By Susan Lulgjuraj | Beckett Sports Card Monthly Editor

Bringing together an iconic group of athletes to sign for a product is an ambitious task, but one Leaf has taken on again.

In 2012 Legends of Sport, Leaf has assembled popular athletes and pop culture figures to fill out the set, including international baseball stars, Olympic athletes and even a former Vice Presidential hopeful.

The set includes more than 150 subjects.

Legends of Sport is scheduled to come out at the end of January and each box will contain three autograph cards.

The base set of autographs includes names such as soccer star Hope Solo, baseball’s Ichiro Suzuki and football’s Robert Griffin III. There is even a Sarah Palin autograph thrown in the mix.

There is a large focus on Olympic athletes. However, maybe none greater than a booklet card featuring 16 autographs from members of the 1980 men’s hockey Olympic goal medal team – the men who brought the country the “Miracle on Ice.” Autographs on the booklet include Mike Eruzione and Jim Craig.

The autograph subsets include nickname cards, cards numbered to a player’s respective jersey number, Award Winner Autographs and We are the Champions Autographs.

In addition, there are Signature Swatches Autographs featuring gear used by the athlete.

Here’s a sample of the names included in this product (check out the gallery below):
Boxing
- Mike Tyson
- Roy Jones Jr.

Basketball
- Damian Lillard
- Bill Russell
- Scottie Pippen
- Karl Malone

Baseball
- Ichiro
- Albert Pujols
- Greg Maddux
- Cal Ripken Jr.

Football
- Doug Martin
- Robert Griffin III
- Deion Sanders

Olympics
- Lolo Jones
- Hope Solo
- Nancy Kerrigan

Susan Lulgjuraj is an editor of Beckett Sports Card Monthly. You can email her here with questions, comments or ideas. Follow her on Twitter here.

By Susan Lulgjuraj | Contributing Editor

Mike Tyson is getting in the ring with Upper Deck.

The California-based card company has signed the famous boxer to an autograph and memorabilia deal. Tyson will appear in upcoming trading card releases, making his debut in 2012 Goodwin Champions.

“Having the opportunity to partner with Mike Tyson provides Upper Deck the chance to bring the boxing community innovative and quality collectibles the likes of which they have never seen,” said Jason Masherah, Upper Deck’s vice president of Marketing and Business Development. “Collectors will get quite a thrill when they pull an autograph card of ‘Iron’ Mike from new Upper Deck packs. Our Upper Deck Authenticated team is thrilled about developing signed memorabilia for Tyson that will become the primary talking piece for any room they are displayed in.”

One of the other sets it seems Tyson will appear in will be All-Time Greats. Upper Deck created a mock up of a potential card. Tyson is pictured holding up his hands in what seems like after a boxing match during his glory days – pre-face tattoo.

The gold ink signature makes the autograph pop off the card.

Upper Deck will have a signing soon with Tyson and will release pictures from the session afterward.

One of the company’s most anticipated items will be a “Tegata” signed piece, which will not only have Tyson’s autograph, but an ink hand print as well. Upper Deck has used this design with Michael Jordan and LeBron James in the past.

Tyson’s autograph cards first appeared in 2006 Topps Allen & Ginter. He has since signed for Sportskings, Ringside Boxing and Leaf.

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

Join Beckett Baseball‘s Chris Olds and Brian Fleischer as they rip into a pair of 2011 World Stars boxes from Brothers Inc. in Japan in this latest edition of Box Busters.

What will they find inside? Watch and find out. Each box should contain one autographed baseball … maybe more.

Want to see more artballs — and get the lowdown on how to order them if you’re not in Japan? It’s after the jump.

If your Japanese is good, you can order them by clicking here. If you’re like most of us and can’t, then you can click here for their international form or contact Brothers Inc. directly via email at brothers@bd.wakwak.com.

The boxes cost $119.99 apiece (price includes express shipping from Japan) with 12-box cases also available — only 720 total boxes were made.

An autographed baseball is found in every box and artballs are found one in every 12. Some of the artball subjects and signers include:  Sadaharu Oh, Hideki Matsui, Stan Musial, Cal Ripken, Hank Aaron, Mike Tyson, Hulk Hogan, Joe Montana, Dan Marino, Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady and Scottie Pippen. All autographs are certified by TRISTAR, Mounted Memories, PSA or JSA.

Because of its limited nature, many of the artballs are produced in limited quantities — most are 1/1s with some as plentiful as three. Sadaharu Oh is the most plentiful with six.  (See a list of who’s in this one by clicking here.)

– Chris Olds