The Elite line is a favorite of the users of this site. It shows in all the box breaking that goes on when the product is released, and it shows when you guys voted them the 2009 prospect product of the year.
With the licensing landscape the way it is, many collectors thought we would lose Elite this year. What we didn’t know is that the baseball license was in full effect until the end of September. This means that Panini has to rush to get a set out, but at least we were going to get elite this year.
The two big questions that anyone who cares about this product will ask probably concern the checklist, or redemptions. Panini has announced a few names to be included as autographs into the product on card, and they are:
Michael Choice, Josh Sale, Matt Lipka, Zack Cox, Mike Foltynewicz, Kellin Deglin, Cito Culver, Jake Skole, Chris Sale, Todd Cunningham, Jarrett Parker, Noah Syndergaard, Matt Curry, Drew Pomeranz, Yasmani Grandal, Cameron Rupp and Kaleb Cowart.
Athletes who will be signing stickers for the product are:
Jamison Taillon, Brandon Workman, Zach Lee, Nick Castellanos, Dee Gordon, Jonathan Singleton, Brett Eibner, LeVon Washington, Brodie Greene, Chad Lewis, Gary Brown, Christian Yelich, J.T. Realmuto, Micah Gibbs, Jurickson Profar, Mel Rojas Jr., Jordan Swagerty and Hunter Morris.
According to a Donruss Offical the first 100 players in 2010 Elite Extra Edition – Commons – will have parallel autographs called Franchise Futures (formerly called Turn of the Century) – those will the player name and team/city they were drafted by. The Franchise Futures are the only autographs for those 100, outside, of course, the die-cut Aspirations and Status parallels.
The second 100 (#’s 101-200) are called Autographed Rookies, and don’t include the city/position on the card front, like the Zack Cox image shows. Those Autographed Rookies just include Rookie on the front, but the team and position ARE listed on the back. There are no Franchise Futures for those 100 players. But, of course, there are the autographed die-cut Aspirations and Status parallels.
Stay tuned prospectors, 2010 Elite will be here at the end of September. You can view more card images on their facebook page.