Beckett pulls a 1-of-1

Beckett pulled yet another serious card out a Ticket To Stardom box. It's a pop culture ticket from a presidential inauguration. Go to 6:30 to see the card (They also mention a 1/1 at the beginning of the opening the pack). I'll just say it was very convenient.

http://beta.beckett.com/group/186423/?tab=Articles&p=804477#ViewArticle

Panini gets NBA Hall of Fame exclusive

Panini has become the exclusive trading card partner of the NBA Hall of Fame. Here are the highlights of the agreement:

* Panini becomes the "Official Marketing and Licensing Partner of the Basketball Hall of Fame," as well as the Hall of Fame's exclusive trading-card partner.
* Panini gains the rights to produce Hall of Fame-specific products (memorabilia, trading cards, trading-card games and sticker album collections) and to use the Hall of Fame's brand and logo in advertising and marketing materials.
* A cooperative effort between Panini and the Hall of Fame on such key events as the annual class announcement, college basketball's Hall of Fame Showcase and the Spalding Basketball Hall of Fame Hoophall Classic.

Wrestler weighs in on trading cards

TNA wrestler Matt Morgan weighed in on trading cards in a recent interview with Newsday.

Former college football star

Every year, there are those quarterbacks from smaller schools that are hyped up and get drafted. Being a fan of the Mid-American Conference, I understand this completely. Josh Harris. Charlie Frye. Bruce Gradkowski. I mean the list of failed players goes on and on.

It's likely to get a few more names this year as Tim Hiller, Dan LeFevour and Tyler Sheehan are all graduating from the MAC and have decent shots of going pro. And it's very unlikely all four of them are like Ben Roethlisberger.

However, there is one guy who means a bit more to me than the others from a collecting standpoint. That is Omar Jacobs. There's no reason he is more collectible than Harris - another BG alum - but his cards just happened to come out when I first started really getting into football (2006). He never saw a down in the NFL (except for preseason) but has found some success in the American Indoor Football Association, where he won the league MVP and led the Florence Phantoms to a championship in 2009. He was expected to join the Tampa Bay Lighting of the AFL - a game that would really have brought out his strengths as a player - but was forced to return to Florence when the AFL folded. I don't anticipate he will ever get back to the NFL, but that makes super collecting him pretty easy; no new cards of his to chase. But at the same time, that's kind of a bummer.

I currently have 207 different Jacobs cards of out 553. Of those 553, just 362 are numbered above 10, and I have over half of those. I've always said if I can get to 300 different Jacobs I will call the collection a success, but with each passing day, that challenge gets more difficult.

When I first started collecting him, eBay generally had about 50-75 listings on a regular basis. Today, it's generally between 25-25 - including many cards I already have. And chances are if I need the card, it's one of the higher priced ones. As a college kid, spending $10 per card on a regular basis just doesn't fly like it does for many of you guys.

Nonetheless, I've used the ad money I received for the Party Poker ad I now have on the right side of the blog to buy up some of those rarer cards I need. Below are four cards I have recently purchased, running myself about $30. Which goes to show that failed college stars don't always lose their collectability.

If you have any Jacobs cards, please let me know as I would definitely be open to trying to work out a deal for them.



Clockwise from upper right: Exquisite Rookie Auto/Patch /225, National Treasures auto /30, National Treasures dual patch/auto /99, National Treasures patch/auto /25

Epic fail

That's all that can be said about this item.

Be sure you read the last line of the description. You'll enjoy it.

If they can do it for books, why not cards?

I had a random thought yesterday as I was looking up some textbooks for this semester on Half.com. If eBay can set specific shipping prices for every item listed on Half.com, why can't they do the same thing for items on eBay, especially trading cards.

For those who aren't familiar with Half.com, all items (at least all items I have gotten from there) have a set price and can be sent through media mail or express mail.

I don't think it's any deep, dark secret that eBay is a wonderful place to buy trading cards. I also think it's common knowledge that many sellers overcharge for shipping and handling, especially in single-card auctions. eBay has to know this, so why don't they try to do something about it? Namely, utilize a Half.com shipping style to sports card listings.

The way I see it, one card sold on eBay should always be shipped in bubble mailer. Where I do my shipping, that costs $1.39, a PayPal fee of about $0.50 is likely to incur with a mid-level card and the cost of the mailer and case is maybe $0.30 if you buy in bulk. Add that all together and $2.25 would be an appropriate figure. If you recycle mailers and cases like I do, $2 would work just fine.

In all honesty, a day of research at eBay could probably result in a nice system for cards with raw cards, graded cards and lots of cards each having their own separate price. Thoughts?

Clearing up the mess that was

Alright everyone, I made a couple bold statements that I admittedly maybe didn't work properly which has caused monumental confusion and a little outrage around the blogging community. Let me try to clear a couple points up, and then we can all move on from this.

1. I am a professional media media

I will stick to this no matter what anyone has to say. I understand a lot of people don't take college-aged journalists seriously, and there's no way to change that. But at the same time, there are a lot of people who do.

2. Objectivity

Perhaps, objectivity wasn't really the term I was going for. In fact, it wasn't even really part of the argument, and I'm not even really sure why I went that way. In retrospect, I would probably remove that part of the post completely because the more I think about, the more I realize that had nothing to do with anything that post was about.

3. Blogs and media

I will also still say these blogs are not part of the professional (or traditional as some have used as an alternate definition). Please read carefully what I actually said about this:

"I can assure that neither myself on this blog, Mario at Wax Heaven or Gellman at SCU are part of the professional media. And no matter how big they get, I doubt they ever will be. Many of you probably know the sports blog Deadspin. They aren't professional media either."

I'm not saying anyway is saying they are or trying to belittle anyone. I'm just making a point.

4. Our place

This is the one thing I do regret saying and that it's not our place to talk about professional media. That is way off. This actually is the place to do that. I still disagree with the original premise on the Beckett thing, but I admit, my statement was outlandish, foolish and just plain stupid. This is why no one should ever just go with what they are thinking at the time and post it without thinking it over first. That is what I did and it made me look like a fool.

5. My connection to Beckett is...

Zero. Just because they linked me from their site does not mean I do them any favors. I do not and don't see myself really doing so anytime soon. I'm not as anti-Beckett as many people around the blogosphere, but I still think they have some issues they need to work on.

6. Opinion

I think a lot of people are forgetting the fact I was giving my opinions here, and my opinion are blogs being professional media is that they aren't. Some people feel differently. It's an ongoing argument that everyone in the profession has an opinion about. Some are on my side, some aren't. Plain as that. You are entitled to your opinion and I'm entitled to mine. Much like some were entitled to their opinion of how to go after Beckett and I'm entitled to mine.


I guess the main thing to take away from this is that I was wrong and on some things, but don't paint me as someone who is on Beckett's pedestal or someone who gets thrills out of belittling other bloggers. Neither of those things happened in the post.

College football ready to kick off

It's that wonderful time of year again: football season. I love it.

Who's going to be the next freshman stud? Who's going to win the Heisman? More importantly, who's going to be the No. 1 at the end of the year? Secondly, how much controversy will the BCS cause this season?

I'll tell you one thing I don't like about college football: no trading cards until after the season. I know releasing a set would go against several NCAA rules, but it would still be nice. Shoot, I'd even take a set that is modeling after EA Sports' NCAA 2010 where the players are just QB #3 or RB #20 and the likenesses aren't too similar.

Now I'm sure that set would never go over with the majority of the collecting population but for those lesser known players, don't you think it'd be the thrill of a lifetime finding a card that is of them? I'm sure the majority of players wouldn't care, but if I played college football, I'd find that pretty sweet.

Like or not, we are not real media

EDIT: 11:45 p.m.

In light of Beckett's supposed taking credit for exposing Topps Rookie Premiere autographs incident today, I want to clarify something for card bloggers who obviously don't understand how public relations and the media works. Like it or not, card bloggers are not members of the media and the card companies' PR departments should not treat us as such. Beckett and Tuff Stuff, both magazines that regularly come out - are part of the media. Therefore, the card companies will run press releases, product previews, etc. by them first. And that is how it should be.

As some of you know, I am in the professional media. Yes college newspapers count as professional media. Outsiders probably don't think so, but that's OK with me. The people who matter most know it, and that's really what I care about. I use this blog to follow other collector's opinions and occasionally throw out one of my one (such as this). But mostly, it's for entertainment. I guess I consider this my way of trying to "educate the masses" as is one of the more popular blog sayings across the blogosphere when trying to detract collectors from Beckett.

That said, I can assure that neither myself on this blog, Mario at Wax Heaven or Gellman at SCU are part of the professional media. And no matter how big they get, I doubt they ever will be. Many of you probably know the sports blog Deadspin. They aren't professional media either.

A responsible professional media outlet objectively reports on all sides of things almost 100% of the time. Many times, this fails. But many times, this is the case. Yes, there are columnists and pundits, but even they do quite a bit of actual reporting not just give their opinion. For the most part, the blogs give our opinions on topics while not reporting much. That is because there's not much to report in the first place. So deal with it.

This probably won't get seen by any of the major bloggers, and it's a shame because the blogging community really needs to know there place before they go and unfairly shoot off their mouth against a real media outlet.

I suppose this post came out more because an unfair remark toward Beckett that I read. Beckett never once claimed in their blog that they investigated the story. I'm sure Topps gave them the information they had and Beckett made a story from it. Should they have acknowledged all the work that has gone in to investigating the cards. That was definitely a misstep on their part. And speaking of Topps and Beckett, I can't really say either of the first two sites that reported the NBA story are credible when reporting hard news. As you can see Beckett waited to get official documentation before going public with the story, which is a very good way to protect yourself on legal matters.

P.S. I am well aware of the Twitter conversations that happened in response to this post. And they made me laugh.

P.S. 2. I am done editing and commenting on this post. I'm not here to start a war with a few of you. I'm just here to provide some entertainment.

And it continues...

Just when I thought the guy with the million dollar 1991-92 Upper Deck hockey set couldn't say/do anything else ignorant, it happened.

Yesterday, I sent the seller a message after discovering his listing.

"This listing is a joke right? That lack of hologram doesn't enhance the value of these cards at all. Second, this is definitely not the only set of 1991-92 Upper Deck hockey in the world. You'd be lucky to get $10 out of this set. Good luck though."

I wasn't overly mean about it or anything, just a simple, what in the world are you thinking? Well, here was is reply in a nutshell.

The Gibson is one of a kind and a true error, therefore the only one in existence. He also said, this is Gibson's only card.

Now this guy tells me most error cards are run for a partial set until the error is corrected yet he knows for sure his is one-of-a-kind. I just don't follow the logic there. What's to say there's not thousands of the Gibson card out there?

Secondly, this is not Gibson's only card. He actually had five produced, including a second major release in 1991-92 Pro Set.

I don't know why I keep going on and on about this listing. It's obvious this guy will never sell it. I guess it just amuses me.

Ignorance at its finest

Something I like to do on a fairly regular basis is search all of the Sports Cards and Memorabilia category on eBay, then sort the results from highest price to lowest prices just to see what kinds of things people are trying to ridiculous money for. And today, I may have found the best example yet.

For a cool million, you could be the proud owner of a one-of-a-kind hockey card set. Here's the catch, this isn't some big time patch/auto set from Sidney Crosby's rookie season. In fact, there are no autographs, no patches and no jerseys in this set. It's just a bunch of base and low-end inserts from 1991-92.

First off, let me throw a name out there to hockey collectors: Don Gibson. How many people actually know about him?

I do not consider myself to be up on hockey at all so it's natural I haven't heard of this guy, but I'm sure some buffs out there have. Here's the thing about him though, he only played in 14 games, yet is the reason why this set is priced at $1 million.

It turns out, the seller pulled a Gibson rookie card from a pack that did not get stamped with Upper Deck's hologram. I mean, I was only five, but accidents did happen in 1992 too, right? That's not just a new trend is it? But even better, the seller claims this is the only set of 1992-92 Upper Deck in the entire world.

No seriously, look for yourself.

Basketball players suing Topps

Several NBA stars are suing the Topps company for failing to pay up on autograph deals, TMZ is saying.

Players on the list reportedly include:

Tracy McGrady
Brandon Roy
Derrick Rose
Russell Westbrook
D.J. Augustin
T.J. Ford
Antaawn Jamison
Anthony Randolph
DeAndre Jordan

The nine players are suing for $300,000 - a modest amount compared to what most of the listed players earn in a given year.

I can't really comment on this to be honest. What's there to say? Greedy athletes are suing Topps for a couple bucks they didn't get for signing autographs. Yes Topps was wrong, but for all but three of those players, the little extra money in their pocket won't do them any good.

Cracking a BGS case

I need some help everyone. How can you break a card out of a BGS holder?

I am now the proud owner of the card below, but I want to put it with the rest of my Jacobs cards, and the BGS holder is too massive for it to fit in the same box. I know people have broken them open before, so what is the best to do it?

Illinois card shop scheduled to close

Another sports card shop is going by the wayside.

After a 15 year run, Suburban Sports in Homewood, Ill., will be closing at the end of the month, the Neighborhood Star is reporting.

The shop will remain open until Saturday, and the final event for the store is a fantasy football draft Friday.