Field Level Review: 2009 Tristar Prospects Plus Baseball |

Field Level Review: 2009 Tristar Prospects Plus Baseball

March 6, 2010

Tristar has been putting out minor league baseball products over the past few years, often having the first cards of numerous young stars such as Hunter Pence, Evan Longoria and many others. 2009 Tristar Prospects Plus came out in late November and featured 15 0f the top 20 draft picks in the 2009 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft. However, given that Stephen Strausberg was under exclusive contract to Upper Deck, Tristar went with an artist’s rendition of the player. Each box is serial numbered with only 2400 boxes being produced. Each box has 20 packs of 6 cards each with each box offering 4 autographs, 2 Crystal Ballers inserts, 2 short printed parallels, 2 numbered parallels and 1 Obak Update card.

Let’s take a look at the box that Tristar provided to me and see what was found.

Release Date: Approximately November 23, 2009
Price Point: Approximately $4/pack, $68/box.
Product Loadout: 6 cards per pack, 20 packs per box, 2400 boxes produced.
Hit Ratios: 4 autographs, 2 Crystal Baller inserts, 2 #’d parallels, 2 short-print parallels, 1 Obak Update per box

Product Information:

100 card base set
17 card Crystal Ballers insert set

Parallels:

Short-Print variations (11 variants)
4 retail-only Crystal Ballers insert variations

Autographs and Relics:

95 base autographs
16 Crystal Baller autographs
11 Short Print Variation autographs
11 Cut Signatures

Box Contents:

99/100 base set, 10 duplicates
4 autographs (Dustin Ackley Navy Variation Green parallel 10/25, Robert Stock Green parallel 25/25, Colton Cain Gold parallel 10/50, Neil Medchill 197/199)
1 Obak Update (Matthew Hobgood 1911 Back Variation)
2 Short Print Variations (#1 Draft Pick Square Gold Variation, Nick Franklin Gold Parallel Circle Righty Variation 5/50)
2 Numbered Parallels (Jared Mitchell Green parallel 22/25, Nolan Arenado Gold parallel 16/50)
2 Crystal Ballers (Kristopher Hobson, Drew Storen)
2 base cards kept for PC (16 Jiovanni Mier and 90 Position Prospects Infielders (Robert Borchering, Jiovanni Mier, Nick Franklin, Matthew Davidson)

This was an amazingly fun box to open as you should be able to see in the box break video. Admittedly, I don’t follow prospects outside of the Astros organization, but I did recognize a number of the players from watching other breaks. I understand why Tristar did what they did with Strasburg, especially as the product features both autographs and cut autos of his. It could have been worse, though, as they could have just used a #1 or something for that card. The base cards are very well done with a high gloss to both the front and the back of the cards and a solid amount of personal information on each player in lieu of stats. It’s an interesting difference from most baseball cards, and I think it works. The collation was a bit rough, with almost 10% of the box having duplicates but still not getting a full base set, but it wasn’t horrible. The quality of the autographs and parallels I received were fairly good as was the short prints as the box netted me a parallel variation autograph of Dustin Ackley, the #2 draft pick in 2009 numbered to 25. I also got a variation of Strausberg and on a personal note I was able to get base cards of Jiovanni Mier. The autographs use a clear sticker embossed with the Tristar name on it, which works well with the cards and doesn’t take away too much from the base card design which is duplicated on the autographs. The Crystal Ballers inserts are nice, but nothing outstanding as the text goes both horizontal and veritcal on the card front, making it a bit busy in my opinion.

If I had bought this box to flip or prospect, I’d feel that I got a good deal, especially with the quality of autographs. Getting something out of every other pack, whether a parallel, insert, variation or autograph is solid value, especially with packs holding between $4 and $5 each. While this product may not hold secondary value once the players are in Bowman (or Donruss Elite for that matter), these are still very solid cards, and Tristar should be proud of their product here.

Grades: