The First Ever Collective Troll Reader Appreciation Contest Is HERE!!!

It’s contest time!!! The first annual Collective Troll Reader Appre-ciation contest is here! Thanks to everyone who contributed to this blogs 75,000 hits and 100 followers! It’s time for me to give back. I am going to try and keep this post short (…

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Why am I doing a preview for this product?  Not sure.  I just received an e-mail with some pictures and it looks interesting.  Collectors can look forward to two versions of this product: KO and TKO.  Click here for more info.  It should be released this May.

The pack art looks really cool.

Boxing has a strong [...]

Continue reading about Eat Your Heart Out Boxing Fans: Ringside Boxing – Round One Preview »

I’m not sure how everyone else goes about their blog posting, but I try to schedule out my posts each week.If I did everything off the cuff — although sometimes I do — I would positively hate half of what I wrote, and there would be no blog archive f…

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1959 Topps #195 Rip RepulskiReal name: Edlon John Repulski

Continue reading about Heartbreakingly Great Names #4: Rip Repulski »

Here’s the NL West representative’s off-season perspective: The San Francisco Giants. (Mel Ott is not really on the team, but he was a Giant).The Giants have not consistently developed young, capable major leaguers that are not pitchers. This is a pret…

Continue reading about Off-Season Perspective Part III: Veterans and Position Scarcity: The Giants Perspective »

Topps has had some funky test issues in the past, but their “Pro Shooter” Photo Marbles have to be near the top of the funky list.  I can just see kids (and adults) chucking these hard plastic balls at each other.  These were distributed with two marbles per package and there are 60 marbles in [...]

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As some of you know, I had a conference call with Upper Deck today. It was kind of weird in a good way. My 13 year old self could not have imagined such an event. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a huge deal but the self-cool factor is high. They asked…

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Asked by the Times Herald Record of Middletown, NY, about his most memorable moment as a player, Wilfredo Cordero went right to the start, his first big league game.”It is like a dream,” he told the paper in 2007. “After all this hard work — I made i…

Continue reading about Wilfredo Cordero, Memorable Moments – 682 »

The postcard arrived today, all the way from Los Angeles. It was interesting to see that as soon as I got my shipping notice, the seller immediately had a second one posted for sale. Considering he said he was given these as a gift, and he only had the Meulens, Showalter and Howe, he probably has a stack of them from an in-person signing from way back when. I have to revise my date estimate to

Continue reading about 1991 1992 or 1993 New York Yankees postcard set (update) »

Oh Topps Finest, how I adore you. For some reason, you were never on my radar as a young collector–too expensive, I suppose–and I was blissfully ignorant of your existence right up until I saw these staring back at me. Now, three years into my world, you’ve done it again. Bold, Shiny and Colorful you make any collector smile, and any player collector giddy with anticipation over completing the coveted “rainbow” of your cards–despite the fact that they know in their heart of hearts that it probably is not to be.

Alas, I am out of the player collection business, but I can’t help but create a scenario in which I start picking up some Finest just because.

Base Set The knock on the Finest base set is that it is little. 5 Tigers, one of whom is this season’s “rookie that is in every set even though he won’t make the team and isn’t even the third most important rookie in the system,” Brent Dlugach. Dollars to Donuts says that Austin Jackson is treated to a redemption a la Rick Porcello in 2009 Finest.

As is my way, I will highlight the “base set” in the form of much better looking refractor parallels. In this case, the Blue Refractor. The “rainbow,” for those keeping score, would include the base card, and the following refractors: regular (#/599), Blue (#/299), Green (#/99), Gold (#/50), Red (#/25), Purple (1/1)

Note: This is one of those sets for which there is no checklist yet, but based on what I’m seeing on eBay, I think I’m in the ballpark on this one, even as it pertains to inserts and autographs etc. As always, if I’m wrong let me know and I will correct as necessary.

#31 Miguel Cabrera	#58 Brandon Inge	#87 Justin Verlander
#101 Rick Porcello	#145 Brent Dlugach RC

Autographs Bare bones Tigers inserts and hits this year: Rick Porcello gets a “Finest Moments” autograph, which is on a sticker (BOOOOOOOO!!!). As far as I can tell, that (with it’s parallel versions) is it for non-base Tiger cards in the set. Oh well. Multi-colored refractors it is then…

2010 Topps Finest #FMA-RP Rick Porcello “Finest Moments” Autograph

And that’s all she wrote for Finest. I need to get some of these in hand, but from the looks of things, they stack up very nicely to the 2009 version, which was arguably my favorite design from last year.

Continue reading about Tigers Gallery Checklist: 2010 Topps Finest »

What day/time do you want to draft? Leave a comment on the league message board, and let’s decide democratically.
I realize this post alienates about half of our readership, and for that, I do sincerely apologize.
-b

Continue reading about To Everyone In Ryan’s Memorabilia’s Fantasy League »

How paranoid some people are of the internet. How they tell children and teens not to give out their home towns or first names and not to talk to people you don’t know online. How weary people are of even sharing their facebook page with people……

Continue reading about It amuses me… »

Before the Tampa Bay Devil Rays arrived on the scene I was a Pirates fan. I am speaking of the Pittsburgh Pirates-back in the 70s when I got my first Pirates cap you didn’t have to specify. Now if you tell someone you are a Pirates fan they think you…

Continue reading about The World Champion Pittsburgh Pirates! »

Let The Numbers Do The Talking: Maddux VS Johnson VS Clemens
I agree that you cannot really compare player’s stats from different eras.  While the end numbers are fun to look at, especially when trying to rank a player versus others, times were different.  From league expansion, changes in field dimensions, and the changes in athletic [...]

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I’ve been sitting on a couple of Million Card Codes for a week or so. That is quite an accomplishment for me. I’m downright impatient when it comes to those things. The funny thing is I don’t seem to have a problem with Topps having the cards once I un…

Continue reading about Topps Transmogrifier Giveth and then…not so much »

The Yankees  officially announced that Phil Hughes would be their fifth starter. For much of the spring Alfredo Aceves seemed to be dealing more than anyone else. Until that day came when Joe Girardi told the Pitchers to stop working on things from here on out it all counts. It was that very day that [...]

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So it’s getting down to crunch time in Spring Training. Players are getting cut or sent down and rosters are getting finalized. Only ten days left until Opening Day 2010.Jarrod Saltalamacchia says that he is pain free now. He took batting practice this…

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We’re back with another Free Stuff Friday where we give readers the chance to win some cool stuff just by taking the time to answer a quick card-related question on Beckett.com.

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FREE STUFF FRIDAY (3-26) “Grand Prize” Contest — A Beckett Media autographed card lot (as in business cards) by the Box Busters All-Stars: Tracy Hackler, Chris Olds, Dan Hitt, Brian Fleischer, Keith Hower and Bryan Hornbeck. (There’s no Tim Trout — he’s too big-time.)

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I recently purchased a stack of non-sports tobacco cards at a local antique shop that included this Turkey Red Cigarettes tobacco card from their 1910 Automobile Series. This card, the Hotchkiss Racer, is one of 50 cards in the set. It is classified as a T37, measuring 2 5/8″ by 2″ and features a full [...]

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FREE STUFF FRIDAY (3-26) Contest No. 9 — A Roy Oswalt 2007 Exquisite Rookie Signatures autograph (only five exist)

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FREE STUFF FRIDAY (3-26) Contest No. 8 — A Jonathan Papelbon 2009 Topps Triple Threads autographed game-used jersey card

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Unfortunately, most of us cant afford to rip a box a day. For the everyday collector there will inevitably be “dry spells” in which we can’t afford to buy packs, boxes, or singles. Here’s a few things you can do to pass the time when you can’t afford your favorite pass time:
Organize Your Collection
This one [...]

Things to do when Your Sports Card Funds Run Dry is brought to you by The Cardboard Connection: Sports Cards and Sports Memorabilia News, Reviews, and Information for Collectors.

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2. Sports Card Dealer Outsmarts Card Thief

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FREE STUFF FRIDAY (3-26) Contest No. 7 — A Carlos Santana 2009 Bowman Chrome Draft autographed Refractor (only 500 exist)

Continue reading about FREE STUFF FRIDAY (3-26) Contest No. 7 — A Carlos Santana 2009 Bowman Chrome Draft autographed Refractor (only 500 exist) »

Roger Freed 1970 (died 1996)Roger played in only 4 games for the Orioles at the end of the 1970 season but was such a highly regarded prospect that the O’s were able to trade him to the Phillies for Grant Jackson and two other players in the offseason….

Continue reading about Unpossible Autograph: Roger Freed »

FREE STUFF FRIDAY (3-26) Contest No. 6 — A Troy Tulowitzki 2009 SPx game-used patch card (four colors)

Continue reading about FREE STUFF FRIDAY (3-26) Contest No. 6 — A Troy Tulowitzki 2009 SPx game-used patch card (four colors) »

It’s time for the second round in the Beckett Region of the Tournament of Gimmicks. Vote for your least favorite card gimmicks in the sidebar on the right. And don’t forget about the Burdick, Olbermann and Berger regions.Beckett Region Round Two Game…

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FREE STUFF FRIDAY (3-26) Contest No. 5 — A lot of eight 2010 Topps Attax baseball foil cards (including rare Legend card)

Continue reading about FREE STUFF FRIDAY (3-26) Contest No. 5 — A lot of eight 2010 Topps Attax baseball foil cards (including rare Legend card) »

Note:  In order to add a bit of variety to my posts, I’ve decided to try to name each pack based upon the contents.  Just for fun, see if you can guess which team(s) were the “winners” of the pack by the title.  The current pack shouldn’…

Continue reading about “Red Fish, Blue Fish” – Group Break: 1998 UD Choice Pack 09 »

FREE STUFF FRIDAY (3-26) Contest No. 4 — A 2007 UD Premier Kevin Kolb autographed memorabilia card

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FREE STUFF FRIDAY (3-26) Contest No. 3 — A 2009 Bowman Sterling Matt Hobgood autograph card

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FREE STUFF FRIDAY (3-26) Contest No. 2 — A 2007 Sweet Spot Albert Pujols game-used jersey card

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How to Safely Buy an Expensive Card Safely on E-Bay:
Understanding how to buy on E-Bay is perhaps the most important thing to building your dream collection. The goal of this article is to ensure that you don’t have to learn the hard way, like so many of us have had to do. E-Bay is primarily [...]

How to Buy a Big Card on E-Bay is brought to you by The Cardboard Connection: Sports Cards and Sports Memorabilia News, Reviews, and Information for Collectors.

Related Articles:

1. Upper Deck Announces Trading Card Giveaway for Canada’s National Hockey Card Day
2. Sports Card Dealer Outsmarts Card Thief
3. 2010 MLB All-Star Baseball Card Teams

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FREE STUFF FRIDAY (3-26) Contest No. 1 — A 2009 Sweet Spot New York Yankees triple game-used jersey card of Derek Jeter, Reggie Jackson and Johnny Damon

Continue reading about FREE STUFF FRIDAY (3-26) Contest No. 1 — A 2009 Sweet Spot New York Yankees triple game-used jersey card of Derek Jeter, Reggie Jackson and Johnny Damon »

Paul Mitchell pitched in the majors from 1975-1980. Mitchell was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1968 but didn’t sign. He was then drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in 1971. Paul pitched in the minors from 1972-1975, mostly for their AAA Rochester …

Continue reading about 1976 Topps #393 – Paul Mitchell »