I almost never deal with non-baseball products, and very rarely buy Panini products. However, when Blowout Cards offered a 100-pack lot of 2012 Panini Americana Heroes & Legends for just $20, I couldn’t resist. That feeling was reinforced when I told my wife what I’d purchased, and she said, “You only bought one?” Thankfully, Blowout let me amend my order, and I ended up with 200 packs of Americana to plow through. They came in 2 separate packages of 100 each, and this post will focus on the second lot of 100, because to be honest, there was nothing of note in the first 100. Keep in mind nothing is guaranteed, of course, compared to the 3 hits that are in each hobby box. But for $20...
You ever go yard sale shopping late on a Saturday morning? You know you’ve missed out on the best stuff, but you stop at the sparse-looking, meager yard sales hoping that you may come across that diamond in the rough that somehow everyone else missed. That’s kind of what opening these packs was like; you’re pretty sure you are not going to find that shining jewel, but you keep hoping for that find that makes the effort worthwhile. Like I said, after the first 100 packs, I wasn’t really feeling too optimistic, but the second lot improved my outlook considerably.
First off, the base set is not huge, and a 100-pack lot will totally get you the full 125 cards. The base set includes one of each President (pretty cool), astronauts, Tuskegee Airmen, and athletes - primarily Olympic and US Women’s National Team soccer. Part of me says that any series that allows you to open a pack that features both Abraham Lincoln and Scott Hamilton is a pretty decent entertainment.
There are also multiple inserts: Olympic stars, more Astronauts, USWNT, USWNT Teammates, and Military Elite. These inserts are pretty cool, but they’re huge insert sets. Even having opened 200 packs, I’m not close to having completed any of them.
But I did get some pretty cool cards in the second lot. The Presidents cards are cool to begin with, but to get a silver proof (#/50) was a nice find - Lyndon Johnson.
Then I pulled the Astronaut relic of Barbara Morgan, numbered to #/135. It doesn’t say for sure that the swatch of clothing included in the relic had been to outer space, but in my mind, it totally has.
The third and final hit was from the Olympic insert set, and was a Mal Whitfield relic # to 449. The Whitfield relic is particularly neat in my mind, as he was also a Tuskegee Airman, and has 2 other cards in the set.
Overall impressions? A cool set that is a fun rip for cheap. But it’s not far from being a REALLY cool set - a bigger base set, along with less deep insert sets would be my two primary changes. The black and white photography could be seen as cheap, but it does really provide the set with a classic feel that I think is appropriate, so I don’t really count that as a demerit. Adding in a wider range of Olympians would have been cool too - perhaps they were limited by licensing? - but seeing Carl Lewis, Rulon Gardner, Jesse Owens, and even more obscure medal-winning Americans from other sports would have been cool.
But if you’re looking for a cheap way to waste a few hours, while hoping for that great “yard sale” find, then this is quite the opportunity.
You ever go yard sale shopping late on a Saturday morning? You know you’ve missed out on the best stuff, but you stop at the sparse-looking, meager yard sales hoping that you may come across that diamond in the rough that somehow everyone else missed. That’s kind of what opening these packs was like; you’re pretty sure you are not going to find that shining jewel, but you keep hoping for that find that makes the effort worthwhile. Like I said, after the first 100 packs, I wasn’t really feeling too optimistic, but the second lot improved my outlook considerably.
First off, the base set is not huge, and a 100-pack lot will totally get you the full 125 cards. The base set includes one of each President (pretty cool), astronauts, Tuskegee Airmen, and athletes - primarily Olympic and US Women’s National Team soccer. Part of me says that any series that allows you to open a pack that features both Abraham Lincoln and Scott Hamilton is a pretty decent entertainment.
There are also multiple inserts: Olympic stars, more Astronauts, USWNT, USWNT Teammates, and Military Elite. These inserts are pretty cool, but they’re huge insert sets. Even having opened 200 packs, I’m not close to having completed any of them.
But I did get some pretty cool cards in the second lot. The Presidents cards are cool to begin with, but to get a silver proof (#/50) was a nice find - Lyndon Johnson.
Then I pulled the Astronaut relic of Barbara Morgan, numbered to #/135. It doesn’t say for sure that the swatch of clothing included in the relic had been to outer space, but in my mind, it totally has.
The third and final hit was from the Olympic insert set, and was a Mal Whitfield relic # to 449. The Whitfield relic is particularly neat in my mind, as he was also a Tuskegee Airman, and has 2 other cards in the set.
Overall impressions? A cool set that is a fun rip for cheap. But it’s not far from being a REALLY cool set - a bigger base set, along with less deep insert sets would be my two primary changes. The black and white photography could be seen as cheap, but it does really provide the set with a classic feel that I think is appropriate, so I don’t really count that as a demerit. Adding in a wider range of Olympians would have been cool too - perhaps they were limited by licensing? - but seeing Carl Lewis, Rulon Gardner, Jesse Owens, and even more obscure medal-winning Americans from other sports would have been cool.
But if you’re looking for a cheap way to waste a few hours, while hoping for that great “yard sale” find, then this is quite the opportunity.
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