It's Official - 2013-14 Australian Baseball League Cards - by Dingo Cards

Official news came through today that Dingo Cards - the family business of former MLB and Aussie baseballing legend David Nilsson - has the rights and is publishing cards for the 2013-14 ABL season.

Perth Heat Facebook banner with details - click for larger view

Quick stats:

• Total: 184 cards
• 18 different sets of 8 cards each
• 3 sets for each of the 6 ABL teams (totalling 24 cards per team)
• 1 Championship set of 40 cards
• Staggered release dates throughout the season in 3 waves
• 1st wave of 6 sets (one per team) released on Fri 1st Nov.

It's an interesting release pattern. The cards are being released as 19 different "sets". Each team will have 3 different sets of 8 players each - totaling 24 cards for each team, which comprise 18 of the 19 sets. The three sets for each team will have a staggered release throughout the season, with the first 8 card release for each team occurring this Friday, 1st November. No word yet on when the 2nd and 3rd waves or the Championship set will be released.

No word yet either on the player inclusions. Presumably the 1st wave will feature photos from the 2012-13 ABL season (or earlier) and so will either feature players from last year, or players known to be returning for the 2013-14 season. With the staggered release, it may be possible that the latter sets could feature images of 2013-14 players, but that's pure speculation by me.

The 8 card sets are priced at $5. So in essence, the way to look at them is that it's a 144 card set, distributed in 8 card packs costing $5 each, and it's a perfect distribution as long as you buy the right 18 packs. Based on the image released by the Perth Heat (above), the "pack" design for each team release/set is different, so it should be easy to know which cards you'll get.

The 19th "set" is a 40 card Canberra Cavalry Championship set priced at $30, which to me is reminiscent of the BBM Championship series sets that are released in Japan. So, total price for all 19 sets will be $120.

I'm excited. I plan to do reviews, provide checklists and put up images of each of the cards as I acquire them over the summer (as well as continuing with my own card designs of course!).