Card Gallery: 2012 Panini National Treasures baseball cards
By Chris Olds | Beckett Baseball Editor | Commentary
Panini America‘s priciest baseball card set ever arrives on Wednesday with just eight cards per pack of 2012 Panini National Treasures.
Plenty has been teased in this one — you can see a selection of nearly 50 high-end hits after the jump — but there’s still a bit of mystery of how this $400-a-pack (suggested retail price) product will look with the typical box breaks.
All we know is eight cards per pack with one of those being a booklet card. Everything is either autograph or memorabilia and there’s a grouping of active players, a grouping of Rated Rookies and a ton of legends and Hall of Famers.
In short, this one has the potential to blow Five Star out of the water — and that was a product I liked a lot — but this is based on a whole lot of high-end images, a prelim checklist (subject to change; click here to view) and, of course, not knowing quantities for many of the rarities and other cards. It’s that part of the equation — where some cards can be much, much more plentiful than others — that will shape the typical box breaks.
Of course, many of the cards seen here are 1/1s or near-rarities but that doesn’t mean they don’t have the potential to be inside your pack if you choose to crack one. The fact that all of this stuff is included in a single product — whether you land one or not — is impressive.
How will it all shake out from the pack-out? We’ll find out soon …
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.
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I see some of the cards clearly show the ML Baseball Logo’s, won’t there be some issues with that, the cards are great looking but know MLB, this could be the product of the century, maybe if MLB and the players union see this they mite change there mind. don’t get me started on the price. i understand that panini is trying to make a statement, but most of there MLB stuff was not worth the price, that is for an unliecenced product
Looks expensive, but very impressive design. The tough thing is for the price, you are receiving players without logos (bummer)
Nasty stuff, love it, but hate it, no logos. but I must say that is how a premium product should be, but no team logos. BOOOOOOOO!
Looks epic, wayyy too expensive for me but i would love to pick up some singles
Looks awesome. Whilst I won’t be buying a pack – i’ll definitely look to pick up a Brett Lawrie card.
I actually think Panini have a better design sensibility than Topps with these high-end products. (I’m a pro graphic designer so hope i can talk with some authority). Great photography and no awful photoshop uniform changes). The Prime Cuts product is another nice example.
The cards look great but i would much rather have them as hits in other sets. At least while i’m spending my money on boxes or cases in the process i could be collecting the sets. Your basically buying the memorabilia straight up and may not get anything worthy of your money.
Not a single Pujols in the bunch. How far has he fallen since he left St. Louis? Great looking cards but not worth 100 a pack much less 500. Sorry, I won’t be buying.
looks awesome but way to pricey so i guess i will be looking at it from afar
The memorabilia in these cards looks incredible. I can’t get over the fact that Panini doesn’t have a MLB license, and therefore can’t use MLB club names or logos. That’s too much of a sacrifice for me I think. I wish Panini would just stop. This is the same complaint collectors have about In The Game in hockey, and Upper Deck for football. At least they were able to go out and make deals for minor league/ college licenses, and can show the players with those minor teams. Panini isn’t even doing that here. “BOSTON BASEBALL” or “BOSTON BASEBALL CLUB” is not the same as Boston Red Sox .
500 BUCKS A PACK. AN THEY CANT AFORED TOO PUT THE LOGOS OF THE TEAM ON THEM?? NICE PRODUCT, BUT I THINK IM GOING TOO PASS ON THIS ONE..
What a joke!! Close up cropped pictures so you can’t see the logos!? I agree, just putting the city name on there is so cheesey and looks so bad! I can’t believe people buy this crap for $400 a pack! I don’t and won’t buy any Panini baseball products until they secure a license with MLB and not just the MLBPA. They are just ripping off the consumer. I have been collecting for MANY years and collect (mostly) for the fun of it and I don’t comment on here much, but I will put $ into fully licensed products. When (and if) Panini secures an MLB license, I will gladly put my $ into their products. Topps has always been my favorite, but some equal competition would be much better for the hobby. Chris Olds…is Panini looking to aquire an MLB license in the near future?
Obviously Panini wants an MLB license. It wouldn’t bother with MLBPA if it didn’t want all the pieces to the puzzle.