Upper Deck Follows Through With 2010 Series One … literally

Posted in Newspaperman with tags , , , , , , on February 5, 2010 by Newspaperman

Heading into 2010, I’d venture to guess that 99 percent of baseball card collectors knew that there would be only one official producer of Major League Baseball cards. And we all knew that Upper Deck was going to go ahead with products of their own, even without the blessing of The Man. It was something we as a collecting community were anxious to see. What would these cards look like? Would they look like many of the other unlicensed cards with logos and team names Photoshopped out? Would Upper Deck find a new way to do things? Well, Upper Deck certainly didn’t help the collecting world when it decided to release product information WITHOUT images. And so we were left in the dark. If we wanted to know what the cards would look like, we were going to have to buy some to figure it out.

And so there I was on Tuesday after having received an e-mail from my local card shop about the Upper Deck Series One arrival. I made it there before they even opened the first box. I didn’t want to go overboard, I knew the packs would run somewhere between $5 and $6 because of the number of cards per pack, so I decided before hand that I would buy three packs figuring that would get me 60 cards with a shot at one of the three hits in the box.

I’ll say this up front, my packs sucked. I am a Red Sox collector and there was not a single BoSox card to find in the packs. There also were no hits and the best cards, in my opinion, were base cards of Evan Longoria, Matt Weiters and cards of Yankee Stadium and Oakland-Alameda Coliseum, where I have attended more than 30 games during my life.

Check out the small picture of Longoria. Curious George?

I digress. What I did notice though is the photographs that Upper Deck used on these unlicensed cards — it seems like the majority of them were of the player following through on their throw, swing or pitch. See for yourself.

I initially liked the photos, but after thumbing through 60 cards and noticing that many of them look alike, it started to piss me off a bit.

Speaking of pissing me off, what the eff is up with this Biography insert set? Are we REALLY seeing a redux of Documents? And these Portrait cards are an uglier version of an already ugly design we saw in 2005 Origins. Gah!

And lastly, I will say I was quite amused with Upper Deck Star Rookie Cards. Check out the Rookie Card Logo. Seems like a big Eff You to MLBP.

3 Comments »

40 Days and 40 Nights … almost (2010 Topps baseball)

Posted in Newspaperman with tags , , , , , on February 5, 2010 by Newspaperman

I lasted 39 days. I’d be remiss if I had lied and said I actually made it to 40, which I somewhat alluded to in a post I wrote about a week and a half ago explaining my whereabouts. Moments after I finished that write-up, I got an e-mail from my local card shop — 2010 Topps baseball had arrived.

And so within minutes my baseball card sojourn had ended — I purchased six packs of Topps, enough to satisfy my appetite and get a decent glimpse at what was to come in 2010. My initial packs cost me about $12 — I get a cool little 10 percent discount at my LCS so that always makes me happy — so I was not exactly falling off the wagon. I did leave without buying a hobby box, which has been my customary purchase each of the last few years.

The packs were nothing spectacular. I pulled the relic card from the box — an Aramis Ramirez Peak Performer with a white swatch and blue pin stripe — and a few of the “Cards Your Mother Threw Out” inserts. Perhaps one of the lamest of the bunch was a 1999 Topps Original Back Ivan Rodriguez. Really? THAT is the card Topps wants to give back to you?

I digress. My packs were enough to hold me over. I pulled a few cards of some good players like Tim Lincecum and Pablo Sandoval, found a good-looking Ty Cobb insert, and one or two Red Sox base cards. I had accomplished what I wanted, that was good enough … well until I spotted a blaster two days later.

In addition to buying one hobby box of Topps, I usually tend to buy a few blasters so I can work on my set. This year I vowed to be different; I wanted to stay away from the hobby box and the blasters. I succeeded in one of two facets.

Over the course of two days I managed to buy two Topps blasters from different Target stores. Each blaster contained two retro packs, eight basic packs and then one of those ManuPatch cards. The first box had a Grady Sizemore patch, the second a Hank Greenberg. The packs themselves were pretty uneventful. Nothing rare, just your basic stack of inserts. And then I learned why there was nothing extraordinary — TARGET BLASTERS HAVE ZERO RELICS OR AUTOS. Doh! Being about $55 into the product I decided to stop.

Truth be told, the reason I bought the blasters is because I knew that if I acted fast and posted the patch cards on eBay, I’d be able to make my money back. It’s a pretty well-known fact that if you post Topps inserts within a few days of their release, they sell for much more than usual. After that, the market becomes over saturated and you’d be lucky to get a nickel piece of Bazooka Gum in return.

Well, Mr. Sizemore sold for $25 (BIN) and Greenberg for $8 (Best Offer — still awaiting payment, Grr.), and I hawked nearly all of the inserts for another $30 in ONE-DAY AUCTIONS (THIS IS KEY!), so I actually came out ahead financially. In the end I wound up with cards I really wanted, a few left over inserts, and about 1/3 of the base set. I’ve also got four packs worth of Target-exclusive retro parallels which I am debating to throw on eBay to get even further ahead.

That, my friends, is how you make the hobby work for you and not the other way around. But don’t even think about going out now to buy blasters and sell those patch cards to get your money back. All of those patches are now selling for less than $10, including Sizemore, whose patches have been getting about $7. And the inserts? Forget it.

Having said that, I did win a dozen hobby packs from a Beckett Free Stuff Friday promotion a week ago. I’ll post the results of those when they arrive.

1 Comment »

TTM Success: Ben Grieve

Posted in TTM Success with tags , , , , , on February 4, 2010 by Newspaperman

I arrived home Wednesday evening to a surprise: a Through The Mail success from 1998 American League Rookie of the Year Ben Grieve. Growing up in the Bay Area, I remember the few good seasons Grieve had with the Oakland Athletics. For a good while it appeared that Grieve was going to be a solid major league. As it turned out, he had only a handful of decent seasons before being shipped to Tampa Bay, and eventually the Brewers and Cubs. I sent this request more than a year ago after finding these 1995 Topps Grieve cards at a local thrift store. It appears that Grieve signed the card on the right and accidentally rubbed the ink with his thumb, but the one on the left is perfect. A nice, inexpensive addition to my collection of autographs.

Leave A Comment »

Living a fantasy

Posted in Newspaperman with tags , , , , , , , , on January 26, 2010 by Newspaperman

Tomorrow marks the 40th day since I last opened a pack of baseball cards. It’s pretty big milestone for a guy who at times can be addicted to ripping packs and thumbing through new baseball cards. But I know that tough times are ahead as 2010 Topps baseball has already started to hit the market.

But what has made this 40-day journey easy on me is a bit of fantasy and reality. You see, about two weeks ago I bought my first 2010 fantasy baseball magazine, and just yesterday I purchased a second one just to give me a few different views on things. I’m currently involved in a pair of long-term keeper leagues with some friends, and over the last week I’ve managed to make some trades that have netted me Prince Fielder, Felix Hernandez and Jon Lester. Needless to say I am super excited about the 2010 season, even though my early start is going to make the next three months agonizing.

In terms of reality, my wife and I have booked a trip to the east coast in May which will lead us to two major destinations: New York and Boston.

The trip is to celebrate our fifth wedding anniversary as well as our 30th birthdays, all of which fall within a month of each other. This will be my first time to both cities. During our seven-day trip, we’re also making two stops that any baseball fan must make: Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park.

As a Red Sox fan, this is a dream come true. As it turns out we will watch the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium on May 17, and then two days later we’ll have the fortune of watching the Sox at home against the Minnesota Twins. For those counting, that is two games in three days at two of the most storied ball parks — well sort of. I kind of wish the Sox-Yankee game was at the old/original Yankee Stadium, but beggars can’t be choosers. I’m just happy to have the experience and to share it with my wife, who has been nothing but supportive in my desire to visit these parks, particularly Fenway.

These two items — fantasy baseball and our east cost trip — have left little time for me deal with baseball cards. I’ve not made any additions to my collection over the last month with the exception of my 1954 Topps Ted Williams. I’m actually trying to decrease the amount of stuff I have in the garage and reclaiming whatever money I can. (See eBay items here)

But as I noted earlier, tough times are ahead. Over the weekend I checked eBay to view some of the 2010 Topps cards and some of them are appealing to me, particularly the Red Sox stuff. So what am I to do?

If history has taught me anything it’s that the new base Topps set of every year sends collectors into a feeding frenzy for about three weeks for two major reasons. First off, it’s NEW baseball cards, not stuff we’ve been looking at for months or years. And secondly, we’re all feeling baseball withdrawal right now so in some way the release of the new Topps set is our way of welcoming in the new season, even if the players don’t start to report to spring training for another three weeks.

As these packs start to trickle into retail stores — where I do most of my shopping — I just need to remember that this urge to buy every pack on the shelf is temporary. It won’t hurt to buy a couple packs to celebrate the 2010 season, but there is no need to buy more than just a few. I think I am done with the idea of trying to build sets, and the abundance of 2007 Topps inserts sitting in my garage serve as a reminder as to what can happen when you buy way too much of a product that offers very little in return.

3 Comments »

No Laughing Matter: Former MLB Pitcher in Jail

Posted in Newspaperman with tags , , , , , , , , on January 20, 2010 by Newspaperman

With a wink, corny smile and a thumbs up, Sammy Stewart etched his place in cardboard collecting history. This 1988 Fleer Stewart card has always made me laugh. But it was not until recently that I tried to figure out a way to bring this card into the mainstream, maybe turn it into this hobby’s version of being Rick-Rolled. You know, maybe someone posts a link to some awesome card, only to have it led to this Stewart.

(Example: Sweet BABE RUTH CUT AUTO!)

Well, at least I thought it was funny.

What’s not so a laughing matter, though,  is Stewart’s story. Truth be told, I never followed Stewart one bit, even when he was with the Red Sox. The only thing I knew about him was this funky 1988 Fleer card, which I believe is his last card.

But when I set out to write this piece — with the intention of it being a complete joke — I learned that Stewart was a crack cocaine addict who sold his 1983 World Series ring for drugs, and in 2006 was serving a six-year jail sentence for being an habitual felon. See story here. (Yes, that is a REAL link to a Boston Globe story.)

Suffice it to say, not all stories turn out as nicely as Josh Hamilton’s fairytale. Here’s hoping that Stewart can turn his life around when he gets out.

2 Comments »

Next Entries »