Product Review: 2008 Prime Cuts Baseball

Well, despite what Beckett did for their break of this product, I think it still warrants a review. Prime cuts was one of my favorite sets of 2005 and I think it takes Topps Sterling out back and kicks the fuck out of it. Though it has no license, I honestly don’t really notice it, as weird as that seems. There are some bad parts, but I think its inevitable with a product like this.

The Good

There are a lot of great things about this product, whether it be Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Rose and Shoeless Joe being in a high end product for the first time in a long time, or the cool ideas they had for the player combos, the checklist rocks when it comes to old timey guys. I think any set that focuses on players like the ones featured in prime cuts deserves a big plus, but to do it the way they did, makes me want to go buy a case.

The design of this set is great. I love it. The cards look wooden almost, and the whole layout of the horizontal double quad and triple relics bring out the buying beast in me. It just looks well put together in every sense, and makes you wonder why sets like threads even was put on the market. This stuff is ten times better looking and ten times better conceived. Also, to not include weird ass stat diecuts is a "thank god!" in my book, so kudos on that.

Encasing the big hits is awesome, especially with the tendency for cards to be chipped and damaged in products like this. I talked about it a while ago, saying that all cards should be like this in high end products, but this is a start. I especially like that they chose the magnetic style holders with corner protection for sure, especially because they are so nice and easy to display.

If you can find this box at 155, or less, I think it’s a really good buy for what you get. The big hit isnt it, and I like the addition of lesser hits so that the box isnt a complete waste if you pull something crappy for the biggie.

Basically, I think its long overdue to have Hank Aaron and Willie Mays in a set, and that will get me to run wild when you do. Its really too bad that we cant see them in a licensed set, but its awesome to still have high end cards.

The Bad

I didn’t like the addition of rookie shit in this set, as there really is no reason to have them included. However, I know the players association requires a set to be like this, though Im not sure if this falls under that set of regulations. I would have liked to have seen the RCs be only the back focus of this product, but I do see some Gordon Beckham and Buster Posey showing up as the encased hits. That would be a huge disappointment to me.

As for the encased hits, I would have liked the sticker to be a lot less noticable. It sometimes covers up part of the card, and that really detracts from the awesomeness. Use a little sticker and make sure that the card is the focus.

Moving on to the autos, this product seems to have been in design for a long time, and Im kind of angry that we still are getting sticker autos for this type of set. Hank Aaron is notorious for having an awful signature, but to have it as sticker confined as it is can be really problematic. Get the living guys and the RCs to sign the cards, its not like you cant produce these things ahead of time.

The Ugly

If you look at some of the colossals, its again obvious that the cards were not designed in the right order. The plain relic cards look like there should be an auto on them, instead of the other way around. The swatch is way too far down, and nothing pisses me off more than a could-be wonderful card that breaks its own borders due to poor design. There is no excuse for this, as the set should be designed with the swatches being the focus of the swatch cards regardless of the presence of an auto.

Overall this is a pretty strong showing from DLP, I must say they did a pretty good job, even getting the CMG guys in there. The set has some things left to be desired, but that doesn’t mean it isnt worth trying a box or two just to see what you get.