Giving Panini another shot

Every once in awhile I'll grab a pack or two of a Panini product just to see how it is and if it is worth collecting. I have yet to find anything that I really liked all that much. Prizm would be a great set if it had logos. yes I'm a logo snob. So what?

Well on that same Target trip that I talked about last night I bought a pack each of Pinnacle and Cooperstown Collection.

Here's Pinnacle:

This is what the base cards look like, if you haven't seen them already. I think because these aren't "chrome" style cards like Prizm the lack of logos seems more egregious. But I like the overall look of the cards. It does remind me a lot of the Pinnacle cards I collected in the 90's. If Panini ever got full rights to MLB I would most likely buy a good amount of Pinnacle.

This was an interesting insert. The card is a clear acetate which is definitely out of the norm. But with nothing on the card besides what you see there it feels like it is lacking something. Definitely something that they could improve on to make a really cool insert in future sets.

Nolan Ryan on the back.

Another interesting card. But again it just feels like it is lacking something, besides logos of course.

Overall an interesting pack. The price point was $3 which I think is a bit high. These seem more on par with Topps flagship products so $2 would be more reasonable.

Now Cooperstown Collection

These are the base cards. Eh.

Every pack includes one of these "Colgan Disks". What in the world am I supposed to do with this? It doesn't really work to put it in something. And it's too small to use as a drink coaster. Panini missed the mark with these.

This pack was $4...yeah...waste of money. Wayyyyyy overpriced. I won't be buying anymore of these ever again. In fact I think I've come to realize that all of Panini's baseball products are rather underwhelming and often overpriced for what they contain. I haven't tried all of their stuff but at this point I don't think I'm going to waste anymore money on their products. I'm not expecting to get a monetary return, particularly on retail packs. But I do expect to enjoy ripping the packs and see some well designed cards. The lack of logos is a big issue for me so if they ever get the rights I may get interested. But that is probably years away if it ever happens at all.. I think I'll stick with Topps for now.