Joe Average Card Collector: 2012 Panini Cooperstown Blaster Box

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

2012 Panini Cooperstown Blaster Box

Nothing better to ring in a new year like cracking open a box of baseball cards! The box of choice was a blaster box of 2012 Panini Cooperstown. I have bought a few packs here and there but this is my first blaster box of these cards. One thing I love was the plain but good looking box design!

The name of the product, Cooperstown, tells you exactly what you will expect with this product. From 1991 to 1995 a card called Conlon Collection was produced picturing players from the early to mid century. Those cards had a lot of great photos and great write ups, but they were grossly overproduced to achieve much value. The 2012 Cooperstown set I compare to what the 1993 Ted Williams set did, high gloss, great photography, huge variety of players from woman/negro leagues, and autograph inserts. As of most cards in the 90s, the 1993 Ted Williams Set still suffered from overproduction. Today you still can find unopened boxes everywhere online from $15-30.

1993 Conlon Collection

1993 Ted Williams

One of the best things about the photography on the cards is all the photos are in black and white. This I think is a great thing, because there are so many players who only have photos in black and white. Having a set in half black and white and half in color may not gel well together. So I really like that the images are done in a very clean B/W photo style. Second I love the amount of inserted sets with this product. In every pack there seems to be one insert. The insert sets paint pictures of why those players are in the Hall of Fame. The blaster yielded one numbered card to 599, but no other hits. For $19.99 I am pretty impressed with this product and may turn into a project in 2013 to complete this and the insert sets. Below are the cards from the blaster box.