The last days of Panini (in my collection)

 

I think I'm on record on my opinion of Panini as a baseball product. I've never had use for it, think its weak points are glaring and its strong points -- if there are any -- help convince only some collectors that it's worth buying.

Panini's license with the MLB Players Association ran out at the end of 2022 and we all know it already doesn't have an MLB license. So Panini is out of the baseball card game and, well, let me take a moment to figure out how I still type while I'm standing and applauding.

Panini's baseball cards were ugly, uninteresting, inept and inefficient. The only thing it did well, the 2013 Hometown Heroes product, disappeared after a year. The only other thing it did "well," Chronicles, is a mix of boring (see card above) and a whole lot of WTF. It's good WTF, for the most part, but it actively defies you to complete it, which is the opposite of what I'm trying to do here.

Panini's baseball inserts got a lot of praise, but even the best of those could have been better (the same backdrop on every "Unleashed" insert, really?). Panini's parallels are insane in number and often just stupid. And every time I turned over a Panini card, I wonder how anyone could botch something as basic as "make your type readable" repeatedly.

 

"But, but, competition!" People always say that. It's not competition to me if I can't stomach buying the competitor. Also, the cards just aren't my style. I've seen Panini's efforts in football and basketball and it's nice to see logos on Panini cards, but those aren't my style either.

 

Which is why that now that Panini is leaving the baseball scene, these are the last days of Panini in my collection.

As a team collector completist, I feel obligated to collect everything that's issued of my team on cardboard. That included Panini and because of that I accepted, and a couple of times even purchased, Panini's cards. I have a lot of them in my Dodgers binders. But now that it's not issuing cards anymore, I don't see myself buying any. And it's a relief.

I often go back and obtain Topps or even Bowman Dodgers from a few years ago, but I don't see myself retropurchasing with Panini. So, who knows how many more new Panini cards will arrive at the nest? Beginning with this post, you are seeing the last days of Panini.

 

This Panini Donruss pink holofoil Dustin May card came from Daniel from It's Like Having My Own Card Shop. Daniel's gone over to the "dark side" and made a youtube collecting channel, but he still pops up on his blog periodically. The color on the border is a nice way to distract from the generic laundry May is wearing, but I prefer solid borders, not the foily stuff, so Panini whiffs again.

 

The rest of the Dodgers that Daniel sent were of the Topps variety. I really appreciate these two 2021 Allen & Ginter minis (one A&G back and one regular back). When these cards arrived, Gavin Lux was the Dodgers' starting shortstop. Now he's out for the year. 😞

 

A couple of shiny cards of a couple of former Dodgers. I honestly have no idea how the Dodgers are going to do this year. They could finish in first, they could finish in third. I'm oddly calm about it. I suppose that attitude will change once we're in the thick of the season.

 

Stadium Club is why I'm dedicated to Topps, it always looks great, even if I'm a little bored of it. This is a red parallel -- I'm supposed to care about stuff like that as a team collector.

This is great timing. As I mentioned on my last post, I've started moving all the non-ridiculously thick relics from the former "relic box" to my Dodgers pages. I just happen to be updating my binders and I'm at 2002 and this relic is from that year! Join the club, Mike Nixon, whoever you are!

 

All right, you thought you were done with Panini, but this is another package from madding at Cards On Cards. He gets that we must accept this weirdness into our team collection.

Mosaic is so cold and bland that I still have a problem with its name, I keep calling it "Marquee". This is another Panini set in which the base is so dull so the parallels look exciting in comparison. It kind of works with this set ... kind of.

 

All right, we're back to logos. Sure, they're the dumb All-Star duds they're making the players wear. I suppose they'll keep doing this until MLB can come up with something even dumber that makes them money. I know I sound old and cranky but stop tinkering all the time and I'll be nice.

 

Here is something nice. These are the last two Dodgers that I needed to complete the 2022 Stadium Club team set! Both very key! Great-looking cards, too. Robinson is either playing the ponies or entering a contest. The headline above where he's marking says "Contest Deadline".

 

Kerry also sent a few cards for my 2005 Topps completion quest. Here's an example of trying to complete an old Topps set. I do it all the time.

I can't envision who I would have to be to want to do that with an old Panini set.

The other day I mentioned Panini cards to my wife, I don't remember why. She scrunched her nose and asked quizzically, "Panini?"

Exactly.