Top Draft Picks Spice Up Letterman Basketball
Basketball collectors have had to make some difficult decisions about what to collect over the past few seasons as Topps and Upper Deck each signed top rookies to exclusive contracts. That meant no sets had all of the top picks available for autographs and memorabilia cards.
Not so this season. There are no exclusives for 2008-09, meaning both companies can really take advantage of an exciting rookie class led by Derrick Rose, Michael Beasley and O.J. Mayo. In fact, Topps isn't even waiting for the 2008-09 products to come out before it does just that.
Topps announced yesterday that 2007-08 Topps Letterman Basketball includes special redemption cards for autographed letter patch cards from ten of the top rookies from the incoming crop. Each player signed 25 cards for each letter in his last name, meaning the total number of cards available is 100 for Rose, 175 for Beasley, etc. The redemption cards are inserted one in four master boxes, making them fairly reasonable pulls.
Letterman Basketball was originally solicited for a May release but finally went on sale this week. Among the intriguing cards in the product are folding autographed letter patch cards that spell out a player's entire name, like the Larry Bird card pictured here.
Image courtesy of and copyright Topps.
Unplanned Fukudome Cards Sneak Into Bowman Chrome
Chicago Cubs import sensation Kosuke Fukudome has a legitimate 2008 rookie card in recently released Bowman Chrome Baseball. Sharp-eyed collectors may also have spotted a Fukudome autographed rookie card from the same set floating around - except it isn't autographed.
Confused? Topps helped shed some light on the situation earlier this week when it announced that 1900 copies of the latter card were mistakenly inserted into packs of Bowman Chrome. Perhaps the company created the cards in the hopes that he could be included among the signed rookies, but Topps never solicited a Fukudome autograph and never intended for such a card to be released.
Though they aren't signed and won't be considered true rookie cards, the relatively low print run of the error cards may very well make them a hot commodity. Those seeking an honest to goodness Bowman Chrome Fukudome rookie will find it as an unnumbered base card, along with seven different levels of Refractor parallels.
Ryan Will Get Chance to Sink or Swim From Week One
With the start of the 2008 NFL season bearing down on us, football card collectors got an interesting piece of news when the Atlanta Falcons announced Sunday that Matt Ryan will start at quarterback immediately. The No. 3 overall pick will have his hands full on a team that is in definite rebuilding mode, but he'll at least have some intriguing pieces to work with in running backs Michael Turner and Jerious Norwood and emerging wide receiver Roddy White.
Highly drafted quarterbacks don't always fare too well in the long term if they're thrown into the fire right away - for every Peyton Manning, there's at least one Ryan Leaf - but in the short term, the visibility Ryan receives by becoming the new face of the franchise should do good things for his rookie cards. Certainly, I feel good about naming him the No. 2 rookie to collect in 2008 behind Oakland Raiders running back Darren McFadden.
Speaking of top newcomers and their cards, there's a pair of rookie runners who didn't make my list but are players to watch nonetheless because of the opportunity for early playing time. The Bears' Matt Forte has a chance to be the consistent, move-the-chains type of back Chicago thought it had a few years ago in Cedric Benson. And Kevin Smith of the Lions could be the answer to restoring balance to the Detroit offense in the post-Mike Martz era. Hold on to any Forte and Smith rookie cards you come across and see if they get the same early chance to shine that Ryan is getting in Atlanta.
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New Look for TuffStuff.com
If you've been a visitor to www.tuffstuff.com - the website for Sports Collectors Monthly, one of the hobby's top publications - there's a decent chance you felt the same way I did about it: lots of useful information, but not very friendly to navigate or easy on the eyes.
The staff of Sports Collectors Monthly is hoping to change that with a brand new look for the site that they unveiled earlier this week. The address is the same, but just about everything else is different.
Much of the change is for the better. The interface is definitely cleaner and offers quick paths to numerous parts of the site. It's especially successful in emphasizing the forums, video and audio content, which is a must in this day and age.
From a personal standpoint, I'd like it if the hobby news section got more play (a comment I also made about Beckett.com's recent redesign) and one would think the free online pricing the site provides would have more prominence on the main page. There are also a lot of ads, but the same could be said of just about any high-traffic site in 2008.
If you haven't been to the site in a while, take a look and see if you find the changes to your liking.
Old School Rules
Quite a few interesting releases have hit the shelves over the past few weeks, including baseball cards for the stretch run of the MLB season and football cards to get everyone ready for the season that's about to begin. Still, two of the products I've enjoyed opening the most are baseball sets with a decidedly retro feel: Topps Allen & Ginter Baseball and Upper Deck's Goudey Baseball.
Both products take their looks from well-known sets from the formative years of trading cards. Goudey cards were made by the gum manufacturer of the same name in the 1930's and featured the likes of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Jimmie Foxx. The origins of Allen & Ginter go back even further to the tobacco cards of the late 19th Century, cards that featured all kinds of subjects besides athletes.
The modern versions succeed by staying true to the spirit of the originals. Topps makes sure to have both base cards and insert cards of lot more than just baseball players in Allen & Ginter. Likewise, Upper Deck uses Ken Griffey Jr. and Derek Jeter to take the places Gehrig and Chuck Klein occupied in 1934, and has subsets and inserts - like the Sport Royalty autographs - that pay tribute to other Goudey sets. And both brands mix their throwback elements with the modern bells and whistles today's collectors expect.
Oh, and Goudey even has a direct tie to the Olympic Games in Beijing, with autographed cards of U.S. beach volleyball stars Misti May-Treanor, Kerri Walsh, Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers and sprinter Sanya Richards.
Most of all, though, what Allen & Ginter and Goudey have in common is that they're fun. That's something that often goes overlooked in this hobby, but it's an important reason why most collectors got started in the first place. Even if throwback sets aren't usually your thing, you might find something in these two to pique your interest.
More Beijing Buzz: Phelps Autographed Card on Fire
So while writing about the potential effects of the Olympics on sports cards yesterday, I forgot that the most decorated athlete in Beijing - that would be U.S. swimming sensation Michael Phelps - has a few cards of his own.
Fortunately, the folks at Donruss helped remind me with a link to an AP article about the rapidly rising value of a 2004 Phelps autographed card. Pictured here, the card in question is from the Fans of the Game insert that captured signatures from stars of TV, movies and other sports who were big supporters of a particular NFL team. In Phelps' case, it was his hometown Baltimore Ravens.
The article states that about 300 of the autographed cards were produced (there is a more common non-autographed card as well) and that they were trading above $500. A quick check of some of them up for sale on eBay shows they could go even higher if Phelps finishes his amazing shot at eight gold medals. This example will close after all of Phelps' swims are finished and is already above $400 as I write this.
Another cool card currently up for auction is this Michael Phelps/Matt Biondi dual autograph that was given to random attendees at the 2005 Kit Young Hawaii Trade Conference. One word of caution though: if you want to join in on Phelps-mania, it may be best to wait until the Beijing Games have been over for a while, as prices on his cards and collectibles are obviously going to be highest while the world is still caught up in his exploits.
Image courtesy of and copyright Donruss Playoff.
So Far So Good for "Redeem Team"
The 2008 Summer Olympics are nearing the halfway point, and while they've been full of exciting moments, they probably won't affect the card collecting hobby too much. There simply aren't many sports in the Games that have cards made for them.
One notable exception is the U.S. men's basketball team, which has earned the moniker "Redeem Team" as it attempts to reclaim the top spot in the basketball world after a string of disappointing international performances over the past few years. Though the roster of the 2008 team may not quite have the star power of the 1992 Dream Team, it does boast the game's biggest stars in Kobe Bryant and LeBron James and has yet to be challenged through three games.
It's probably fair to say American fans aren't quite as invested in Olympic hoops success today as they were 20 years ago, but if the Redeem Team takes care of business, I wouldn't be surprised if some of its players see a nice short-term boost of interest in their cards - especially players like Chris Paul and Dwight Howard who are just starting to come into their own. Below are rookie card checklists for some of the key members of the team in case you'd like to jump on board as they go for the gold.
Upper Deck, Donruss Announce First Favre Jets Cards
As a follow up on my last post about Brett Favre and the potential frenzy over his first Jets base cards, it appears collectors won't have to wait too long to see them. Both Upper Deck and Donruss announced Friday exactly which football sets would feature Favre in his new duds for the first time.
Stating that it had been planning for a potential trade, Upper Deck said its first base card of Favre as a Jet would appear in SP Rookie Edition Football, currently scheduled for a November release. But a product coming out much sooner, NFL Icons Football, will have manufactured letter patches in its Immortal Letterman insert set that will spell out "Broadway Brett."
Donruss managed to get a new Favre card into Playoff Absolute Memorabilia Football, on tap for the first week of September. There's a catch though: only retail boxes sold at Target, Wal-Mart and other retailers will have the card (pictured here), since the hobby boxes were already packed out. Replacing Kellen Clemens as card #101, it will be short printed compared to other commons in the set.
You can keep up to date on these and other 2008 football releases that will be taking advantage of Favre-mania by visiting the new release calendar at the link below.
Image courtesy of and copyright Donruss Playoff.
Get Ready New York Collectors: Favre Headed Your Way
The story that seemed to monopolize the sports media came to a conclusion late Tuesday night. Yes, the Brett Favre saga finally ended when the Green Bay Packers agreed to trade the future Hall of Famer to the New York Jets.
There's little doubt that in the short term, Favre's football cards will see a boost in interest - though maybe not a huge one, since he's already one of the most collected players in the NFL. Any fans from the Green Bay area who bail on No. 4 should be more than made up for by new Jets fans, a long-suffering bunch who will welcome their new quarterback with open arms. Even the first 2008 base cards picturing Favre in a Jets uniform could be hot commodities in the short term.
Down the road, it will depend on how Favre and his new team perform. Winning the AFC East will be a difficult task thanks to the presence of the New England Patriots, but the Jets look like they have enough talent to make the playoffs. And as fans in the New York area know all too well thanks to last season's run by the Giants, once you get there, anything can happen. If there's another level of popularity possible for Favre, winning a Super Bowl in New York would get him there.
Keep an eye on the cards of Aaron Rodgers and rookie Brian Brohm too. With Favre gone, Rodgers gets the chance to prove he was worth the high draft pick and money the Packers have invested in him. If it turns out that he's not the answer, expect collectors to jump on Brohm while he's waiting in the wings.
Beckett Gets a Facelift
They've been counting down to this day for a while, and now the staff at Beckett Media has unveiled the beta version of the new Beckett.com. I had a chance to play around with it earlier today and found things I both liked and disliked about the new site.
First the pros. The look is clean and simple, and the main page is fully customizable - as long as you don't mind signing up with an email address for a free account. The more interactive parts of the site, like Beckett's forums, have been given an increased presence and should be more popular than ever. Tools for organizing your collection also received improvements, and I know I'm not alone in occasionally needing some help in that area.
As for the cons, I didn't find the new navigation to be very intuitive save for the large search bar at the top of the page. It also seems like the hobby news section (which is the part of Beckett.com I use most often) has been somewhat downplayed.
Regardless of how you feel about Beckett's sometimes precarious balance of business and journalism, it's worth spending a few minutes investigating the new site. More than ever it is what you make of it, and collectors of all experience levels should find at least a few things that are useful or helpful.