Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Travis Snider is one bad looking dude.


With the Pirates acquiring Travis Snider, it caused me to recall his 2009 Topps rookie card (and Bowman). Travis was the youngest rookie to apear in the Series 1 set that year. He came up in late 2008, his rookie card did not get in the late 2008 sets. Remember 2008 was the same year Longoria and Jay Bruce made their major league debut. Snider was the early hot rookie in the 2009 set but quickly fizzled  out. But his cards did make him look like one big bad tough dude. (according to his rookie card he was 5'11 and 240lbs.) He looks more like someone from the WWE than the MLB. 

Monday, July 30, 2012

2012 Score football uses a slightly different card stock than previous editions

2012 Score Football uses a slightly different card stock from the 2011 Score Football set. For at least the last 4-5 years, Score Football, has used a sturdy rigid non glossy card stock. The 2011-12 NBA Hoops set used basically the same type of card stock. The 2012 Score Football set uses a slighty bendable less rigid card which is very similar to its 2010-11 Prestige basketball brand. The cards are non glossy but have a slight glossy feel because of the card stock. I feel this was a slight upgrade in card stock without an upgrade in price.

Sunday, July 29, 2012

A History of the Price of Baseball Card Sets from 1989 to the Present.

Since 1989, I have kept track of the price I paid for every card set since 1989.  Here we are going to compare a sample of the costs of the cards for the last 23 years. I did not keep track of the number of cards in each set but I think I can remember how many were in each set. (cpc = cents per card).

1989

I bought a Fleer and Donruss Baseball complete set (660) for $23.95 = 3.6 cpc

1990

I preordered a Upper Deck Factory BB set which I believe was 800 cards for $59.36 = 7.4 cpc

1991

I bought a Fleer Baseball set (660) for $26.45 = 4.0 cpc

1992

Bought a Fleer BB set (720) for $20.00 and a Donruss factory set (784) for $40.00 which yield cpc (2.7 and 5.1) respectively.

1993

I purchased a 1993 Donruss set (792) for $25.00 = 3.1 cpc. Also I bought another 1992 Donruss factory set but this time paid $12.50. The price of cards were in their free fall now.

1994

I paid $33.00 for a 1994 Donruss baseball set (660) = 5.0 cpc

1995

I bought a 1995 Fleer baseball set (600), through the mail for $49.95 = 8.3 cpc

1996

I paid 31.95 for series 1 and 2 for a 1996 Donruss set totaling 530 cards = 6.0 cpc

1997

I bought Series 1 of 1997 Donruss baseball (275 cards) for $10.00 = 3.6 cpc

1998

At a card show I paid $27.25 for a 1998 Topps set (503) cards which included Alex Rodriguez's first Topps card = 5.4 cpc

1999

I bought a 1999 Thunder set (300 cards) for $23.00 = 7.6 cpc

2000

I paid $20.00 for a Fleer Focus Baseball set (200) = 10.0 cpc

2001

I paid $10.00 for a Fleer Futures Baseball set (220) = 4.5 cpc

2006

I paid $38.51 for Topps Series 1, 2 and update set (1033 cards) = 3.7 cpc

2008

I paid $20.00 for a 2008 Topps Opening Day set (220 cards) and $21.97 for a 2008 Topps Chrome set (220 cards) = 9.5 cpc

2009

I paid $14.00 for 2008 Bowman and Bowman Draft baseball set (275 cards) $14.00 and $31.49 for 2008 Topps baseball set (660 cards) = 4.8 cpc

2010

I paid $17.49 (Topps chrome - 220 cards), $18.50 (Topps baseball - 660 cards), 17.99 (Topps T206 - 300 cards) = 4.5 cpc

2011

Bought Bowman Platinum 100 cards for $13.53 = 13.53 cpc (The most expensive baseball card set per card I ever bought)

2012

I bought Gypsy Queen ($17.31) and Bowman ($20.50) which are 630 total cards for a 6.0 cpc.

The price of cards have gone up and the number of cards in the set have gone down but the numbers are comparable.

I paid 6.0 cpc in 2012 and 1996. In 2010 I paid 4.5 cpc and in 1991 I paid 4.0 cpc.  They key difference is I buy complete sets, Obviously wax/boxes cost a whole lot more now.

Kohl's gets free advertsing on Greg Jennings 2012 Score Football Card.

This is kind of an unusual shot for a football card. You can see the word Kohls in the upper left hand corner of the scoreboard.

Damian Williams is in Steeler Country

There are some interesting back ground images in the 2012 Score football set and this is one of them.

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Omar Moreno (Come on Sweetie)

During the 1979 World Series, there were many Television shots of Omar Moreno;s wife shouting on encouragement to him with the words "Come on Sweetie". I don't believe she was miked but the near by cameraman was able to pick up her words. I think this was the first time television went into the stands to give a different angle on the game.

Here goes Omar in  a spring training game against the Cubs, wearing the classic Pirates uniform.

Friday, July 27, 2012

Starling "the Darling" Marte

While I really await the debut of his Bowman Rookie card in Bowman Draft. Hey I hope he gets in there. Here is Mr. Marte, on Bowman Platinum, who hit a home run on his first major league pitch last night. It looks like the Pirates will have their first winning season in 20 years .

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Score Football brings great value

Here are some recent sales (last 2 months) for Score football cards on ebay.

2012 RG3 photo variation - $79 and $29
2012 3 Andrew Luck hot rookies - $19.99
2011  (3) Cam Newton rookie cards (2 photo variations) - $49.99
2011 Jake Locker End Zone (# to 6)  - $50.00
2011 Score Factory Football set - $75.00
2011 Jake Locker Artist Proof (# to 32) - $24.99
2011 J J Watt Autograph - $21.50
2010 Sam Bradford Autograph  ( # to 10)- $199.00
2010 Peyton Manning Franchise (# to 5) - $100.00
2010 Factory Football Sets - $43, $45, $49
2009 Score Hobby Box - $28.00

It is a fun set to collect and with the Best Price out there.  You can get some great cards and you can put together or buy some great sets that hold their value. You also get a chance to at some high price cards. There can be a lot of pack ripping going on.

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Rick Miller #334

Rick Miller was a below average outfielder with the Angels and Red Sox. He was an above average fielder and a below average hitter. Though he did make a good baseball card here with his smile.

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Baseball Card Price Guide History: 1980 Topps Ricky Henderson

The last true only true rookie card of a Hall of Fame Player. Once 1981 came along all players began having at least 3 rookie cards and more through the years. How has the price fared through the years for this card.

In Baseball Card Magazine August 1985 the card value was listed ($3.60-6.00).

In Beckett Baseball February of 2005  the card value was listed ($30-60).

In Beckett Baseball April of 2011  the card value was listed ($40-80).

Last 2 Months on ebay - 361 sales for the average price of $18.48.
In the last two months on ebay there were a whopping 361 sales of this non-graded card. You should be able to easily pick up this card in very good condition for 15-20 bucks.

Friday, July 20, 2012

2012 Score Football is Live!!!!! on Ebay


Here are some images of the cards. I am not really a fan of full bleed cards but still these will be the football cards most fun to collect this year.

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Baseball Card Mystery: 1980 Topps Ron Leflore's eye brows.

This card has bothered me for about 32 years now. The mystery of this card is Ron Leflore's eyebrow. Ever since I saw this card back in 1980, I looked at Leflore's face and specifically his eyebrows and swear someone in the photo room touched them up. They may have also did something with his mustache. Are those really Ron Leflore's eyebrows or did someone back at Topps touch them up and paint them on.

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Reggie Jackson to Mickey Rivers: You can't even spell I.Q. if I spotted you the I

Or did Mickey Rivers say that to Reggie Jackson.  All I remember was that Reggie used to tell everyone how smart and how high of an IQ he had. Mickey Rivers though was one high energy player. And this card shows that energy with the mighty swing of his arms. This card just eludes energy.  Mike Trout, today,  kind of reminds me a little of Mickey but he seems to have more power and speed.

Sunday, July 15, 2012

My what a strange look you have on your face Ellis Valentine

Donruss picked this photo of Valentine for his card? I can't even distort my face like that. Not exactly a glamour shot. Who picked this photo? Nominated with every Dick Mossi card for ugly baseball card.

lance parrish

I present you Lance Parrish of the Detroit Tigers. Check out those fans in the stands. Not much to say except to say we have un upside 13 on the knob of his bat.

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Andre Thornton is wearing a turtle neck sweater on his card

The one time Expos prospect. Andre should know how to deal with the cold as it must have been a cold day when this was taken.

Mike Griffin

A nice cool in action card of Griffin at Wrigley field. Way is this card great because the subject is captured in the exact center of the photo. The player takes up the whole photo from the top of his cap to the bottom of his foot. Mike did not appear on a Donruss card again until 1989.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Baseball card Price Guide History - 1963 Topps Mickey Mantle

The final card we look at in this run of mid 1960s Mantle. It appears that the 1965 Topps beats out the 1963 Topps card for best recent value. Though there were less sold of the 1963 card. All the cards were selling below there Beckett values.
In Baseball Card Magazine August 1985 the card value was listed ($12.50-27.50)

In Beckett Baseball February of 2005  the card value was listed ($300-500)

In Beckett Baseball April of 2011  the card value was listed ($300-500)

Last Month on ebay - 49 sales for the average price of $131.47.

All the ebay sales were for ungraded cards.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

The Best Reggie Jackson Cards of All Time Numbers 1 through 3.

Reggie has been in the news of late. Has Reggie been banned from the Yankees. Well he was not banned here and there are no Yankee uniforms in the top 3. It is all A's baby.
 At Number 1 is his Kelloggs 3-D Super Star card. He is in his full glory, the appearance of the shades, coming off his MVP season, how the blue border design contrasts with his green and yellow uniform.
 Here comes Reggie busting through the Sporting News as an All-Star based on his 47 home runs he hit in 1969. I believe he had 37 by the All-Star break.
I was tempted to make this his number on card but you could not get it in packs. The Canseco card is a classic from this (classic wood grain design) set but I think Reggie's card is even better. I forgot he went back to the A's as number 44.

Monday, July 9, 2012

2012 Allen & Ginter Bret Lawrie breaks the Ginter Code

2012 Allen & Ginter is live before it should be live. Bret Lawrie is one of the top rookies in the A&G  set. But no Bryce Harper has made an appearence yet. Will his card be short printed.  That is a mystery yet to be solved.

The Best Reggie Jackson Cards of All Time Numbers 4 through 9.

At Number 9 is his Donruss 1982 card capturing Jackson in his classic swing

Number 8: is his 1978 Kellogs 3-D , I think it is the pose and the design that turns me on.
No 7: This is almost the same shot as 1982 Donruss, but the Topps 1984 design works better with Angel colors than Donruss 1982 works with Yankee colors
No 6: His World Series Glory

No 5: The classics early 1970s A's uniforms, on the Great 1971 Topps design, can't get any better than this .

No 4: The 1988 Fleer design works incredibly well with the A's and a 41 year old Reggie Jackson tipping his cap and walking off into the sunset on his last card. (He was not in 1988 Topps and Donruss - Score does not count because that was their first set.

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Baseball Card Price Guide History: 1964 Topps Mickey Mantle

The 1964 Topps design is one of my favorites and it has been used many times since by Topps in different formats. Most recently 1964. 1964 was also the Mick's last really good year.

In Baseball Card Magazine August 1985 the card value was listed ($9-20)

In Beckett Baseball February of 2005  the card value was listed ($200-350)

In Beckett Baseball April of 2011  the card value was listed ($250-350)

Last Month on ebay - 95 sales for the average price of $95.43.

For at least 30 years now of reviewing/tracking prices, the 1964 set always seemed to come in under in price compared to the 1965 set. I think it may have been more produced than the 1965 set. Though this Mantle card is number #50 came in the first series compared to the 1965.  All 95 sales on Ebay represented ungraded cards.

Baseball Card Price Guide History: 1965 Topps Mickey Mantle

The creme de le creme of card value players. Mantle's name is the Gold Standard (Sorry Panini). The 1965 Topps set is one of the best designed ever by Topps. His card is numbered 350 in the set.

In Baseball Card Magazine August 1985 the card value was listed ($11-24)

In Beckett Baseball February of 2005  the card value was listed ($300-500)

In Beckett Baseball April of 2011  the card value was listed ($300-600)

Last Month on ebay - 63 sales for the average price of $138.58.

Note: the 63 sales were for all non graded cards.  Also, Sports Card Magazine listed the card at $475 in the fall of 1998.

Bronx Bombers

The six foot six, Dave Winfield towers over Reggie Jackson but Jackson hit more than 100 home runs that Winfield. 1981 would be the only year both players played for the Yankees. For me, Dave Winfield was never a favorite, he just seem kind of bland. No one could say that about Reggie.

Rennie Stennett Seven for Seven

In 1975, as a Pittsburgh Pirate against the Chicago Cubs, Rennie went seven for seven in the Pirates 22-0 win against the Cubs. Rennie still seems to be smiling about that game.

Saturday, July 7, 2012

I am not the Mike Stanton that just went on the DL

There have been three Mike Stantons is the MLB.  Their was the Mike Stanton middle reliever that came up with the Braves in 1989 and became a star reliever with the Yankees when they won a few championships in the late 1990s. This Mike Stanton also was mentioned in the recent Roger Clemens steroid trial. There was a Mike Stanton who came up with the Marlins in 2010 but he has now changed his first name. This guy was the first Mike Stanton

Rick Bosetti #626

One of my favorite cards is his 1979 Topps Card, he was a post expansion Blue Jay coming on to them in 1978.  He provided 2 decent years for them in 1978 and 1979. He broke his arm in 1980 and that pretty much ended his career as a starter.

Hey I got my name on the back of my uniform


Duane Kuiper #198 and Rick Peters #155. O.K. we can not see the P on the back of Peters uniform but it is close. The fun thing about Peters card is all the people hanging out in the bleachers. Kuiper whose partner in crime was Tom Veryzer, was a no hit, no speed, no power, good field infielder on a lot of bad teams. At the end of 1981 he had 1 home run in 786 games. At that pace to break Barry Bonds home run record of 763, he would have to play 600,504 games.

Fred Patek #241

The craziest things about Patek is that he once hit 3 home runs in a game (he was only 5'6) and in 1971 he finished 6th in MVP voting with 6 HR-36 RBI and .267 BAT on a suprising Royals team that won 85 games. He never played after 1981.

Don Baylor #493

Not a great photo, the card is so dark that you really can not make out the features on Don Baylor's face. He stole 52 bases on the 1976 Oakland A's which stole 341 bases (the numbers are all from my memory)

Tom Veryzer #450

My what big eyes you have. Tom was a no power, no speed, not hit, good field shortstop on a lot of bad teams. Not sure what staduim that is in the back ground.

The Human Rain Delay

Mike Hargrove #389. That was Mike's nickname when he was playing because of all the time he took between pitches. For all of the walks that he took, he was not that good of a player. At age 30 he was traded by the Indians for Paul Dade. If you get traded for Paul Dade, you can't be that good.

Marty Bystrom #93

Marty was a big hero on the 1980 World Champion Philadelphia Phillies. We was 5-0 with a 1.50 ERA in 6 games.  He was unbeaten in September after being recalled from the minors. He looks kind of angry here.

John Urrea #313

One thing that the 1982 Donruss cards do not tell you is where were the players born. Not that John was not born in the U.S. but I wonder if he was Mexican. Here is a wearing the cool yellow Padres uniform in Wrigley Field.

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Summer in the City

Hot town summer in the city,  Back of my neck getting dirt and gritty. This song by the Lovin' Spoonful was before my time but every time I think of a hot summer day,  this song comes to mind. It is going to be 99 degrees in the City tomorrow and I will probably be humming this song while I am on the bus
all the way to work  

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Tony Perez #408

I just love looking at Tony's stats over the years. He was Mr. Consistency. Take a look (HR-RBI-BAT-WINS).

1967 (26-102-.290) 87 wins
1968 (18-92-.282) 83 wins
1969 (37-122-.294) 89 wins
1970 (40-129-.317) 102 wins
1971 (25-91-.269) 79 wins
1972 (21-90-.283) 95 wins
1973 (27-101-.314) 99 wins
1974 (28-101.265) 98 wins
1975 (20-109-.282) 108 wins
1976 (19-91-.260) 102 wins
1977 (19-91-.283) 75 wins up from 55 wins Expos
1978 (14-78-.290) 76 wins
1979 (13-73-.270) 95 wins
1980 (25-105-.275) 83 wins

This guy was a run producer who led his teams to victory. 1978 was the only year his RBI and team Win total was below 80.   This is a niced posed shot of Tony

Three Twins



Pete Redfern, Al Williams, Fernando Arroyo are three medicore Minnesota Twins pitchers who all had posed spring training shots in the 1982 Donruss set. If I would rate them, I would say Arroyo's is the best, then Redfern and then Williams. I would base that on there backgrounds. I like the leaning Arroyo because his shot gets a lot of trees in the background. Redfern is the old classic pitching motion pose. Williams is the most boring but at least you can catch some trees over his shoulder.

Born of the Fourth of July

We all know the story about the Flag saving Rick Monday. Monday had a great year in 1976 hitting 32 Home Runs. Great card photo taken at Wrigley Field.

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Voice of the Collector Has Spoken and it is Basketball Cards

VOTC has a great post about the best value in sports cards in the last 10 years. And Basketball is where it is at.  8 of the top 25 best values involves Topps Basketball. The 2008-09 Topps Treasury BK set is one of my favorites and it is 16th on the list.

Luis Tiant make a guest appearance on Mike Easler 1982 Fleer Card

Yes that is Luis Tiant in the background in the dugout. On July 3, 1968, Tiant struck out 19 Twins

I'm not Whitney Houston ex-husband

nor am I the former president of the American League. The one time prospect of the New York Yankee's Bobby Brown. Brown was not much of a prospect as he would turn 28 in 1982.  He is looking very stoic here.