Panini America Offers the Illustrated Guide to 2013 Triple Play Baseball (Gallery)

Yes, I know it’s only April and that the 2013 baseball season is not even a week old yet. But I don’t need nine more months or 160 more games (per team) to make this bold claim: The most entertaining, interactive and kid-friendly  baseball card set of the year already has been made. And when 2013 Triple Play Baseball hits retail shelves at some point in the next several days, collectors of all ages will get the opportunity to test that assessment for themselves.

And at just a buck a pack, that’s a low-risk, high-fun proposition.

2013 Triple Play Baseball improves upon the colorful, creative and compelling recipe set forth by last season’s debut with a whole host of new original artwork and the return (with increased frequency and new designs) of Eye Blacks, stickers and temporary tattoos. There’s also an interactive card-back game to be played while kids (and kids at heart) pass the time with the year’s most engaging product.

We saw firsthand last year just how much of a family affair Triple Play Baseball can be — and the 2013 edition continues to embrace that notion with more bells and whistles than ever before. To illustrate our point, we opened one early 24-pack box to deliver the following gallery. This particular box yielded 24 stickers, eight temporary tattoos, eight Eye Blacks, eight All-Star subset cards, four Baseball 101 subset cards, two Traditions subset cards and two When I Was a Kid subset cards. As you’ll see, it also yielded some pure, unadulterated entertainment.

Be sure to stick around until the end of he gallery. After we go pack-by-pack through this box, we provide a closer look at some of the special cards we discovered as well as profile our favorite illustrations from this box.

Enjoy.