Monday, September 13, 2021

Modern Monday - Carolina Blue and a hallowed number of parallels

Breaking up the goodies that were in the parcel from France, Gawain messaged me the other day with a photo of a card he had picked up in a joblot and asked me if I had one of them yet. The answer was no, so he sent it to me. (Thank you, Gawain!)

Card Number 726: Panini Carolina Blue Prizm, 2021; #225

This card is insanely shiny and scans like an insanely shiny card does.


The base version of this card is a normal shiny silver colour. But Prizm cards are all about the parallels. I thought this was a Blue Prizm, but those are just one shade of blue. Then I found the Carolina Blue Prizms and there was the match!

Not only are there multiple different versions of blue Prizm cards, there are multiple different versions of lots of other colours too. There are a grand total of 42 parallels listed for this card, which is simply ridiculous, even though 42 is a pretty special number in baseball. And, of course, it's also the meaning to life, the universe and everything!

On the back there is a little write-up comparing Tony to other luminaries of the game and describes his "contact numbers" as "intriguing".


Panini's future in the card industry looks a bit shaky because they produce these cards on a license with the Player's Association, which has now signed an exclusive deal with another company starting in a couple of seasons. In the meantime, I'm sure Panini will be producing a plethora of parallels with every set.

Total: 726 cards


5 comments:

  1. I agree. 42 parallels is ridiculous. Kudos to those player collectors out there who complete a rainbow though. Panini should offer a special parallel of the player to collectors who manage to complete a rainbow. It'd probably motivate more collectors to chase them. Then again... there'd be a 43 parallel :D

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  2. I could be wrong, but I think the 2020 Donruss still might have more parallels then 42. As for this years Prism, I am not caring as much. The insane pricing 8n the market has some to do with it, but I think I am just getting burnt out on chasing parallels.

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  3. Thanks for sharing the wikipedia link to the mystical 42. A fun read, and now I finally know why in the comic strip Get Fuzzy the character Rob wears a 6 times 9 = 42 shirt.

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    1. Happy to help. As a fan of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, it's something I'm always attuned to! :)

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