2022 Panini Diamond Kings: Box Review (hobby)

I'm back with my final box from Breaker's Club #6.  Once I've finished writing this review (and by the time you see this entry posted), I'll have all of the cards from Breaker's Club #6 sorted.  For those that want a shipping quote, feel free to email me at this point and I'll get back to you as soon as I can!

With that out of the way, let's get to today's review:  2022 Panini Diamond Kings (hobby).  

Each hobby box contains 12 packs with 8 cards per pack.  The box promises two autograph or memorabilia cards (on average) along with a slew of parallels and inserts that Panini is known for.  

The 2022 Diamond King base set is broken down into several different tiers across the 200 card set.  Cards #1-75 make up the base veterans (current and retired greats).  Our box produced 36/75 base veterans.

The base cards have a typical Panini Diamond King look to them - sort of a paintbrush-esque photo treatment (with no team logos, of course).  The backs are the typical (boring) Panini fare, so much so that I didn't even bother to scan a card back.

Cards #76-100 are part of the first rookie subset (called Rookies I).  Our box produced 22/25 Rookies I cards.

The Rookies I card design is quite striking as compared to the regular veteran base cards - there's no missing the bright colors and random lines going every which way!

Cards #101-140 are base short prints.  Our box produced 8/40 short prints.  

As with the regular veteran cards, the base short prints are a mix of current players and retired players.

Cards #141-160 are part of the second rookie subset (called Rookies II).  Our box produced 8/20 Rookies II cards.  

Personally, I'm much less of a fan of the Rookies II design - the garish colors are too jarring in relation to the rest of the set.  

Cards #161-180 are part of the third rookie subset (called, unsurprisingly, Rookies III).  Our box produced only 4 out of the 20 cards in this subset.

For my money, the Rookies III design is the best looking of the bunch that we pulled.  The muted colors work in relation to the rest of the base set - the rookie cards feel and look different and yet they still form a more cohesive whole.  Too bad there are those other rookie subsets to screw up the overall aesthetic of the set should you decide to collect and binder the full thing!

Finally, cards #181 - 200 make up the Rookies IV subset.  Our box did not produce a single card from this subset so I can only imagine that the final twenty cards in the base set are quite difficult to find!  

With the convoluted base set out of the way, let's turn our attention to the parallels.   

Our box produced a grand total of only three parallels (all of the framed type).  We pulled a pair of gray framed parallels including a short printed Jackie Robinson:

We also pulled a single purple (plum?) parallel of Mickey Cochrane (also a short print).

Now, to the inserts!

The 2022 Panini Diamond Kings set is chock full of different inserts all of which have some sort of artsy bend to them.  For example, one of my personal favorite insert sets this year is the Aficionado set:

I like the two different player images as well as the use of color on each card.  We found two Aficionado cards in our box.

Other cool inserts include the Elegance set which is similar to the Aficionado set in that it features lots of bright colors in its design.

We only pulled one Elegance card (and lucky me, it was a Red)!  

If bright colors aren't your thing, you might be more inclined to chase after the Art of Hitting set.  

We only found one card from this set as well (and only in Panini stuff will you find Joe Jackson cards)!

Next, we found a single regular Gallery of Stars card - but I suppose if you are only going to get one it might as well be this year's "hot ticket player" Wander Franco.

We also pulled a parallel Gallery of Stars card of Kris Bryant - this one is numbered out of only 25!

The Bryant is a a Holo Silver parallel and is serially bumbered 03/25.  A pretty nice find for the Giants in the group break!

As for the rest of the inserts, here's what our box produced:

I'm not a fan of the Maestros design at all.  The Modern Strokes design is cool but I wish the "paint smear" was a bit different from card-to-card.  Finally, the Artist's Palette cards are alright but something about Sandberg's face scares me on that card!

Finally, our two promised hits beginning with this dual relic autograph of Matt Manning for the Tigers.

As nice as the above hit looks, I think our second hit was even better:

That's an Art Nouveau relic of Charlie Blackmon, serially-numbered 17/25 on the back.  This a HoloGold parallel for the Rockies and a very nice way to end our box (and group break)!

Overall, I give the 2022 Panini Diamond Kings (hobby) box the following rating:

Set Design:  C

Collation:  A-

Opening Thrill:  B+  

Overall:  B

This is a solid product from Panini though the set collector in me shudders at the various levels of short prints (and completely different designs jammed together in the base set).  For my money, there are a few too many different insert sets but otherwise I enjoyed the box break quite a bit.  Getting a pair of hits in each box keeps the interest levels high - and there are certainly some nice hits to be found if you get super lucky.