Aficionado I Am Not

Last week's trip to Target netted me a handful of great boxes, including a hanger box of 2020 Panini Diamond Kings which I'll cover today. I typically shy away from Panini's baseball offerings but I was itching to open some packs and figured I'd give it a go.

A hanger box only promises 20 cards (half of the contents of the box are in this post), including one red frame parallel card per box. That's actually one of the cards I didn't scan, though I did send it to Tom at The Angels, In Order so you can check it out over there. 

I knew next to nothing about this set when I purchased it, and planned to consider it a win if I could just add some new Dodgers to the collection. That Mookie Betts cards above (the second card of his I pulled from this Target purchase) sealed the win for me, but I'm pretty happy with the rest of the contents as well.

The cards themselves are fairly high quality with a heavy card stock (more similar to Heritage than Flagship) and canvas-like feel. Of course, the cards lack licensing, but the artsy water-color type design and strong use of color makes up for that in my opinion. The Verlander Aficionado insert at the top of this post is a beauty (but the Astros are still yuck).

I also found a handful of All-Time Diamond Kings inserts which I believe are based on the 1992 design. These are up for grabs if any one is interested. Consider this my entry into Free Card Friday.

Artist's Proof cards are also part of the checklist, and I happened to unearth this blue parallel of Eddie Mathews. I have no idea what makes this an Artist's Proof, but it seems like they just stamped those words on with a small foil stamp. Meh. 

Perhaps the coolest card to fall out of the box--and the most unexpected considering my luck with the Big League blaster--was this Holo Silver DK Materials dual relic #'d /99 of Padres outfielder Trent Grisham. I've also placed this on eBay, but I'm happy to trade it away if anyone's interested.

Will I purchase any more Diamond Kings? Probably not. But at just ten bucks for a hanger box, you could do a lot worse with your money.