lulgjuraj is a contributing editor for Beckett Media. You can email Susan here. Follow her on Twitter here.

By Chris Olds | Beckett Baseball Editor | Commentary

The ongoing saga of how collectors might react to Panini America‘s MLBPA baseball cards offered its lasted chapter on Monday as the company teased a number of cards yet to the signed for its forthcoming Prime Cuts product.

And it all left me saying “Who needs logos when you have inscriptions?”

Prime Cuts is set to include a Notable Nicknames autographed insert set — which means Albert Pujols here should be adding something like “The Machine” signed alongside his pricey sig. That’s an addition that doesn’t come cheap.

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The other insert set, Significant Signatures, uses sepia-toned mugshots as part of the design, a look which also showcases autograph ink. Again, a move that negates the lack of logos in my mind as team colors simply don’t enter the mix.

Maybe I am wrong … maybe I’m not. Take our poll above after you check out the images below.

We’ll see more of the cards — after they are signed — next month.

Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball magazine. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an email to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.

By Susan Lulgjuraj | Contributing Editor

Thursday night’s Under Armour All-American high school all-star football game featured some well-known names, well at least their dads.

Deion Sanders Jr., and Trey Griffey, son of Ken Griffey Jr., both played,  giving collectors ideas of future father and son cards.

Not just yet. But Topps does have exclusive rights with Under Armour to create football cards for players in the high school game. This gives collectors an opportunity to get the very first cards of football stars in the making.

But how do you get them?

Ah well, that’s the tough part. Random packs were given out to the first 3,000 fans through the gates, but those cards were not autographed.

The autographed versions are being held on to by Topps — 200 were signed by each player — to use in the future. Some of these might not actually see the light of day.

“If and when they make NFL we will include in our product, might be a three- to four-year wait,” Topps Vice President Mark Sapir said. “But I think at that point will be worth the wait for many collectors.”

Here are some scans featuring some of the highest ranked scholastic footballers, including OT Andrus Peat, ranked 16th in the country and third at his position by Rivals.com

Susan Lulgjuraj is a contributing editor for Beckett Media. You can email Susan here. Follow her on Twitter here.

By Andrew Tolentino | Football Editor

Continuing to assert the fact that football cards — if not football itself — will be around in 2011, Panini America announced yesterday that the greats of the gridiron will have a home in one of its most beloved brands.

The Timeless Treasures line — with origins as an insert set in 2001 Classics Football —  has made an impact in both basketball and even baseball cards, “But it’s never before been done in football,” verified Ben Ecklar, Panini America’s Director of Product Development. “So this product signifies a history-making opportunity – both for us internally in terms of being able to create from the ground up the first Timeless Treasures Football release, but also for collectors in  terms of the opportunity to collect it. And trust me, they will want to collect it.”

Hitting shelves in late September, the high-end, tin-boxed brand is designed to dazzle.

Inside each collectible tin container is a potent five-card mix comprised of three autograph (limited to 499 or less) or memorabilia (limited to 250 or less) hits (one autograph guaranteed) and two more cards.

Collectors can expect to pull from a 225-card base set made from 100 current players, 25 legendary names and 100 rookies. A certain Jim Thorpe headlines the one-per-case league of legends with limited-to-25 memorabilia cards, exclusive Classic Cuts Materials, NFL Shields, NFL Signatures and hard-signed Hall of Fame signatures.

Inserts in the tin include:

• Game Day Souvenirs – Showcasing game-day photography and game-worn memorabilia
• Hall of Fame Class of 2011 -  Tributes with on-card autographs from Marshall Faulk and Deion Sanders
• Classic Cuts Materials - Combination cut signature and memorabilia cards with legends like Thorpe, Red Grange and Earl “Dutch” Clark.

Stay tuned to Beckett.com for more details on football’s new home in Timeless Treasures.