Since 2009, Panini have owned all the DonRuss-associated brands. I've seen these referenced as "Zombie brands" because they are issued as DonRuss or Leaf or Pinnacle, with a small Panini logo on the back. Panini have issued their own cards as well and this year I noticed they have taken one of the most well-known DonRuss spin-off sub-brands - the Diamond Kings - and branded them as a Panini range.
So, after almost 40 years of DonRuss Diamond Kings, today's cards are ultra-modern. I present to you two Panini Diamond Kings cards. I'd like to thank Andrew S and Drew O from the UK Facebook collectors group, for sending me these cards.
Card Number 438: Panini Diamond Kings In the Zone Insert, 2020; #INT-1
A #1 card, albeit in an insert series.
Panini don't have a Major League Baseball license, but having illustrated cards rather gets round the logo issue. They just don't draw them in! The guy sitting on the bench in the background has a suggestive smudge that looks like a Padres shirt-front, though!
This card is as colourful on the back as it is on the front. My one criticism would be that they don't name the artist, although I suspect this artistic look has been created by the Panini design team putting photographs through a computer program.
That's a new metaphor to me - "golfed a single". I've never heard a hit in baseball being described as "golfed" before. The choice to paint him in a brown uniform is slightly odd, considering he was wearing the grey road uniform when he golfed that single, but it doesn't really detract from the impact of the card. And at least they got the date right! (Unlike Topps!)
Card Number 439: Panini Diamond Kings The 3000 Insert, 2020; #3000-14
If I ever built a "frankenset" (cards arranged in numerical order taken from numerous other sets) I don't know how I would count this number. 3000 is probably the highest numbered Tony Gwynn card that I've got. But really it's number 14.
The 3000 insert series honours 15 players who have reached 3000 hits.
It's another colourful card-front.
The same image of Tony is replicated on the back, combined with an amusing account of Tony scoring his 3000th hit.
Total: 439 cards
Zombie brand? I like it. They were brought back from the dead and are only a shell of their old selves. Anyways... I've gotta say that In the Zone is really nice. I say this a lot... I won't usually go out of my way to pay for a Panini baseball card. But that insert might be the exception to that rule.
ReplyDeleteYes, "zombie brands" struck me as pretty accurate.
DeletePanini does the best they can with these, and the colors are very bright. I just wish they didn't have to do so many canvas art backgrounds.
ReplyDeleteI've said for a while that if Panini had a license they would easily surpass Topps, based on what they manage to do without a licence.
Delete