Archive for Beckett

Check Out My Cards, Yo!

Posted in Newspaperman with tags , , on January 30, 2011 by Cardboard Icons

I realize I’m a bit behind on this card trend,but I am loving the idea of CheckOutMyCards.com.   Initially I thought this was just another site offering incomplete and mediocre services to collectors while needling them for nickels and dimes here and there.  But the more I thought about it and discussed it with other collectors, the more intriguing it has become.

This is the future of our hobby.

What they’ve done is create a digital market for our physical sports cards.  Sure, eBay sort of offered the same thing, but not like this.  For a fee, the company scans and stores your cards, and then manages the inventory.  It’s pretty genius if you ask me.

For years I’ve been wanting my collection organized in a fashion that I could sort through them simply by clicking the buttons on my mouse.  And to make matters better, once the cards have been uploaded to the site, they are readily available to other collectors for cash transactions.  No more of me spending hours upon hours scanning and making lists.  For a minimal fee, they’re doing it all for me.

And lastly, they’re kind of making Beckett relevant again.  Love ‘em or hate ‘em, Beckett has been a integral part of the hobby, primarily for the price guide.  The site integrates the Beckett Price Guide, which I think is another genius idea.  Does the value shown really mean anything?  Not really, but it incorporates the idea of the price guide, which can’t hurt because the seller and buyers are the ones really creating the value of the card.

Anyway, the first 200 cards I submitted to the site are now live.  You can check them out my clicking the logo at the top of this post, or by clicking here. Another 500 cards should be up by the third week of February.

Organizing a collection can be a life-long journey

Posted in Newspaperman with tags , , , , on June 24, 2010 by Cardboard Icons

For nearly as long as I can remember, I have always sought ways to keep my collection organized and cataloged. And for just as long I have failed.

I began collecting at age 7, when prices of packs were a mere quarter. And like many of you, the gum WAS a big draw to the product.

Shortly after I began accumulating these cards, I started tabulating them on a piece of paper. Add naturally that only lasted a short while as I often traded cards with friends and keeping track of them was a nightmare. And of course I was 7 years old at the time, so you know I lost my list somewhere.

I digress. So through the years I tried over and over again to replicate this catalog process. Each time I failed.

And then in 2000 I thought I bought the greatest product known to mankind: the Beckett Collector Connection.

It was a novel idea — to me anyway — to have a computer program where I could maintain my collection. Sure I had typed out Microsoft Word lists a dozen times, but this program looked nothing like that I had ever seen before.

So one day while searching for blasters at a Toys R Us, I decided it a good idea to pay the $20 for a copy of the program and finally get my stuff in order. Yeah, it didn’t work to well.

The program was/is essentially is a spreadsheet format in which you had to input information. At the time I remember what a great idea it would have been if the program actually had all of the cards ever created and allowed you to select what it was that you owned.

A few years later this dream actually came true as Beckett’s website offered this same service free of charge — and like the other program I tried it … and it didn’t work too well for me.

So here I am, now in 2010, still searching for a way to catalog my collection. I keep going back and forth on using a spreadsheet or just sucking it up and using the Beckett system, which only works for me part of the time depending on how often the server decides to time out on me.

Anyone have ideas?

Another reason to have your cards slabbed by BGS

Posted in Newspaperman with tags , , , , , , , , on March 15, 2010 by Cardboard Icons

Like it or not, your baseball cards were meant to be handled. Whether it be by you, your wife or your kids, they are best enjoyed when they are in someone hands, not in some dark box. So what better way to ensure the protection of your cards than to have them in a protective holder.

I own cards graded by lots of companies — particularly PSA, SGC and BGS, but for my dollar, the best holders by far are offered by Beckett.

If this 1955 Topps Sandy Koufax rookie were in any other holder, there is no chance I’d let me 14-month-old kid handle it. What makes me really happy about the card being slabbed is knowing that when she is older, we both can handle the cards while I teach her a thing or two about the hobby and sport.

Forget 2009 Topps 206, let’s see the real thing!

Posted in Newspaperman with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 9, 2009 by Cardboard Icons

I’ve been on a binge lately with 2009 Topps 206. The reason I love these cards so much is because they remind me of the real deal for 100 years ago.

Fortunately, I own two copies of the original cards, two of the biggest stars of the period, Christy Mathewson and Nap LaJoie. I received these cards back from Beckett Grading on Tuesday and they are even nicer than they were two weeks ago when I cracked them from their less-superior PSA and SGC cases. The Mathewson is a Sweet Caporal back while the LaJoie features the more common Piedmont back, a design Topps used for the common backs for its 2009 minis. I do have a question for Topps though: Is the company looking to produce this set again in 2010? The original T-206s were distributed in 1909 AND 1911.

My Winning Package from Beckett (part 2)

Posted in Newspaperman with tags , , , , , on December 2, 2009 by Cardboard Icons

As you are well aware, Beckett offers contests every Friday in which they give away a ton of collectibles every week. As much as people say they dislike Beckett, there certainly is no shortage of people casting their entries for the cards, no matter the prize. My feelings about Beckett are a little different that most of the prominent bloggers: I don’t hate Beckett (or the employees), and to some degree I find the magazine still useful, albeit not on the level it was a decade or so ago. But that is beside the point.

Two weeks ago I actually one of the Free Stuff Friday contests and the package arrived early this week; it contained a 08-09 Hot Prospects auto 3-color patch /399 of Marreese Speights, and a 09-10 SP Game-Used dual patch card /99 of Ben Wallace and Brian Cardinal. The Wallace is a single color patch, while the Cardinal is a 3-color, worn during his days with the Grizzlies. Anyhow, I am not a basketball collector so I am looking to turn these for the best baseball offer. Interested? Leave an offer in the comments section below.

Big thanks again to Beckett for the items. Keep the contests coming, the collectors love them.

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