2015 Panini DIamond Kings

It's really been too long since I have enlightened readers on Can't Hit The Curve.  For that, I apologize. Writing a blog on a regular basis can be hard when life and stuff takes center stage.  Not an excuse; just reality.

To break the info freeze, I will delve into the 2015 edition of Panini Diamond Kings.

First off, Diamond Kings is a super short set...only 150 cards in the base set with an additional 50 rookies.  So, right off the jump let's just say that for set collectors this one should be really easy.  But, every card in the base set has a variant, as well.

The variants:

• Framed red, silver and framed blue are #'d to 99
• Gold are #'d to 25
• Framed green are #'d to 5
• Black and Framed black are 1 of 1's.

The hits are there too, folks.  Autographs of many top tier rookies as well as memorabilia cards are all represented.  My personal favorite sub-set of hits would have to the the Hall of Fame Heroes.  Pedro, Randy, Murray, Fisk, and Ripken, Jr. (among others) are represented.  It's a nice looking card although the autos look like they are affixed with stickers (boo).

The look of the card has the flair of an "arty"-type set.  Each card pops with color and the images (drawings) of each player tend to be pretty solid.  So, the cards look good...not superb, but pretty decent.

In all, I would say for the price, this seems to be a fairly good buy.  Small set, lots of hits, and many variants should keep all types of collectors interested for a while.  Somehow, I don't see this particular brand of Panini carrying on for a long time.  It could be a one-hit-wonder kind of like the ill-fated T206 set from a few years ago.

I really like this card...and I'm not even a Hosmer fan.

I did buy two packs for research purposes.  Here's what I got:  not much.  Just a base Mike Trout card and an Also Known As Lou Gehrig card.  But, hey, it was only two packs, right?

Thanks again to cardboardconnection.com for the image hookup.