Anyone who collected sports cards in the late 80s and early 90s should recognize the Score name from football, basketball and baseball cards. It lives on today in football as a kid-friendly low-priced set made by Donruss, along with a slightly upgraded hobby version called Score Select.
This review covers both versions of 2007 Score with a jumbo retail box containing 12 packs of 32 cards each, and a Score Select box holding 20 packs of five cards each.
Base Cards and Parallels
The base sets for both Score and Score Select are some of the largest on the market. Score's veterans appear on cards with no border on top, white stripes on the left, team color stripes on the right, and player and team info on the bottom. Select utilizes the same design, but on shiny foil board.
Veterans, 288 of them to be exact, make up most of the base sets. They are followed by 42 unnumbered rookie cards, which are found at the same rate as the veterans in both products.
Here's where the retail and hobby versions diverge. Score finishes off its base set with 55 rookies seeded three per pack, while Select goes with 100 additional rookies numbered to 599 and falling three per box.
Parallels are a big part of both sets, with all base cards having five levels: Scorecard, Gold Zone, Red Zone, End Zone and Artist's Proof. The difference is in the numbering; for example, Score's Gold Zone parallels are numbered to 600, while Select's Gold Zone cards are limited to 50 copies or less. Score also has an additional unnumbered parallel called Atomic that falls one per jumbo pack.
After breaking an entire jumbo box of Score Football, I found 275 of the 330 commons, 36 of the three-per-pack rookies (with duplicates of Adrian Peterson, Calvin Johnson and Jared Zabransky), two Scorecard parallels and two Gold Zone parallels.
The Select box yielded 89 commons, one Scorecard, one Gold Zone and one End Zone (Jon Kitna #'d to 6). Along with three rookies, I also pulled a Scorecard John Beck (#'d to 100) and a Gold Zone Brian Leonard (#'d to 50).
Insert Cards
Score and Select share the same two insert sets. Franchise cards focus on one player that is the guy his NFL team is built around. Hot Rookies are exactly that, cards of the top 2007 draftees with a design that incorporates flames.
Again, the difference is in the print runs. Score inserts carry no numbering; the same cards in Select are numbered to 749. In both sets, the insert cards can also be found in the same parallel levels as the base cards.
My Score review box produced four Franchise and four Hot Rookies. Select held just one of each: a Franchise Tom Brady and a Hot Rookie JaMarcus Russell.
Autographed Cards
The Score brands return the popular Inscriptions autographed cards for 2007. In year's past Inscriptions was its own insert, but this year it serves as a partial parallel to the base set, as well as a parallel to the Franchise and Hot Rookie sets.
Select also has signed parallels to the Gold Zone, Red Zone and End Zone levels, with print runs ranging between five and 50 copies.
The packaging for Score Select promises one autograph per box on average, and my sample box contained an End Zone Signatures card of rookie wide receiver Jacoby Jones. It should be numbered to five or less, but since it was a redemption card, I can't be sure of the excact numbering until the redeemed card arrives.
The Last Word
For products on the lower end of the football card market, both Score and Score Select are pretty decent. The photography is above average and while the design isn't my favorite, it is simple and effective. The large numbers of parallels may be overkill given who is likely to be buying the product (younger collectors and beginners) and Select seems like it may be a bit too difficult to put together given the number of cards one gets per box.
Despite those observations, both Score and Score Select are welcome additions to the 2007 football card lineup, delivering some nice rookie content at very affordable price points.