Some eBay adventures

First off, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

I am not coming back for good at this time, but I just wanted to take a moment to show off some very nice Omar Jacobs eBay auctions that I will never be able to afford but would dearly love to win:

22 Exquisite patches

Complete Letterman set (seen above)

Also, an eBay blunder of mine. This card was on my watch list, but I got busy and forgot to bid on it:

Notice the title error (Hills)

And here is the relisted auction:

Notice the correct title (Hillis)

Not that it would have been a huge profit, but $25 is $25 in my book.

Cardboard Mania is closed

Dear readers,

I want to thank everyone for the support you've given to this blog since I launched in January. Sure, I am not as large as some, as controversial as others or even as well written as I would have ideally liked, but I am happy to know that I have broke some cards news and given some new insight on many different card related topics. I had my controversies, and I had my moments in the sun. But as Brett Favre tearfully explained to us earlier in the year, "all good things must come to end."

It has occurred to me that there is no possible way for me to keep this site at the high level that it deserves to be maintained at. Therefore, I am closing down Cardboard Mania for now. There is a good chance that this blog never gets revitalized, but I am pretty certain that I could appear on another sports card blog in the future. Whether it is on Blogger, Wordpress or somewhere else is yet to be seen. Heck, maybe I'll become the next Chris Olds someday when I work at a real newspaper.

For those wondering what the reasoning for this sudden change in state is, it is very simple. I now work on a real newspaper and have many more difficult college courses. You see the blog I currently write for here. Juggling all of this, enjoying the other nuances of college life and having chill time to stay sane means I had to take some things out of the rotation, and unfortunately, Cardboard Mania is one of the things to go.

Another reason for this is that hobby writing has become dry for me. Being a sports writer at the paper, I need to be focusing more on sports than sports cards. While Cardboard Mania is sitting on the shelf, I am debating on rekindling a generic sports blog like I used to do. Sports Talk 55 was never a huge success which is why I turned to a more narrow topic like cards, but it may be in my best interest to re pursue that type of blogging. If that does happen, the link will be posted here for everyone to see. There still will be card related posts at that blog, but it will mainly be a sports blog.

So again, I thank everyone who has taken time out of their day to read Cardboard Mania over the past nine months and wish you all the best of luck in your future card adventures. You'll still see me around leaving comments on others' blogs when I have that opportunity, so don't feel like I am just going to disappear from the blogsphere all together.

Best wishes and thanks again,

Harner

Dear readers...

...I know some of my regulars are probably wondering where in the world I have been. In a nutshell, I have been very busy. Things started to slow up some and then the weekend came and I had plenty of stuff to do. Hopefully, I can get things going again in the next couple of weeks.

I do have one post that is forthcoming and that is why book value is still somewhat relevant in today's hobby.

This guy drives me nuts

This guy has always bothered me, but I've never actually came out and said it before. This guy is finatic719.

You probably know him as the guy who produces cards of top rookie prospects and then tries to sell them on eBay to people who don't know much about collecting. Thankfully, most of these cards go unsold, but every now and then, some do sell.

Sometimes, he does sell legitimate cards, but he does most of his business off of cards from the GEM brand, OMR brand or the GTC brand. I'm fairly certain that he creates these himself and he doesn't say that they are licensed. However, he also doesn't say these are legitimate trading cards.

His listings usually are filled with errors and gluttony like "most sought after rookie card" and "rare."

While he does bother me, there's nothing to stop him from doing what he is doing. There is no rule on eBay saying you can't sell stuff you make. He gives the brand and the year as well as the print run, but he does it in a way that is deceiving to novice card collectors.

Jeter, Griffey, Longoria...who knows?

For as much as I hate intentional gimmick cards, I enjoy a good old fashioned error card. I'm not really sure how I missed this one way back when Goudey dropped, but I just got word of this card this morning.

The Evan Longoria card from Goudey has an interesting error, considering it interchanges two of the most popular players in all of baseball: Ken Griffey Jr. and Derek Jeter.

On the bottom of every Goudey card, there is a cut-out of either Griffey's or Jeter's head along with script text stating "Ken Griffey Jr. says" or "Derek Jeter says." However, on the Longoria's card, there is a picture of Jeter, but the text "Ken Griffey Jr. says."

How this error went unnoticed is hard to say, but it doesn't appear that it will be corrected or is short printed.

Seriously

This is taking it one step too far if you ask me.

Topps at least has a decent amount of creativity in their gimmicks, but this is just a recycled photo. The only new thing is Joe Namath's face in the background.

At least out Favre in a car or something.

Crazy for Matt Forte

As mentioned yesterday, Matt Forte is one of the players who's week one play will effect the hobby world.

Sure enough, a quick scan of eBay proves the point.

There have been almost 400 new Forte listings since the game last night, which accounts for just about half of his current listings.

One card of his that has really taken off is the 2008 Topps Chrome Rookie Autograph. At the end of August, the card could be had for around $20, but today, this card is selling for around $50 (with some pushing the $70 range last night and this morning.

I don't really see Forte becoming this year's Adrian Peterson so I don't see him maintaining this hobby prominence. Remember how everyone flipped out on Ahmed Bradshaw and Kolby Smith during last season? It seems people don't learn their lesson very well.

Michael "The Burner" Turner torching the card market

With 331 new eBay listings in the past 24 hours, Michael Turner has become the newest short term hobby darling.

Every single year, there are several running backs who go off for one or two games and become the hobby story of the week. In week one, Turner was the guy after finishing with 220 yards and two touchdowns in his Atlanta Falcons debut against the Detroit Lions' weak defense.

Let me stress that point once more: the Detroit Lions' weak defense.

Yes, Turner did make them look silly, but the Lions weren't tackling anyone, so why should I be all excited over Turner's cards? He is bound to have a good year, but I don't think his Playoff Contenders autograph will be commanding nearly $200 at season's end (barring him leading the Falcons to the playoffs or rushing for 200 yards every game).

In the past 30 days, Turner had 234 eBay auctions. Currently, he has 394 listings, and he had around 70 before the game. I am staying away from anyone who's listings increase by almost 500% just because of one incident and waiting for a time when the market is less demanding.

Other notable week one performances that will affect the card industry:

Matt Ryan - 161 yards and a touchdown
Kevin Smith - 80 total yards and a touchdown
Willie Parker - 138 yards and three touchdowns
Matt Forte - 141 total yards and a touchdown (8 minutes remaining at the time of this post)
Chris Johnson - 127 total yards and a touchdown
Tom Brady - Out for season with a torn ACL
Vince Young - Sprained knee and two interceptions

Legends revealed for Stadium Club

The following legends will be included in 2008 Stadium Club baseball:

Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Ty Cobb, Joe DiMaggio, Honus Wagner, Nolan Ryan, Roberto Clemente, Ted Williams and Tom Seaver.

Adding legends to Stadium Club makes me a little more interested in the product, but I am still so frustrated with the fact that this is now an unaffordable, high end product that is doesn't make me want to buy packs any more than before.

While there is no doubt that Stadium Club will still be a beautiful set with the best photography in the business, I don't see myself chasing anything but these legends cards. And honestly, I'm not even going to be hitting them that hard because it won't be worth the price I will have to pay for them.

One thing I like about the legends cards is that they are in color. I have always been a fan of seeing old black and white photos transformed into color. As much as I like black and white photos, I think that more companies should make the effort to colorize black and white photos for cards.

What's your take?

A nice mailday

Sorry I don't have any pictures. All my AAs are dead.

There's nothing like a dual mailday. What is a dual mailday you ask? It's a mailday split between two addresses. In my case, home and my college dorm.

I'll start with what I got at my dorm. This was a trade from Sports Card Forum.

-Omar Jacobs Press Pass Legends Bronze /999
-Omar Jacobs SAGE Silver Level Jerseys /50
-Omar Jacobs SAGE Hit Jerseys (2 color) /50
-P.J. Pope Bowman Chrome Printing Plate

In exchange for:

-2007 Topps Chrome Xfractors Trent Edwards
-2007 Topps DPP Calvin Johnson RC
-2007 Ultra Retail Lucky 13 Marshawn Lynch

I would have to say that I got the better end of that deal, agree?

At home, I received a jumbo box of 2008 Score football and I guess my Topps redemption from earlier this summer arrived. It was supposed to be a Craig Davis Topps Co-Signers autograph, but apparently it is some kind of Michael Robinson autograph, which is just fascinating news.

The worst part is I don't get to open that box for at least two weeks. But more on that later.

It's nice that smeone else understands

Wow, I wish I would've jumped on this when it first came out four days ago, but that's what working for a real newspaper will do to you. In fact, the night of August 27th I was in the newsroom for almost 8 hours after my classes.

Anywho, I am happy to see that Topps had said something about the Kosuke Fukudome Bowman Chrome card that actually shows that I am right win my assumption this is gimmick.

Here is what Topps said about the card:

Topps announces it inadvertently inserted a Bowman Chrome Kosuke Fukudome Autographed Rookie Card (which is not autographed) into packs of the recently-released 2008 Bowman Chrome Baseball. A total of 1900 copies were issued. Fukudome is not a subject on the Autographed Rookie Card checklist nor was he ever solicited as one.

So if he was never supposed to be in the set, then Topps must have created this card for something. And given their recent reputation combined with the fact Fukudome was never supposed to sign equals gimmick cards used to drive sales.

So for those boneheads out there who criticized me for calling this a gimmick, I think you may want to think a little more before you type next time.

"Gift" from Trade Cards Now

I always enjoy getting a package unexpectedly and that happened today, but when I saw the return address of Trade Cards Now (TCN), I knew exactly what was inside.

TCN is slowly becoming one of the better trade forums on the Internet. Granted, it is not SCF or The Bench quite yet, the site has made serious strides since I became a regularly active member in Dec. 2006.

One of the things that has come with the growth is a sponsored from Topps in which Topps send boxes of products to the owner, Lynn, and he then gives away all the cards to his members. Products have ranged from base Topps to the current box offer of Topps Triple Threads baseball.

I call it a "gift" because it was but wasn't free all at the same time. The way these giveaways work is that users bid on hits and divisions using what is called TCN Cash. TCN Cash can be earned through contests as well as posting on the message boards. The longer your post, the more TCN Cash you get. So you have to put some work into getting these cards.

The first time I won a part of one of these auctions was on the last break of Topps Allen & Ginter. I received the second hit pulled from the box, an Ivan Rodriguez framed, mini bat card and the base and insert cards of all the AL Central teams. Included in the base and inserts were seven of the US State cards, two rookies, three minis (including one rookie) and 20 regular base cards.

To get in on this action, please visit Trade Cards Now and use intelliracer as your reference.

I could use some help

Obviously I have been out of the blog world for a few days. To see what I've been doing, check out the sports section of BG News.com and the BG News Sports Blog.

I probably won't be around this weekend, but I should have some content tonight. Until then, can anyone help me with the banner? I thought I had it correct until I viewed my blog here in the newsroom. I obviously messed it up in some way. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks for reading.

Poll Archives: Which baseball program is better?

It appears collectors are pretty split about which rookie redemption program is the best with all three getting a decent percentage of vote totals.

In the end, Topps Red Hot Rookies and the SPx Rookie Signatures both garnered the most votes. But, the Finest Rookie Redemptions weren't far behind.

The Topps Red Hot Rookies are popular because it is a common set to get and it features a wide variety of players. The wonder of who the high numbered redemption cards are is also a big factor.

As for the SPx Signature's popularity, it comes from being the only exclusive autograph set of the three. While both the Finest and Topps have had a Jay Bruce autograph, that has proven to be a misstep.

What's up in the world of Cardboard Mania

Not too much honestly. Just a little construction that will hopefully lead to a nice face lift for this page. The blogroll should be changing as well as my links section. I also hopefully will have a banner that looks good in the coming days.