Ever since Major League Baseball signed a deal giving Topps the exclusive rights to make official Major League Baseball cards, it has significantly diminished the variety of baseball card sets being produced every year. But Topps did NOT get an exclusive deal with the Major League Baseball Player’s Association (MLBPA), so it is possible for other companies to make baseball cards with a deal with only the MLBPA. The problem is that even if they can use the player’s likenesses, they can NOT use any official team names or logos, subsequently causing difficulties in what can be produced. With Panini’s deal with the MLBPA, they can produce products like the one I’m reviewing today, the set, Triple Play 2012.
Triple Play 2012
In the early 90’s, Triple Play was a short-lived series of baseball cards that only lasted two years. It is interesting that Panini has decided to resurrect this brand name. I guess time will tell if that move will pay off.As you can see from the packaging below, this set is clearly designed to cater to children. Even the price (99 cents for 7 cards) is geared to try to lure kids in.
Panini solves the problem of keeping the logos off the uniforms by simply making caricatures of all the baseball players, as you can clearly see from the card fronts…
…and of course the corresponding backs.
You can also collect big-sized pictures of these cards , as some subsets are simply 1/9th of the picture. Presumably if you collect all 9 you’re able to make a super-sized picture of the player. In this pack I pulled parts of Carlos Lee and Yoenis Cespedes.
I also got a card in a subset of cards called “Baseball 101” that is designed to teach children the basics of baseball. The particular card I got explains how to score runs during a game, as you can see:
And finally, I got a sticker that seems to be representative of no particular player at all, but is baseball themed:
Overall, this seems like it would be a good set to use if you’re interested in introducing your kids to baseball card collecting for the first time, but it’s probably not a mainstay if your into serious collecting.
Here is a video of my breaking the pack, if you care to check it out:
