A Pack of Panini Prizm

I stopped by the local card shop yesterday and picked up a pack of 2012-2013 Panini Prizm.  Five dollars a pack for six cards. But they're shiny cards, so I couldn't resist. 

First thing I noticed when looking at the card pack was Mike Trout.  Man, he gets a TON of love these days.  Secondly, there's no year on the front of the pack.  This is supposed to be one of Panini's higher end products for 2012, but it's just now reaching the shelves in spring of 2013.  Confused much?  I am.

To quickly sum up the product, it has all the bells and whistles that Topps likes to throw in their packs: different colored parallels, autographs, & insert sets.  No minis though.  No MLB logos either.  Oh well.

The cards are on a chromium-like card stock and have a decent enough weight to them.  As I've been told the cards are done in the same style as Panini's football and basketball Prizm sets that were released earlier. 

Here's are the cards in the order they appeared to me out of the pack.  Sorry about the reflections of the camera and fingers in the background of each card.  Man, these things are shiny and very reflective!

#60 - Jered Weaver

Card No. EEE4 - Max Fried Extra Edition Prospects Card

 Mr. Fried was the #1 draft pick of the Padres in 2012.  There are twenty packs in a box, and the chances of pulling one of these prospect cards are 1:20 packs.  So, I guess it was a box hit!  I just recently looked at the checklist and found there are only 10 prospects in the insert set and one of them is a Cub. If anyone pulls the Albert Almora give me a shout!

#66 - Joe Mauer

Great shot of Maurer dawning the so-called "Tools of Ignorance".


#24 - Miguel Cabrera

The guy wins the Triple Crown while playing an "adequate" third base.  Yet, here he is captured on cardboard making a routine throw.  Picture selection = Boo.  I would have liked to have seen a shot of him mashing.

#112 - James Loney

I really liked this pack up until this point: 
1. Weaver is a stud.
2. You can't go wrong with a pitching prospect, at least not in my book. 
3. Maurer has been one of the pivotal pieces in a couple of my fantasy baseball teams.
4. 2012 AL MVP
 and ... and... a first baseman who had an OPS of 0.630 in 2012?     How does Loney make it into a 200 card base set.  Do the math: we're looking at 6 or 7 base cards of each team.  For the Rays I'm thinking Longoria, Zobrist, Price, Matt Moore, Fernando Rodney... and, um, Desmond Jennings... and um... yeah...  Okay, moving on. 

Either way, I'm sure there aren't an equal number of cards distributed to every team. Maybe the could have given Astors fans another card to chase? Only Jose Altuve represents the Astros in the base set.  Or maybe throw in another retired player, as there already 30 in the base set.
Hmmmm...  Loney?  There are curious forces at work here for sure.

Good thing this wasn't the last card in the pack otherwise it would have left an terrible aftertaste.  Here's the closing card:

#182 - Andrelton Simmons (Rookie Card)

Nice!  A rookie card of smooth fielding shortstop.

I like what Panini Prizm's 2012-2013 set brings to the table.  I'm not sure I like it enough at $5 a pack though.  So, all of the cards are up for trade if you see anything that catches your eye.

No worries folks, I'll find a set to build this summer!