I really enjoyed pulling cards with black-and-white photographs of Hall of Famers like Frank Chance, Tony Lazzeri and Cool Papa Bell, and color shots of Gil Hodges (finally in Cooperstown), Ron Santo and Goose Gossage.
The plus of buying a blaster box of this product is that Panini is promising either an autograph or memorabilia card. That’s a nice incentive.
A blaster of Absolute Baseball has six packs per box and seven cards per pack.
I pulled 30 base cards plus a base retail parallel card of Yordan Alvarez.
The Absolute logo is stamped in silver foil in the top right-hand portion of the card. The player’s name is near the bottom left-hand part of the card in white block letters against the team’s primary color scheme. The city for the team is directly above the player’s name.
The card backs have a pleasant mix of colors, with gray, white and the team’s primary colors sharing the spotlight. Beneath the player’s name is a 12-line biography set in ragged center type. Twelve lines may seem like a lot, but because the biography only takes up the left half of the card it does not overwhelm the collector.
Rookie Class contains 25 cards, and I pulled a base insert of Seattle pitcher Matt Brash. Included in the blaster were a pair of green retail parallels — Tampa Bay shortstop Wander Franco and Washington pitcher Josiah Gray.
Hall Worthy is a 15-card subset that features several players who have made it to Cooperstown and some who have a decent chance of being enshrined.
Players in this set who have earned plaques include George Brett, Nolan Ryan and Willie Stargell. It also features players who are working toward a Hall of Fame, like Mike Trout, Miguel Cabrera and Albert Pujols. The base insert I pulled was of catcher Gary Carter, and there was also a retail green parallel of Brett.
Another 10-card insert set is By Storm. This subset features players who have made an immediate impact in MLB. I pulled a Franco card.
Icons is a 15-card offering that features mostly modern-day superstars, although it does include Hall of Famers like Sandy Koufax, Jimmie Foxx and Kirby Puckett. The card I pulled was of Atlanta outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr.
The final insert in the blaster I bought is Statistically Speaking. There are 15 cards in this subset, and I pulled two cards — a base card of Miami shortstop Jazz Chisholm and a base retail parallel of Alvarez.
Not a bad haul. Absolute has an attainable base set and some nice inserts to chase. The design is pleasant, and while I still prefer designs with more of a full bleed look, Absolute was nevertheless an attractive set.