This Week in Baseball Cards – 12/16

The checklist has rookies, vets, and ex-MLB players as well as Josh Gibson on the Negro League Homestead Grays. All of the rookie chases are there – Skenes, the Jackson 3, Elly, Jasson, Langford, Yamamoto, and Imanaga. As we’ve seen in various releases this year, Ohtani will be on both the Angels and Dodgers checklist. His relics that were pulled from his 2023 materials are on cards with the Angels team designation, while his base and auto cards are on the Dodgers.

At $450 a box – heck, even at $300 a box, personal rips are more than I am comfortable with doing. That’s partially because the Triple Threads novelty wore off for me, especially as the price increased. Too many sticker autos, to many player worn memorabilia rather than game worn, and pulling desirable rookie cards being the exception rather than the norm, at least in the past, has really turned me off over the years. I feel like my opinion is more than the exception than the norm in the hobby. There was a lot of discontent when Triple Threads did not show up in 2023 with nary a word from Topps. Now that it’s back, there should be plenty of happy collectors out there. If you are one of those, I would recommend the singles approach. Even breaks will be tough given the price point and the smaller number of cards, but I’d rather join a break than buy a box of Triple Threads.

2024 Panini Prizm Baseball

The popular Prizm brand, at least when it comes to football and basketball, will be coming out with 2024 Panini Prizm Baseball on Friday, December 20th.