2012 Varsity Cards Review

A few weeks ago Topher over at Varsity Trading Cards offered me some cards to review. I said OK. He said waddya have? I said Mark Lemke or Ponies plz. He said I gots no MLB, Players Union or MLP license. I said surprise me. So he did. Then I surprised him by not reviewing them for weeks.

But tonight! While desperately trying to procrastinate, Twitter betrayed me:

The horror. THE HORROR.

I guess it's time to review these things after all. BEHOLD: 2012 VARSITY TRADING CARDS!

Here's the front of card S1. Unfortunately while I was trying to write this, Chris Harris sent me this video. If I have to suffer so do you. Watch this before moving on.



Ok, so what we have here is a Varsity card of Seth Kasten of the Warriors. First impression is that the design looks like a pretty good Minor league set design. Since these cards are marketed towards the High School crowd, that's a pretty good look. There's a lot of dipping and swooshing going on, but the pic bleeds over it at the top so the design doesn't get in the way of the photo. The border features the team colors and the text is legible. No foil name here! You can actually read and scan the thing! There's also a space for an autograph at the bottom if you want to go stalk a high school catcher. Or, more likely, if  you're related to that high schooler and are using this as a keepsake. The Varsity logo is fairly unobtrusive up in the top right hand corner. Let's check out the next card.

This one is of Zach Hauer, head coach for the Lions. Same design elements here. Swooshy border with team color and logo. Name and team is legible. Spot for autograph. Decent looking card. The card stock is sturdy on these things. I'm not certain of the number of points on this stock but it's approximately twice as thick as a Topps base card and fairly stiff. I would not recommend trying to bend these cards at all as they might snap in half. The card is somewhat glossy but covered in a matte finish for easy autographing. Everything with a front has a back, right? Except maybe a Möbius strip but I digress.

 Backs are simple and effective. Design swoosh is replicated in the card number. As an old blind geezer, I am very persnickety about card numbering. White text works with a dark background like with card S2, but S1 needs black text or a different background number. Also knock the font up a few points and put that isht in bold. Grandpa's got sets to sort. Numerical nitpick aside, the rest of the back is solid. Full biographical information on the top. Four years of stats. This is a good number for high schoolers, you don't need to see stats for all three Sophomore years for that running back who ended up with a full scholarship to Florida anyway. A career line would be nice. There's also a little Bio write up underneath everything. The very bottom has the company logo and legalese. There's also one of the new-style barcodes that I don't know anything about because I'm old and own a flip phone. I guess scanning that leads to a player page? Maybe an order form? I'd test it but I'm technologically feeble. I'm actually surprised (thankful) these haven't invaded cards from you-know-who yet. Topher be innovatin'! Oh, speaking of Topher...

TOPHER-JO!

Yep, I got a case hit from my preview pack. This card will be displayed proudly next to some of my other blogger autos like the one from Chris Harris and Fuji. Topher was surprisingly thorough on his biography. For one thing I would have bet money he was at least 5 years younger, but his taste in music should have tipped me off. I'm also quite impressed with his taste in movies. Needs more Lebowski, but don't we all. One thing I don't understand...

How in the hell can you be a Twins and a Packers fan at the same time? Isn't that illegal or something?

At any rate, if you're a high school athlete (or related to a high school athlete, or work for a high school, or just want some custom cards) and are looking for some well-made cards to commemorate your career check out Varsity Cards, as these cards look pretty darn good for customs. And no this isn't an ad, Why the hell would I ever shill for a Twins fan?