Field Level Box Break / Review: 2011 In the Game Heroes and Prospects Baseball

Release Date: February 24, 2011
Price Point: $80 per box at Blowout Cards.
Product Loadout: 5 cards per box, 12 boxes per inner case, 48 boxes per master case.
Hit Ratios: Each box will contain five ‘hits’ (autographs, relics, or a combination).

Product Information (all Autos, Relics or Parallels):

• Full Body Autograph Silver (50 cards, limited to 390 copies, Beckham limited to 250, Trout to 100)
• Full Body Autograph Gold (limited to 10 copies)
• Close Up Autograph Silver (50 cards, limited to 190 copies, Beckham limited to 120, Trout to 50)
• Close Up Autograph Gold (limited to 10 copies)
• Country of Origin Silver (50 cards, limited to 40 copies)
• Country of Origin Gold (limited to 10 copies)
• Reflections Silver (50 cards, limited to 5 copies)
• Reflections Gold (1/1)
• Draft Year Silver (40 cards, limited to 39 copies)
• Draft Year Gold (1/1)
• Lumbergraphs (50 cards, limited to 100 copies)
• Father and Son Silver (1 card, limited to 49 copies)
• Father and Son Gold (1/1)
• Affiliation Silver (20 cards, limited to 19 copies)
• Affiliation Gold (1/1)
• Between the Seams Red (50 cards, limited to 30 copies)
• Between the Seams Gold (limited to 19 copies)
• Between the Seams White (1/1)
• Hard Cuts Silver (50 cards, limited to 24 copies)
• Hard Cuts Gold (1/1)
• First Round Picks Silver (17 cards, limited to 14 copies)
• First Round Picks Gold (1/1)
• Grand Slam (50 cards, 1/1)
• Prospect Game-Used Jersey Silver (10 cards, limited to 49 copies)
• Prospect Game-Used Jersey Gold (1/1)
• Prospect Jersey Autograph Silver (10 cards, limited to 4 copies)
• Prospect Jersey Autograph Gold (1/1)
• Prospect Patch Autograph Silver (10 cards, limited to 4 copies)
• Prospect Patch Autograph Gold (1/1)
• Prospect Hat Autograph Silver (10 cards, 1/1)
• Prospect Hat Autograph Gold (1/1)
• Prospect Glove Autograph Silver (10 cards, 1/1)
• Prospect Glove Autograph Gold (1/1)
• Heroes Between The Seams (30 cards, 1/1)
• Heroes Grand Slam Memorabilia (40 cards, 1/1)
• Heroes Game-Used Jersey Silver (16 cards, limited to 160 copies)
• Heroes Game-Used Jersey Gold (limited to 10 copies)
• Heroes Game-Used Number Silver (10 cards, limited to 4 copies)
• Heroes Game-Used Number Gold (1/1)
• Heroes Game-Used Patch Silver (10 cards, limited to 5 copies)
• Heroes Game-Used Patch Gold (1/1)
• Heroes PaperCuts (16 cards, 1/1)
• Batting Tips (12 cards, 1/1)
• Heroes and Prospects Dual Autographs Silver (12 cards, limited to 9 copies)
• Heroes and Prospects Dual Autographs Gold (1/1)
• Heroes and Prospects Dual Jersey Silver (10 cards, limited to 60 copies)
• Heroes and Prospects Dual Jersey Gold (1/1)
• Heroes Jersey Autograph Silver (10 cards, limited to 9 copies)
• Heroes Jersey Autograph Gold (1/1)
• Heroes Patch Autograph (12 cards, 1/1)
• Hero Autograph (12 cards, limited to 80 copies)

Box Contents (two boxes):

• 10 total cards
• 4 Full Body Autograph Silver (Ethan Martin, Deck McGuire, Brett Jackson, Randall Delgado /390)
• 2 Close-Up Autograph Silver (Adrian Salcedo, Zack Cox /190)
• 1 Heroes Game-Used Jersey Silver (Larry Walker /160)
• 1 Between the Seams Red (Adam Warren /30)
• 1 Affiliation (Seth Blair / Zack Cox /19)
• 1 Draft Year Silver (Mike Trout /39)

Card Design:

The strength of the design on this set is primarily going to be hitting one of the rather rare patches, numbers, bats or gloves, which all show what can be done when the licensing costs are out of the way and a company is allowed to actually try different things.  However, most boxes are going to consist primarily of the single autograph cards.  While they’re sticker autos, the use of clear stickers on white card stock makes it look very nice nonetheless.  Once you’re beyond the two primary autograph sets, though, the product really looks nice.  Between the Seams evokes memories of Sweet Spot and some of the memorabilia in the set are far beyond what any other manufacturer is able to do (again, because of licensing issues).   It’s a solid set with the strengths and weaknesses generally balancing each other out.

Score:  3/5

Pizazz:

Most of the pizazz from this set surround the prospects.  You’re generally going to get three base autographs in your box, although with some solid names to be found throughout the checklist.  You’ll then get two other cards which can range from the bland (Heroes Game-Used Jersey cards) to the very nice (Affiliation, Between the Seams and the aforementioned patch cards).  The only thing that really might be killing this is the timing of it.  Granted, it’s the first baseball set from In the Game, but something like this would probably be awesome if released as a draft-specific product late in the year.

Score:  3/5

Overall Score: 3/5

Value:

$80 for five hits is not a bad deal.  It’s a bit better than average, and there are no base cards to deal with.  Also, nothing is really heavily numbered which means the entire product has a smaller production run.  You would think that this would equate to a higher eBay market, but it’s not really the case.  Sure, your lower-end autographs sell for about $2-4 instead of $1-2, but it still seems that unless you’re a heavy prospector or hit one of the serious stars in the set (or one of the patches, 1/1s, or whatever), that you’re likely to lose, short-term.  Being that it’s a heavy prospect set, it’ll be interesting to see what happens when some of these players hit the majors, especially if they’re huge stars.  Definitely get the players you want, and if you’re a prospector get boxes for later.

Buy Singles, Buy Hobby (Prospectors)

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