Card of the Day: 1992 Upper Deck `Bloodlines’ Gary Sheffield and Dwight Gooden

Gary & Dwight. Dwight & Gary. The two were inseparable. Gary Sheffield and Dwight Gooden, uncle and nephew, lived together in Florida for much of their youth. And their relationship was well-documented in the early ’90s when both were forces to be reckoned with in Major League Baseball. But aside from the game, the men [...]

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Last week I learned something new about Hall of Famer George Brett, a fact that apparently has been common knowledge for nearly three decades. I’m embarrassed for not having known the info. But then again, should I be? I mean we’re talking about hemorrhoids.
Well, while flipping through my Albert Belle collection, I came across a [...]

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My apologies to those of you who have been trying to access my trade and want lists. When I was working on the sidebar a few weeks ago, I accidentally privatized them. They are now available. Lots still needs to be updated, but they are still accurate.
-Ben
      

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Man, times were much simpler in 1997, weren’t they?
Roger Maris still held the single-season home run record, and Hank Aaron was the all-time Major League Baseball home run champion.
Collecting baseball cards was about baseball cards and not what was embedded within or what was literally written on them.
And for Barry Bonds, he still was considered [...]

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I’m not sure what to say today.  I’m waaaaaaay too happy that the MLB Network has finally arrived.
Should I be this excited?
Is this Heaven? (3:42)
I started a thread (its still on-going) at TheBaseballStars.com today about my giddiness, but it reached a whole new level while watching Don Larsen’s perfect game in the 1956 World Series. [...]

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Happy New Year to you all. Hope all is well in your neck of the woods.
If you’re a proud iPod owner, thank your lucky stars that you don’t own a Zune mp3 player. Poor bastards. And if you do own a Zune that was affected by the calendar roll-over, things could be much worse. You [...]

Continue reading about Card of the Day: 1992 Topps Gold Brien Taylor autograph /12000 »

Back in September, my college buddy and one of my best friends, reporter/columnist Mike Osegueda at the Fresno Bee newspaper, wrote me an e-mail asking about baseball cards. It was an odd inquiry considering that Mike really hadn’t collected cards since the early 1990s. But he knew that I was addicted to the cardboard. He wanted [...]

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In my mind, this is the card that started the insert craze. Chase cards have been around since the 1980s — see all of the Fleer and Topps All Star cards — but until the early 90s, they were nothing more than an afterthought, a bonus when buying a retail cello or jumbo pack.
But in [...]

Continue reading about Card of the Day: 1991 Leaf “Gold Leaf Rookies” Jeff Bagwell »

As noted in my earlier post, I’ve lived up to my personal goal of abstaining from buying packs of cards in recent weeks. So instead I’ve put my PayPal funds toward items I know I’ll enjoy, cards I’ve always wanted, and those I’ve been meaning to replace in my collection for more than a decade. [...]

Continue reading about New Additions Part VI: Kickin’ It Old School »

For three weeks now I have been free from the wrath that was the unopened retail pack. Since busting this horrifically ordinary retail tin of 2008 Sweet Spot, I have managed to steer clear of the card aisle at “big box”  stores and have not spent a dime on a unopened pack anywhere.
My lone trip [...]

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In all honesty, I meant to write this for Christmas morning seeing as how this is a holiday sports memorabilia related story. But I forgot and got caught up in the moment in another topic. So here it is, my “Intimidator” story … three days late.
Back in 1997, I was a big Starting Lineup collector. [...]

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Today’s “Card of the Day” is brought to you straight from my mail box. On the day after Christmas, I received a PWE that initially pissed me off. At first I thought I’d been defrauded by another eBayer (it would have been the third this week to use an less-than-expected method of shipping). But instead [...]

Continue reading about Card of the Day: 2003 Topps Dusty Baker autograph* »

In my mind, the fifth anniversary of Upper Deck was a rousing success. The fact that the company moved to an all-glossy front for most cards and used full-bled photos for inserts really made for an attractive product. Need proof? Look at this 1993 Upper Deck George Brett “On Deck With…” insert to the left.
The [...]

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Times were much simpler than these. Granted I am only 28, but even in my relative youth I do remember a time when I got everything I wanted for Christmas and it didn’t cost my parents or relatives an arm and a leg.
We wanted no cell phones, video game systems than can cost as much [...]

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Jesus, what the hell did I do to the good people of eBay? First a seller sends me a package that needs additional postage, and now I get a freakin’ Plain White Envelope (PWE)! Good news is that I only paid $2 for the shipping and the seller used two stamps, so he only profited [...]

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I went to the post office this morning to retrieve my Postage Due package and in the process remained true to my word — I paid the remaining 34 cents in pennies. Such a bad ass, huh?
The clerk thought it was funny. His reaction: “Alright!!!” Obviously he was being sarcastic.
Just as I suspected, this was [...]

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So Monday night I was making my blog rounds and found a post by Greg at Night Owl Cards (probably my second-favorite blog)  in which he was thanking me for some Dodger cards I sent him. In the post, he made mention to something that made me laugh, and no doubt would have made me [...]

Continue reading about Card of the Day: 2003 Fleer Flair Greats “Cut of History” Cal Ripken Jr. game-used pants »

OK, what the hell. I retrieved my mail  today and peeking out from the box was this little note. Usually these slips are left when a package needs to be signed for, or was too big for them to leave in the proper place. But no. Not here. It’s for POSTAGE DUE. They want me [...]

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Three. That’s how many basic certified autographed cards Kevin Millar has. He doesn’t have any mass-produced signatures clogging up current products. No sticker ‘graphs for Millar. Just three, and those all were produced by Topps in 2005 and 2006.
It seems like such an odd occurrence for a current major leaguer to have only three autographed [...]

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The packages keep coming, and with each one the pile of cards on my desk that needs to be scanned has grown. While I’m still waiting for a few other packages, I may as well do this post now before it gets way too overwhelming. Enjoy.

New Addition: Lot of Nine Evan Longoria “Rookie” cards.
Acquired: eBay [...]

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**Problem has been identified. Read further to find out what it’s going to cost.
I saw a clever post on Cardboard Junkie’s blog yesterday, which I will admit was the inspiration for the title here. Thanks, Dave.
Anyhow, you read that right. On the morning of Dec. 20, a Saturday no less, instead of sleeping in with [...]

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I made my blog rounds this morning and came across this recent post on Wax Heaven. If you’re reading this piece, then you’ve almost certainly read that blog. If not, check it out at some point today.
On his blog, Mario slams Beckett again, this time harping on the issue of Beckett basically being obsolete. The [...]

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2007 was a bad year for me and baseball cards. I had a couple nice pulls, and made some solid purchases on eBay, but there were a couple foolish buys that netted me a whole lot of nothin’ for a lot of somethin’ — the kind of poor decisions that can ruin an excellent year. [...]

Continue reading about Card of the Day: 2007 Sweet Spot Classic Signatures Gaylord Perry Gold »

While busting numerous blaster boxes of 2007 Topps Allen & Ginter, I managed to pull a short printed autograph of John “Mule” Miles. At the time, I did not know who he was. But I later learned that he was a star in the Negro Leagues, and the signed card I pulled was limited to [...]

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There was a time when serial numbered cards were special. Even cards numbered to as many as 10,000 (see this 1992 Donruss Elite Series Frank Thomas) were considered rare because each card bore a serial number, letting the collector know exactly which card of the reported print run they owned. The numbers really is pretty [...]

Continue reading about Card of the Day: 2007 Bowman Chrome Gold Refractor David Wright #5/50 »

I’ve owned a few Ken Griffey Jr. signatures during my collecting career, two of which have been of the Sweet Spot version. But none of them have looked like this.
This is a 2006 Sweet Spot Update Signatures Griffey card, but as you can see, the autograph here is anything but normal. It’s got the inscription [...]

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I’m still waiting for one awesome package to arrive, but these might hold us over until it arrives. Got three packages in the mail Friday. One from a trader/blogger (Saints of the Cheap Seats) and two from eBayers. Continue reading to see the goods …

New Addition: 2008 Allen & Ginter Baseball Icons Honus Wagner with [...]

Continue reading about New Additions Part IV: A pair of Gem rookies, A-Rod glove and more »

Imagine owning a rookie card signed by Yankee great Yogi Berra. Well, this is not one of those, although someone may think it is. What you’re looking at here is an authentic Yogi Berra rookie card, one that carries a value of $800 in good condition. And while there are no creases or paper loss [...]

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The theme for today is combined shipping. As collectors in this day and age, we are all frustrated with inflated shipping costs. Sometimes a seller will charge upwards of $3 to ship a single, non-graded card. Ridiculous. So when you find that one dealer who has more than one card you want, and is willing [...]

Continue reading about New Additions Part III: Vintage Hank, an ‘Elite’ Thrill, and more »

CC is on his way to New York. OK, I know, not exactly breaking news at this point. Then again, this is not one of those blogs that’s going to be the 52,000th one to re-post information reported by a legitimate media source and then pass it off like I did some real reporting. I [...]

Continue reading about Card of the Day: 2008 UD Sweet Spot CC Sabathia »

I heard these hit the market last week, so when I stumbled upon a tin tonight at Target, I decided to take a shot. It was packaged so nicely that I honestly felt like I was buying a high-end product at a retail price. Was I right? Look at the contents and you tell me [...]

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By now, you know that the San Diego Padres are in deep talks with the Chicago Cubs about Jake Peavy, a fact that the Cubs may or may not confirm directly or indirectly. But I figured this be as good of time as any to discuss Peavy’s best rookie card, and to share the tale [...]

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So I’ve decided to post the New Additions segment infrequently, usually waiting for at least three packages to arrive. I suspect a slew of padded envelopes will arrive later this week, but for the time being we’ll start with these.
Note: To anyone who has e-mailed me about trades in the last five days or so, [...]

Continue reading about New Additions Part II: Gagne, two ‘Icons, and a bunch of refractors »

When game-used cards came about, jerseys/uniforms/pants were the only items being sliced and diced and then mounted in cards. Then bats became the next item of insertion, followed by bases and even dirt from the field (see 2001 Stadium Club — ugh). But in 2001, Upper Deck began using batting gloves, which I always found [...]

Continue reading about Card of the Day: 2001 UD MVP Souvenirs Game-Used Batting Glove Ken Griffey Jr. »

Call me a sick bastard, but I’ve got an OJ Simpson autograph. Do you? I’m not much of a football collector. I ditched that collection about four years ago and went almost exclusively to baseball. But among the football items that remain is this 1994 Ted Williams Co. OJ Simpson autograph.
Simpson’s legacy on the field [...]

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