The think tank is empty today

I have nothing.

Anyone want to hear about anything in particular? Ask and you shall receive.

Card of the Day: 1991 Donruss Puzzle Willie Stargell

From 1982-1991, if you bought enough packs of Donruss cards, you eventually would find all 63 pieces to a special 8X10 inch puzzle the company put out each year.

Coming at the rate of three pieces a pack, the puzzles added another element to collecting Donruss cards. Besides the base set, collector's had a challenge in finding all the different pieces to the puzzles.

After a court ruled that Topps was the only company allowed to have gum included in every pack of cards in all releases after 1981, Donruss had to find something new to include in their cards to compete with their rivals Topps and Fleer.

Fleer decided to produce stickers in 1982 and Donruss opted to introduce Diamond Kings and the Diamond King Hall of Famer puzzles.

The puzzles came in this order from 1982 to 1991: Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Duke Snider, Lou Gehrig, Hank Aaron, Roberto Clemente, Stan Musial, Warren Spahn, Carl Yastrzemski, Rod Carew and Willie Stargell.

Additionally, a Mickey Mantle puzzle was in 1983 Donruss Action All-Stars jumbo cards, a Ted Williams was released in the 1984 set and a 12-piece Yogi Berra can be found in 1985 Diamond Kings Supers. There was also a Berra puzzle released in 1990 Leaf, a Rod Carew in 1991 Leaf and a Harmon Killebrew in 1991 Studio. The latter two being the only two I am missing.

When the Diamond Kings became their own insert instead of the first 27 cards in the base set, the puzzles went by the wayside, but the several that were produced are great collector's items.

The only problem with these puzzles is that they don't always stay together well or sometimes the pieces won't fit together correctly. This is a big problem on Babe Ruth puzzle which was produced on thicker stock than all the rest.

But, if you can get these into frames, they look stunning and won't fall apart.

I couldn't tell this story any better...

This is actually kind of funny how this all comes together.

Yesterday on my day off from work, I was organizing all my common cards to break into team lots, base lots and starter sets. Mixed in with my commons were some of my first ever cards, which naturally stirred up quite the barrel of memories. Had I not had to work all afternoon today, you would've seen a post about finding those cards again. Now, that will have to wait until next week sometime.

It turns out, I wasn't the only one with a story like this to share.

JV of Treasure Never Buried wrote a fascinating piece about one of his childhood cards today and I think every single card collector should read it.

As a writer, I will admit that I couldn't put this feeling into better words than JV did.

And as I told him via comment, I am trying to be copycat cheapskate when I make my post, it is just some kind of coincidence (I've been having quite a lot of that this summer).

Card of the Day: 1996 Collector's Choice You Make The Play Cal Ripken Jr.

While listing some new cards for The Nickel Bin, I ran across an old Collector's Choice insert card of Tim Salmon.

While I never collected this set or played the game that went along with it, it was a unique insert set for its time. This was one of the first mainstream modern releases that doubled as a game and an insert set.

The cards were inserted one per Series One pack and each of the 45 players had two variations with a different outcome for each one.

The design of the card was almost standard except for the rounded corners and the backgrounds on these cards were very colorful featuring a hot pink outline of the player green and blue splotches in the rest of the background. The cards also give a small fact about each player under their name on the front of the card. The backs have a large You Make the Play logo.

In 1996, dealers who order cases of Collector's Choice Series One received special packs of these cards and any collector could send in ten wrappers and $2 to get a 12-card pack of these.

This set also had a Gold Signature parallel. These also were released in the football Collector's Choice.

But good luck finding these anymore. Sure you can get them on Sportslots, but do you really want to pay that much for these common inserts?

You might be able to find them at a flea market or in some dealer's 10 cent box, but if you ever find a slew of these at a show or shop, please do tell me because that's impressive.

What the NBA Draft means to the card business

Finding a Derrick Rose unsigned, "un-reliced" base card will be a challenge once the season starts just as it was with Durant last year

We all know that the football draft has a huge impact on the football card market as the collector's who have been guessing what team the rookies in SAGE and Press Pass will be drafted by finally get their wish. And some new love affairs are born. Honestly, how many Packers collectors thought they would be stocking up Brian Brohm cards?

However, the basketball card market doesn't get the same response as there is no suspense in watching an eBay auction for a certain player's Press Pass card wondering if your team will draft him. That is because there is no SAGE and Press Pass released before the draft.

The basketball market is also largely controlled by Upper Deck, king of patches, autographs and other relics, which means that most rookie cards of basketball stars are of the autographed variety. Poor little 12-year old Johnny from Chicago will just have to settle for the Topps Derrick Rose card and be happy with it.

In football, there is Topps, Upper Deck Rookie Exclusives, Topps Total, Bowman and Score which all have very affordable rookie cards of even the top names. In basketball, there is Bowman, Fleer, Stadium Club, Topps and Upper Deck that provide cheap rookies.

The main forces in basketball today are Exquisite, Bowman Sterling, Upper Deck Premier, Topps Echelon and SP Authentic among others. The problem is that there aren't as many middle-end products in basketball as there in football.

There is Topps Rookie Progression, Ultra, Upper Deck, Upper Deck Trilogy, Topps T/X, Select, Playoff Prestige, Donruss Threads and Donruss Classics that all provide collector's with the chance of getting something really good for around $50-$100 per box. Basketball has a few options for this same thrill, but the companies are more about producing the most fancy sets that they can.

So for all you low-end NBA collectors, you may want to spread out your spending over the year so you still have a low-end product to buy around playoff time next year when you're favorite rookie is blazing a trail through whatever team he may be facing. Because if you don't, chances are, you will salivating over that box of Bowman Sterling with the $200 price tag.

And Upper Deck wonders why the basketball card market is dying.

Card of the Day: 1996 Sports Illustrated for Kids Tiger Woods

For almost twenty years, Sports Illustrated for Kids magazine has been producing cards of all sorts of sports stars.

Ranging anywhere from mainstream sports stars like Tiger Woods and LeBron James to up and coming college stars like Michael Beasley and O.J. Mayo to bowlers, cyclists and Olympiads, these cards are popular with both kids and adults.

The cards come in a nine card sheet in each SI for Kids magazine and contain a wide variety of different sports stars on each sheet. For example, the sheet containing the Tiger Woods rookie card has two NBA players, two NFL players, one WNBA player, one NHL player, a figure skater, a women's tennis player and Tiger.

The magazine often produces the first cards of rookie player because they are not bound by the various Player's Associations licenses of producing cards.

Card of the Day: 1997 Ultra Top 30 Gold Medallion Derek Jeter

In 1991, Fleer and Topps both released new baseball sets. Topps' was called Stadium Club and Fleer's was called Ultra. By the time the mid-1990s rolled around, these were two of most sought after sets by all collectors.

However, just like Stadium Club, the autograph and relic rush of the early 2000s killed the Ultra brand and turned it into something it was never supposed to be.

If you were a collector from 1991-1999 and wanted insert cards, Ultra was the place you had to go.

The brand started slowly with just one insert set in the inaugural brand, but it would soon grow into the insert loaded brand we all know Ultra as. In 1992, there were four sets; in 1993, there were seven; in 1994, there were 14; in 1995, there were 14 plus Gold Medallion parallels to 13 of them; in 1996, there were 16 with Gold Medallion parallels to all 16; in 1997, there were 18 with the Top 30 Gold Medallion parallel; in 1998, there were 16 in the first year that the number decreased; and in 1999, Ultra saw the insert production decrease dramatically with just six sets.

The year 2000 saw the beginning of the end for Ultra as they released Feel the Game relic cards. There still was regular inserts released after 2000, but the main focus on Ultra cards became the relic and autographs. In 2007, every insert in Ultra was either a relic or autograph set or had a relic or autograph parallel.

I miss the days of All Rookies, Award Winners, Hitting Machines, On-Base Leaders and Strikeout Kings along with some of the newer sets they made like Kid Gloves, Greatest Hits and Photo Effex. And who can forget the Hot Packs that included all insert cards?

But, what is the first thing you think of when you hear the name Ultra? For me, it's the Gold Medallion base parallel. Sure they did that parallel for many inserts, but you bought a pack of Ultra to get inserts and your one Gold Medallion.

The parallel had many different versions over the year. It all started as a special gold logo in the top corner of cards in 1995, became a gold foil card in 1996 and utilized different pictures than the base cards in 1997 before changing over and over until 2006. The Medallion was dropped in 2007 in favor of the set being called Ultra Gold.

From 1997-2001 and 2004-2005, Ultra also had a Platinum Medallion parallel. In the first years of that release, these cards were some of the most sought after parallels in all the hobby as they fell one in every 100 packs in 1997.

Awhile back, I saw the perfect video to complement this post, but it has apparently been taken down. It was a 13-15 year old kid who just bought a box of 2007 Ultra SE baseball from the hobby store. His video box break lasted just about two minutes because all he did was throw the base cards aside on the table without even looking at them and showed the hits to the camera. It was a sad sight to see.

Check out the differences out in an old box break of Ultra compared with a newer one.

This break is a 1999 Ultra box, one of the last years for "normal" inserts in Ultra. I tried to find an older box from 1995-1997 but I had no luck. I enjoy how this collector shows the Gold Medallions and all the regular inserts that he missed proving that some people did care about these inserts. Listen around 2:05-2:15 and see what this collector says, it is truly a rare statement in today's world.



Notice how the 2007 Ultra SE box gives one hit per pack and just five packs per box. Also notice how the collector knows an autograph is coming in the last pack.

Card of the Day: 1993 Topps Micro Prisms Kirby Puckett

It's not often that I feature a graded card as the Card of the Day, but in order to show the size of Topps Micro cards, I really didn't have a choice.

Topps Micro was a three year factory set only parallel series that ran from 1991 to 1993. The catch was that these cards measured just 1" by 1 3/8" which is about 40 percent of normal size.

In 1992, there were 12 gold cards that were numbered G1-G12 and were included in every Micro factory set. Stars included Nolan Ryan, Ken Griffey Jr., and Don Mattingly.

The 1993 set featured 12 Prism inserts which were numbered the same as the regular cards. Stars in that small set were Nolan Ryan, Ken Griffey Jr., Kirby Puckett and George Brett.

It is too bad that these cards never caught on because they did make unique collectibles. They aren't worth as much as their full sized counterparts so if you ever find any of the complete sets, you should be able to get them for a good price.

Check back tomorrow to see one of Topps' bigger sets.

Mystery Card #6

Dayf had to pull his Extra Bases set to figure out Felix Fermin as Mystery Card #5, see if you can't figure this one out without pulling out your set of these.

Card of the Day: 2008 UD Piece of History Grady Sizemore

On Wednesday, Upper Deck is scheduled to release 2008 UD Piece of History.

This is the first release of the brand since its first annd only past release in 2002. However, the 2008 version is more in depth than its precedent.

The 200 card base set will include 100 regular current stars, 50 rookies and 50 historical moments. There will be 18 insert and parallel sets, six autograph sets, and 15 relic sets.

Each 16 pack box should contain one autograph and three relic cards. Packs contain eight cards, and boxes will sell for around $70 each.

The best relics to chase from Piece of History are two button relic sets that are numbered to five and Yankee Stadium Legacy rleic cards fall one per 20-box case. For autograph hounds, there are rookie autographs and four autographed relic sets.

1990 Pro Set Football Box Break

In a box break that would make John of Old School Box Breaks proud, I busted a box of 1990 Pro Set Series One and Series Two that I acquired through a community yard sale.

In a break older than all but one post on the aforementioned site, I knew I wasn't going to find anything great.

And I didn't.

I mostly got these boxes for the thrill of opening packs and finding some cards that would fit into some of niche collections (ok so what if my only niche football collection is cards where its snowing).

However, there was a rookie in 1990 by the name of Emmitt Smith and his card was the one card I was aiming to get from Series Two.

As I went thorough the Series One box, I discovered that this box was no exception to one of the old characteristics of old boxes: you get a lot of duplicates and sometimes get packs that have almost exactly the same cards in them. I haven't counted up or sorted through the base cards so I don't know if I got extra cards or a ridiculous number of duplicates yet.

Every pack was supposed to have 14 cards, one NFL Collectible and one NFL Playbook contest scratch-off card. All of the scratch offs in Series were worth one point without an instant win. The Series Twos would not scratch off so I probably have an instant winner in there. Too bad they expired in 1992.

The Series Two packs were formatted the same way, but I did count up a few packs that had 18 total cards in them, which is another one of things you can count on an old box to deliver. The NFL Collectibles in those packs were paintings of Super Bowl MVPs and are some really nice cards for 1990 standards.

But, pack after pack, I was coming up empty on Smith's rookie. Finally, I reached the very last pack in the box, but through the first 12 cards, it wasn't looking good for me. However, a Smith popped its head out as the second to last card of the entire two box break so I suppose it was worth it.



I never thought I would get such suspense out of a 1990 box of cards!

Card of the Day: 1996 Leaf Signature Autographs Frank Thomas

Donruss/Playoff has made several hobby landmarks over the years, but the 1996 Leaf Signature set may be the biggest influence they ever had.

While Upper Deck included the first certified autograph card in 1990, the Leaf Signature set included the first ever series of autograph cards that fell at least one per pack opening the door to the autograph rush that is still going on today.

At $9.99 per pack, Leaf Signature Series was also a product mainly geared towards experienced collectors, which caused some controversy when the 50 card extended series was released.

The first 100 cards were released in the middle of the 1996 card release calendar, but an extended 50 card series to the set hit store shelves in January of 1997. This has made some collectors feel that the set should belong in the 1997 category, but all major hobby publications still consider the set to be from 1996.

The real reason people still talk about this set though is because of the 252 card autograph set that was released with the first series (an additional 217 autographs were released in extended series packs).

Falling at the rate of one or more per pack and a total of 3,500 Bronze, 1,000 Silver and 500 Gold autographs per player, this set wasn't too difficult to master excerpt for the ten short printed cards. Roberto Alomar, Wade Boggs, Derek Jeter, Kenny Lofton, Paul Molitor, Raul Mondesi, Manny Ramirez, Alex Rodriguez, Frank Thomas and Mo Vaughn just signed 700 Bronze, 200 Silver and 100 Gold cards.

Additionally, six players did not return their cards in time to be released with the first series. Therefore, Leaf decided to put those six, Brian Hunter, Carlos Delgado, Phil Plantier, Terrell Wade, Ernie Young and the short printed Jim Thome into extended series packs.

The brand only stuck under the Leaf tag for one year before becoming Donruss Signature in 1997 and 1998. Those two brands included David Ortiz rookie year autographs in 1997 as well as a base rookie card of J.D. Drew in 1998.

While the original autographs have very limited trade value in today's market, they still will forever be considered one of the most influential releases of all-time.

Mystery Card #5

Any takers?

Card of the Day: 1990 Pro Set Emmitt Smith

During our community yard sale, my family picked up a big box of older baseball factory sets, and there were also a few sealed wax boxes of 1990 Pro Set football.

I'm getting ready to open them and this is one card I hopefully pull, you know, since it's pretty much the only good card in the set and all.

The box results will be posted here either tomorrow or Monday when I find time. Most all the cards pulled from the break will be available so let me know if you have a want list from this set.

Another Topps Fukudome Rookie!

It's amazing. Topps has gone from zero real Kosuke Fukudome rookies to two in just one week.

Today, the company announced that the third redemption in the Finest rookie redemption program will be Fukudome.

Topps finally has me cooled down about the Fukudome debacle we all had to deal with after Topps Series Two was released, but there still will be collectors out there who refuse to admit that there is a Fukudome rookie since these are redemption cards.

Mystery Card #4

You all are blowing through these so here is one that should be a toughie.

Mystery Card #3

Brian got the one from this morning rather quickly so here is another to get you through the day.

Mystery Card #2

Our good friend from Cardboard Junkie nailed yesterday's mystery card on his first guess, so who wants to take the pride home today?

Card of the Day: 2000 MLB Showdown First Edition Foil Curt Schilling

I'm sure many of my readers can remember back when Wizards of the Coast first came out MLB Showdown in 2000.

There were three things you could do with this set.

1. Build it like any other set
2. Play the game with friends and family
3. Play the game in competitive tournaments

I personally engaged in the first two choices, but mostly collected the set for the second reason.

My brother and I used to play matches on a fairly regular basis including our own tournaments where we would each make five or six teams and play each other for several games.

We never played after the 2000 set for some reason, and when I look at those newer cards, I sometimes wonder how advanced this game really got.

But, for those who never bothered to play or forget how, here are the basic rules. Each offensive player has an On-Base number and each pitcher has a Control number which are key elements in how the game works.

The first step is for either side to play a strategy card, which were insert cards that can help either your Control or On-Base for one at-bat or the whole inning until an out is recorded. Offensive strategy cards had a red background and defensive strategy cards had a blue background. There were utility cards that had white background, but I never really used those much.

Each player has a strategy deck which the 50 cards that they can draw from in each game. If I remember correctly, you get to draw a new card each time you play one and between each half inning. You could have up to five of the same card in your deck.

Some of my favorite strategy cards were:

Rally Cap: adds +1 to the On-Base for each hitter until an out was recorded.
Clutch Hitting: adds +2 to the On-Base if you have a runner(s) in scoring position
In The Groove: adds +1 to the Control until a batter reaches base
Full Windup: adds +2 to the pitch if no one is on base
Three Up, Three Down: gave the pitcher and extra inning if the offense went 1-2-3

Now why do these cards matter in game play? I suppose I would have to explain how to play the game before you fully understand why these cards are so valuable.

After both sides play their strategy cards, the player who is pitcher rolls the 20-sided die that is included in a starter set. If the roll added the pitcher's Control number and any strategy card bonuses is equal to or more than the batter's On-Base number plus any strategy bonuses, it means the pitcher has the advantage. If the pitcher's roll added the Control number and any strategy card bonuses is less than the batter's On-Base number plus any strategy card bonuses, the hitter has the advantage.

Every card in MLB Showdown has a chart in the lower right corner that is used to determine whether the hitter is out or on base. The categories can include strike out, ground out, fly out, putout, walk, single, single+ (has to with the batter's speed in advanced games), double, triple or home run. When the pitcher has the advantage, which is most of the time, the batter will roll the die and use the pitcher's chart to determine if the batter is out or on base and when the hitter has the advantage they use the hitter's chart to determine that. Generally, pitchers only allowed base runners on rolls of 15 or higher, but some of the best were only rolls of 18, 19 and 20.

For a pitcher to have their full Control number, they only can go the allotted innings listed on the cards unless you use a strategy card bonus. For each inning after the pitcher's maximum that you use him, you lose one Control point on every roll. For every three runs a pitcher lets up, they also lose a point on their control.

In advanced games, there are stolen bases, double plays, outfield assists and many other baseball rules that come into play, but for the most basic game, you follow the above rules.

A team consisted of 20 players and had to fall below the 5,000 point cap; each player in the game has points which are basically like their salary. You had to four starters and eight or nine position players (DH in AL rules only). The rest of your players could be relief pitchers or bench players.

I still have one of my teams in order from when I used to play regularly, and I must say, it was a fantastic team.

Here is my starting National League line-up playing with American League rules along with their point total and On-Base number (some players came from the 2000 Pennant Run Edition):

LF - Roger Cedeno - 400 points - On-Base=10
CF - F.P. Santangelo - 350 points - On-Base=10
2B - Fernando Vina - 400 points - On-Base=10
3B - Jeff Cirillo - 470 points - On-Base=10
1B - John Olerud - 290 points - On-Base=10
RF - Alex Ochoa - 340 points - On-Base=10
SS - Hanley Frias - 290 points - On-Base=10
DH - Jeff Reed - 34 points - On-Base=9
C - Mitch Meluskey - 400 points - On-Base=10

Obviously, the big name stars were always the guys you wanted to use. Just because they could smash home runs, doesn't mean playing small ball can still be to you advantage. Against a pitcher with a Control number of five and some strategy bonus that takes the On-Base number to 12 gives you six of 20 numbers that give you the advantage. If do you that a few times in a row, you are bound to get some walks and singles that will drive in runs.

Here is my starting rotation from the same team:

Curt Schilling - 600 points - Control=6 - IP=8
Kyle Farnsworth - 170 points - Control=4 - IP=6
Brett Tomko - 230 points - Control=5 - IP=6
Greg Maddux - 480 points - Control=5 - IP=7

Curt Schilling is one of the most valuable cards I own when it comes to game play. Two other extremely valuable pitchers are Pedro Martinez and Randy Johnson. Basically with the pitchers, you want to combine a good Control number with a high number of innings pitched. The only reason Fransworth made this team was because he had a low point total.

The bench in MLB Showdown is where you saved points. Bench players could only play a few innings in a game and only counted for 20% of their point total. Here is the bench for my team with the number of points they took up on my salary.

Willie McGee - 10 points
Walt Weiss - 16 points
Sean Berry - 6 points
Jose Nieves - 14 points

Jeff Reed from the starting line-up is technically a bench player because the rules state that an NL team can use a bench player as the DH in AL rules.

Relievers were somewhat important to the game, but I still didn't put to much focus on have a stellar bullpen. Here is my bullpen.

Jay Powell - 70 points - Control=4
John Johnstone - 170 points - Control=6
Trevor Hoffman - 200 points - Control=4

The only reason Hoffman is on this team is because when the pitcher has the advantage, the only two rolls that allow a base runner are 19 for a single and 20 for a double.

The total salary for this team is 4950 and I had absolutely no way of making this team better with the cards I own. Combined with my strategy deck, I would take this team and play against the best 2000 MLB Showdown teams that are out there, if only anyone really played this game anymore.

Which I can't say much as I haven't played the game in several years now, but it is nice to look back upon fine memories.

Thanks Readers

After checking my stats tonight, I have reached 10,000 page views since this all started way back when I had a broken leg on January 2, 2008.

I am approaching 7,000 unique visitors (which means the number of people who visit each day). Basically, for every day you as an individual visit, I get a new unique visitor added to my count.

I thank you all for reading and especially thank those who leave comments as they do help me improve future posts because they allow me to know what my readers want to know.

Here's to another 10,000 page views!

Mystery Card #1

Come on down, you're the next contestant on Cardboard Mania's Name That Card!!

All you have to do is tell me who you think is on this lovely old piece of cardboard. All that has been removed is the name and position of this player.

Any takers?

Card of the Day: 1999 Stadium Club Austin Kearns

From 1991 to 2003, Stadium Club was a staple on the annual baseball card release calendar. Five years after it was last seen on the baseball market, Stadium Club still remains one of my favorite sets from those years.

While I never built any of the base sets, I have saved a lot of Stadium Club cards because of the unique or funny photos on the cards and I've also saved many of the one-of-a-kind inserts they provided collectors with over the years.

Stadium Club photographers were some of the best in the business as they frequently got shots of players in action like double plays, jumping/diving catches or tearing out of the batter's box even on the older cards. I also have several base cards where they have a picture of the pitcher from an overhead angle which makes for one interesting trading card. There used to be a Stadium Club Photo of the Month advertisement in Beckett so you know they had to be doing something right.

But while their fantastic photography made the base sets famous, Stadium Club also produced some innovative insert sets during their tenure.

The First Day Issue parallel from 1993-1995 was one of the first parallel sets that wasn't produced in a box set and came out just before the parallel era of the mid-1990s. The set later became Matrix in 1996 and 1997, but returned to its original tag from 1998-2000.

Stadium Club included all sorts of creative inserts during the early 1990s including Master Photos (1993, 1994), Dugout Dirt (1994), Crystal Ball (1995), Phone Cards (1995) and Ring Leaders (1995), but it wasn't until 1997 that the company began using new techniques to attract collectors to their inserts.

Sets such as Co-Signers autographs, Firebrand wooden cards, Patent Leather cards with leather and Pure Gold cards with gold from 1997 led the charge in the insert revolution that was the late 1990s. In 1999, the biggest mouthful of a baseball card set, Triumvirate Luminous, were first released. These cards featured three die-cut cards for every number which fit together when put together. Stadium Club also included Video Replays which were standard size motion cards of top baseball stars of the time.

As the game-used and autograph craze caught on strong in the early 2000s, Stadium Club had to change its main feature from inserts to relics and autographs. In 2002, this change was fully noticed as Stadium Club released bat barrel, bat handle and bat trademark relic cards and for the first time had more game-used sets than regular insert sets.

After a similar looking release in 2003, Stadium Club was never seen again. I think a lot of that had to with changing the type of set Stadium Club was. Before the relic and autograph outburst, it was a fun set that all collectors could enjoy because it gave young collectors something fun and gave experienced collectors something with value and the chance for a big hit. The sets were large enough that it was a challenge to complete them and it was pure fun and joy to look through the cards after completing a set.

This is just one example of how the changing of a market can kill a good thing. Sadly, I see Topps and Upper Deck base sets being the next thing killed by the game-used and autograph era because now retail boxes cost $20 and assure you one relic card. Whatever happened to the chase that was supposed to be a big part of this hobby?

Fukudome finally has his Topps RC

At about 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time, Topps has made me feel better about the company by announcing that the fourth Red Hot Rookie in 2008 Topps Series Two Baseball is Kosuke Fukudome.

After all the trouble Topps got into with the blog world after their Fukudome WBC card, it's a pleasant sight to see a "real" Fukudome rookie hit the market. While this still won't be considered a true rookie card, it is good that Topps finally has put Fukudome in a Cubs uniform on a card.

Of course, Fukudome was featured in eTopps earlier this year, but not too many collectors really count those in the rookie card department either.

When Fukudome wasn't announced as the second redemption, I made a couple of predictions about this set that turned out to be wrong, and I do want to admit I was off in those guesses.

I had two scenarios that I figured would happen. The first was that Topps was getting Fukudome to autograph these cards, and the second was that they would wait to release Fukudome as redemption #20 just to generate interest and chatter about the set.

However, they proved me wrong by putting him the set today, and I give many thanks to Topps for doing something right again.

Also, thanks to Chris Olds for posting this story. I haven't seen it on the Topps website or Beckett's website yet.

SP Legendary Cuts Back to Normal

Here is what Beckett had to say about the situation:

A court today ruled that Upper Deck can return to regular business practices for distributing all baseball products, a source with the company confirmed.

Effective 4:30 PM EDT Wednesday, the Temporary Restraining Order was lifted, thereby authorizing the company to return to normal business practices. Upper Deck distributors and customers can resume selling all Upper Deck baseball products, including 2008 SP Legendary Cuts Baseball, the brand at the center of the recent court action.

"Upper Deck is pleased we are able to get 2008 SP Legendary Cuts Baseball into the market for our collectors," said Tim Muret, Upper Deck's vice president of Sports Cards and Memorabilia. "The product has such a huge following and we are happy collectors will get to enjoy the experience of pulling the exciting cut signature autographs of baseball's greatest stars."

The TRO was put in place last Monday when Topps and CMG Worldwide Inc., filed a trademark infringement lawsuit in Indianapolis court. The five-page suit cited that the California-based company wrongfully used images and player names of 16 baseball legends – including Ty Cobb, Lou Gehrig, Jackie Robinson, Mel Ott, Jimmie Foxx, Rogers Hornsby, Thurman Munson, George Sisler and Johnny Mize – who were exclusively licensed by Topps in an April 2008 agreement.

At issue was the use of player names and statistics, which Topps believed were covered under their exclusive contract. In the complaint, Topps stated it "would not have entered into these agreements without having the rights to the legends' intellectual property on an exclusive basis."

I wish I had more information about why this happened, but I don't. Hopefully, I will be able to find some good info on this in the coming days to see why the court overturned this and why Topps was wrong in their assumption the agreements were infringed upon.

I still say Upper Deck was in the wrong until I see something that proves otherwise. Stay tuned to Cardboard Mania for more details.

Topps Red Hot Rookie #3

Topps made headlines with Red Hot Rookie #1, Jay Bruce, but has some raised some questions with its next two selections: Justin Masterson and John Bowker.

These selections are worthy to be within the 20 card redemption set, but why in the world are they the second and third selections when they are several other rookies that collectors want cards of far worse than they want cards of Masterson and Bowker?

For those who don't know (I'm guessing that's many of you), Bowker plays in San Francisco.

Wouldn't more collectors, outside of the team collectors, want to see cards of guys like Kosuke Fukudome, Geovany Soto, Even Longoria, David Murphy, Blake DeWitt and Hiroki Kuroda?

Of course, as I've mentioned before, Topps is certainly going to include these players on a delayed basis to generate interest in the redemption cards. However, with each passing redemption that is not one of the top star rookies of the year, the more frustrated many collectors will become.

Two big adds to the Omar Jacobs PC

This Omar Jacobs has been eluding me due to price. Did I get this one for just $4? Read on to find out.
Being on a limited college income, it isn't often I get to add high profile cards to my collection. Trying to achieve a complete collection of Omar Jacobs cards becomes difficult at that point.

This is because Jacobs only has rookie cards, and in this day and age, that means autographs, patches and other low numbered parallel cards.

I have been fortunate to get three printing plates, a Triple Threads Sapphire parallel /10, a Triple Threads Red parallel /18, the Topps Rookie Premiere autograph as well as several other patches and autographs /50 or less.

A former collector of Jacobs put up some of his old collection on Collector Planet and I jumped on a few of the cards. He had a lot of 10 for $30, but I didn't need enough to make it worth the entire $30. He then said he would do individual cards for $4 each and my jaw almost dropped when he agreed to sell these two cards for just $8 PayPal.



If you can't tell what these are, they are the following:

1. 2006 Absolute Memorabilia Rookie Premiere Materials Autographs Spectrum 268 Omar Jacobs $50.00
2. 2006 Finest Refractors 161 Omar Jacobs AU $30.00

I only wish I could all the rest of the high end Jacobs I need for 10% book value.

If you have any Jacobs cards, please do let me know.

Card of the Day: 1998 Leaf Rookies and Stars Ruben Mateo

Do you ever take an old Beckett you have saved for whatever reason and looked at the top cards from that time?

I was flipping through the May 1999 issue with Roger Clemens on the cover and there was some names for the ages listed in there.

Let's start with the 1998 Leaf Rookies and Stars set which was basically the beginning of short printed rookie cards in baseball.

Here were the top rookie cards from that set back in May 1999:

1. J.D. Drew $175
2. Gabe Kapler $50
3. Troy Glaus $50
4. Ruben Mateo $40
5. Jeremy Giambi $20
6. Orlando Hernandez $20

Here are the values of those particular cards today (in the same order)

1. J.D. Drew $12
2. Gabe Kapler $6
3. Troy Glaus $50
4. Ruben Mateo $40
5. Jeremy Giambi $20
6. Orlando Hernandez $10

And the top cards from the set today:

1. Troy Glaus $60
2. Magglio Ordonez $25 ($8 in 1999)
3. Carlos Lee $15 ($12 in 1999)
4. J.D. Drew $12
5. Odalis Perez $10 ($10 in 1999)
6. Orlando Hernandez $10
7. Mike Lowell $10 ($6 in 1999)

It's funny how the times change. I think we all remember back when J.D. Drew was the next best thing to nobody. According to this issue of Beckett, 1999 Drew cards were in the $8-$12 range.

But the reason I bring up Mateo's name is because he was featured in the May 1999 Beckett on page 73 as the month's One To Watch calling him a "legitimate five-tooler" and saying he "is expected to contribute heartily to the Rangers' big-league club before the end of the 1999 season."

Well, Beckett is allowed to mess up every now and then. Of course, a lot of collectors messed up to since you can pick up today's Card of the Day for just $1 on eBay right now.

While I am at it, here are some other noteworthy valued cards from May 1999.

-1997 Upper Deck Game Jerseys Ken Griffey Jr. $700 (Today $250)
-1985 Topps Mark McGwire $200 (Today $30)
-1990 Leaf Sammy Sosa $80 (Today $12)

And just to leave everyone with a bad taste in their mouth, you could pick up a David Ortiz Ultra rookie card ($2) for less than Ricky Ledee ($3) and Jose Cruz Jr. ($4).

But, if you think that is bad, please stop reading for the sake of your computer's screen...

I'm serious now. I'm warning you. You better stop now.

Alright, here it goes.

A 1997 Donruss Signature Autograph of David Ortiz was a measly $12.

What is you worst collecting investment/purchase? Mine was probably getting into Adam Piatt cards back in 1999. Or maybe selling my Ortiz Ultra rookie for $12 before the 2004 World Series.

Donruss does the gimmick right

There have been some new, unannounced parallels discovered in 2008 Donruss Elite football. However, these can not be placed into the gimmick category as so many other unannounced cards have been this year.

The 10th Anniversary set parallels the entire veteran base set and is numbered to ten.

Because this is a parallel set, I have no problem with Donruss not announcing it. This has no bearing on set builders unless someone is out there trying to do the impossible and build a master set of Donruss Elite.

More eBay junk I'm not buying and one I'm still not buying

While I can't find any listings nearly as outrageous as I did last week, there still are interesting items on eBay that I am not buying. And for those wondering, you still have time to get that 1989 Bowman Tracy Jones and the Magic Johnson/Michael Jordan card has been relisted. The gold foil Jordan is also available again but more on that later.

First up, we have a nice lot of ten star rookie cards in screw down cases for $3,000 + $39.77 for Parcel Post shipment.

Now don't get me wrong, there are some nice cards in there, but nothing good enough to make this lot worth $3,000. Maybe if the Donruss Classic Pujols were traded out for the Bowman Chrome autograph of Pujols, we could maybe talk about dealing.



But if that doesn't get you going, maybe you can go cheaper and buy this lot: 10 Baseball Greats-All Mint Condition-Cases included!!! It's only $94.80 with shipping included, what's not to love? Well...a lot of things I guess now that I think about it.



Now this is just plain funny. Can someone please tell me which is the stupider listing?

First up, we have a 1988 Topps card of Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan for $99 or Buy-It-Now for $145. Or, you can get a deal from the seller and both the Ryan and this 1988 Topps Cal Ripken for $75 or Buy-It-Now for $95.





Now for the second part of these two stupid listing we have a a late 1980s or early 1990s Pacific Nolan Ryan card. Get it fast though because the seller claims it "Could be worth more than I am selling it for. I have no clue." This is quite obvious considering the card is being offered for $99.



As for the card I'm still not buying. Well, that eBay famous Michael Jordan card with the gold foil autograph that I have featured several times is really depreciating in value. I mean it started at $2 million and now being offer for 0.00000005% of the original asking price, or $1.



However, there is still a reserve so for all I know, the seller is still expecting to get thousands of dollars for the card.

Card of the Day: 1996 Collector's Choice You Crash the Game Ken Griffey Jr.

As a kid when Collector's Choice was still a somewhat popular set, I was always thrilled when I saw a Crash Card (1:5) in my packs, especially in 1996.

For those who have forgotten or never knew in the first place, the Crash Cards were basically contest cards disguised as inserts.

Each of the 30 players in the set had three different cards which had the dates for different three or four game series on them. If the player hit a home run during the series marked on the card, collectors could exchange them for what the back of the cards called "Super Premium You Crash the Game Cards" of the player on the front. Today these are more simply known as exchange cards. The exchange was simple: the card itself and a $1.75 check or money order.

The contest period ended in November of 1996 so you had to be quick about things if you had a "winner" from a series in September.

These cards also had a gold parallel (1:48) which were good for gold exchange cards.

Collector's Choice also had these cards in 1995, 1997 and 1998, but the 1996 cards will always be my favorite because they are the most flashy of the four years. My personal best 1996 card is the gold Tim Salmon, but my best overall Crash Card is a 1997 Instant Win Mark McGwire which was seeded one in every 721 packs and has been worth as much as $60 while I have owned it.

Because I was just nine when these cards came out in 1996, I was too young to think about exchanging one of my cards for a different one so I never exchanged any of the ones I personally pulled.

Anyone else have a good Crash Card story?

Two new personal collection additions

I don't normally share with all you good folks cards from my personal collection, but I got two nice patch cards today and figure they were worth a mention here on Cardboard Mania.

The first is a four color Victor Martinez Ultimate Collection America's Pastime Patch numbered to 50 which I received from doniceage on Sports Card Forum in exchange for 2500 CardCash that I earned writing for the site. So in essence, I got this card for a couple hours of my time.



The second is a two color Omar Jacobs Ultimate Collection Rookie Patch also numbered to 50. This gives me 121 different Jacobs cards out of a possible 552. This card has been eluding me on eBay until now as I had been outbid on the card twice before.



Anyone else have a nice mailday today?

Card of the Day: 1997 Topps Uncut Sheet

Uncut sheets of sports cards have been used ever since the beginning, but not too many collectors can probably claim that they own. And sadly, not too many probably care to.

These sheets are used by the manufactures when they produce cards. Pretty much every single card produced starts out on one of these in a factory somewhere. The most famous factory uncut sheet I have personally ever seen was at the 2007 National Card Show in Cleveland where an expert collector had a 1953 Topps uncut sheet with several Hall of Famers, including Bob Feller.

This sheet of 1997 Topps has at least Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams and Roberto Alomar, but I can't decipher too much further than that.

However, smaller sheets are also used by other card entities. Sports card magazines like Beckett and Tuff Stuff has included different uncut sheets in their magazines are promotions.

Hostess and Kellogg's used to have uncut sheets of cards on the back of their packaging and mint condition versions of the vintage ones can command quite the dollar.

And the last well-known uncut sheet I can think of off the top of my head is something a lot of kids probably have had at one time but didn't even notice or keep.

In each issue of Sports Illustrated for Kids, there is a nine card uncut sheet of various sports stars. While these cards are perforated and meant to be disconnected, I would still say it is a small uncut sheet.

Uncut sheets of cards are very unique collectibles. However, there are several advantages and disadvantages of collecting and/or buying/selling them.

The sheets contain anywhere from two to hundreds of cards and give collectors a look at a wide variety of cards from one set without have to flip through a box or pages in an album.

Finally, uncut sheets make a great conversation piece if you display them in your card area, recreation room or other sports area of your home. Even non-collectors may be interested in knowing what you have there on the wall wuth all those players. Hard to say if that will make a collector out of anyone, but it never hurts to start a hobby conversation.

Sheets with prominent rookies or stars on them can also be worth quite a bit because super collectors of those players will pay a premium to add a new collectible of their favorite player to their collection. Many auction listings for uncut sheets will talk about how a certain rookie card is on it. Like this one with Jeter rookie on it or this one with Ken Griffey Jr. and Greg Maddux. However, that one looks a little warped at the top which leads me to the disadvantages of collecting these big pieces of cardboard.

As I just said: that 1990 Topps auction there is warped. Over time, these flimsy pieces of cardboard from the 1950s-early 1990s will naturally warp. Water damage can also be a factor in that. And, unlike the smaller regular cards, if you drop a sheet, you are almost certain to damage the corner of edge. A sheet will fall faster than a card will and also weighs more so more force will be taken when it hits the floor.

Sheets are large which means they can be difficult to store. If a sheet has 100 cards on it, it will be 35 X 25 inches in size. You can't pin too many of those to your walls because you will quickly run out of room, and if you put just a few in a box that size, the box you put them in will take quite a bit of space in the attic.

Transporting a sheet to show someone or sell it is also not the easier task. A car ride is bumpy and your sheet may shift a lot in the seat or trunk on the way to wherever you may be heading if it is not really protected well. Shipping a full sheet through the postal service or UPS can also create worry in the buyer and seller. We all know that the postal service isn't the most careful industry in the world, and when dealing with a large, fragile package like that, it can cause some knots in the old stomach.

So while uncut sheets make for unique collectibles, you have to be careful if you want to get into the business of collecting and/or selling them.

Is there anyone out there who has quite the collection of uncut sheets?

There still is not a real Kosuke Topps rookie

I'm not trying to discredit Justin Masterson at all. He is having one fine season up in Boston, but why in the world is Topps making him the second Red Hot Rookie Redemption player?

Has Topps not heard of a guy named Kosuke Fukudome, you know, the one who plays for the Cubs not the one who plays for Japan?

I know of several collectors who are waiting for the Fukudome Topps RC to finally appear, even if it does come through this redemption program. But, those people will have to sit on their hands even longer and continue to try and guess which number Fukudome may come at.

I have to admit, I think there is one of two things going on at Topps in regards to this set.

1) They are waiting to Fukudome's autograph on all the redemption cards
2) They are waiting to put Fukudome at number 20 just to get people talking about the set.

Given their recent history, it wouldn't surprise me at all if my second option is the one that works out in the end.

But, if you are holding redemption card number two, you can get yourself a Justin Masterson through Topps.com.

Card of the Day: 1997 Pacific Cramer's Choice Mike Piazza

As requested, I will feature another late 1990s forgotten set.

This time around, let's take a trip back and remember one of the rarest sets to find back in those days: Pacific Cramer's Choice.

From 1996-2001, Pacific offered up a hard-to-find, die-cut insert set called Cramer's Choice, which featured ten stars of each year the set was released.

Inserted one in every 721 packs of Pacific base, Cramer's Choice was a tough find for even the most advanced collectors. And in those years, these were some of the highest priced new cards in the hobby.

Back in May 1999, six of the ten cards in the 1996 series booked for $100 or more, six of the ten 1997 cards booked for $100 or more, eight of the ten 1998 cards listed at $100 or more, and six of the ten 1999 issues listed at $100 or more.

Today, there is only one of the Carmer's Choice cards that list for $100, and that is the 1996 Cal Ripken Jr. In May 1999, there were several cards that booked at twice that amount.

The 1998 Mark McGwire listed at $250 at that time, but today only books for $60. Part of that was McGwire's decline in baseball and the hobby, but some of it also contributed to the lack of interest in this set nowadays.

Commons from these years of Cramer's Choice can be had for $15. This is because this set has been on the decline as more and more game-used and autographs flooded the market and captured the hearts of collectors across the country.

However, there some similar sets to these that do get released in new sets. An example if the 2008 Topps Heritage Chrome Refractors Black. These are inserted one in every 450 retail packs and commons are worth $50.

But, there are also sets like 2008 Topps 50th Anniversary All-Rookie Team Gold which are inserted one in every 1,290 retail packs. There are four cards listed at $30 and they are the most valuable cards in the entire 50 card set despite them being rarer finds than Cramer's Choice.

For those wondering, the Piazza pictured above used to book for $120, but now is only worth $40.

I hope you have relished in the joy of remembering another forgotten set of the late 1990s.

A deeper look into the Topps/CMG/Upper Deck lawsuit

An Upper Deck jersey relic card of Thurman Munson which violates terms CMG and Topps had agreed to in April.
A big thanks goes out to Hand Collated who provided a link to the text of Topps' lawsuit against Upper Deck.

I am unlike most and decided to read through most of the 18 pages provided, however you get the gist of things after the first five or so.

Basically, Topps claims that Upper Deck's producing cards of their exclusive legends (Jackie Robinson, Lou Gehrig, Mel Ott, Jimmie Foxx, Rogers Hornsby, Thurman Munson, George Sisler, and Johnny Mize), it will damage the reputation of the Topps company because they will have lied to the public by saying they are the exclusive producer of the said legends' cards.

Another is claim is waged on behalf of CMG saying that the company will appear to have "double exclusively licensed" the rights of the eight players in question and also that they don't "actively monitor and protect its clients' rights" which has the possibility to "seriously diminish" the reputation that CMG has gained over the past 30 years.

Topps announced that it has signed exclusive rights to several deceased baseball legends in April of 2008, and according to the report, outbid Upper Deck for the rights of some of those players.

On page four of the document, there is a section of Topps' exclusive license with CMG from April that states among other things that Topps has exclusive rights to the player's "name, likeness, and/or statistical data on or in connection with the manufacture, production, marketing, distribution and sale of all trading cards including, but not limited to base cards, relic cards featuring authentic cut signatures and/or pieces of pieces of game-used equipment such as bats, jerseys, caps, etc."



An Upper Deck Cut Signature card of Jimmie Foxx that violates an agreement Topps has with CMG.

Yesterday, I proved that Upper Deck is in direct violation of this contract by the production a Rogers Hornsby/Chase Utley dual jersey which violates name, likeness, and game-used sections of Topps' agreement. I also featured a Johnny Mize cut signature card earlier this week when I first heard word of this lawsuit. That card features an authentic cut signature which violates a section of Topps' agreement.

Upper Deck used to have licenses with 14 players that are now Topps exclusives, but those licenses have since expired according to the report.

In the end, Topps is asking the courts to provide them with an "Ex-Parte" order which is basically a temporary restraining order from what I can gather.

Topps makes a valid claim that a temporary restraining order and delay in the product distribution would not hurt Upper Deck at all because the product was already pushed back from a May 22 release date. Topps also agreed to not release any legends product for the next 20 to not gain an unfair advantage.

As I have reported on this blog, there is some question as to Topps' right to produce relic cards of Daisuke Matsuzaka, but I have not been able to find information that proves any wrongdoing.

Card of the Day: 1999 Topps Traded Autographs Josh Hamilton

Josh Hamilton has seen it all in life and in the baseball card world.

As a highly touted rookie, his 1999 Topps Traded Autograph card was one of the top sellers before he even stepped foot on a Major League field.

In May of 2000, Beckett priced the card at $80, a price that would prove to be very steep just a few years down the road.

After getting involved with drugs and other things, Hamilton disappeared from the baseball map and by September of 2003, this autograph card could be had for $30. By June of the next year, it had dropped another $5.

After making a return for the Cincinnati Reds in 2007, this card shot up higher than it was when Hamilton was a top prospect.

At the end of 2007, Beckett listed the card at $100.

And 2008 is bringing in better things after a trade to the Rangers, who have a hitter-friendly park by the way.

Still leading all offensive Triple Crown at the time of this post, Hamilton's rookie autograph is one of, if not the hottest, baseball card on the market right now.

The most recent Beckett lists the Hamilton at $150, however, the most recent auctions for it have been selling as high as $250.

Just imagine if Hamilton goes on to win the Triple Crown. People will be in an even bigger frenzy over this card and his other base rookies (which trade in the $10-$25 range at this time).

I know I can't blame myself, but I wish I would've continued investing in Hamilton back in the early 2000s when he disappeared from baseball. I'm sure I echo the thoughts of many, but who really saw this coming?

Card of the Day: 2008 SP Legendary Cuts Generations Memorabilia Rogers Hornsby/Chase Utley

While this card does feature the all-time greatest second baseman and today's greatest second baseman, it could cause Upper Deck a whole world of hurt.

As I reported earlier this week, Upper Deck is being sued by Topps for the use of images of players that Topps has signed under exclusive contracts.

I got word last night from Hand Collated that Upper Deck may be off the hook because they were not using images of the players named in the lawsuit. However, that obviously is not the case.

According to the author over there, a message board member explained that as long as Upper Deck does not use likeness, it will be the same situation as when In The Game released Wayne Gretzky cards despite not having his contract.

However, another interesting aspect to this is that Topps has released Daisuke Matzusaka memorabilia cards despite his exclusive relic and autograph deal with Upper Deck.

It will be interesting to see if this gets brought up by Upper Deck if this case reaches court. I'm not going to sit here and pretend to act like I know how court cases work, but I would have to think that this would be a strong key to Upper Deck's case.

At the same time, I don't see how both these companies could make such obvious mistakes. Did Upper Deck really think Topps wouldn't eventually notice the cards they were producing? And how about Topps promoting an Upper Deck exclusive in its main advertising for its highest end product Triple Threads?

It just doesn't make sense to me everyone.

I think this case is far from over because of cards like the ones I mentioned. As always, I'll keep you up to on any new word I get.

When will the nonsense end?

Guess what everybody? There is another gimmick card in a 2008 base product.

This time around, Upper Deck is the culprit.

A new Presidential Predictors card has surfaced featuring Barack Obama as Jackie Robinson stealing home.

John McCain is the catcher in the card and only two have surfaced on eBay with the first selling for a best offer of $160. The second auction currently has a bid of $102.50.

According to the two auctions, this card is a rare SP similar to the Hillary Clinton card in Upper Deck Series One. The current auction alleges they pulled just one of these cards from two cases of Series Two.

I think it is time for these companies to realize that people aren't going to bring up the media hype that the Topps Jeter and Upper Deck Clinton cards got anymore. Everyone lost their money on those two and are no longer going to spend bookoo bucks on these types of cards.

Has anyone noticed that the Topps Kosuke Fukudome is selling for just $30-$50 anymore? People just aren't inclined to put down good money for gimmicks.

Both companies need to realize this before they both lost a ton of customers.

The Funniest $30,000 You Could Ever Spend

I have discovered something everyone should do. Go to eBay and perform the following:

1. Visit eBay.com.
2. Scroll down to the "Shop your Favorite Categories" in the bottom left corner
3. Click on "Sports Mem, Cards & Fan Shop"
4. Scroll down until you see "Cards" in bold print in the first column
5. Sort the results by "Price: Highest First"
6. See what outrageous listings you can.

I found this card about five minutes ago and am still laughing at the description. You can own this one of a kind card for just a starting bid of $10,000. But please bid higher so you can meet the reserve and not miss out on this piece of history.

Now the seller wants you to remember, this card is a "classic" with two of the greatest 50 players in NBA history on it.

He also says this:

"This event happened over sixteen years ago you can see the quality of the card very historic in basketball with autograph 5 million without 2 million"

"it's eleven NBA championship rings on this card There are things that happened to both players on and off the court that kept one player from finishing his career while the other kept playing your not getting this card cheap go buy something else"

Seriously? Here is the card in question.



Let me check my common box and see if I don't have like 10 of these. Well, I actually don't own this particular card, but I assure you that someone somewhere owns ten of them. And I'm also sure they will sell this card to you for somewhere in the neighborhood of ten cents.

Can't believe this is real? See if for yourself.

Not to mention his other listing. This is a card I featured before before because it was listed for $2 million.

Keep in mind this is some Michael Jordan foil bordered promo card of some sort from the early 1990s I am assuming. You can probably find it in a dollar box at a card show.

Well, it's back again for just $10,000 this time. But, I suppose it's worth it now because there is a picture of that is right side up, right? Not to mention...

"I know your thinking what make this autograph different from all the rest he's written pay attention people because it'll be years before i put it up for auction again look at the card it is different he took his time and wrote it legible it's not scribble scrabble"



The third and final ridiculous card I found for $10,000 hails from the 1989 Bowman baseball set, and it is not the Ken Griffey Jr. rookie card.

Rather, it is the ever-so-popular Tracy Jones.

I can see why the seller may have made this mistake.

"This is my coin in the fishes mouth so to speak for my taxes, so I believe somebody out there may be missing it from their collection, etc. I have never had it appraised, or done any research of any kind to determine value"

Obviously.

Here's a picture for all the good folks out there.



Have a crazy listing I missed? Let me know.