Coffee Break:2020 Panini Absolute Baseball

*fresh pot of coffee brewing hits my nose senses, not even blocked by the amount of growing nose hairs as I get older, walks out to the kitchen, grabs a cup and gets ready for the next Coffee Break*

I have let it be known across all social media places I post including this blog that I am a fan of Panini baseball products. No logos or not, their stuff is top notch. I know some of you readers have got to agree with me or maybe after a break of this you will.

I am not saying I don't like Topps baseball cards, I do. But, I think it's time for a share of the MLB logo pot. Upper Deck can be tossed in to, but Panini for sure and you will see why.

Today's Coffee Break comes via of their latest baseball product offering in 2020 Absolute baseball.

In every hobby of 2020 Absolute baseball you will find two mini boxes/packs. Each of those comes with 10 cards and each hobby box overall comes with 4 autographs and 2 memorabilia cards for a total of 6 hits. Boxes have dropped some, but started out around $200.

So it's a high end nostalgic brand. Panini baseball products are usually really fair priced so seeing something a tad higher is intriguing.

*takes a sip, then begins to rip. I should make that a Copyrighted saying for here*

The base cards in Absolute have 100 cards in the set and it appears no rookies are on the checklist. That's kinda rough. But there is a nice mix of legends in there so that's a positive.

Base card design

Back of card that features a write up along with stats

and found a legend in my box of the great Joe DiMaggio! The photo on this one is superb. I wonder if rest of the legends are done just as well.

There are two different forms of base card parallels to find in Absolute.

This includes:

Parallel Cards of Silver /199 and Printing Plates 1/1.

Spectrum Parallels of Blue, Red /99, Gold /10, and Black 1/1.

I found two silver parallels in this break /199.

*takes a sip of coffee, remembers the old days of Absolute baseball for a second, then continues on*

The inserts in Absolute also have their own parallels as well. Those include, Blue, Silver /99, Purple /25, and Black 1/1 for each offering.

Rookie Roundup comes with 24 of this years best rookies. Keep in mind I said the base set doesn't have rookies, but they do come in other forms in here. Also before you check yourself, yes, Robert is in this set.

I always like an Unsung heroes insert or base card subset. Those guys like Gio Urshela don't get enough love. Well, 15 of them in this set do.

Introductions has 15 of those young hitting studs of tomorrow from the past years including this guy, Tatis Jr.

20 card offering of Absolute Heroes has players of today and yesterday on it's checklist

*takes another sip, considers looking for a breakfast offering but decides to continue on as he is on a cinnamon roll. Okay, enough with the breakfast thoughts, on a roll with hot butter and toasted...nope...got to press on...because I am on a roll with sausage and egg in between....you know what, give me a few, I will be back*

We have made it to the hits section of this post. There are a lot of fun offerings in Absolute with many great looking swatches.

Here's a Dylan Cease relic. There wasn't much to this Rookie Materials card but has a solid design.

But this Grip It-N-Rip It card of Ozzie Albies is insanely beautiful. Wow. I believe those are glove swatches.

Jonathan Hernandez autograph jersey card. Solid patch, but I like the overall shine attraction it brings, the card itself is very reminiscent of the 2000's Absolute.

These Rookie Baseball material autographs are actually apart of the base set, but for me, a base set is base cards. So I didn't include them in my base card write up. These are more like hits and not base set finds and yes I am old school like that. First one of these  I pulled was a sad auto by Edwin Rios.  It's like going to a therapist and they hold up that picture and ask you what do you see. You could do that with his signature and I bet you don't see Edwin Rios written in there.

Second was this Brusdar Graterol (try to spell that) that is also a gold parallel (look at the baseball stitching)

I do like the look of cards like these rookie baseball materials, but I really worry about autographs fading over time. I have a few football ones that were signed on faux leather from Panini that have either faded or ran over time. Positive part, these are on card and maybe Panini has found a pen or sharpie to fix that problem.

My final hit was the best of the box, but didn't appear to me in card form just yet.

an Iconic Ink Materials Spectrum Purple card /10 of Barry Larkin but it's a redemption. So going to have to wait this one out.

*finishes up his breakfast, that wasn't anything to do with a roll but delicious regardless. Takes a sip of coffee before finishing up his coffee break*

The price point is a bit steep on this product, but there are some amazing hits to be found so a risk here could pay off. The checklist of hits is loaded with veteran, legend and rookies and with 6 per box, you could be find something very worthy of paying that steep price.

I enjoyed the overall look of the product, especially the hits. And yes, I can ignore the logoless on their helmets. You can't tell me you don't like the look of that Albies especially. There is more hits like that in here especially with the Tools Of The Trade swatches that's a tribute to the older Absolute products.

Before I close, I will also toss this in, there are a lot of people scooping up the retail version of this product and reselling it for a lot. To be honest, I haven't seen much come from those retail boxes. So remember this cautionary tale. Stick with hobby on this one and don't overpay for retail.


*done typing, gets up to stretch and grab another cup of coffee before the days chores begin*

Ratings (ratings based on 1-5 🍵)

Design 🍵🍵🍵🍵(especially the hits)
Photography 🍵
Inserts 🍵🍵
Hits 🍵🍵🍵🍵
Price 🍵🍵
Value 🍵🍵