A hobby box of 2011 Contenders Baseball currently goes for about ~$135 or more. I got this one at my local card shop. I was going to film the break but got lazy and was distracted by Modern Warfare 3. Such a committed blogger. Anyway, a box of Contenders should net you 24 packs with 5 cards in each. Panini advertises each box to contain six autographs, with two of those six autos being on-card signatures. I managed to pull seven autographs. Sweet! Here's the hits:
Left: Bryson Myles (Cleveland Indians), Rookie Ticket autograph. Right: Austin Hedges (San Diego Padres), Rookie Ticket auto. Both on-card signatures. Foil board galore!
Left: Tyler Grimes, Draft Ticket autograph. Right: Madison Boer, Draft Ticket auto. They're Twins!
Left: Danry Vasquez (Tigers), Draft Ticket autograph. Right: Brian Dupra (Nationals), Draft Ticket auto. Everyone I pulled has weird names, man. I guess my own name is weird...
Well, well, if it isn't Delino DeShields, Jr., son of the former Dodger. This is a Sweet Signs ball leather auto, #'d 75/99. I have read mixed things about young Delino, not to mention he got arrested for drunk driving. For shame! Oh, and he's 19 years old.
Overall, Contenders is an okay product. The main draw of it are the top prospect and star autographs, like Dylan Bundy and Josh Hamilton. The cards in this release do look and feel very nice. Particularly of note, all the cards are printed on a high-quality, sturdy, slightly thicker than normal card stock that still fits nice and snug into a standard toploader. It's the little things in life, eh? If you are looking for prospect autos, I'd say to perhaps pass this one over for the myriad Bowman's or Donruss Elite Extra Edition (though I have yet to open the most recent Elite Extra) - at least until the price drops. If it drops. I will upload photos of the inserts and base cards if anyone is interested in those.
