2016 Panini Penn State Collegiate Blaster
Our newest Brief Box Break is a little bit outside of, well, the box.
This isn’t a product that we have on the shelf. It’s definitely not a new release. It is what it is, which is a clearance blaster I found at a local card show this weekend that I actually purchased for my daughter to open.
My wife is a Penn State grad and, although I grew up a Notre Dame fan, I have attended far more Penn State games and watched far more on television than I ever have of The Fighting Irish, so I guess I’m a second hand PSU fan at this point.
No matter your favorite team, you’ve probably seen these college specific boxes that were produced several years ago under Panini’s collegiate licensing deal.
One of the dealers at the show had the 2016 blasters at a wholesale price of $10 a piece, so I had to pick one up for my daughter to open. She’s young but already turning into a big sports fan and collector, which is just fine with me.
Once we got home from the card show we dug into this Blue and White blaster.
Although it’s listed as a multi sport product, to say it’s football heavy would be a massive understatement. The eight card pack, 10 pack blaster box offered one (1) non-football related card, which was a men’s basketball player by the name of Ross Travis. There were no Joe Crispin or Kelly Mazzante cards to be found, unfortunately.
There were some very cool cards of the the local landmarks and arenas including Beaver Stadium, the Bryce Jordan Center and the relatively new hockey arena, Pegula Ice Arena.
Plaster boxes off for one hit, In the form of one memorabilia or autograph card on average.
Just a few packs and we hit our memorabilia card that of former Penn State star wide receiver and now NFL veteran Allen Robinson.
Early on, we saw the first card in the set, that of the Penn State Nittany Lions mascot followed by a player that most avid football fans know–more from his pro days than his college days that are now 50+ years in the rearview mirror.
Franco Harris was a standout at Penn State went on to become a Pittsburgh Steelers icon and the box had multiple cards of Harris, who wore number 34 at Penn State, before switching to 32 with the Steelers.
Even for a Penn State fan, we got more Christian Hackenberg cards and we care to count, so there’s that.
It was fun to see some of the local legends such as former linebacker Mike Mauti, right alongside guys who went on to the NFL and eventually ended up in Canton, such as Pittsburgh Steelers Steel Curtain centerpiece Jack Ham, teammate of Harris both in college and the NFL.
Late in the box we did hit another insert that of former linebacker Paul Posluszny in the form of an Honors insert, showcasing the 2 time Bednarik Award winner.
Obviously, no one’s buying these to flip the cards for profit, but if you’re a fan of any of a big time college program, these blasters are a run rip and they were made for a bunch of different schools. You can often pick them for $10-$15 each–or less– on eBay. This one was certainly well worth it for me to take a walk down memory lane at State College.
About Tony Reid
From the time he was a little kid, Tony has been a huge sports fan. If he could play sports, watch sports and talk about sports it was a great day. From as early as he was drawn to sports, Tony was drawn to collecting sports cards. Not much has changed over the years. He collects RCs of star players in baseball, basketball and football. He also has a soft spot for first autographs of MMA stars. If you want to talk to Tony about the greatness of Michael Jordan, Bo Jackson or Ken Griffey, Jr. you can reach him at [email protected]mail.com and @tonyreidwrites on social media.
