NINE MORE FIRST ROUNDERS CONFIRMED FOR BOWMAN DRAFT PRODUCT !

This year’s Bowman Draft Picks and Prospects is shaping up to be one of the best yet. Of the 30 confirmed signers, 29 of the subjects were selected in the 1st Round of the 2011 MLB Draft (including supplemental 1st Round).



And Topps has 4 additional signers to announce next week!



Bowman Draft Picks, which streets late November, guarantees a Chrome on-card autograph in every hobby box. In addition, the product features autographs from super prospect Bryce Harper.









The current list of autograph signers in Bowman Draft Picks:






Tyler Anderson Rockies

Javier Baez Cubs

Matt Barnes Red Sox

Trevor Bauer D’Backs

Jed Bradley Bewers

CJ Cron Angels

Kyle Crick Giants

Jose Fernandez Marlins

Michael Fulmer Mets

Tyler Goeddel Rays

Sonny Gray A’s

Larry Greene Phillies

Jake Hager Rays

James Harris Rays

Travis Harrison Twins

Taylor Jungmann Brewers

Francisco Lindor Indians

Brandon Martin Rays

Kevin Matthews Rangers

Brandon Nimmo Mets

Blake Snell Rays

George Springer Astros

Corey Spangenberg Padres

Robert Stephenson Reds

Trevor Story Rockies

Blake Swihart Red Sox

Dan Vogelbach Cubs

Keenyn Walker White Sox

Kolten Wong Cardinals

Joe Panik Giants

HOSMER ADDED TO TOPPS CHROME AUTOGRAPH LIST

Topps announces it has made a very nice addition to its list of autograph signers for 2011 Topps Chrome Baseball….super rookie and future star Eric Hosmer. Topps Chrome, releasing on September 7th, guarantees 2 on-card Autographed Rookie Cards in every hobby box.



In addition, Hosmer will have autographed cards in Triple Threads, Topps Finest, Topps Updates, Bowman Chrome and Bowman Sterling.

BABE RUTH, SANDY KOUFAX AND MORE ADDED TO TIER ONE RELIC LIST

Topps is pleased to announce it has upgraded its all-new Tier One Baseball that hits hobby shelves early November.



The relic insert (one per pack) has been enhanced with several Hall of Famers and retired stars such as Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Sandy Koufax and more! These subjects are replacing a list of lower-level active players.



The hobby-only Tier One, which includes 2 Autographs, 1 Relic,1 Parallel and 3 Base cards features all hard-signed autographs (except for Triple Autographs).





Adding:



Thurman
Munson
New York Yankees®

Jimmie
Foxx
Boston Red Sox®

Rogers
Hornsby
St. Louis Cardinals®

Roy
Campanella
Brooklyn Dodgers™

Johnny
Mize
St. Louis Cardinals®

Pee Wee
Reese
Brooklyn Dodgers™

George
Sisler
St. Louis Browns™

Tris
Speaker
Cleveland Indians®

Babe
Ruth
New York Yankees®

Johnny
Bench
Cincinnati Reds®

Ty
Cobb
Detroit Tigers®

Rickey
Henderson
New York Yankees®

Lou
Gehrig
New York Yankees®

Sandy
Koufax
Dodgers®

Mickey
Mantle
New York Yankees®

Don
Mattingly
New York Yankees®

Brooks
Robinson
Baltimore Orioles®

Ryne
Sandberg
Chicago Cubs®

Tom
Seaver
New York Mets®

Willie
Mays
Giants®






Replacing:



Andre
Ethier

Steve
Garvey

David
Ortiz

Brandon
Phillips

Carlos
Quentin

Matt
Cain

Jimmy
Rollins

Gaylord
Perry

Jay
Bruce

Pablo
Sandoval

Drew
Stubbs

Adam
Jones

Billy
Butler

Heath
Bell

Fergie
Jenkins

Carlos
Marmol

Evan
Longoria

Madison
Bumgarner

Johnny
Cueto

Clay
Buchholz

TOPPS ANNOUNCES USA BASEBALL REDEMPTION LIST FOR BOWMAN PLATINUM

Topps, the exclusive trading card of USA Baseball, is pleased to announce the available subjects for the 2011 Bowman Platinum Baseball USA Autograph redemption program. The cards, all hard signed by 2011 USA Baseball Collegiate National Team players, are guaranteed 2 per 12-box hobby case. Collectors redeeming a card, will receive one randomly selected subject.



Today’s Collegiate National Team players are tomorrow’s Major League stars with four players projected to be selected within the first 10 picks of the 2012 Draft.







Mark
Appel (projected # 3 in 2012 draft)

DJ
Baxendale

Josh
Elander

Chris
Elder (image attached)

Dominic
Ficociello

Nolan
Fontana

Kevin
Gausman (projected # 10 in 2012 draft)

Brian
Johnson

Branden
Kline

Corey
Knebel

Michael
Lorenzen

David
Lyon

Deven
Marrero (projected # 2 in 2012 draft)

Hoby
Milner

Andrew
Mitchell

Tom
Murphy

Tyler
Naquin

Matt
Reynolds

Brady
Rodgers

Marcus
Stroman

Michael
Wacha (projected # 8 in 2012 draft)

Erich
Weiss

MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER AND NBC SPORTS GROUP ANNOUNCE MULTI-YEAR PARTNERSHIP

NBC & NBC Sports Network to Televise 49 Games per Season,

Including Four Appearances by U.S. Men’s National Team



NEW YORK (August 10, 2011) – Major League Soccer (MLS) and the NBC Sports Group today announced a three-year media rights agreement, which commences at the start of the 2012 MLS season. The partnership calls for 45 MLS games and four U.S. Men’s National Team contests to be televised live across both NBC and NBC Sports Network each season. This marks the first rights deal for the newly-named cable channel that will be re-branded from VERSUS on January 2, 2012. The announcement was made today by MLS Commissioner and Soccer United Marketing CEO Don Garber and Mark Lazarus, Chairman, NBC Sports Group.



“Everyone at the NBC Sports Group is thrilled to begin this partnership with Major League Soccer,” said Lazarus. “MLS is a perfect fit for our new group, and we are uniquely positioned to help grow soccer in the United States with extensive coverage on NBC Sports Network, significant programming on the broadcast network and our growing digital platforms. Additionally, this agreement complements the partnerships that five of our regional sports networks have with their local MLS teams.”



Each season, NBC will broadcast two regular-season MLS games, two playoff games and two appearances by the U.S. Men’s National Team, marking the first time four MLS matches will be broadcast on English-language network television since 2002. The NBC Sports Network will televise 38 regular-season games, three playoff games and two U.S. Men’s National Team matches. All telecasts on NBC and NBC Sports Network will consist of pre-game and post-game coverage. According to the agreement, the NBC Sports Group obtains digital rights across all platforms and devices for the games it televises.



“Our new partnership with the NBC Sports Group is a significant step forward for Major League Soccer and U.S. Soccer,” said MLS Commissioner and Soccer United Marketing CEO Don Garber. “The NBC Sports Group is world-renowned for its award-winning coverage, superb broadcast quality and promotional expertise. We are excited to be part of NBC’s ambitious plans for soccer, and look forward to reaching a considerable audience on multiple platforms.”



Featuring an exciting mix of players, including world-class stars such as Landon Donovan, David Beckham and Thierry Henry, MLS is one of the nation’s fastest growing sports properties. It has seen considerable growth across many metrics, including number of teams (10 clubs in 2004 to 19 in 2012) and new stadiums (two soccer stadiums in 2004 to having 15 of 19 clubs playing in venues built with soccer in mind, including new soccer stadiums in Houston and Montreal next year). This season, the League is enjoying the highest average attendance and largest number of corporate sponsors in its 16-year history.



Along with already-established MLS partnerships with five Comcast SportsNets (California, Chicago, Mid-Atlantic, New England and Philadelphia), this agreement provides the league with coverage across the NBC Sports Group’s unique four-tier portfolio of assets: broadcast network, national cable, regional sports networks and digital platforms.

2011-12 Upper Deck Victory Hockey Live!

Victory Is Yours! Upper Deck Releases

the First Hockey Product of the 2011-12 Season Today!



Be the first to own official NHL® rookie cards of top prospects Cody Hodgson, Joe Colborne, Jonathan Blum and Matt Frattin



Carlsbad, CA (August 2, 2011) – Even as Boston Bruin fans were celebrating their victory over the Vancouver Canucks in the 2011 NHL Stanley Cup™ Finals several weeks back, Upper Deck was hard at work putting the finishing touches on the first NHL trading card release of the 2011-12 season: Victory Hockey. This comprehensive 250-card collection hits store shelves today and provides collectors with the very first rookie cards of any players who made their debuts at the end of the 2010-11 NHL campaign. This is the first opportunity for fans to add NHL licensed rookie cards of standouts like Cody Hodgson (Vancouver Canucks), Joe Colborne (Toronto Maple Leafs), Jonathan Blum (Nashville Predators) and Matt Frattin (Toronto Maple Leafs) to their collections.



“Collecting hockey cards has really become a year-round pursuit for a lot of puck fans” said Josh Zusman, Upper Deck’s hockey brand manager. “We are thrilled to start the season off with 2011-12 NHL Victory, as it has a lot of great content that is affordable to every level of collector, especially kids. And we are thrilled to resuscitate the MVP brand by including both base and rookie cards as inserts in the NHL Victory packs for this season.”



That’s right, 2011-12 NHL Victory will include regular MVP branded cards that can be found in every other pack, and MVP branded rookie cards will be a tougher pull, appearing one in every 18 packs. MVP returns with a sleek design and the facsimile signatures fans have come to enjoy with a 100-card set.



Other insert cards that can be discovered in packs of 2011-12 Victory Hockey include “Stars of the Game” and “Game Breakers” which feature top NHL stars. The “Victory Black” parallels return to provide an element of chase for fans with regular cards appearing 1:720 packs on average and rookie cards only surfacing 1:1440 packs on average. Collectors lucky enough to pull one of those cards will definitely feel a rush of excitement. Another parallel to be on the lookout for are “Victory Red” parallels that can be found exclusively in retail fat packs.



Upper Deck’s 2011-12 Victory Hockey includes six cards per pack with 36 packs per box. It can be found now on hobby and retail store shelves throughout North America.

Autograph Hunters Rejoice; Upper Deck

Carlsbad, CA (August 2, 2011) – Pigskin fans are rejoicing as we are getting closer to the start of a new season. Upper Deck has pulled out all the stops to make sure 2011 NCAA Sweet Spot Football delivers all the hard-hitting rookie cards and autograph inserts these fans cherish. Collectors will feel like they are scoring a touchdown as they open 2011 NCAA Sweet Spot Football because this year every pack has an autograph card inside!



The rookie autograph checklist features all the top draft picks like Cam Newton, Mark Ingram, A.J. Green, Julio Jones, Blaine Gabbert, Jake Locker, Colin Kaepernick, Christian Ponder and many more signing in the set. Upper Deck has come up with some new NCAA Sweet Spot Signature helmet logo variations as well to add a heightened level of collectability to autographs of these future stars. Additionally, the hard-signed “Ultimate Rookie Signatures” set that started in 2011 Upper Deck Football, continues in 2011 NCAA Sweet Spot Football.



“The main driver for the Sweet Spot brand has always been autograph cards and we really worked to revamp this product to give collectors more of what they love,” said Brandon Miller, Upper Deck’s collegiate sports brand manager. “The collectability of the signed helmet cards always has a major ‘wow’ factor and with some of the big names we have included in this product, there will be a lot of collectors ecstatic about the autograph cards they pull.”



Beyond the rookies, fans can find autograph cards of gridiron greats like Jerry Rice, Adrian Peterson, Bo Jackson, Barry Sanders, Drew Brees, Dan Marino, Gale Sayers, John Elway, Steve Young, Troy Aikman and others.



New to the playbook this year are the “Sweet Spot Rivalry Booklet” cards that feature Sweet Spot helmet autographs of two players who squared off on opposite sidelines in some of the most storied rivalries in college football history. These limited cards will fall one per case on average. Additionally, Upper Deck called on football analysts Todd McShay and Chris Mortensen to add their expertise to the mix with “Scouting Report” inserts that give collectors the inside scoop on stars of the 2011 rookie class and a retro look at scouting reports on legends as if they were being drafted again today. Look for rare autograph parallel versions of those cards inserted randomly into packs.



Upper Deck’s 2011 NCAA Sweet Spot Football packs contain eight cards with one of those cards being autographed. Each box will contain four packs and football fans can find these boxes in stores today!