Prediction Cards And Monday Question Day

The die is cast, the teams have been selected and in 2 weeks we will see who will become the NFL Champion at Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta on February 3rd. The boxes for Sports Card Super Bowl IX are in my hand and I am ready to let the sports cards do the talking.

This year I went with three mega boxes; 2018 Panini Playoff, 2018 Panini Prizm and 2018 Panini Absolute. 19 packs, 140 cards (including 3 autos and 3 relics) will predict if the Patriots will add a sixth title or if the Rams will win their second. Find out 2/3/19 to see what the cards predict

Since it is Monday Question Day, I will add a random question.

Does anyone know the odds for both MLB and NFL having a Boston/LA matchup playing for the Championship? Will we see Celtics/Lakers and Bruins/Kings championship series in NBA and NHL?

I don't know, I am honestly wondering if anyone crunched the numbers.

Monday Question Day- Is The Dude Really There?

Is it me or does it look like Topps attempted to airbrush out the guy behind Mickey Mantle in this 1957 Topps card?

I guess this would be my Laurel / Yanny moment. I have looked closely at the image in Photoshop and either it was a really bad choice of clothing that day for the guy that matched the background or Topps wanted only Mickey showing.

Black Friday Poll

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and the deals and sales will be showing up everywhere. A quick question to buyers;

Do you look forward to box sales from the card companies, Blowout, Dave & Adams, etc.?

Or

Do you look forward to individual card sales from eBay, COMC, etc.?  

I don’t open boxes so I look forward to the individual card sales and the specials from COMC, not to mention their free shipping. They offer free promotions for sellers too over three days, I just set up my promotions for Black Friday.

Monday Question Day- Traders?

Today is question day:

Do you consider yourself to be a trader (trade with other collectors)?

I usually do a couple of trades a year but I know that there are people who trade regularly and when I see these posts I think “Damn, I need to do more trades”. I think my issue is that I am rather shy in real life so I find it hard to reach out to people.

Monday Question Day

Today is question day:

Is there a type of card you will not pick up for your collection?

I have a couple of things that I do not like to include in my collection for assorted reasons. I do not like modern day mini cards or over-sized cards, too much of a pain to display or organize because of size compared to other cards in the set. I do not like medallions, commemorative coins/tokens, stamps or most manufactured relics either. These are just an attempt to add value to a release, which they don’t really, and they are usually significantly larger than a standard card so they don’t fit in binders. 

Does His Smile Look Right?

I do not own these cards, but how would you feel about opening a box of Leaf Trinity Baseball and pulling a Nolan Jones or Yu-Cheng Chang jumbo patch autograph card but Chief Wahoo’s face is upside down?

Random Question About Wacky Packages

 Just a quick question today.

With the release of 2016 Topps Wacky Packages are you interested in adding your team’s cards?

 

 

Random Championship Question

Just a random question today:

With the Royals winning the World Series it got me thinking

If your team makes it to back to back championship game/series of their sport (and they could only win once) would you rather your team win the first game/series or second game/series?

For example; the Royals in the 2014 & 2015 World Series losing in 2014 and winning in 2015 while the Seahawks flipped it winning Super Bowl 48 and losing Super Bowl 49.

Would You Could You?

Just a random question today.

Have you ever considered selling off a player collection to start collecting a different player? How about selling off your entire collection?

 

I have a little over 500 Ken Griffey Jr. cards and I am sure if I was to sell them off (not that I am planning to sell them) I could most likely purchase every Jay Buhner card available and still have money left over to work on my Steve Largent collection.

This image came from Google images, it is not my stack of Griffey cards. My OCD would never allow me to drop the cards in a haphazard way even for a photo op.

Time For A "Would You?"

Last week a 1993 SP Derek Jeter rookie card went up for auction starting with a $1 opening bid. The card had been submitted to PSA and was returned “Ungradable” due to recoloring. The seller was honest and included the PSA insert in the photo. The auction ended last night at $50 after 20 bids.

This was a deal for the purchaser because when you consider that even raw copies, or low graded versions, usually start around $80 or more they got a nice discount.

My question,

Would you consider purchasing this card at $50 knowing it is recolored?  

 

 

I was watching the card with the idea that if the card stayed around $20-25 I might bid but I definitely would not pay $50 for it.

Player Collection Question

How do you go about deciding if you want to build another player collection?

 

I  focus on Griffey and Ryan Bader but I have mini pcs built on Steve Largent, Steve Kerr, Jay Buhner and current Mariners Dustin Ackley and Mike Zunino but sometimes I wonder if I want to begin a new player collection or if I should just focus on the collections I currently have.

Currently I am working on the Griffey collection, now at 430 unique cards, I want to hit 500 cards before the end of the year so any other athletes card I collect are just random pieces here or there when I come across a good price. I am torn but I have a feeling that if I work on adding any other players I will lose focus on my Griffey collection and that is my sports card pride and joy.

Is Cam Worth The Collector's Cash?

With Cam Newton’s new $103.8 million contract it moves him to the #3 position of top paid NFL players in 2015 behind Aaron Rodgers and Ben Roethlisberger.

Since 2011 his top QB rank is #8 (2014) and has been sacked/hit 587 times (nearly twice the amount of the next QB), he is 30-31-1 and has thrown 54 INTs. On the flip side he has thrown for 14,426 yards, 82 TDs, run for 2,571 yards and 33 TDs, 2011 ROY, 2 Pro Bowls and led the Panthers to the NFL Playoffs twice.

 The question: Is Cam Newton worth the money to collectors?

 Is he a Top 5 collectible QB?

I would say Top 10-12 Collectible QBs but not in the Top 5 Collectible QBs, that is reserved for the elite Brady, Peyton Manning, Rodgers, Brees and Luck. You could definitely make an argument for Romo or Roethlisberger being in that group too but not Newton, at least not at this point of his career.

Does A Moving Van Make A Difference To Collectors?

The other day I started thinking about teams that have moved and noticed that team collectors seem more apt to continue collecting baseball teams through their moves as compared to teams from basketball, football and hockey that have moved.

It got my gears working and I am wondering if it has to do with the storied history of baseball and the long connection with cards. Collectors seem more willing to pick up players from each incarnation of the team especially Dodgers and Giants collectors.

Consider baseball teams that have moved:

 

Philadelphia> Kansas City> Oakland A’s
Boston> Milwaukee> Atlanta Braves
Brooklyn> Los Angeles Dodgers
New York> San Francisco Giants

Now look at other sports teams with a long history that have moved and to me it seems like the original locations do not get much attention from collectors outside of maybe the Lakers and Raiders.

NBA:

Milwaukee> St. Louis> Atlanta Hawks
Minneapolis> Los Angeles Lakers
Rochester Royals> Cincinnati Royals> Kansas City-Omaha Kings> Sacramento Kings

NFL:

Cleveland> Los Angeles> St. Louis Rams
Chicago> St. Louis> Arizona Cardinals
Oakland> Los Angeles> Oakland Raiders
 
NHL:
Kansas City Scouts> Colorado Rockies> New Jersey Devils
Quebec Nordiques> Colorado Avalanche

 

This may be just my observation but I would love some input from team collectors.
Do you collect any teams that have moved and if so do you collect from before/after the move?

Which Route Do You Take?

Does the buyer take on a certain "caveat" when they purchase a card and the seller offers free shipping using a PWE?

The reason I am asking is because I won an auction for a 2013 Topps Chrome Nick Franklin rookie card. It was only .79 cents and I figured it would be a nice addition to my Seattle Mariners collection. I knew the card was being shipped using just a plain white envelope but the auction showed the card in a rigid top loader so I figured it would be safe in transit.

I received the card today and instead of a rigid top loader that the card was pictured with in the auction the card was shipped using a flimsy UltraPro top loader and the card was damaged with a nice crease running about 1/3 of the way across the back. I never use these flimsy top loaders because they are to weak to use in shipping, to large to fit properly in a binder or box and they are notorious for pinching the cards. He didn't even use a penny sleeve, which is also visible in the auction photo.

Do I ding the seller for shipping the card in the UltraPro top loader, thus allowing the card to get damaged in transit, or do I let it go because I took a chance knowing that it was being shipped in an envelope (though I thought it was coming in a rigid top loader) and it was under a buck and an easy card to replace?

Posted with rigid top loader

Received with a flimsy top loader

Damaged section

What Am I Missing Here?

The other day I was reading a story about Andrew Bynum on ESPN describing how he plans on sitting out the 2014-15 season to have a procedure done on his knees. It surprises me how often his name shows up during the past couple of seasons during the trade and free agency periods.

 

He seems like a hot commodity but he is always hurt. He played 82 games in his second season but has never played more than 65 games in any other season (averaging 52 games a year). He was an All-Star in 2011-12 but in the 2 years since he has been on 4 teams (76ers, Cavs, Bulls and Pacers) playing in only 26 games (24 w/ Cavs & 2 w/ Pacers) and now he is going to sit out another season.

 

What surprises me even more is the prices that his cards are demanding. Many of his base cards and even his rookies and some relics are very reasonable in price but there are others that have his prices well off. Am I just blind to his value?

 

LeBron + Cleveland = Collectors $$$?

Will LeBron’s move back to Cleveland make big waves in the hobby?

 

 

Sellers Location, Does It Matter?

When looking to purchase a card there are a number of things that I review before I bid. Obviously the price is an important starting point but I check a collector’s feedback, shipping cost and the seller’s location. Normally I do not have a problem with a seller’s location as long as everything else seems right (feedback and shipping cost). In the last few months I have picked up items from England, Canada and Singapore but I have heard horror stories of cards never being received, seriously late, high shipping charges or mangled when received due to the long distance shipping.

So I throw out a question to the readers

Will you skip purchasing a card/item if it is a foreign dealer?

The Cards You Regret

As a collector we are always on the look for a deal when looking to add to our collections and from time to time we will end up with a great bargain. Sadly there is a down side to making a deal, we spend more than expected. We get caught up in a young athletes hype or a favorite player retires so we hunt down the perfect trifecta even at a premium.

 

Over the years I have had some cards lose value, nothing major though and no cards that I really intended to sell. Some cards like my 89 UD Griffey and 90 Leaf Thomas I paid significantly more than what they are selling for now ($35-40 range) but I have been rather reserved when it comes to hot players and young rookies. I find it hard to pay more than $50 or so for a modern card.

 

I just cannot imagine what is going through the minds of the people who dropped the price of a car on Strasburg’s early autographs and refractors. The same thing with players caught up in Bryce Harper and Yasiel Puig hype. Jose Abreu is leading the charge of overpriced cards this year.

 

Are there any cards that you regret purchasing?

A Card Numbers Game

  Just one of those random questions today:

 

I am very anal about things, I was diagnosed as OCD when I was a teenager, a very difficult time for me. As I have gotten older I have learned to deal with some things that I can not control. One thing that still has stuck with me is numbers, there are numbers I like and there are numbers that bother me. I love the number “5” while on the other side I do not like the numbers “3, 6 or 9” with the number “13” being the worst offender, not because it is considered bad luck but because to me it does not seem natural.

 

I will actually skip buying a card that has a #13 serial number, I will skip buying a card that sells for $13 and when I was still building complete sets card #13 was flipped backwards. There is no sense in arguing with someone who has OCD, it is like yelling at a brick wall.

 

I find myself in a quandary right now, someone is offering a card that I have been hunting for over a year. He has two versions, one serial #25 and one serial #26. I had actually missed bidding the #25 card, which ended with no bids, but they have since put it back up for auction. Because of the numbering I would like the #25, after the first auction ended I even asked if they would be willing to put it back up for a BIN but they decided to post it as a regular auction.

 

Normally I would pass on the #26 card and wait to bid on the other card but I have only seen 3 for sale over the past year and these are two of them. Do I bid on the card with the #26, a number that bugs me, just to get it in to my collection or do I hope the auction for the #25 card ends up in a price I am willing to pay?

 

 

Which leads me to the question of the day:

 

Have you ever passed on a serial numbered card because you did not like the number it had?

 

Or

 

Have you paid extra for a serial numbered card because it had a specific number?

 

 

Buying/Selling Unused Sticker Auto Sheets... Good or Bad?

I belong to an MMA collector’s forum, Combat CardBoard, and about two weeks ago one of the members posted about purchasing two signed but unused autograph sheets. The sticker autographs, Frank Shamrock and Mario Sperry, were meant to be used for an Topps International Fight league set that was eventually cancelled when the IFL folded in 2008.

 

Some of the fighters who signed returned their sticker sheets to the IFL league office, who in turn sent the sheets back to Topps. Eventually Topps used these signed stickers for their UFC sets. The sheets that did not get returned to Topps, for whatever reason, were sold off with the rest of the IFL’s assets when the league folded. This is where the Shamrock and Sperry sheets came from. A similar situation happened when Fleer closed the doors, you can find unused Fleer signature sheets selling in the $50-90 range.

 

Which brings me to why I am posting today, I am torn on the idea of selling unused sticker autograph sheets.

 

On the positive side a collector can add a signature of their favorite player to a card in their collection for a unique addition that they never intend to sell. Another cool use would be for a sketch card, an artist adds the sticker and now you have a custom sketch-agraph card. If some of sheets were more reasonable in price I would probably pick some up to make custom cards for friends.

 

On the flip side, I am concerned that an unscrupulous dealer adds a sticker to a cheap base card, adds a handwritten “1/1” and now here is a super short-print buyback autograph selling for big bucks. Given the autograph is authentic and the card is authentic and it is literally a buyback card but it is a card that was not released (with the autograph) by the company. At best it is a custom or ACEO card.

 

I realize that these sticker autograph sheets are really not much different from buying cut signatures but the difference, in my eyes, is that someone can not just toss a cut signature on to a card and claim it was an unannounced buyback where if you toss an authentic Fleer sticker on a Fleer card some collectors may assume that it really was released by Fleer (or Topps).

 

What is your input on unused signed autograph sheets like this Gary Payton sheet or this Rik Smits sheet being sold?