Before they were rookies : Dave Justice

So what do you do when its so easy to get a rookie card thats massed produced? You go and look for something more rare or scarce. In this case Dave Justice came into the league in 1990. Leaf / Donruss, Topps and Upper Deck all had printed millions of Dave Justice's cards.

Besides his 1990 Topps Tiffany card in gem mint condition, Dave Justice's cards are just not worth much. Besides the ones stated the only other one that comes close is the 1994 SP Holoview Red      Die-Cut card. But, this card is nowhere near his rookie year, not to mention that the card is considered an insert.

So what do you do when you are a Dave Justice fan or like a challenge? Well as my previous blogs has stated, I go looking for pre-rookie cards, Minor League Baseball Cards.

Here I have a 1986 Dave Justice Sumter Braves MiLB card issued by ProCards. Now unlike other players, for some reason Dave Justice never had another MiLB card which leaves only one to choose from unless I'm wrong. This card was issued four years before his rookie year, which is quite a time lapse. Also, this card is not expensive even in gem mint grade. A typical team set would set you back twenty dollars. This specimen of a gem mint example set me back a total of twenty dollars excluding shipping.

More 2013 Allen and Ginter Retail Blasters

It seems I am getting hooked on this years Allen and Ginter. Once again I passed by a Target next to me and found two more blasters. The funny thing is, someone was there before me and had one in his hand reading the box. I patiently waited (at least thats how I appeared to be :) ) to see if he wanted it. But when he put the box back I did not hesitate and grabbed both blasters.

Not to say I had the greatest pulls, but sometimes you just have to buy the product. So here is what I pulled out of two boxes. One Will Middlebrooks No Number Mini and one Vida Blue framed autograph.

Before they were rookies : Jeff Bagwell

Since I began collecting baseball cards I have always been interested in rookies. I guess it was the fad back then but then again its still popular today. Growing up in the 80's was a time you get baseball cards for fun rather than for investment. The grades of the cards was not important, kids stuck cards in their bike spokes or flipped them on the floor like playing cards. Some even put them in their pockets without a top loader... the horror.

But that was back then and now we are in a new era of baseball card collecting where every single detail is important. Corners, edges, centering and surface are important in getting your moneys worth. No longer are collectors touching, feeling or handling their cards.

So like I said, I have always been interested in players from the 80's and 90's. But most of these cards are not worth much even in high grades which is perfect for the collector. If you liked a certain player most of their cards were produced in the thousands if not millions which provided easy pickings. Knowing me though, I always like a challenge.

Enter MiLB, Minor League Baseball cards or small market produced cards. Many of these sets were promotional, regional or just issued in small quantities by a small company. Many of the players in the sets are not known since they never made it to the MLB level. But how about the ones that does?

So here we have a Jeff Bagwell P&L Promotion card issued in 1988 three years before his 1991 Topps rookie card. Its not rare by any means but they are produced less then a Topps rookie card. And the fact that its graded gem mint doesn't make this card expensive. In gem mint condition this card can be bought for twenty dollars, about the price of a bowman chrome autographed rookie. But yet, Jeff Bagwell is a star already, so there is no need to wait.

2013 Allen and Ginter Retail Blasters

So once again, I decided to get some retail boxes. My excuse is trying to get in early on the product. Though I have always liked Allen and Ginter I have never bought any boxes from previous years, well this year will be a bit different. So I passed by Target once again to see if they had any in stock and there was four blasters.

These are the results. Byamba framed relic (sumo wrestling), Scott Hamilton framed relic (figure skating) and a Jim Palmer mini no number on back SP. It also seems that its fate I'm not getting a Yasiel Puig card, at least not yet.

2013 Bowman Platinum Retail Edition

Although I prefer buying single cards online, sometimes I still buy boxes of cards. The most recent buy is Bowman Platinum retail which I have had decent luck with and for some reason I always kind-of-liked if that makes any sense.

So after two blaster boxes and two value packs which equals six packs, I ended pulling nothing special. The best card was probably a Bryce Harper gold parallel, I did not get a Yasiel Puig. Hoping to get something better I passed by the Target again and bought another 4 value packs. The second time was a charm, though there was nothing spectacular I did pull some decent cards.

Here are the notable cards I got. Nate Roberts autograph, Orlando Calixte autograph, Joc Pederson green refractor numbered out of 399 and a Blue Sapphire Refractor of Ryan Braun. But still no Yasiel Puig.

Now it probably makes more sense to buy a hobby box instead of all this retail stuff. But I keep telling myself I like the purple refractors.

Checkoutmycards.com, Their Changes and Their Ways of Doing Business

Lately it seems that Checkoutmycards.com the website that acts as a middlemen for sports cards sellers are implementing new rules. For anybody that collects baseball, basketball or whatever sports cards they should know about this site by now.
So recently they have decided the information they have been giving out from Beckett should no longer be free. I understand that nothing in life is free except for the garbage on the streets. I also understand that Checkoutmycards.com is a business that needs to make money.
I also understand that both Beckett and COMC are businesses that needs to make money and that when you're a businessman your going to try and maximize your profits. I really do believe that Beckett is trying to force COMC to pay them for the rights to use the information, nothing wrong with that, as I have said before, nothing is free.
What I don't understand is why is COMC catering to a business that is now considered obsolete? Not too many collectors use Beckett's prices as the means to value a card. The value of a card is how much it has sold for and that is usually found on ebay. Also the news of implementing the rules to charge their customers to pay up for this information has led to a huge fiasco on their blog.
There a few things that COMC needs to understand. Nowadays there are not too many options in selling and buying sports cards online. COMC and eBay are the two largest companies, there is no need for Beckett to get involved.
Another thing COMC needs to understand. People will always bitch, whine and complain. You can never satisfy everyone and you know what? Let them bitch, whine and complain. As I've stated before there are really only two options. Sell on eBay and deal with all the deadbeat bidders which eBay loves and cradles. Or deal with COMC and their rules and fees.
Now COMC has claimed that they're trying to create a database for previous sales. Why are they creating more work and headaches for themselves? Not to mention they are opening a huge can of worms. The easiest solution in my mind is this. Get rid of Beckett once and for all and free yourselves from their contract or blackmailing
COMC has to grow as a company and throw out that philosophy that they can satisfy all collectors. Its never going to happen. They really think the buyers and sellers that use their site really loves them? Even though they're using COMC a lot of users still don't like them, what does that tell you?
Now you can call me a pessimistic SOB, but this is what I truly believe in. You can never satisfy all collectors, you can never satisfy all people on this earth. If COMC wants to implement rules/ fees just do it. eBay has grown into a huge company, do you see them catering to people that whine and cry? They don't, people hate them, but you know what? People still use eBay.
So to COMC my conclusions is this. Grow a pair of you know what and stop bending over backwards for everyone. Remember there are only two options to buy and sell sports cards. COMC and eBay.

Are rookie cards killing or helping the baseball card hobby?

Rookie cards as we all know are currently dead. The MLB no longer allows a company to label first year cards as rookies since technically they are pictured in a minor league uniform. But this is old news, this happened a few years back and Topps as we know have changed their Bowman product to bypass this. We now see cards as prospects and first year cards, but is this helping or is this making the hobby worse?
So I'm trying to figure out exactly how this works. A drafted player has one card labeled prospect and another labeled first year. Then they have another prospect card that is autographed and then another first year card that is autographed. Seems like Topps has found a loophole in the MLB license agreement or is it that MLB and Topps are working out a special deal?
Well okay, enough with the questions. I have stated before that there are too many cards of certain players already. We have players with dwindling ERAs and batting averages, but now we have players with non-existant stats, wonderful. Now I understand that Topps and other companies are a business and must find ways to make a profit. But how about doing it in a way that won't damage the hobby or confuse the heck out of us collectors?
I think this hobby is turning more and more towards an adults only thing. Seldom do I see a collector chasing a prospect card because they are on his favorite team. And even rarer do I see a collector buying a first year card because he is a huge fan and how can they be when they never heard of said player? This hobby is turning more into an investment form.
There are way too many people that buys tons of prospect cards hoping to make money on them. Gone are the days of a collector holding on to every player on their favorite team. Gone are the collectors that wants one card ever made of their favorite player. But that happened when they released one-of-ones and cards serial numbered to five. I will say it again this hobby is a mess and I don't see it improving anytime soon. There are still good money to be made but the word collecting and baseball cards, I believe don't really exist anymore.

Whatever happened too.... ?

When you look through your baseball card collection, have you ever wondered. Whatever happened to this player? They were highly touted as top prospects, five tool players and #1 draft pick. But it has been 6 years and they are nowhere to be found, there career is invisible and that rookie card you paid $40 for is now selling for 99 cents, if even.

Let me throw a few names out there. Andy Marte, Chris Lubanski, Matt Bush, Delmon Young... ok so maybe Young could be an exception, at least he is playing in the MLB. But have you checked his bowman chrome rookie card? What was once a $60 card is now selling for $10. Thats a pretty big drop considering Young had a pretty good year for the Tigers in 2011.

But the other players listed have disappeared from the radar. They have either struggled in the minors or have been arrested one too many times. Products like Bowman Chrome are great to buy because you never know when you might get the next Albert Pujols. But then again if you think about it Pujols' rookie card was in 2001. That was 11 years ago, it has been 11 years since we had a breakout player like that. You could argue about players like Jason Heyward but even he has been struggling in 2011 and his cards have dropped considerably in value as well. Sometimes it feels like playing the lottery when choosing which prospects to buy. You might get lucky, but you might also get Matt Bushwhacked.

The future of autographs in baseball cards

So whats the future of the baseball card hobby? Will the cards we have now go up in value? Will new collectors flock to get that new shiny baseball cards? Or perhaps nobody will care anymore and baseball cards will become a thing of the past only to be forgotten?

I hope that last one won't come true but sometimes I feel we are on the verge. It seems that every time you turn around another shiny card of the same player is been produced. Players like Albert Pujols, Derek Jeter and other stars are signing cards left and right. Its watering down the collectibility of baseball cards. I guess you can also say the same thing about any other sports cards.

So here is what I think is going to happen in the future. Collectors who collects cards by players will start seeing a softer market on their cards. Every time a set is made we have at least one autographed card in that set dedicated to a player if not more. Now baseball card companies produces multitudes of products each year. If this process is repeated we have at least twenty autographs per player, per year.

Now for the people who buys to resell cards I think now might be the time to abandon ship. Not to say there is no money to be made but if older cards keep dropping in value your really just flushing your money down the toilet. Cards from years ago unless severely short printed will probably drop tremendously in value. Now of course there are certain players who just don't sign much and their cards are more expensive. Having said that, this could be an insight and a possible solution to fix the future of our hobby.

When something is limited it makes it more collectible. There is a reason why cards from the 90's are not worth the paper they are printed on. Its because it was overprinted and soon the autographed card market might follow suit. So the simple solution would be to limit the amount of autographed cards.

Perhaps they should limit each player to only one autograph per set per year. I can understand rookies having having multiple autographs across each product since they're still unproven. But the overabundance of not only star player autographs are killing the hobby. I don't mind a great player signing cards but sometimes enough is enough. And we have absolutely no need for players who are doing horrible in the major leagues to sign filler cards.

2010 Bowman Platinum Retail Blaster Boxes

So I've been on a buying spree after seeing getting some 2011 Bowman Platinum. I was passing by retail stores looking for boxes, and you may be wondering why I'm buying retail. Well, with almost no sports card stores left in the NYC area the only options I have is either online or retail.

So I walked into Toys'R'us and looked at their small selection of cards. This was a very small Toys'R'us and their selection was even smaller then other locations. But to my surprise they had two 2010 Bowman Platinum blaster boxes which was a year old already. Needless to say, I bought both of them.

Well the first box yielded nothing, and I was hoping I would at least get an autograph in my second box. Halfway through my second box I pulled an autograph of Miguel Sano. Needless to say, I was pretty happy getting not only an autograph but one of a pretty good prospect.

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.

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.

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.

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".

Long Wait

You may be asking what is so special about this card that prompts me to write about it? Well it's just a short story about my collecting habits. You see I have a weakness for triple autographed baseball cards.

These three players Cody Ross, Josh Willingham and Jeremy Hermida are not my favorite players. They are baseball players that just happened to sign this card. Well I got this card in the mail today to my surprise a big surprise I may add.

Well you see I bought this card off ebay in 2007. I never got the card and just gave up on it. I figured it was a small loss and I was not going to make a big deal out of it. Surely I was not going to lose sleep over a $10 baseball card.

The other side of this story is also how the USPS works, very, very slow. Well at least I got my card, after three years of waiting.

Not sure if it's visible but the date on the stamp is printed Feb. 26. '07

Busting old Wax

Well it's only been a few days since I busted some wax but I've decided to try my luck again. Passing by a Sports Authority by where I live I saw two blaster boxes of 2007 Bowman Heritage. And since it was only $10 I decided to see how it was. Here is what happened.
First box yielded two Mickey Mantle cards. One regular and one short print. A Joba Chamberlain rookie and a Corey Koskie game used bat. Along with some Rainbow cards.
Second box got me some more Rainbow cards. Some notable names were Philip Hughes and Alex Gordon. A Tim Lincecum rookie. And a Fernando Martinez Prospect card.
All in all it was alright. Nothing spectacular but not bad either. And since it was only $10 each I can't really complain.

A trip to Cooperstown Hall of Fame reveals an A-Rod Auto

Here is a little story I like to share with everyone. A few days ago I decided to take a trip with my father to the Cooperstown Baseball Hall of Fame Museum. Being that we live in downtown New York it was a trip we had to plan. I had my doubts about going since it was a long drive plus overnight stay just to see a museum. But at the end I decided to go since I am an avid baseball fan.
The museum was awesome. Showing everything from Babe Ruth's jersey and bat to Dice-K's Japanese jersey. It was also a lifetime experience showing me the history of baseball as well.
To make a long story short. I passed over a few hobby shops after the visit. A few uneventful stores later I passed by a store called Legends are Forever. A pile of boxes to the side of the store attracted my attention. Upon further inspection I saw a few boxes I liked on clearance. It was one rack pack box of 2007 and two boxes of 2006 Topps series 2. I decided to get the two 2006 Topps since I was drawing a blank on the 2007 Topps.
It took me five hours to get home and by that time I was dead tired. Not wanting to stay up longer I decided to open one box and keep one for later. In the middle of the box I saw a nice green autographed card. Not knowing who it was yet I slowly pulled the card out. And there it was, an Alex Rodriguez Topps series 2 auto, short printed to 50. It took me awhile to recover and then I saw the odds on the rack pack, odds of Group A auto 1:60,000. What about the other box? It's still there waiting for me to open it.
This proves a few theories in life such as "Being in the right place at the right time". Nonetheless that one decision made my day, and probably a few days afterward too.

And here is the card, in all it's glory.

Why can't Baseball Cards go Green?

We see it everywhere now, every company is going green and Eco friendly. So why can't baseball cards?
I'm saying this because I see countless sports cards of no name and scrub players been made in every product. Don't they need to use paper to make these cards? Don't they also need plastic and whatever else to create those flashy inserts? I have not heard of any company stating "We use 98% recycled products" on their baseball cards. Sure we see it on the boxes that holds the cards but they can do so much more.
Better yet why can't companies give us collectors the incentive of sending unwanted cards back so they can recycle it for future uses. Mostly products from the mid 80's and mid 90's are only good for fire fuel. And on top of that they should cut down on player selection in their products. Nobody wants a player that has a lifetime batting average of .180. No we are not fans of garbage players and we surely don't need something we don't care about to take up more space.
Just the other day I saw a Burger King using a panel that gives energy every time a car drives over it. So I'm going to ask again, why can't company like Topps, Upper Deck and whomever else that makes sports cards go green?

High end vs. Low end Cards

Here is a list of boxes to bust. Just don't expect it to be anything high end. I think I've learned my lesson in that. After busting countless boxes of high end stuff and pulling cards that resell for $10 and $15 I've decided to buy only the lower end boxes. Why you ask? Well think about it this way, say you spend $150 on a box of cards and pull a no name player that sells for $10. How does that make you feel? Want to lie down on the couch and talk about it?
Now say you spend $50 on a box of cards and pull a no name player that sells for $10. See the difference?
Sure there is always a chance that you might pull something great that sells for ten times the amount of a box. How rare is that? If I was going to be that lucky, I'd rather play the mega million everyday. The payout would be much much much more.
Now say you do pull a nice card out of a high end product. And it re sells for twice the amount of a box. ( I say twice because nowadays even a nice autographed card won't sell for much) You are basically getting your money back and another box with two base cards. But say you spend only $50 and get a card that sells for $100. Not only are you making your money back you will probably get 143 base cards including inserts. Get the big picture yet. You pay less but end up getting more.
Now I understand that not everybody is out to collect cards. Some people want to make money out of the hobby. But for the true collectors out there, think before you burn your money.

Washington Nationals sign Stephen Strasburg

So Stephen Strasburg has signed with the Washington Nationals. I'm happy to see that this is finally over with. Now both the Nationals and Strasbrug could go on with their lives. Now on to reality, Strasburg made it seemed like it was so hard to accept a contract worth over $15 million for four years.

This is a quote from ESPN.com
"It feels awesome. I got a little nervous there for a while that it might not happen, but I feel very blessed," Strasburg told ESPN's Pedro Gomez. "I'm not sure of the plan right now. They said they'd bring me up for the media. They said to take my time to get ready. It's an amazing feeling. I really wasn't sure if it was going to happen, but I'm glad it did."

Yeah I bet he was real nervous counting his money with Scott Boras. Why can't an average joe like us have something like this fall on our laps? Imagine our boss saying "here is $3 million for the year for that superb prensentation".
I guess I just don't understand MLB baseball teams sometimes. I know they are hoping that Strasburg will make it big on his debut. And that he possibly helps the Nationals make that money back with tickets and jersey sales. But little do they notice that we as fans are sick of seeing this over and over again.
They throw all this money at an unproven player. Granted he did great in the Minor Leagues but last time I heard we are still going through a recession. Throwing all this money at one player is a huge risk for any team. Do teams learn from history? A few names come to mind when I see stuff like this happen, Todd Van Poppel, Matt Bush, Luke Hochevar and many others.
I hope the best for the Nationals and Strasburg. But I bet there are thousands of fans waiting to say "I told you so" to the Washington Nationals.