Building a Rainbow: 2016 Panini The National Exclusives

I was challenged yesterday to come up with posts about either butterscotch pudding OR superhero origins.  I am kind of short on time today, but will work on something for the weekend.  

Butterscotch pudding?  Really Fuji????  What the heck!!!!

It has been awhile since I did a post showing off some rainbows in progress.  I thought I would show off my 2016 Panini The National Exclusives rainbow in progress because there is a good chance many of you aren't familar with this release.

Details of the set can be found here.

Collectors would get special foil packs from Panini by purchasing their products at the National Sports Card Convention.  

The set focused on multiple stars and rookies across MLB, NBA, NFL, and international soccer.  Like previous sets, Andrew McCutchen was part of the MLB players featured in the set as he was coming off his 4th consecutive year as a top 5 MVP candidate. 

Base cards were produced with traditional stock, but also produced using a thick stock.  Parallels for both thickness include hyper plaid, hyper foil,  and infinite.  

Above is the infinite parallel.  It looks like circuits on a computer grid and is numbered to only 10 copies.

Above are all the standard thickness cards I have of Cutch.  As you can see I have completed the rainbow for those.  Oddly enough, the serial number for the hyper plaid isn't listed on the back of the card.

You may notice that the serial numbering for this card appears on the top right corner, which is different than all other standard thickness parallels placement of the serial numbering.

The thick stock version has the numbering on the back

Here are the 5 cards I have in my collection for this potential rainbow

I still need:

The Thick Stock versions of the base, hyperfoil, and infinite parallels.

What Will Become Of The National?

News broke over the weekend that SDCC (San Diego Comic Con) was cancelled this year.  I am not sure how many comic or pop culture fans also read this blog, but this is major news.

For the first time in it's 50+ year history, the most famous pop culture convention in the world won't be happening.

There are already rumors that Disney & Marvel may stream a panel available to fans that would have typically been one of the main events at the con.

This got me thinking about The National Sports Card Convention.  I have never been to The National and was hoping to go this year since it is happening in my home state.  Yay! New Jersey!

As I was busy updating my checklist I came across a few cards that were NSCC exclusives and thought I should finally show them off.


Up first is 2019 Bowman Chrome National Wrapper Redemption.

This "Christmas numbered parallel" is the orange prism refractor found only in the special NSCC packs.

The logo for the convention is seen to the left corner, just above the name of Andrew McCutchen.

In order to receive a pack of these, attendants would need to buy a box of Topps products from a partnered dealer and bring the box along with a special sticker to the Topps booth where they would be rewarded with a pack of these exclusive Bowman Chrome cards.  The set contains 50 cards and offers color parallels and autographs randomly inserted into the 4 card packs.  I will show off some other 2019 Bowman Chrome National Exclusives in another post, sometime in the future.



I also have a pair of Panini product buybacks that are stamped on the front with The National logo

This is a 2016 Diamond King card from the 2016 National.

The Back is stamped directly in the center of the card and is numbered to only 5 copies.



I also have an Industry Summit card buyback.

Dealers, card companies, and others directly involved with the hobby who attended the 4 day event in Las Vegas received a bunch of swag from card companies.

This "Buyback" is actually a 2013 Prizm base card with The Summit 2014 stamp to the left ofthe card, just under Cutch's jersey number.

The card is numbered on the back to the left of the Panini centered logo.  It is numbered to only 5 copies.

The National Exclusives 2012

The National Sports Convention just ended and I considered making a set of posts about all the National exclusive cards I have of Cutch, but then the Pirates made a blockbuster trade for Chris Archer and I went out to Pittsburgh for his debut.

So rather than grouping all the cards over a series of consecutive posts I will just randomly show them off over the course of time (or maybe all next year for the Convention time frame as I haven't quite decided yet).

Cutch began gaining superstar status in 2012 following his first All Star Game appearance in 2011 and an extremely hot start to the year in 2012.

Through June 2012 he looked like the clear cut MVP as the Pirates were battling for 1st place in the division and at one point in July Cutch had reached a season average of .386.

As part of the National circuit, Panini made a series of restamped cards including the Elite Extra Edition you see below.

This would have been a good Star Wars Day card as it is numbered 4/5 and I celebrated May the 4th this year with cards all numbered 4/5.