Friday, October 21, 2011

Who said there was nothing good in retail boxes?

So we've all heard the saying when it comes to buying baseball cards. "If it's not hobby, it's not worth getting." Well I know that retail packs and boxes don't guarantee anything. And even when they do insert something into retail packs it's extremely hard to get. But to those of you who actually read my blog (I know, I can hear the crickets in here) retail stuff is no that bad. Case in point I have pulled an Alex Rodriguez autograph card out of a box. The odds of that card been in there was an astronomical ratio.
Well lately I have been buying up some retail products again. 2011 Bowman Platinum, its not the greatest product but there are chock full of rookies in it. Nothing is guaranteed so when anything nice comes out of it it makes you feel much better.
In about a months time I ended up buying four blaster boxes and four rack packs. Here are some of the hits that came out.


Plus a Alex White autograph, one Bryce Harper rookie and one Bryce Harper Xfractor.

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Young baseball card collectors and their vintage collections.

I often hear new collectors talk about vintage baseball cards. They start talking about rookies, second year card, what to buy and grades of cards. Then they post the years of the cards they were talking about and... it appears to be cards from the 80's. When this happens I don't know whether to laugh or feel old.
To a young collector I suppose cards from the late 70's and on are considered vintage. But to the more advanced collectors we know that vintage means cards before the 80's. And its funny to hear a collector refer to their vintage collection when you know the oldest card they have is a 1982 Cal Ripken Topps.
I don't mean to rain down despair on the young collectors but vintage is usually older than that. When a collector starts speaking in codes like t206, Sweet Caporal or Goudey then you know you've hit the advanced mark. I do welcome young collectors to collect vintage as well as modern cards. Vintage cards teach us the history of baseball and usually has an older generation feel, if that sounds right.

Friday, October 7, 2011

A dream fulfilled by a baseball card

Every kid who is into baseball cards have that hero they admire. Every kid who got into baseball cards have that one card they have always wanted. They don't realize the sticker price on that baseball card they want so badly so when they hear their mother's reply in shock "no way are you spending that much money on a baseball card" their heart sinks a little.
They dream of owning that baseball card one day, they dream about that player. So they collect the modern cards of their heroes and work backwards hoping that when they grow up they can afford the one their parents said no to. Welcome to my dream card


A 1968 Topps Nolan Ryan rookie card.
No its not the most expensive card in all of baseball card history. But its my hero, I grew up idolizing Nolan Ryan, the ruggedness, the toughness and the way he pitched. This was a man that threw fastballs in the high 90's towards the end of his career, had nearly 6,000 strikeouts and was not afraid to go out and beat the crap out of Robin Ventura.
This is my dream card, and after nearly 20 years of baseball card collecting I can proudly say. I own a Nolan Ryan rookie card. Maybe one day I will get an upgrade of it but right now I'm satisfied with my card.

Saturday, October 1, 2011

The over abundance of game used products

Baseball cards have always been a printed media for people to collect. It all started out on the back of tobacco products from the early years. Children and adults collected the cards for the love of baseball. Through the years companies like Topps and Leaf have produced basic plain baseball cards with the same assorted problems. Awfully cut, misprinted and/ or mis-aligned cards that we loved. Then Upper Deck came in and introduced the use of Game Used products. These instantly became a new trend and every company jumped on the bandwagon. But at what cost to the hobby?
Game Used cards are no longer worth the cardboard they're inserted into anymore. Collectors throw these around like garbage mainly due to an abundance of jerseys, bats, caps and scrub players. It's not bad enough that game used cards are over produced, companies like Topps, Upper Deck and the such no longer give us game used equipments anymore. These are now called Event worn. So exactly what does that mean? the player touched the equipment for an exact 0.2 nano seconds. Thats whats game used now, technically anything can be event touched. A pen, paper, part of their car or even an encapsulated air bubble that they breathed out can be made into a card.
When will this madness end? Sometimes it might be better to try to improve a product by its core base rather than fancying up the extra bonuses. I would like to see MLB come up with a clause that does not allow any so called game used product to be produced in one year. Unfortunately I think the collectors would go on strike and make all the baseball card producers go bankrupt. But seriously we all need to look back on the history of baseball cards and learn the true meaning of "baseball card".