Buzz Break: 2011 Panini Elite Extra Edition (hobby box)

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The box: 2011 Panini Elite Extra Edition baseball cards (hobby box)
Where to buy: BlowoutCards.com

Packs per box: 20
Cards per pack: 5
Cards in this box: 100
Base set completion: 
20 of 25 (80 percent)
Duplicates: 0

Prospect set completion: 
62 of 190 (33 percent)
Duplicates: 0

Base cards (20) – Albert Pujols, Andrew McCutchen, Adrian Gonzalez, Curtis Granderson, Dustin Pedroia, Justin Verlander, Clayton Kershaw, Josh Hamilton, Adam Jones, Heath Bell, Chris Perez, Danny Espinosa, Bene Revere, Brian McCann, Troy Tulowitzki, Trevor Cahill, Justin Upton, Starlin Castro, Jeremy Hellickson, Michael Pineda

Prospects (62) – Notables include Austin Hedges, Dwight Smith Jr., Dante Bichette Jr. (biggest names held for autos)

Insert cards: 12 (all in gallery below with some base/prospects)
Building Blocks Dual (4) – Francisco Lindor & Javier Baez, Bubba Starling & Josh Bell, Cameron Gallagher & Bryan Brickhouse, Abel Baker & Pratt Maynard
Building Blocks Trio (2) – George Springer, Adrian Houser & Miles Hamblin; Williams Jerez, Kendrick Perkins & Alex Hassan
Elite Series (1) – Brad Miller
Yearbook (2) – Nick Castellanos, Zach Cone
Blue Status Diecut Prospects (1) – Roman Quinn (/100)
Green Status Diecut Prospects (1) – Casey Lawrence (/25)
Aspirations Diecut Prospects (1) – Anthony Rendon (/200)

Autographs/Memorabilia: 6
Autographed Prospects (1) – Josh Bell (/692)
Franchise Futures Autographs (3) – Dwight Smith Jr. (/675), Chris Heston (/865), Kevin Comer (/864)
Aspirations Diecut Autographs (1) – Dan Meadows (/100)
Gold Status Diecut Autographs (1) – B.A. Vollmuth (/5)

What's Buzz-worthy: Not all prospect crops age the same -- and this one, well, it's had some ups and downs and you can see some of it in this box. At times in the past, there were some big names here. Now? Yes and no. The base set is a simple 25 cards as this was an earlier Panini move back into baseball without MLB logos. The basic prospects list is one that hasn't aged well, especially with the best names held for autographs. You get at least six autos per box here -- and that's a good thing as was the Black November price I paid on this box -- and that gives you a good shot at some of the notable possible autos and their parallels. Among the ink of note here? Gerrit Cole, Trevor Bauer, Anthony Rendon, Francisco Lindor, Trevor Story, George Springer, Josh Bell, Brandon Nimmo, Jackie Bradley Jr. and a number of others who have had decent demand at times in the past. Some of the insert ink also can have some MLB names of note here -- Nick Castellanos, Manny Machado and Javier Baez perhaps the biggest. The very first pack delivered one of the big names without ink here -- a parallel of Rendon, while parallels helped me out here a tad. There can always be interest in rarer cards, too, no matter the name. Ultimately, though, the deep list of autos here will have a lot of names well-removed from their years on the field but the volume you get in a box and the parallels can make it worth the rip if you land a notable name or two or some parallels. If you just like a rip with some ink volume, this one is also worth a look with those good names worth holding. And if you land a top name on a rare parallel? It would pay for a few boxes.

Product Grade: B+
Box Grade: A-
Fun Grade: B+

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