2007 Baseball Card Preview

As pitchers and catchers begin to report to Spring Training, the 2007 Baseball Card Season will officially get underway in a couple of weeks with the arrival of 2007 Topps Series 1 Baseball followed by Topps Heritage Baseball and Topps Finest. In a recent interview with Sports Collectors Digest, Topps public relations director Clay Luraschi said the biggest thing the hobby will likely notice about the company's 2007 offerings will be the number of returning brands. "We're not coming out with a lot of new products," he said. "Most of the products we're bringing our are either traditional products or newer brands that really solidified themselves last year."

Even though it appears that we will not see the product innovations experienced last year, 2007 is shaping up to be a year with another strong rookie class, with multiple high-profile international stars making their debut. The most anticipated rookie is Daisuke Matsuzaka, who signed with Boston. His memorabilia inserts in several late-issue 2006 products include his 2006 Upper Deck World Baseball Classic Jersey priced at $300 and his Flair Showcase Stitches valued at $125. International collectors will also be chasing rookie cards of Akinori Iwamura and Kei Agawa. Iwamura was regarded as the best third baseman in Japan and is slated to start there for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Igawa was signed by the New York Yankees and will likely provide bullpen help this season.

Other rookies collectors can expect to appear at the major league level sometime this year include Alex Gordon, Delmon Young and Andy LaRoche.

Future 2007 Baseball Card Releases

A quick look at some future baseball card releases to look foward to:

2007 Bowman Baseball Trading Cards - Bowman still offers the most comprehensive selection of available rookies and prospects in Major League Baseball. Each box will deliver an average of one Autographed Rookie or Autographed Bowman Prospect card. Also watch for randomly seeded Hobby Only 1/1 Printing Plates.

2007 Bowman HTA Jumbo Baseball Trading Cards - Exclusive content includes Signs of the Future Autographs (1 box topper card per box). Each pack will deliver Bowman Prospect cards, Bowman Chrome Prospect cards and 1 Bowman Gold Parallel. Each box will yield 3 autographs, including the box topper and 2 Autographed Rookies or Prospects.

2007 Topps Co-Signers Baseball - Trading Cards - Each box of Topps Co-Signers Baseball will deliver 3 autograph cards, including 1 Co- Signers Dual Signature card. Each base card is available in multiple low-numbered parallel versions. Every pack will deliver a parallel card or an autographed card! Each case will contain a Co-Signers Dual Cut Signatures card, including cut signatures from historical and sports figures, many of which are 1/1’s!

2007 Topps Triple Threads Baseball Trading Cards - Offered in 2-pack boxes, each pack of Topps Triple Threads Baseball will deliver 3 regular cards, 1 low-numbered parallel card, 1 insert card and 1 low-numbered Triple Relic card! Autographed Triple Relic cards are seeded in every other pack or one per box! In each 18-box case, big hits include possible 1/1 Printing Plate Autographed Triple Relic Cards, 1/1 Triple Relic Cards and Triple Autograph/Triple Relic Cards #’d to 18, 9 or 3! There are multiple low-numbered parallel versions of each card, including 1/1 Printing Plates. Production is extremely limited and allocations are expected.