Upcoming NHL Hobby Box Release Dates

Listed below is the new release schedule for In The Game and Upper Deck releases. As you can see, there is a log-jam in May, especially on May 25th, 2010. This probably means that OPC Premier or UD Be A Player will be pushed back further. There is no information available yet on UD The Cup or ITG Ultimate.

09/10 Upper Deck Champs Hockey - March 9th, 2010

09/10 Upper Deck SP Game Used Hockey - March 23rd, 2010

09/10 In The Game Between The Pipes - March 25, 2010

09/10 Upper Deck ICE Hockey - April 12th, 2010



09/10 SP Authentic Hockey - April 27th, 2010

09/10 UD Ultimate Hockey - May 11th, 2010

09/10 O-Pee-Chee Metal Hockey - May 18th, 2010

09/10 UD Be A Player Hockey - May 25th, 2010



09/10 UD O-Pee-Chee Premier Hockey - May 25th, 2010

All these exciting NHL products and more will be available at great prices this season from Canada Card World.

Hobby Reading Material - The Card

It is the most valuable piece of cardboard in the whole world.

The T206 Honus Wagner PSA 8 NM-MT was printed in 1909 to be included in cigarettes from the American Tobacco Company. The card was most recently sold to a collector for over $2,000,000. According to "The Card: Collectors, Con Men, and the True Story of History's Most Desired Baseball Card" by Michael O'Keeffe and Teri Thompson, it is the ultimate prize and the holy grail of collecting. Printed in 2007 in hard cover and soft cover in 2008, the book is readily available at many online dealers.



There are only about fifty Honus Wagner's cards but most of them are in poor condition. Wagner did not want his image on a tobacco card and was therefore removed from the set which already make his card harder to obtain. The book is about the one known as The Card. Once owned by hockey legend Wayne Gretzky, this card is in excellent condition and that's the problem. The Card is possibly in too good condition. You can refinish classic antiques and paintings get retouched but baseball cards must not be altered. There are card doctors who remove stains, smooth out wrinkles, build up soft corners, change memorabilia patches, and laser rough edges. The book explores the serious doubts about the authenticity of The Card and its current condition.

There are authentication services, such as PSA and BGS, that will grade cards for a fee. There is little policing by dealers, the authentication services, or governmental authorities and police often turn a blind eye to something which seems like a fringe hobby. However, the hobby for kids has become a playground for fraud. The book explores authenticity issues relating to the Wagner card as well as the problems which will always be of concern for collectors in general.

Whether you are interested in sports or collectibles or just interested in a good story, this book keeps the reader amused and enlightened. It profiles collectors and their obsession with accumulation but it also casts doubt on the integrity of many aspects of the sports collectibles market. The Card is an entertaining look at the hobby, the collectors, what drives us, and what may eventually bring the hobby to its knees.

Sunday Fun-Day Fun-Facts

John Allen and Lewis Ginter of Richmond, Virginia formed a tobacco manufacturing firm called Allen and Ginter in 1875. They created and marketed the first cigarette cards for collecting and trading. The cards in the series include notables such as Charles Comiskey, Cap Anson, Jack Glasscock, and Buffalo Bill.



The company offered a prize for the invention of a machine able to roll cigarettes. Until this point in time, they had been hand-rolled. The grand prize was won by James Bonsack with his 1880/81 invention. The machine was not reliable and all but one of the large tobacco manufacturers declined to buy the machine. The machine was eventually bought by James Buchanan Duke in 1885 and used it to great success.

Allen & Ginter baseball cards first debuted in 1887 and quickly became the most popularly collected cards of the time. They honoured champions from around the world, including boxers, wrestlers, and baseball players.

By 1890, Duke had consolidated his four major competitors, including Allen & Ginter, and formed the American Tobacco Company. The "Allen & Ginter Company" ceased to exist, but Lewis Ginter remained on the board of the American Tobacco Company.

The original Allen & Ginter Baseball Cards featured not only the top baseball players, but some of the top names in culture outside of baseball. Topps brought the name and style of card back to collectors in 2006. The 2006 Allen & Ginter set featured athletes such as Mike Tyson and Danica Patrick. Topps also used historical figures from hundreds of years ago in the product.



Continuing the tradition, 2010 Topps Allen and Ginter Baseball will feature new inserts, including Scribes and Seafarers, Gods and Monsters, and Cabinet cards which feature full-sized complete relic swatches.

Hobby News - The Saturday Edition

Topps Unveils The Million Card Giveaway In 2010 Topps Baseball Series 1

Topps has unveiled its first exclusive MLB product with 2010 Topps Baseball Series 1. As part of this year’s product release, Topps is truly putting all of their cards on the table. Topps has scoured their vaults and is making available over one million original Topps cards, including every Topps base card produced since 1952. This means that some collectors will have a chance at such rare rookie cards as Mickey Mantle, Jackie Robinson and Cal Ripken Jr., as part of this promotion.



Special code cards will be inserted in one out of every six packs of 2010 Topps Baseball Series 1. Fans then enter the code online and receive an original vintage Topps card. The year-long program also includes 2010 Topps Baseball Series 2 and 2010 Topps Updates and Highlights. Each code redeemed will allow that fan the opportunity to win a 1952 Mickey Mantle rookie card.

In August 2009, Topps became the first exclusive baseball card company of MLB in nearly 30 years. This is Topps’ first exclusive product since they announced a multi-year licensing deal in 2009 to become the official baseball card of Major League Baseball. The agreement means that Topps has exclusivity on MLB and Club trademarks, logos and other intellectual property, for use on baseball cards, stickers and other products featuring MLB players.



As part of Topps plans to expand and to strengthen its connection with kids, Topps has unveiled many of new and innovative products over the past two years including, Topps Attax, a new trading card game, ToppsTown.com, an online sports community developed for kids and Topps 3D Live trading cards, which brings your favourite MLB players to digital life.

Video Vault - ITG Superlative with Dr. Brian Price

In this interview from about two years ago, Al Muir and Eric Jahnke interview Dr. Brian Price at the National in Chicago. Dr. Price discusses ITG Superlative and ITG Ultimate and the difficulties in making vintage memorabilia cards available to the public.



Many In The Game products are available from Canada Card World. Specialty products such as ITG Superlative and ITG Ultimate are available as well, please email CCW with your collecting needs.

Product Preview - 2009-10 UD Champs

Set for release early next month, UD Champs is the next product to roll off the production line for Upper Deck. With 2009-10 UD Champs, Upper Deck is returning to the land of the dinosaurs. Definitely not your typical hockey card product, UD Champs contains hockey players as well as dinosaurs, fossils, artifacts, bones, historical figures, and endangered species on tobacco-style mini cards. You can collect subsets which include Wonders of the World and Museum Pieces as well.



Typical Box Break Summary:
4 Signature or Jersey cards
1-2 Mini Signatures and 5 Mini Rookie Cards
2 Mini Threads
10 Wonders of the World/Natural History/Historical Figures cards
1 Red Back mini parallel card
8 Regular-Sized Parallels



Projected Key Inserts:
Museum Pieces:
Dinosaur Teeth, Golden Jurassic Amminites, Paradoxides Trilobite, Turtle Claw, Great White Shark Tooth, Giant Armadillo Claw, Woolly Mammoth Molar Tooth, Wild Boar Fossil Teeth and more.



Mini Signatures:
Alexander Ovechkin, LeBron James, Sidney Crosby, Wayne Gretzky, Dr. J, Bobby Orr, Steve Yzerman, John Tavares, Gordie Howe, Martin Brodeur and others!

2009-10 UD Champs will be released on March 9th, 2010 and will be available at Canada Card World.

Life-Size Kobe Bryant Trading Card Achieves Guinness Record

A giant trading card of Los Angeles Lakers All-Star Kobe Bryant was unveiled this weekend by Panini America and set the Guinness Record for World's Largest Autographed Game-Used Jersey Card. Bryant was at the NBA All-Star Jam Session to autograph the card. The card includes a 15" by 15" swatch of an official jersey which he wore in a game. The card measured 7 feet tall by 4' 11" inches wide.



Kobe Bryant is the jewel in Panini's basketball crown as Upper Deck still has exclusive contracts with Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Kevin Garnett, and Andrew Bynum. The Los Angeles Lakers superstar is the official spokesman for NBA trading cards.

“I am honored to join the Panini family,” Bryant said. “Panini and I are really excited about embracing the challenge of re-igniting the collecting of basketball trading cards and sticker collections … and everyone knows I like challenges! I know from my own experience growing up, how fun collecting and trading these products can be. I really believe collecting these products has the power, through the unique emotions of sports, to unify and strengthen bonds within families and across social groups, no matter what age you are. Panini and I are passionate about developing this hobby in many new and exciting ways. All I can say for now is to have fun expecting the unexpected from us!”



Panini America is the exclusive trading card partner of the NBA. This week Panini launched Adrenalyn, an interactive trading card game, geared to children ages 6 to 11. The game brings together the excitement of the NBA with the thrill of collecting. Adrenalyn features a 450-card set featuring NBA stars Carmelo Anthony, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Dirk Nowitzki, Dwyane Wade and NBA rookies Blake Griffin and Brandon Jennings. The front of each Adrenalyn card features an offensive, defensive, and overall rating so kids can play the game using the Adrenalyn game board.

Each card has a unique authorization code on the back of each card allows kids to upload their cards online to a virtual collector's album and play the game at www.paniniadrenalyn.com. Adrenalyn cards, collector's kits, and starter sets are available at Wal-Mart, Target, Toys'R'Us, and online at NBAStore.com.