Panini America’s Diamond Kings baseball set is like a watercolor painting come to life. With some interesting shots and an offbeat selection of greats, the set definitely should have some appeal for collectors.
There are 150 cards in the base set, with the final 50 cards being short prints. The base set has frame parallels in blue, plum, red and a 1/1 black. Artist’s Proof parallels can be found in Artist Proof, Artist Proof blue and Artist Proof Masterpiece.
The design for the base set is vertical on the card fronts and backs. The watercolor look mostly comes from the background behind the player on the card front. The artwork of the players in action is intricate and expressive A Diamond Kings logo is perched in the upper left-hand corner of the card.
Because Panini does not have a license with Major League Baseball or Major League Baseball Properties, Inc., team logos are not allowed on the card The team name is also not mentioned, but the city name is.
There are 150 cards in the base set, with the final 50 cards being short prints. The base set has frame parallels in blue, plum, red and a 1/1 black. Artist’s Proof parallels can be found in Artist Proof, Artist Proof blue and Artist Proof Masterpiece.
The design for the base set is vertical on the card fronts and backs. The watercolor look mostly comes from the background behind the player on the card front. The artwork of the players in action is intricate and expressive A Diamond Kings logo is perched in the upper left-hand corner of the card.
Because Panini does not have a license with Major League Baseball or Major League Baseball Properties, Inc., team logos are not allowed on the card The team name is also not mentioned, but the city name is.
The card backs are ringed by a brown frame, with the player’s name and an eight-line biographical sketch dominating the top half of the card. A Diamond Kings logo sits in the middle of the card, with vital statistics underneath.
A blaster box contains six packs, with five cards to a pack. There is an additional five-card pack with special Babe Ruth cards, Artist’s Proofs and framed parallels. There is an average of one insert per “regular” pack.
The blaster I opened had 23 base cards and a Nolan Ryan variation. Not only is the photo of Ryan different than the base set, but the frame is the back is gray; in the base set the frames on the card backs are brown.
What is interesting about this set is the checklist, which includes Hall of Famers like Satchel Paige, Roberto Clemente, Al Simmons, Yogi Berra, Walter Alston a and Vladimir Guerrero. Those are some of the cards of old-timers I pulled, along with Carl Erskine. Twenty-four of the first 30 cards in the Diamond Kings checklist are Hall of Famers, and the other six include Erskine, Roger Maris, Eddie Stanky, Smoky Joe Wood, Shoeless Joe Jackson and Charlie Keller.
A blaster box contains six packs, with five cards to a pack. There is an additional five-card pack with special Babe Ruth cards, Artist’s Proofs and framed parallels. There is an average of one insert per “regular” pack.
The blaster I opened had 23 base cards and a Nolan Ryan variation. Not only is the photo of Ryan different than the base set, but the frame is the back is gray; in the base set the frames on the card backs are brown.
What is interesting about this set is the checklist, which includes Hall of Famers like Satchel Paige, Roberto Clemente, Al Simmons, Yogi Berra, Walter Alston a and Vladimir Guerrero. Those are some of the cards of old-timers I pulled, along with Carl Erskine. Twenty-four of the first 30 cards in the Diamond Kings checklist are Hall of Famers, and the other six include Erskine, Roger Maris, Eddie Stanky, Smoky Joe Wood, Shoeless Joe Jackson and Charlie Keller.
Not having an official license allows Panini to use Jackson in its base set and as part of its insert subsets.
The inserts I pulled included a Mookie Betts card from the 25-card DK 205 Set, a Masters of the Game insert of Jose Ramirez, a Squires insert of Miguel Andujar and a pair Team Heroes (Adrian Beltre and Ramirez). There also was a Diamond Kings card of Jackson, which is part of a five-card set.
The special pack yielded framed cards of Alston and Shohei Ohtani, an Artist’s Proof card of Alex Bregman, and two Babe Ruth Collection inserts that are Target exclusives.
The 2019 Diamond Kings set also offers autographs and relic cards, but most likely those will pop up in hobby boxes. I never rule it out for blaster boxes, but it is certainly rare. Regardless, the base set is easy to collect – although the short prints will be a challenge — and the player selection is nice. That’s a good combination.
The inserts I pulled included a Mookie Betts card from the 25-card DK 205 Set, a Masters of the Game insert of Jose Ramirez, a Squires insert of Miguel Andujar and a pair Team Heroes (Adrian Beltre and Ramirez). There also was a Diamond Kings card of Jackson, which is part of a five-card set.
The special pack yielded framed cards of Alston and Shohei Ohtani, an Artist’s Proof card of Alex Bregman, and two Babe Ruth Collection inserts that are Target exclusives.
The 2019 Diamond Kings set also offers autographs and relic cards, but most likely those will pop up in hobby boxes. I never rule it out for blaster boxes, but it is certainly rare. Regardless, the base set is easy to collect – although the short prints will be a challenge — and the player selection is nice. That’s a good combination.
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