2010 Topps Review

I have been waiting, and waiting, and waiting for my Jumbo Hobby box of 2010 Topps to come in. It finally did on Tuesday, and my son and I opened it last night. Hmmm, I have a few opinions on this year's edition of the only licensed MBL product.

Design: B

Not bad. Not great. This may be one of those Topps designs, like 1972 or 1975, that grows on you after a while and becomes a classic. On the other had, the use of foil is becoming a bit annoying. Topps should not use it for the names and logo, in my opinion. But the size of the names and the team name and logo are good. Makes it easy to read, especially for my old, failing eyesight.

The backs are pretty good, too. The numbers are easy to read and all situated the same way. Complete batting and pitching records are listed, and a nice second picture is there, too. Good job on the obverse, Topps.

It's also good to see that Topps has finally gotten over their A-Rod infatuation and put someone else in the #1 card slot - Prince Fielder - although it is a strange picture!

Photography: A

Like last year, the photography is a strong point, although I don't have any of those stupid Yankee pie-in-the-face cards. Thank goodness! But there are some really nice photographs. Randy Johnson's falling-down-while-throwing-to-first-base photo comes to mind.

Inserts: C+

WAY TOO MANY!

There are just too many insert sets to collect, and that doesn't even include the variations. Not only do the base cards have variations, but the Cards Your Mother Threw Out has variations, too. I pulled the Albert Pujols 2002 All-Topps Rookie card, and it has the original back on it, not the CYMTO back! (If anyone is interested in trading for it, make an offer.)

Do I really need Turkey Red again? Why is there Tales of the Game AND History of the Game? Two sets of ToppsTown, gold and silver? C'mon!

As I count it, there are TEN different insert sets this year for Series 1. Lord knows how many more they will bring out for Series 2 and U&H. There could end up being 12 to 15 different insert sets this year. Dial it down, Topps!

Collation: A-

Very good, for the most part. In the Jumbo Hobby box, you get the entire set plus inserts, plus about 50 base doubles. However, I did get four Turkey Red doubles, out of 10 cards. Not good. Other than that, though, the variety is excellent.

Hits: B+

This is where I did well this year. The first hit is an autograph of Glen Perkins. OK. It looks like the signature was rushed. Very messy compared to the Sweet Spot I had.

Second was a bat relic - thank goodness, again, for no plain jersey relics - of Dustin Pedroia. I do like the design of the Peak Performance inserts, and the autos and relics are nicely done.

Third I got one of the manufactured hat patches of a Red Sox logo, for Kevin Youkilis. Nice card. I'd rather have an Indians logo, though, so if you read this and you have the Grady Sizemore version, I will trade with you. In any event, it's a good-looking design, and better than the partial, can't-figure-out-what-it-is patches from last year.

Fourth, as a bonus, I got a silk card, numbered to 50, of Adrian Gonzalez. Again, nice card, didn't make me jump up and down, but it is good trade bait, so if you are interested....

Value: B+

From what I understand, the price of a hobby box is quickly escalating, according to my dealer. Jumbos are up to $90-something, and wax are up to the high $60's. It is a hot product so far. If you haven't bought yours yet, you may want to wait until the price comes down again.

As for me, though, I preordered at $75 for the Jumbo Hobby box, and I believe that I got good value. Four hits is nice, and the cards look pretty good.

OVERALL GRADE: B/B+

I couldn't make up my mind, so I'm waffling. However, this is a strong set for Topps' first exclusive. They deliver good value, so that help boost the grade, but those inserts! As Charlie Brown would say, "AAARRRRRRGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!"

I'm really looking forward to Heritage. I hope it is not as difficult to collect as this one is.

FOR TRADE

HITS

Dustin Pexroia Peak Performance GU Bat #PPR-DP
Glen Perkins Peak Performance autograph #PPA-GP
Adrian Gonzalez Silk Collection (03/50)

(this one will only be traded for a Grady Sizemore logo hat patch)
Kevin Youkilis Boston Red Sox Hat Logo manufactured patch #MHR-127 (86/99)

Turkey Red
6 - Upton
10 - Papelbon
19 - Ripken
31 - Ott

Gold-border
8 - LL Mauer-Ichiro-Jeter
24 - Maine
33 - Moore
70 - Hamels
84 - Robertson
102 - Twins
140 - Holliday
173 - Morales
214 - Kemp
227 - Thole (not Thome)

Base: 2, 6, 7, 8, 10, 14, 16, 24, 29, 42, 45, 48, 49, 55, 60, 64, 65, 69, 70, 72, 74, 78, 80, 87, 105, 107, 114, 117, 120, 130, 135, 136, 145, 152, 153, 164, 167, 171, 172, 177, 185, 188, 196, 197, 198, 216, 226, 237, 240, 241, 248, 256, 260, 261, 274, 280, 288, 293, 300, 303, 304, 314, 321, 326

Attention all Braves fans

I have had amazing good luck with 2009 Sweet Spot. I have basically figured out where, in a fresh box, the Sweet Spot and the Sweet Beginnings autographs are, so I have been able to pick up quite a few autos. In fact, I picked up my second Tommy Hanson auto from the set, this time a Silver auto numbered out of 65.

It is up for sale on eBay now, ending today, as is a Kenshin Kawakami auto.

Too bad I'm not a huge Braves fan. Between them, the Cardinals and the Braves, I seem to be getting a lot of their autos.

If you are interested in trading for some of the Sweet Swatches, they are on my Autos, Relics and S/N'd cards page, in the column to the right.

Post-Holiday Shopping Spree

I had some cash burning a hole in my wallet, so I wandered on down to the local card shop, where the owner was trying to clear out some older packs so he wouldn't have to inventory them come the first of the year. Just my luck! Lots of stuff half-price!

Here's a sampling of what I came up with.

2009 Sweet Spot Sweet Beginnings Gold Tommy Hanson auto 135/199 (this was the only full-price stuff I bought - $18 per pack - I'm hooked on it!)

2008 SPX Carlos Zambrano patch 17/50 - $10/pack (usually $20)

2009 UD Icons Everth Cabrera Rookie Signature 293/600 - $5/pack (usually $10)

2009 UD Icons Letterman Joe Nathan 03/45

2009 UD Icons Letterman Kent Hrbek 50/50

2008 SPX Ken Griffey American Hero #KG91 1/1!

Nice take for only a few packs. OK, so there were more than a few packs, but not a case. Busting packs and getting this many things is not normal, at least not for me.

I also ended up taking the last five packs of 2009 Goudey at $2.50 per pack. Great price! Better than Tar-zhay and Wally World. And what do you know, I ended up getting three SP's and one 4-in-1 that I needed, on top of the base. Plus two blue-back minis. I'm very happy with the SP's on those packs. I would normally pay $3 for each of those short prints, so this was a great deal.

There are a few other things I got that will all being going on my Picasa trade page (see the links to the right, under "Give & Take"). If you want something, make me an offer. My email address is also in the right-hand column.

Hit of the Year? Maybe the Decade!

For some reason, lately, I've been interested in getting the "hits" from Sweet Spot. The '08 Sweet Spot has been in the store up until recently, and now that the '09 SS are in, I thought I'd give it a try.

My luck is usually pretty bad, or average at best, so I let someone else pick the pack for me. Tom, the owner, was nice enough to pull out a fresh box, and, going on my judgment from the '08 boxes, I took the pack in the back of the stack. (No, I will not eat green eggs and ham....)

What did I get?

Not great. He even has an Indians' uniform on, but its a Giants card. Meh.

So I had Emily, Tom's daughter and resident good-luck charm, pick a pack for me. I think she picked the 3rd or 4th, and this is what I got:

Holy Shitaake Mushrooms!!!!!!!!!!

This is the biggest name, lowest number, most unique card I've ever pulled. I've only been buying high-end stuff for a short while, but SHNIKEES, this is amazing!

I didn't know much about Kiner, so I went to the Baseball Reference to find out more.

• He was inducted into the HOF in 1975
• He played only 10 years, the first 7 for Pittsburgh
• He finished his career with the Indians in 1955
• He hit .279 for his career, but had a whopping .548 slugging percentage!
• In only 10 seasons, he hit 369 home runs and had 1015 RBIs, for an astounding average of 37 HRs and 101 RBIs per season!

In the similarity scores, three of the top ten he is similar to are Indians: Colavito, Doby and Belle. And by age, he is similar to Colavito, Thome, McCovey and Killebrew. Here's to you, Mr. Home Run. Thanks for the bat!

photo courtesy of Baseball Almanac

Now comes the big question: do I keep it, trade it or sell it?

Looking on the Bay, there are only three similar cards that have sold already.

1. the Canseco bat barrel nameplate that Mario at Wax Heaven talked about that sold for $305
2. an Orlando Cepeda nameplate that sold for $246
3. an Adam Dunn nameplate that sold for $248

That's very, very, VERY enticing, and since this is a 1 of 2, I think it might go for more!

(As an aside, do you believe that an Adam Dunn bat barrel would sell for more than a certified great player and HOFer like Cepeda?!!?!! I can't.)

I think I will keep it for a short time, then sell it. Unless someone knocks me over with a tremendous trade offer that I can't refuse.

$3 Autogamer bin find

For only $3, who couldn't resist a relic of a HOFer? Not me. I must say that I would not have bought it if it was a plain white relic. At least I (sorta) know this came from a Cubs jersey.

A Memorable Moment?

Another Trade Days on Saturday at the local shop. That means cashing in some of the trade value I have left over with some others, picking up some of the Turkey Reds and Legends I need for this year's set, and buying some cards. I decided to pick up some of the remaining packs of Legendary Cuts. I think I did OK.

First pack, I pull a Joe Torre jersey with a pinstripe.

 

Joe may not be a Hofer based on his playing days, but he certainly is based on his coaching, mostly from the World Series titles he won with the Yankees.

In the third of four packs, I got this Memorable Moments card:

 

To me, these are a bit strange, since this is not a relic or an auto. It's just a piece of paper inset into the card outlining a memorable moment in their life. This one has to do with Ford going to law school. Yeah, another relevant card in a baseball product.

I'm in deep negotiations to trade this, otherwise I might sell it. The Torre, well, I'm undecided on that one. If you want to make an offer, I'm willing to listen.

08 UD Masterpieces review

Have I mentioned lately how much I like Masterpieces? It is a beautiful product, my favorite of 2008. It is well-designed, with great pictures that seem as if they are hand-painted on canvas, simple accents such as the subtle gold double border (which separates it from the single border of the 2007 version), and generally interesting and relative facts on the obverse, aside from the few factual mistakes that have been noted. The parallels are not-too-difficult to pull, despite the colors that sometimes are hard to discern, and great inserts, such as Strokes of Genius and Captured on Canvas. The short prints are not exceedingly difficult to find, and the base cards are a tidy 90 cards. My kind of set.

I've already detailed how I pulled some beautiful inserts in the two boxes and variety of packs that I've bought, both from retail and hobby. I was in my favorite card shop in Rochester, and spied a lonely box sitting up on the shelf with only six packs left in it. They were calling to me: Hey, Mister, take us home with you.

Seeing as I have only two or three base cards and a dozen or so SP's to go, I bought them and broke them right there. I've never had great luck with any of the other packs or boxes I buy at the store, even with the "lucky" daughter of the shop owner picking the packs or boxes for me. (For example, the box of Heritage that didn't have an auto in it, or anything else really all that worthwhile. Maybe that is why I'm not actively trying to collect the High-Numbers set to go along with the base set of Heritage.)

Here is what I got out of those six:

• base cards: 24
• short prints: 4 - Seaver, Stargell, Clemente, Gibson

 

 

• black border parallel: 2 - Mauer, Magglio Ordonez
• red border parallel: 1 - Chin-Lung Hu
• green border parallel (#/75): 1 - Hanley Ramirez
• Strokes of Genius auto: 1 - Geoff Jenkins
• Captured on Canvas relic: 1 - Verlander

 

  

Not bad for only six packs. The only complaint that I have is that I got another Verlander relic, my second, and another Sheffield base, my fourth or fifth. These two guys are haunting me! Has there been as big a disappointment last year as Verlander? I can throw Ordonez into that crowd, too. I get WAY too many of these Tigers.

Maybe that is what it is: I'm being stalked by Tigers!

Michael Eisner and Topps

I guess I couldn't stay away too long. On my plane flight, I read an aricle on Michael Eisner, the former head of Disney, and what he is doing now. As many of you probably already know, his company owns Topps. There are some interesting points made about the card company and its possible direction in the future.

(from the New York Times, November 23, 2008)

And at Topps, finding ways to make the brand valuable online — for example, with a virtual trading card collecting game for children — is important, but so is selling physical goodies.

“It’s like movies and theaters,” he says. “The theatrical movie is still the main distribution. You can put it on the iPod, et cetera, but movies in theaters are still the core.”

And these baseball cards would hardly be recognized by previous generations. After a boom in the 1980s and 1990s, when collectors overtook children as the target customers and companies flooded the market with newfangled varieties of cards, the baseball card industry has been in decline. “We’ve got to get the kids back,” Mr. Eisner says.

After a meeting last summer about Topps’s digital strategy at the company’s offices in Lower Manhattan, Mr. Eisner found himself in a closet-sized room draped with laundry. Babe Ruth’s and Lou Gehrig’s laundry. The uniforms were bought at auction — Mr. Ruth’s pants cost $90,000 and Mr. Gehrig’s $60,000 — and will be sliced into tiny pieces and embedded into cards.

Mr. Eisner, a serious art collector, is openly uneasy about the endeavor, but Scott Silverstein, the chief executive of Topps, explains that this gimmick is a big moneymaker.

So, it seems that Mr. Eisner is not comfortable slicing up the Babe's pants and the Iron Man's pants, but is willing to do it to appease the consumer base. Is this really what the consumers want? 

I'm torn (no pun intended) on the value of cutting up objects that may better be served by keeping them whole. Cutting signatures out of documents and taking snippets from clothing seems to devalue the object and obliterate its integrity, and could very likely eliminate any historical relevance that object may have had. Abraham Lincoln signature cut from a document is just that - his signature. His signature on a document, whether it was a love letter to his wife, Mary Todd, or on a presidential decree, or on a handwritten note to a colleague, sheds light on his life and endeavors at that time. Much is lost when these objects are cut apart.

The collector in me, though, thinks that "This is way cool!" at the chance of getting a signature of a famous person or a piece of clothing that a celebrity wore. (Well, maybe not so much the relic.) A signature of George Washington or John F. Kennedy or Marilyn Monroe is certainly something that an Average Joe like me would never be able to afford. 

In the end, the historical importance of the documents and clothing trumps the "gimmick," as they say in the article, of putting these in packages of cards. I'm against it.  

2008 UD Masterpieces

I bought a box of 2008 UD Masterpieces on Saturday at a mall card show for $71, and opened it immediately with Joshua. We couldn't wait to see what treasures awaited us inside this small box. Could there finally be that Derek Jeter autograph that we have been hoping to find? Maybe an A-Rod or Pujols parallel? Even a Pence or Longoria relic, hopefully. What we got, though not as memorable or thrilling, was very pleasing, nonetheless.

2008 UD Masterpieces

• 12 packs, 6 cards per pack
• Base cards: 59
• -doubles: 1
• Black frame parallels: 4 - Greg Maddux, Ernie Banks, Tim Lincecum, Russell Martin
• Red frame parallels: 1 - Whitey Ford
• Grey frame numbered parallels: 1 - Carlos Zambrano #18/25
• Jersey insert: 1 - Justin Verlander
• Patch auto insert: 1 - Brandon Phillips #08/25

The design is too similar to the '07 UD Masterpieces, but still very nice, although several of the photo-based drawings are not very flattering. The Greg Maddux cards (same for base and parallel) show an old, tired pitcher with a paunch, and the Robin Yount, as noted by Thorzul, is a strange portrait in which he is staring at something really scary or he has just been beaned by a Nolan Ryan fastball. The Jonathon Papelbon shows him in his Incredible Hulk pose after striking out a Yankee.

Also, as Thorzul pointed out, there is at least one factual error in the factoid on the back of the cards. Yount did not get the Rookie of the Year award, as stated on the back, and was not even in the top 5 in the voting. Tsk, tsk Upper Deck.

The prize of the box was the Auto Patch of Brandon Philips. It would have been even nicer to get a superstar auto-patch, but this is one beautiful card. It is so thick that only one other card was in the pack with it! It is an elegant simple design with Brandon's signature across the "Patch" watermark, and the patch itself is a three-color seamed portion of the Reds patch from his "game-used" uniform. Very, very nice.

The Whitey Ford is very interesting, also. Whitey has a bit of a clown-face going, and is holding up two balls with black stripes on them. However, upon reading the back of the card, it tells you why he is holding up the two balls: he threw back-to-back one-hitters. According to Baseball Reference, the only other pitcher that I can find since 1956 who did it was Sam McDowell for the Indians in 1966.

All in all, I would say this is as good a product as last year's version. It is beautiful, well-designed, interesting and easy to collect the base set. It is one of my favorites, and is highly recommended.

Final Grade: A- (for the factual errors)

A Problem with the Hobby

There are many problems with the Hobby today, and some of them may even sound like the problems facing Wall Street today. No, not credit default swaps or other derivatives. I am referring to issues such as opportunists invading our territory, speculation and supply-and-demand-gone-wild. These are the result of a successful industry and its desire to drive profits, as well as "collectors" who smell a killing in the market and have come only lately to this pastime in order to amass a nice little nest egg and build their retirement homes on the bones of the kids starting to collect and the enthusiasts for the game.

I see it with my son and some of the younger people showing up at the Trade Days that I attend. They are more interested in that shiny card, that auto-relic, that plastic-encased serial-numbered refractor, than in the true, pure joy of a well-loved 1933 Babe Ruth Goudey. Joshua now understands "Beckett value" as a basis for trading, instead of having a personal connection to the card that makes it "valuable." (I remember trading cards because I liked the guy represented on the card or needed it for my set, not because it was pretty or expensive. In fact, I put many cards in my spokes and drew goatees on some HOFers.) I am partly to blame for this, though, because, since my return to the hobby a little over a year ago, I got caught up in the chase for the 1/1 AutoChromaJerseyFractor of some unknown rookie.

"Hi, my name is Dan, and I'm a recovering baseball card collector."

(Everyone respond now: "Hi, Dan!")

I have since pulled back from chasing these cards, and now am concentrating on collecting sets and the Indians. Yes, I still look for relics and autos, but in pursuit of set completions and trades for cards that are meaningful to me. I have completed at least a dozen trades on-line with fellow collectors and bloggers, and made quite a dent in my want-list, as well as helping many of you with your sets. I feel better about my hobby now, knowing that I am not spending recklessly.

Now I get to the bigger problem with the hobby.

My wife.

(Aside: I love my wife. In fact today is her birthday, and I am fretting over what to get her. Suggestions welcome, although they should not include appliances, power tools or anything that might make more work for me. And, No, she is not THE problem with the entire industry, just my personal involvement with it. She may be representative of other wives/girlfriends/significant others.)

She thinks that this is a childish endeavor. I spend too much time on the computer. My cards are taking up too much space in the basement, and are strewn all over the desk in the office. I am spending too much on buying Blasters and packs. I haven't kept track of my expenditures for shipping and purchasing collecting accessories. I'm not selling things in order to make up for buying things.

Should I try to convince her that this is a productive pastime? That I spend more time with my son showing him the interesting cards, the famous players, the favorites? That I am not overspending or underselling? That this is something I enjoy and affords me some escape, relaxation and fulfillment?

I think that to do so would be fruitless and diminish my enjoyment. To me, the search for that one card to complete the set, that 1965 Mickey Mantle that came in the box of cards I just bought for a song, the joy in seeing Joshua's face light up when he sees that 1933 Babe Ruth card is the reason I am doing this. It is fun, a simple pleasure, and isn't that what life is all about?

Updated Trade List

I've updated my Trade List (Up for Grabs) to include Relics & Autos. I have a few Braves rooks in there, for anyone interested (yeah, I'm talking to you, dayf!), as well as some broke-down pitchers, steroid kings, near-HOFers and journeymen. Take a look, please, and make me an offer "I can't refuse."

Autographs versus relics

I like autographs much better than relics. There I've said it. "Hi, my name is Dan, and I like autos."

"Hi, Dan!"

I mean, who wants a piece of Manny Trillo's clothing, which, by the way, probably was cut from under the arm of his jersey or the crotch of his pants, that's why it's that discolored yellowish-tannish-whitish. Who are these guys that are giving up there clothes? I don't see any baseball players running around in their thongs. Is this like President Shrub signing things where he changes a pen after each stroke so that some schlubb from North Fiddle-sticks can say that he has a pen once touched by a President? C'mon! These guys might soon start changing jerseys after each pitch!

Give me a great autograph, or even an average one, any day over that base that Ron Hassey may have stepped on at some point in his career.

I have started collecting current and former Indians' autos, including Vizquel, Eckersley, Sizemore, Sabathia, Hafner, Martinez and several up-and-coming youngsters. That is something that anyone can relate to: something that is signed by a person, done by hand. It is something that will last. Something to look back on, especially if you got it yourself.

My father is 82, and he is starting to become forgetful. He does remember things from his youth and most of his adult life as if it was yesterday, but can't remember if he played golf yesterday. He has handed down to me a most precious gift, though: his autograph book from when he was an usher at Cleveland Municipal Stadium in the late 1930's and early 1940's. He was 16 in 1941, still a year or two away from joining the Army and going to Europe. He used to bring an autograph book with him to the Stadium, and hand it down to the dugout (when players were much more likely to sign without asking you for a donation), and they would pass the book down the line and everyone would sign it. This is the way in which I could cross-check the schedules and rosters and verify which season and team it was and when they signed it.

It is an amazing autograph book, with the likes of Lou Boudreau, Ken Keltner, Vic Wertz, Bob Feller, Luke Appling, Jimmie Foxx, Ted Williams, and many, many others. But the one that stands out, without a doubt, is the Joe Dimaggio autograph. My dad's story is that Joe D. signed this the day his famous 56-game hitting streak was broken by several great plays at third base by Ken Keltner, as well as the rest of the Indians. No, there is no date on the signature, so there is no way to definitively verify that this is true. However, by going through the schedules, I have verified that he did get Joe's signature from that very series! And really, how can I doubt his story. He remembers that, if not much else.

With the closing of Yankee Stadium this year, I have thought of going to The City and taking my son and father for a final glimpse of The House. I have tried to get in contact with the Yankees to see if they would be interested in displaying the autograph book, or maybe even showing it to the current Yanks, if any of them are autograph collectors and interested in such history. No word yet, but I'll update this when I do hear from them. (Hopefully.)