Category: Hobbies

Every Card Has A Story

Collecting sports cards is about more than buying, selling, flipping and trying to make a profit.  If that’s all you are focused on, you are doing it wrong and you are going to burn out pretty quickly.  Is it possibly to buy a $3.00 pack of 2017 Topps, pull a Kris Bryant and make a quick hundo?  Sure, it’s possible.  Is it likely?  Nah.  If it were likely, the card wouldn’t be so valuable.  You have collectors who focus on certain teams, certain sets, certain players and even certain poses.  I know a guy who was collecting all cards that depicted a player signing an autograph on the card.  Sports cards bring so many options to the table.  You can be as niche as you want to be.  My favorite PC (Personal Collection) cards have meaning to me and hold a special place in my memory.  A lot of PC’s have that characteristic.  The cards may look like just common base cards or retro junk wax to many.  But to the collector, it’s more than just a piece of cardboard.  When it relates to a PC, every card tells a story.1982 Topps Danny Ainge – I have always been a multi sport collector.  I would buy whatever packs were available in my local grocery store.  I watched all sports and played them all on Nintendo and Super Nintendo.  I knew all the players and their stats from video games and television.  I have still never figured out who AW Second was on RBI 3 but he was really fast.  As I’ve also shared before, I really hit the ground running in 1989.  Any cards I have from before them were pick-ups from the local card shop (LCS) or in trades with friends.  As a multi-sport guy and loyal Larry Bird fan, imagine my surprise when I came across this gem at my LCS.  By 1989, Danny Ainge had won two championships and was a recent all-star…..in the NBA.  So, what was this card of him in a Toronto Blue Jays uniform?  I had to do some research because I was only 13 but lo and behold, Ainge was a former baseball player.  I knew Bo Jackson, Deion Sanders and Brian Jordan were multi sport guys.  I had even heard stories about Dave Winfield but I had no clue about Danny Ainge.  I would go on to learn that he made his MLB debut 2 years before he hit the NBA.  He would put up some Dwight Smith like numbers though with a career .220 average and 2 home runs.  Nevertheless, he played parts of 3 seasons in the major leagues.  This stuck with me.  As has this 1982 Topps card.1982/1983 Donruss Hubie Brooks – Every baseball card collector from the 80’s recognizes the name Hubie Brooks.  He had a solid 15 year career with 2 all-star games and 2 silver slugger awards to his name.  He was the third overall draft pick for the New York Mets in 1978 and put together very serviceable numbers while in the league.  However, his cards were never anything more than commons left for the shoe box.  But to me, there was a deeper connection with Hubie.  One of my best friends growing up, Munt (nickname), collected here and there during the 80’s but had not really taken up the hobby quite like me.  We did find an old box of cards in his closet one afternoon and decided to go through it.  He had a solid collection of cards but if he had 2,000 total, he had to have 500 Hubie Brooks.  As we were going through stacks, it seemed like every 3rd or 4th card was ole Hubert.  There was no rhyme or reason because he wasn’t a player either of us particularly followed.  He just happened to be mass inserted in packs over the years.  Even now, as I approach 40, when I stumble across a Hubie Brooks card in a shop or online, I’ll snap a picture and send it to him and we’ll share a laugh.  And of course, I have a few stashed away in my PC because I want to stumble across them when I’m 80 and have that same chuckle.1983 Donruss Julio Franco – Julio Franco is a popular name with baseball collectors from my era for different reasons than Hubie.  Julio had a very good career.  He played longer than any baseball player I can think of as he made his major league debut in 1982 and wrapped up his career in 2007 with the Atlanta Braves.  25 solid years of baseball!  He spent the occasional season in the Pacific League or Korea but he started and finished in the majors.  I don’t even know he is finished.  He could be a designated hitter in some obscure league now for all I know.  He was a career .298 hitter (so close to .300), hit 173 home runs and amassed 1,194 RBI.  He was also a 3x all-star, 5x silver slugger winner, the 1990 MLB All-Star Game MVP and the batting champ in 1991 with a .341 average.  He spent 2001-2005 with my Braves and became a fan favorite for his work effort and age defying play.  He went to the Mets in 2006 but came back to the Braves in 2007 to wrap up his career.  That summer, I was in the middle of my own softball career that was probably similar to the Pacific League of softball.  Julio had been injured and was rehabbing in Rome, GA.  After a Saturday tournament in Macon, my wife and I decided to head up to Rome for a Sunday game to try and catch Julio up close.  I also took this card to try and get it autographed.  It was a beautiful day for a game and we got to see Julio before the game but he told the fans that we would be signing after the game and wanted to warm up before.  We saw him get a few at bats and he was pulled in the 6th inning.  As the game came to a close, the news started circulating that a car had picked up Julio from the clubhouse during the 7th inning and he was gone.  We had been had.  I never held it against him personally because I understand the business and the demands on the athlete.  It was disappointing nonetheless.  I still keep the card in my PC to remind me that we don’t always get that personal contact and autograph so we have to enjoy it when we do, regardless of what player it is.1989 Donruss Ron Gant – It’s been well established that 1989 Donruss is my favorite set.  Well, Ron Gant is also my favorite Brave of all-time.  I wear #5 to this day because that was his number.  Ron Gant was my guy.  I have every card made of Ron Gant except for the obscure random inserts as far as I can tell.  My favorites have always been the 88 Score rookie and his 89 Donruss.  I think Ron was a very underrated player during his career.  He was a 30/30 club member in 1990 and 1991 with 30+ home runs and 30+ stolen bases and was a 2x all-star and silver slugger winner.  He hit 321 home runs over the course of his career, which is not too shabby.  He also won National League Comeback Player of the Year in 90 with 32 home runs, 84 RBI and 33 stolen bases.  One of the more memorable plays of Gant’s career came in the 1991 World Series.  In game 2 versus the Minnesota Twins, Kevin Tapani attempted a pick off of Gant on 1st base and as he went back to first, Jackwad Kent Hrbek pulled his leg off of the base as he was tagging him and he was called out.  He had a horrible motorcycle accident in 1994 and his time would unfortunately come to an end for him.  They gave up on him to soon as he would also win the NL Comeback Player of the Year in 1995 and go to the All Star Game.  I checked off a bucket list item in 2012, I got to check an item off of my bucket list when I met him at a Braves game and had him autograph a card for me.  I saw him on one of the TV’s doing some pregame work for FoxSports and we went to the set and they were wrapping up.  He was more than happy to sign and pose for a picture.  In my excitement, I totally forgot to ask him if Hrbek really pulled him off the base.  I wanted to hear it straight from him but my giddiness overtook me.1989 Topps Steve Avery –  Another Braves player and another from the year I started collecting.  One aspect of Topps I liked was the Draft Pick cards because they showcased players in their amateur uniforms.  And apparently, they come in a few color variations as seen in the picture above (haha).  Sometimes it was college but in the case of Steve Avery, it was his high school uniform.  As a 12 year old, nothing was more exciting than imagining having my own baseball card when I was in high school.  I would later find out that you couldn’t get your own baseball card in high school with a 68 mile an hour fastball and a middling curve.  Bummer.  But back to Avery.  He was a highly touted young gun for the Braves as he would make his debut in 1990, just 2 years after graduating from High School.  He didn’t really disappoint with the Braves too much either but was always overshadowed by John Smoltz, Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux.  That’s not really a knock but was just the hand he was dealt.  While with the Braves from 1990-1996, he would be the NLCS MVP in ’91, an All-Star in ’93, and ultimately a World Series Champion in ’95.  As for his NLCS MVP, he absolutely dominated the Pirates in the ’91 postseason.  He started 2 games against the Pirates in the ’91 playoffs and pitched 16 2/3 scoreless innings, picking up two 1-0 decisions.  He also pitched very well in the most famous game in Braves history, the ’92 NLCS Game 7.  He threw some relief innings in that nail biter.  He had some down moments as well in the postseason like getting shelled by the Pirates in Game 2 of the ’92 NLCS and was never able to get a win in either the ’91 or ’92 World Series.  He had arm problems late in 1993 that derailed his career for the most part as his pre and post injury records would indicate.  But overall, his time with the Braves is looked upon fondly.1990 Donruss Francisco Cabrera – Another early 90’s Brave worth mentioning.  I would guess that no one outside of Braves Country has a single Cabrera in their PC.  There may be a small percentage of Braves fans even.  But he will always have a spot in my PC because of two at bats.  One was magical.  Cabrera was a backup catcher and first baseman for the Braves from 1989 to 1993.  He had a very small stint with the Toronto Blue Jays but played 99% of his 5 year career with the Braves.  And his career was 99% uneventful.  He finished his career with a .254 average, 17 home runs and 62 RBI.  In 1991, with the Braves trailing the Dodgers by 2.5 games of the LA Dodgers, Frankie hit a 3 run bomb in the 9th inning off of Rob Dibble to tie a game and eventually lead to a win that sparked a 29-12 finish for the Braves who would win the division by 1 game.  This capped the Worst to First season, bouncing back from a 65-97, 6th place finish in 1990.  In 1991, the stakes were even higher.  After blowing a 3-1 series lead, the Braves found themselves in a must win Game 7 home game in the NLCS vs the Pirates.  The Braves trailed the Pirates 3-0 in the bottom of the 9th inning and all hope seemed lost.  Terry Pendleton led off the inning with a double and David Justice reached on an error by Jose Lind, Gold Glove winner at 2nd in 1992.  Sid Bream was then walked to load the bases.  Ron Gant then came up and hit a sacrifice fly that scored Pendleton to make the game 3-1.  Damon Berryhill followed it up with a walk and once again loaded the bases.  After a Brian Hunter pop out, the Braves had bases loaded with 2 outs and the season on the line.  With the pitchers spot due up, Bobby Cox turned to Francisco Cabrera.  It was a necessary move but not one that gave Brave’s fans a lot of comfort.  Cabrera had a total of 10 at bats that season and he hit .167 in ’89, .214 in ’90 and .277 in ’92.  Nervous is an understatement.  But with a 2-0 count, he came through with a laser over the shortstop’s head that scored Justice and EVENTUALLY Sid Bream and the Braves would win.  Unbelievable is also an understatement.  His card is in my PC because of 2 hits in his career.1990 Donruss Diamond Kings Ken Griffey Jr. – This was is pretty simple.  I loved Ken Griffey Gr. and I did a lot of trading at school.  At 13, kids were also mean to each other sometimes.  There were ongoing feuds among boys all the time for one reason or another.  I can’t remember what sparked this particular one but I remember the outcome.  I had this ’90 Donruss in my book bag one morning at school and one of the gentlemen I was currently feuding with waiting until I went to get my breakfast tray.  He went into my book bad and ripped the ’90 Donruss in half.  At the time, it was a $2 dollar card, which was pretty good for a youngster.  I can still remember finding that damaged card and seething.  I learned some valuable lessons that day.  I later replaced the card and is one of the only sub $1.00 cards I keep in a top loader these days.  I’m not damaging this one!1990 Kmart Superstars Jose Canseco – In the early days of my collecting, I bought everything.  Toys R Us, Purina, Jimmy Dean, Kmart, Revco, you name it, I would put it in my collection.  I had envisioned that these would one day hold more value because they were “limited”.  These could be the 90’s version of the T-Cards!  Wow was I wrong.  But I held on to most of them because they are so different than the cards that were offered at every convenience store in the country.  This one was one of my favorites because in 1989, I dressed up as Jose Canseco for a presentation in my English class.  We had to pick someone that we admired and write about them and present as them.  Looking back on it now, I could have picked someone better to admire in those days.1992 Classic Best John Lynch – This was another set that I had to have at the time.  I bought a ton of this at Wal Mart.  For one, there was that extremely long shot chance of pulling a Mike Schmidt autograph.  Chipper Jones was also in the set.  I had the idea that if a rookie card was good then a minor league card would be even better.  Again, my speculation was off base.  I kept several of these cards though for many years.  Later in the 90’s, I rifled through them to see what players hit or missed and I stumbled across this John Lynch.  By that time he had been to a Pro-Bowl and was on his way to a Super Bowl in what would become a great NFL career.  He was selected to the Pro-Bowl 9 times, won a Super Bowl and was a 3 time All Pro.  He is in the Ring of Honor for both Tampa Bay and Denver.  I think he chose the right career path because his 2 year stint in the minors produced a 1-3 record.  But in this card, he even looks like a football player.  He would not have been someone I would charge if he beaned me.  Another unique part of the card is that it’s showing him doing what looks to be some infield work as a hitter.  Much like Danny Ainge, I hung on to this because it showcased him in a sport that he eventually left to star in another.1992 Pro Line Brian Jordan – The final card on the list is one of yet another two sport athlete.  But this guy fell somewhere between Bo Jackson and Danny Ainge.  He was more like Deion Sanders in that he played both sports at the same time and later played them for both of my Atlanta Teams, the Braves and Falcons.  Unlike Deion, he didn’t do it at the major league and NFL level at the same time and he never won a championship.  But he was a great athlete and performed well in both sports.  And this card showcased him in his Falcons jersey on a football card holding a bat in a baseball stadium.  Classic crossover.  He was drafted in 1988 by the St. Louis Cardinals and in 1989 by the Buffalo Bills.  For the Falcons, he was a hard hitting safety that led the team in tackles while playing minor league ball for the Cardinals.  He would eventually give up football to dedicate his time exclusively to Baseball.  He had a very serviceable 15 year career in baseball and made the all star game in 1999.  He continues to work in Braves broadcasting and is a well liked figure in Atlanta sports.

We all have our own PC guidelines and to each their own.  I will never judge someone on what they like to collect because we all have our reasons.  For some, it’s Francisco Cabrera.  For others, it’s actually a player we’ve all heard of.  Whoever it is, just keep collecting!

J-Dub

Prospects of Yesteryear

After receiving positive feedback on my last “Junk Wax” effort, I thought I would revisit the era and take a look at another group of cards.  As a card collector, I have always been intrigued by the rookie card.  Most collectors are but I have always found it interesting that a player, who has, in some cases, never taken a step on the big league field, could be more valuable on the card market than an established veteran.  Perhaps it’s the scarcity in the cards available of the rookie but it’s never really made sense to me.  It’s speculation at its best.  And as the cycle goes, those values generally come down and stabilize over time unless the player is Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, Ken Griffey Jr. or someone of that magnitude.  Everybody wants the hot rookie but the market almost always cools.  And in many cases, the players themselves cool significantly.  Established veterans have a proven track record and are reliable.  But reliable isn’t always sought after.

Let’s take Cal Ripken, Jr. for example.  With Cal, in the late 90’s, you knew what you were getting.  He was a gold glove short stop/third baseman that played everyday, hit for average and power, won silver slugger awards and was a perennial all star.  His 1989 Donruss could be had for about $1.00.  Meanwhile, Pete Harnisch and Tom Gordon were booking higher in 1989.  It was more profitable to own the cards below than to own a Mark McGwire or Jose Canseco in 1989.  There are many collectors who focus only on the reliable and they buy the rookie cards when the players (and the prices) have stabilized.  But the chase is getting that Mike Trout rookie card before the price blows up.  Unfortunately, there are 100 Tyler Pastornicky’s that don’t pan out that you can invest in during a rookie season as well.  Believe me, I know the difference in the two players and the various hype attached when they hit the scene but I’m using examples here.

So with that said, I decided to go back and look at several of the cards in the prime years of 1989-1991 that I just had to have in my collection.  I remember opening packs and hoping on hope that one of these would be pulled.  Remember too that for a 12-13 year old, value is defined as $3-$10 and this was before the introduction of the autograph and relic cards that carry the most value now.  There were no 1 of 1’s available in packs then either that I recall.  The inserts were All Star Cards and Diamond Kings.  The base rookie carried the weight in most cases during this time.  We would get introduced to autographs and Elite inserts that carried $100 value in the early 90’s but I’m reserving this column to pre-$100 cards, which would exclude vintage as well.  Again, the list is in year and set order and is not a reflection on the heat the player was getting at the time.

1989 Bowman Jerome Walton – A Georgia native (Newnan), Walton was one of the ’89 Bowman that I had to have that wasn’t named Ken Griffey Jr.  I really liked the 1989 Bowman set at the time although it turned out to be a nightmare to keep in mint condition thanks to the oversized cards.  Bowman had been out of the game since 1956 and the resurrection in 1989 brought a “new” player into the game to compete with Topps, Donruss, Fleer and Upper Deck (also a newcomer in 1989).  Bowman was a throwback set that harkened back to the old days with facsimile signatures and retro card backs.  The ’89 set has not held up but I still have fond memories.  Jerome Walton was a center fielder for the Chicago Cubs that made his debut in April of ’89.  He won Rookie of the Year that year by batting .293 with 24 stolen bases.  I had to have his cards and this one was my favorite.  He was destined to be a sweet investment.  He would never repeat the numbers of that rookie season and lasted 10 years on the majors.  He finished with a career .269 average, 25 career homeruns and 132 RBI.  That is one season to some superstars.  And Jerome never became one after that stellar start.  The investment was a bust but as you will see from this list, it was far from the only one.1989 Topps Future Stars Gregg Jefferies – Jefferies went on to have much better career than Walton, even though the bar had been set low.  He made his debut in 1987 with the Mets and while he had other ’88 rookie cards, the one I remember wanting a piece of was the ’89 Topps Future Stars card.  I have had an affinity for the Future Stars subset since the Bo Jackson card in 1987.  The card was colorful and just screamed “Big Potential”.  I mean, it was a FUTURE STAR after all so the name kind of speaks for itself.  As much as I treasured the card, Jefferies would go on to have a good but not “star power” career over 14 years.  He was voted in to the all-star game in 1993 and 1994 but that is the extent of his career highlights.  He finished that career with a .289 batting average (not bad at all), 126 home runs and 663 RBI.  Again, his career was good but not spectacular – much like my feelings on Topps over the years.  I know they are the grandfather of cards and I am in the minority but I have never been real excited for the set, aside from the sweet 1990 set I got for Christmas when I was 13.  But, I remain a fan of the Future Stars.1989 Score Dwight Smith – I was a fan of 1989 Score at the time, even though it didn’t include the aforementioned Ken Griffey Jr.  1989 was the sophomore season for Score and I had easy access through my local Wal-Mart.  I also liked the packaging of the cards because it had gotten away from cello packs or wax packs.  It turns out that it was not a very good set in the long run at all.  Again, most ’89 sets are important to me because that was the year I started collecting.  Don’t judge.  Dwight Smith was another rookie outfielder for the Chicago Cubs and he would only be bested in the rookie of the year voting that year by his teammate Jerome Walton.  He hit a smoking .324 as a rookie but that would stand as a career best.  He played only 8 full seasons but had a tad more pop than his teammate Jerome Walton.  He would finish his career with a .275 career average, 46 home runs and 226 RBI.  Not exactly a hall of fame career.  He did experience one highlight that Walton did not and did so with my home team Atlanta Braves.  He joined the Braves in 1995 and has a World Series ring to show for it.  Another interesting tidbit is that he is the only rookie in MLB history to sing the National Anthem prior to a game in which he would play.  Unfortunately, that doesn’t make his ’89 Score worth more than about .15 cents.1989 Score Ramon Martinez – Another ’89 Score on the list is the rookie card of Ramon Martinez.  Martinez actually had a very serviceable career and the low value of his cards has more to do with the ’89 card sets than his performance.  He pitched mostly for the LA Dodgers (10 years out of 13 years) and finished with a very good 135-88 career, 3.67 ERA and 1,427 strikeouts.  He was also an all-star in 1990 as a part of a 20 win campaign.  He would finish second in wins that year and second in the Cy Young voting.  He also threw a no-hitter in 1995.  He suffered a torn rotator cuff in 1998 after 10 seasons with the Dodgers and never was able to completely come back.  He also wasn’t even able to become the best pitching Martinez in his immediate family as that honor would go to Pedro, his younger brother.  I had a ton of Ramon and not enough Pedro because my collecting had tapered off when he hit it big.

1989 Upper Deck Jerald Clark – 1989 Upper Deck was the flagship set for the brand and came out with a bang.  It introduced all sorts of bells and whistles like “tamper proof” packaging and holograms for authenticity.  Of course, those die hard shysters figured out the collation of the boxes and many 1989 Upper Deck boxes are floating around with the Ken Griffey Jr. packs missing.  But in 1989, there was Griffey and then there was everyone else.  One of the “everyone else’s” was Jerald Clark, a rookie for the San Diego Padres.  I remember I was one of the few in my circle that thought highly enough of Jerald to trade for him.  To be honest, I don’t even know why.  I just remember wanting his cards because I thought I knew something no one else did.  I guess everyone else knew that he would play 6 seasons and finish his career with a paltry .257 average, 44 home runs and 208 RBI.  I guess you could say that the numbers are better than a certain Rookie of the Year in Chicago.1990 Donruss Ben McDonald – I am a little peeved that I even had to bring 1990 Donruss into this blog but I’ll try to make this one brief.  ’90 Donruss was a truly abysmal set in design, production numbers and rookies.  One of the good ones at the time though was Ben McDonald.  While he is a member of the College Baseball Hall of Fame and a Gold Medal winner in the 1988 Olympics, his professional career never really took off.  He was the original “Big Ben” at 6’7” and was the #1 overall selection in the 1989 Draft.  He was previously drafted by my home Atlanta Braves in 1986 in the 27th round but chose to go play college ball, which paid off with that #1 selection 3 years later.  In 1990 he was a member of a solid rotation that included other young guns such as Pete Harnisch, Curt Shilling and Greg Olsen.  He wrapped up his career after just 8 full seasons thanks to shoulder problems.  His final numbers were 78-70 with a 3.91 ERA and 894 strikeouts.  Not only was investing in ’90 Donruss a mistake but investing in Ben McDonald rookie cards was just as problematic.1990 Score Draft Picks Chuck Knoblauch – 1990 Score was another favorite of mine, coming off of my high from ’89 Score.  I liked the design of the draft pick cards and, at the time, the checklist was strong, as evidenced by my next selection as well.  Knobby even actually had a pretty decent career until he totally forgot how to throw a baseball 45 feet.  He had a solid career and could have been a star second baseman had his issues later in his career not cast such a pall.  He was the Rookie of the Year in 1991, a 4x All-Star, a 4x World Series Champion, a Gold Glove winner and a two time Silver Slugger.  That’s a really good career when you put it all together.  He amassed a career .289 average with 98 home runs, 615 RBI and 407 stolen bases.  He developed “Steve Sax Syndrome” in 2000 with the Yankees and was completely unable to throw it to his first baseman.  It reminded me a lot of the catcher in Major League 2.  And Knoblauch tried multiple solutions to try and get him out of his funk but must’ve never tried the ole Victoria’s Secret catalogue trick.  He once hit Keith Olbermann’s mother in the head in the stands for crying out loud.  It all came to a head when he made 3 throwing errors in just 6 innings of play and pulled himself out of a game.  That must’ve been absolutely embarrassing.  He eventually was moved to the outfield when he was never able to cure his ailment.  If that weren’t enough, he was named in the now infamous Mitchell Report for HGH use in 1997 and would later be charged with physically abusing not one wife, but two (he was married three times total.)  Chuck’s undoing started on the field with throwing issues but continued off the field, thus destroying any hope of a future payoff for me and my ’90 Score.1990 Score Draft Picks Mo Vaughn – Another enigmatic player is outlined in my second ’90 Score Draft Pick card.  Maurice “Mo” Vaughn was a behemoth of a man that could hit the ball a country mile.  He also was not well like by Red Sox brass and the media.  I’m not going to take up for the media but Mo probably wasn’t very accommodating based on some of the snippets I’ve seen.  He played college ball with Craig Biggio at Seton Hall and came into the major leagues with a bit of fanfare.  This was not so much as speculation on my part as wanting to be in on the sure thing Mo Vaughn.  And for a while, he was a sure thing.  In 1993, which is considered his first full season (152 games); he hit .297 with 29 home runs and 101 RBI.  He would go on to hit 26 or more home runs for 9 consecutive seasons, topping 35 five times and 40 twice.  He also had a 5 season streak of hitting .300 or better in that stretch so he hit for average as well.  All told, he would finish with a career .293 average, 328 home runs and 1,064 RBI.  It is quite rare these days for a 40 home run hitter to also hit .300+ but Mo did it a few times.  Ultimately, his ability to rub teams the wrong way and his inclusion in steroid accusations killed the value in his cards.  Well, that and the fact that he was in his prime when baseball cards were churning out by the millions.  Still, Mo was a pretty solid investment at the time and one I don’t really regret now.1990 Upper Deck Kevin Maas – Here we go.  This may be the biggest got to have card that turned into a bust of my generation.  The baseball world was abuzz when Kevin Maas hit the scene and 1990 Upper Deck was the sophomore season for the company that totally burst onto the scene in the card industry with their ’89 sensation.  He was drafted in the first round by the New York Yankees and was set up to be the next Don Mattingly.  His cards skyrocketed when he became the quickest rookie to ever get to 10 home runs, then 13, then 15.  He would go on to hit 21 home runs in just 79 games in 1990.  Needless to say, I, along with the rest of America, needed all the Kevin Maas cards we could get.  This guy was destined for stardom.  He would finish second in the AL Rookie of the Year voting behind Sandy Alomar, and again, only played in 79 games.  He went on to hit 23 home runs in 1991, but in 500 at bats and with a .220 average.  The destined to be superstar was out of the league by 1994 and playing in Japan.  How it happened so quickly, I’ll never know but he went from the highest valued cards in sets to trash bin fire starter in less than 4 years.  That is an unbelievable accomplishment in and of itself.  He would finish his short career with a .230 average, 65 home runs (44 in his first two seasons) and 169 RBI.  This story still makes me sick to my stomach.  What a crushing fall from stardom. 1991 Classic Brien Taylor – Kevin Maas wasn’t the only “can’t miss” kid for the Yankees in the early 90’s.  I remember hearing about Brien Taylor for a couple of years before he ever was drafted thanks to the Classic brand that provided college and four sport cards.  He was the 1st overall pick in 1991 and would spend seven seasons in the minor leagues.  This dude never pitched a game in the major leagues.  He had several MLB cards like Topps and Stadium Club, to name a couple but he never threw a single pitch in the majors.  This wasn’t even a fall from stardom like Maas.  He never even got above AA.  He was the true definition of speculation and potential in the card market in the early 90’s.  He did have some shoulder trouble in the minors but that was thanks to a fight, not pitching.   He finished with a minor league record of 22.30 and a 5.12 ERA.  Life after baseball has been just as rough as his time in the minors.  He has been arrested for child abuse (for leaving 4 of his children home alone aged 2-11) and later for trafficking cocaine.  He spent 38 months in the pen from 2012-2014.  And I don’t mean the bullpen.  However, I am extremely confident that the majority of card collectors were riding the Brien Taylor wave in 1990-1991.1991 Upper Deck Todd Van Poppel – Todd Van Poppel was another pitching superstar in the making and Upper Deck was continuing to outclass the field in the card world in 1991.  Another first round selection, Van Poppel is another player that has a tie in with my Braves.  And what a tie in it is.  In the 1990 draft, the Braves had the #1 overall pick and were dangerously close to selecting Van Poppel.  Instead, when Van Poppel told them he would not sign if they selected him, they moved on to some guy named Chipper Jones.  I think we all know how his career went.  How different would the Braves 1990’s run have looked with Van Poppel instead of Jones?  It scares me to consider it.  Thank you Todd Van P for being stubborn about signing with the Braves.  How did that Oakland A’s career turn out?  He was one of four starting pitchers taken by Oakland that year and by all accounts turned in the best career of the group.  Only Van Poppel and one other ever made the major leagues.  From potential 1st overall pick by the soon to be 14 consecutive division winning Braves to a 40-52 career with a 5.58 ERA.  I think he sank his own career, and his card value, if you ask me.Side Note – 1989 Score Luis De Los Santos – This was not a must have but it has to be mentioned.  I had more of his cards than any other player in 1989.  Card companies now state odds on their boxes like “1 insert in every pack” or “3 autographs per box on average”.  I imagine that 1989 Donruss and Score could have put “1 Luis De Los Santos per pack on average” and it would have been a reasonable statement.  Having all those cards of him never paid off either as he would only play parts of 3 seasons and clout zero home runs while hitting .209.  Sheesh.

So there you have a list of cards that I just had to have when I was 12-13.  My daily trading consisted of trying to score one of these cards to add to my collection.  I had visions of being in a much higher tax bracket by now with all of my Jerald Clarks that everyone else was sleeping on.  This may have been more painful to write had the cards of that era turned out to be valuable.  Their lack thereof has made this a more amusing trip down memory lane.  I’m sure we all had those rookies that we wanted.  Most of them are on this list but we all had our own personal Dwight Smith’s too.  But this post makes me wonder even more why you can pick up veteran stars all day long for .25 cents but you have to pay an arm and a leg for a guy that hit .320 in AAA and might get called up next year.  Speculation is still fun I suppose.

J-Dub

Gems Of The Junk Wax Era

    As a 39 year old (40 in a month, geez), I began my sports card collecting in the late 80’s as a youngster of about 10.  I picked up a very small amount in 1987-1988 but I really hit my stride in 1989, at 12.  I loved the three major sports but baseball was the most accessible and the easiest to collect.  I would buy (or mom would), trade, build super teams and use my stat knowledge to help me in RBI Baseball on NES.  I took my cards to school, to friends houses and scoured Beckett Monthly to monitor the prices.  As a 12 year old, I fantasized about owning some of those mid 1950’s cards and being a sports card tycoon.  

I was dissapointed to find out that my dad did own some of those vintage cards but he and my uncle used them to make their bicycle spokes click or as a bat to hit tinfoil baseballs in the backyard.  They were sitting on a gold mine and didn’t even know it.  Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Willie Mays.  Those cards today are worth thousands if in the proper condition.  The kind of condition that is fostered by not using them as tinfoil ball bats.  Of course, therein lies the rub.  The reason they are so valuable now is there are very few in good condition because most kids didn’t know what they had.  They were collectible trinkets that came with gum and were just cool to play with.  Nobody knew they would explode some 30+ years later.  Only then did the majority of collectors start scrambling for good condition baseball cards.The hobby grew and reached a gluttonous peak in the late 80’s-early 90’s in what is referred to now as the “Junk Wax Era.”  Call it bad timing for me but I deem this era specifically as 1987-1994.  These years are debatable but card companies began ramping up production in 1987 to meet the new demand in the hobby and it ran extremely hot (and overproduced) to its peak and declined rapidly during the baseball strike of 1994.  Sure, there were tons more cards produced in the late 90’s that were rather weak but to be honest, I lost interest in 1994 with the strike and with turning 17.  I lost interest in baseball with many other fans when the players held out.  It took me a while to come back but I would eventually pick back up and am going stronger now than I ever have thanks to the additions of autographs and other cool products that have me reinvigorated.  

But back to the so-called Junk Wax Era.  There are a few reasons for this name.

  1. Cards from this era hold very little value with some exceptions that I will note later.  When collectors realized that cards had value, everybody wanted in.  The problem is that if everybody has something, that something is not very valuable on the market.
  2. Demand pushed supply.  And boy did supply explode.  There are rumors of some card sets in the early 90’s producing 5 million copies of a single card.  Any collector knows that the more of an item is available, the less valuable it is.  Pretty much like #1.
  3. Just like the collectors wanted a piece of the hobby, more card companies popped up and wanted a piece of the market.  What was once a hobby consisting of mainly Topps Cards had grown to include Donruss, Fleer, Upper Deck, Leaf, Bowman, Studio, Triple Play, Purina, K Mart, KayBee Toys, you name it.  Everybody wanted in.  To be fair, Bowman was an original card company but was bought out by Topps in 1956.  They would be out of the hobby until making a return in 1989.  
  4. Extremely large card sets were being produced in this era with some sets up to 800+ cards.  If there are 800 cards in a set, what are your odds of finding a valuable card in a 15 card pack?  These sets included everybody from the long reliever to the managers.  If you chose 10 packs of any one set in that era, you are most likely going to have 9 packs of commons by the time you’re done, if not more.

All of these reasons point to the product being “Junk”.  The wax part comes in with the wrapper.  Most collectors remember a time when cards were packaged in wax or cellophane wrappers. This changed in the early 90’s too as some companies began to experiment with tamper proof wrappers.  But wax was still available in most sets until later in the 90’s.  

While all of the above is to try to explain the “Junk Wax Era”, I’m actually here to wax poetically about it, no pun intended.  I thought I was alone in my affinity for the cards of this overblown era.  I didn’t imagine many people having fond memories of these overproduced cuts of cardboard.  My age helps.  I was a prime collecting target during that time and they are the cards I was raised on.  But still, I thought I was probably 1 of 10 people that might be pouring through eBay listings looking for a reasonable price on 1989 Donruss so I could go back to when I was 12.  But I knew each time I clicked “Buy Now”, I was just buying memories and nothing more.  Or so I thought.A few months ago, I was introduced to a podcast called “Wax Ecstatic” hosted by Matt Sammon.  If heaven were a podcast, this is how I imagine it would be.  On this podcast, Matt goes through a “monster box” of cards from his youth, one yearly set at a time discussing the card set and the player featured on his randomly pulled card.  I’ve learned quite a bit I didn’t know about these sets and the players themselves.  It’s also completely unleashed a wave of nostalgia that has me wanting to buy older cards again.  This podcast came along at just the right time for me as I had begun to bog down in the sheer number of products that are now available.  It’s also motivated me to dig through these old sets and compile this list.  So Matt, many thanks!  Check him out on ITunes or at @waxandgumstains on Twitter.  Sometimes, you just have to go back to a simpler time and enjoy what made you the collector you are today.

Which brings me to my list of 10 Gems of the Junk Wax Era.  There are certainly more than 10 as all lists are debatable and opinion but I have compiled a list of cards or sets or subsets that can make that rip through an old wax box an exciting trip down memory lane that could also potentially pay off.  The list is only in year order and will likely never be comparable to those 1950’s pieces of cardboard gold.  But let’s face it, the cats out of the bag and those values will never be seen again with common cards.  But it’s not always about monetary value either.  Sometimes, there is a ton of value found in nostalgia.

1.  1987 Topps – This one is pretty much related to nostalgia but this set may be one of the best complete sets made in the 80’s.  Topps used a lovely 1986 Station Wagon wood grain design that has made it a unique and lasting image in the card world.  I even created my own 1987 Topps this past summer.  There are quite a few nice rookies found in this set that include Jose Canseco (All Star Rookie), Mark McGwire, Wally Joyner, Bobby Bonilla, Reuben Sierra and Barry Bonds.  But my favorite rookie card of the bunch was the colorful Future Star of Bo Jackson.  Easily a top 5 all time card for me.  There are a lot of commons and manager cards that can be found in these packs too but the set is a must have for die hard collectors.  And, for less than $20 a box, the investment price point is a plus!

2.  1989 Fleer Billy Ripken – You’ll have to google this one to get the full story but this gem can actually be found in a ton of different variations but 5 main versions are discussed frequently.  In summary, Mr. Ripken was asked by Fleer to snap a photo for their baseball card collection and grabbed a bat with a hilarious obscenity written on the bat knob.  He’s holding the bat on his shoulder and displaying the dirty talk for all to see, allegedly unbeknownst to him.  The funniest version to own is the original card with the words inscribed on the bat.  This card actually made it off the press and into packs during early print runs.  It was eventually caught and Fleer tried to clean it up in a myriad of ways.  There is a black box version with what appears to be black electrical tape over the words but is actually just a photo shop.  Then a whiteout version, which is just how it sounds.  Then the black scribble version, again self explanatory.  Finally, there is the white scribble version.  I don’t know why they choose to goof this card up in so many different ways but thank God they did because it’s a fun card to chase.  This card even has its own website at www.billripken.com.  
3.  1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr. – Ok, this one actually might be “the card.”  I’ve discussed it in this blog before but I’ll give a quick refresher.  This is the first major card I actually sought out during the Beckett days.  This was a card that was valued at $100+ in the early 90’s and was available in packs that could still be found at card shops.  This wasn’t pie in the sky 1953 Mickey Mantle.  This was obtainable.  And wouldn’t you know, I didn’t obtain it until my mid 30’s when my wife bought me the complete set.  I tried for years to pull this card in a pack, refusing all along to pay the money for the single card.  In hindsight, I could’ve bought the card 5 times with the amount of money I spent on the packs probably.  I specifically remember a youth group trip to Helen when me and Ken Forrester bought some baseball cards.  He got one (maybe two if memory serves) and I got a John Olerud.  Jealousy was, and still is, a stinky cologne.  There are plenty of 1989 packs still available on EBay but the odds of pulling one from a pack have dwindled as the previously advertised random collation has been figured out by stealthy collectors and the cards have been picked over in most boxes and packs available.  Risky but still a fun chase whenever I have a few bucks burning a hole in my pocket.

 
4.  1989 Donruss – This may fall a bit flat but this one is a personal favorite of mine.  This was the first card set I was able to collect intensely.  It was readily available in the Camilla Wal Mart and the Suwanee Swifty down the street from my house.  You could find 1989 Donruss just about anywhere.  It was colorful, affordable and had Ken Griffey Jr. much more accessible to me.  I loved the Diamond King drawings, the MVP subset and the Rated Rookies.  Boxes of 1989 Donruss are still very affordable and you stand a solid chance of pulling a Griffey in 1 of the 36 packs that come in the box.  Of course, there are also Craig Biggio, John Smoltz, Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling rookies to find.  And if you want a particularly scary card, google the 1989 Donruss Ron Washington.  Eeesh.
5.  1990 Topps Frank Thomas No Name Front – This is an error card that still holds tremendous value.  The search of this card on eBay reveals prices ranging from $2,000 to $10,000 depending on whether it’s graded well or not.  I have no idea how many were printed or what the odds of pulling one are but they are considered to be the rarest error cards to be found.  They are rumored to only be available in boxes manufactured on the east coast before the error was found.  A little known, or discussed, fact is that there were other no name fronts that printed in the set and sell for $50-$75 on eBay as well.  Kind of makes me want to buy a box of 1990 Topps.  These types of prices are unheard of in the Junk Wax Era, with the exception of 1992 Bowman.  You probably have a better chance of winning the lottery but it’s still worth the occasional $20 bill to take a shot.

6.  1990 Donruss John Smoltz Error – I can hear the boo’s as I type this.  1990 Donruss may be one of the top 5 worst sets of all time.  I will openly admit that.  It’s horrible….abysmal.  Look up the definition of Junk Wax and you’ll see a picture of 1988 Donruss, 1990 Donruss, 1991 Fleer and 1993 Pinnacle.  But just look at this card.  How can anyone confuse Tom Glavine for John Smoltz?  I’m a Braves fan so it has some added value to me but this card belongs on my top 10 Junk Wax list.  I love it and there is nothing you can say to change my mind.  So, we’ll move on.

7.  Upper Deck Heroes Autograph Inserts 1990-1992 – Beginning in 1990, Upper Deck raised the bar on what was already an excellent entry into the hobby in 1989.  They introduced an autograph insert of Reggie Jackson numbered to 2500.  They followed it up with a Nolan Ryan insert in the low series in 1991, a Hank Aaron insert in the high series in 1991 and a Ted Williams insert in the 1992 set.  There is no real guess on how many of these cards are still out there in a wax box waiting to be found but the relatively low price point on these boxes make taking a shot worthwhile.  These can also be found on EBay for purchase but you better break out the checkbook.  While it’s hard to imagine that an autograph numbered to 2500 can compare to those today that are as low as 1/1, we are talking about one player in the set and print runs of astronomical numbers.  These are legit Junk Wax gems.  

8.  1991 Topps Desert Shield – Anybody my age remembers the first major war of our generation, Desert Storm.  Baseball cards were so big in 1991, Topps created a set and shipped them to Saudi Arabia for soldiers to collect.  The only real difference in the Desert Shield cards and basic 1991 Topps was the Gold Logo in the upper corner of the card created specifically for the set.  An article on www.sportscollectorsdaily.com details the thoughts of one collector who received the cards overseas.  He said that while some soldiers enjoyed them, many tossed them aside or burned them in 55 gallon drums.  I suppose there were more important things going on at the time.  But now, the Desert Shield cards are one of the most valuable sets in the card industry.  In 2012, a complete set sold for just north of $75,000.  Unopened boxes sell for $5,000.  Individual graded cards of stars like Chipper Jones, Ken Griffey Jr. and Nolan Ryan go for over $1,000.  Looking back on it, I should’ve brokered a deal with my neighbors dad for some of these cards in 1991 instead of asking him to sign my Desert Storm Tank Card.  Hindsight is 20/20.

9.  1991 Donruss Elite – The first elusive chase card for me was the Elite.  I tried for the Reggie Auto in 1990 but I was realistic in my chances, or lack thereof, of landing one.  The Elite Series introduced in 1991 Donruss was a different story.  This subset included 10 stars on cards with serial numbered print runs up to 10,000.  Again, it’s a far cry from the small print runs of today but in 1991, 10,000 card print runs were minuscule.  These cards were all valued over $100 in the Beckett magazine when they came out.  The packs were around $1.00 and there was a possibility of pulling a $100+ card.  A real possibility.  I watched one of my best friends, David Shook, pull an André Dawson one afternoon as we ripped packs at his house.  It was a party, let me tell you.  I never pulled one in the 1991 set but I did snag a Robin Yount in 1993.  It was a good one but not as good as it would’ve been in 1991.  Serial numbered cards weren’t all that new anymore.  This is another card that has an unknown number of copies still out there in unsealed packs.  1990 Donruss boxes can be bought for less than $10.00, just saying.

10.  1992 Bowman – This was on the most recent podcast of Wax Ecstatic and a big reason I decided to pan back over this era to remember the cards of value.  1992 Bowman is loaded with superstar rookies like Chipper Jones, Mike Piazza, Mariano Rivera and Manny Ramirez, among others.  These cards have held their value because of the strong rookie class and the relatively low print run, considering the year.  Boxes still sell for $150-$250 depending on the reliability of the seller but the cards are very valuable for the era and can be mega value for the era if graded well.  Perhaps the finest point of 1992 Bowman is the pure 90’s photography.  The cards are iconic in this realm.  Many of the photos aren’t in baseball uniforms but in swaggy clothing that can only be identified as early 90’s.  I don’t know where Bowman got the idea and it must not have been well received because it was a one hit wonder as 1993 was back to basic uniforms.  But damn am I glad they did it.  This one is a little pricey but you will find value in this set.

So, as you can see, the Junk Wax Era had some punch.  Of course for every 1989 Upper Deck there was a 1988 Donruss, 1989 Bowman and 1991 Score, but the era has the moniker for a reason.  I guess the moral of the story is that you can find value in different ways.  Sometimes, the cards can mean something to you.  Sometimes, they can be valuable and put a few dollars in your wallet.  Sometimes, they can just make you laugh.  But they make you feel something.  They take you back to a simpler time in your life.  They remind you what it was like to be a kid.  And for me, that’s what the hobby is really about.  Sure, I enjoy pulling the Russell Wilson auto numbered to 5.  But I also enjoy pulling the 1989 Topps Orel Hershiser because it reminds me of the night I talked my dad into buying me a pack on the way to the lake.  I was instructed not to open the pack until we got to the lake because I was in trouble.  I managed to slip the wax open and see the Hershiser.  I was just curious.  I sealed it back up but I think he caught the aroma of Topps gum and the stunt led me to not being able to open them until he decided I could, which was after the trip when we were back home.  That’s something money can’t buy.  

Here’s to continued collecting and hoping you can still enjoy some old wax from time to time.  The hits are still there.  They are just a little harder to find and a little less flashy than the newer ones.

J-Dub


Sports Cards – More Than Meets The Eye

I have used this forum to discuss my affinity for sports cards before.  But a brief discussion with a friend today made me think about what the hobby is like for those of us who are into it and what it seems like for the non collector.  It has so many layers today as opposed to back in the 80’s when I started.  There is retail, hobby, grading, inserts, variations, errors (intentional and unintentional), autographs, memorabilia cards (some legit/some fake), outright fake cards, numbered cards, valuable oddities and some players that just bust on the scene and unleash fury on the market.  I am neck deep in the hobby and it’s hard for me to keep up with everything.  I thought I’d put together a little “Beginners Guide to Collecting” for those in my life that I burden with my hobby talk.

I sometimes long for the days of the simple set and collecting my favorite player just to have it for my collection.  That’s where Bailey is at and I’m trying to keep her there as long as I can.  Her favorite is football right now and if she pulls a Todd Gurley, AJ Green or Andrew Luck, she’s on cloud 9, regardless of whether it’s a common card or insert.  For a quick description: each card set (Topps, Upper Deck, Panini, etc) contains a base set of cards that are found in every pack.  Randomly “inserted” into those packs are more rare items that range from a simple subset card with minimal value to a low number autograph that can be very valuable.  We both open a pack together and I’ll see duds and she’ll be ecstatic.  Then we’ll pull a rare gem and I’ll get excited and she’ll be like, “what’s the big deal?”  She should know by now that a reverse negative of Mike Trout in a throwback uniform with a fake gum stain on the back of the card is a nice hit.  Geez, this has really become more difficult than it has to be.

To start with, let’s talk “retail” vs “hobby”.  Collecting is not as simple as going to Target or Wal Mart and picking up a couple of packs anymore.  I used to think it was in the late 80’s/early 90’s but I’ve found out that even then, I was most likely getting a raw deal.  The descriptions are just what they say.  You but retail packs at retail stores.  You buy hobby at your local hobby shop and from wholesalers online.  You can buy either from EBay but buying retail on eBay is akin to taking your money and lighting it on fire.  For the serious collector, hobby is the way to go.  To begin with, there just aren’t as many “hits” in retail packs.  The prices are more reasonable because of that but you’ve got to love commons and base sets to go retail.  There are occasional hits in retail but they are very rare due to a couple of things: print ratio and the following rant….

The most prevalent problem with retail is what we in the hobby call, “pack searchers”.  Next time you go to Target, take a look at an open box of cards.  Are they all upside down, sideways and generally in shambles?  That’s not a kid that got overzealous.  That’s a grown man (or woman) who most likely took some type of tool like a magnet or scale or ruler into the store with him to investigate all the packs in the box.  He weighed them to see if he could spot the autograph or memorabilia pack as it might be heavier, measured the thickness to find the odd pack that contains a hit or even used a magnet to find a rare printing plate.  He went through every pack bending and sliding cards with his fingers to take any that stood out to him as potential winners.  There are some very hot debates about whether these type of people should be allowed to continue to function in society but I’m here to tell you that they are cheats in my book.  You want to hold a couple of packs and make a reasonable judgment, go ahead.  But if you break out the tool kit, you might as well sign up for ISIS.  Reputable hobby stores will not allow that type of behavior.  So, the pros for hobby are exactly the opposite of the cons of retail: higher hit ratios and no pack searchers.  You always have to be careful online, retail or hobby, trust me.

Next, let’s talk about grading.  This is not a very old addition to the hobby, starting around the mid 90’s.  But today, it’s a vital part of collecting older cards, ensuring you are getting a card in good condition or just preserving your favorites as you collect them.  Of course, there is an additional price for this service but in most cases, it increases the value of the card.  High graded vintage cards are both valuable and hard to find.  A grade of 6 or better is usually very sought after in the pre 1970’s sets.  A grade of 6 in a current set would mean you let your dog open the pack for you.  PSA is my personal favorite but I’ve also used Beckett on occasion.  They will also help with the authentication of autographs and memorabilia cards.  They’ll even help you sniff out those Jordan Rookie fakes that are floating around eBay.  There services are a tremendous help for the hobby and can help you increase the value of your collection without adding new cards.  

Autographs are the big hits in today’s packs, with the exception of the occasional printing plate or 1 of 1 inserts.  Autographs can come in many different levels.  Of course the superstars are hard to get.  But most autographs that are found in packs today are of rookies who have not proven any worth on the field yet.  Their value is pushed by potential and scarcity of their autograph on the market.  One of my favorite sets to collect is Topps Archives, because the autographs that are available in that set are usually from 80’s / 90’s players that I grew up collecting.  Not always valuable but very nostalgic.  Some of my favorites have been Ron Gant, William “The Refrigerator” Perry, Bruce Smith and Dwight Clark.  They aren’t going to break the bank but they are household names for anyone who watched sports from my generation.  Plus, they did something on the field and had solid careers.  How many people ran out and paid hundreds for that Johnny Manziel autograph that didn’t pan out?

There is also the IP (In Person) and TTM (Through The Mail) autograph for those serious hobby’ers who like to do it themselves.  We have AJ Green, Todd Gurley, Chris Conley, Freddie Freeman, Dominique Wilkins and others that we got over the years in person.  We’ve had some success TTM with Tony Stewart, Dale Jr., Wade Boggs, Christian Laettner and Harrison Barnes.  These options are usually cheaper than those you buy online (and sometimes free altogether) but they lack the authentication you get from the companies like Topps and Panini.  That’s where PSA and Beckett services come in handy.  Regardless of your intent with authentication or selling, nothing beats that one on one interaction with the athlete, especially when your kid is with you.  Bryce Harper is on my list of “ones that got away.”  I was 3 people away from getting his autograph at a spring training game when he was a rookie and the line shut down.  Now, I’ll have to pay a couple hundred bucks for it if I want it.  Still sick over that one.I was so close…..

Bryce Harper was not a kid that came out of nowhere.  He was in ESPN The Magazine when he was just 16 and in high school.  Lebron didn’t sneak up on us either.  But those guys that do come out of nowhere are one of my favorite parts of the hobby.  You could be sitting on the next big star and not even know it.  His card is just collecting dust in a box and then boom!  Trevor Story, shortstop for the Colorado Rockies is 2016’s version.  This guy has a couple of cards dating back to 2011 that most likely were shoved in the back of the closet.  He comes out in 2016 and lights the world on fire for a couple of months and he has a card sell on eBay for $20,000 – allegedly.  I say allegedly because it in fact sold but there are questions about the arms length nature of the sale.  Nothing I can verify or rightfully dispute but it did sell.  To be fair, it was a 1 of 1, super-refractor card but still not a valuable card at all prior to April 2016.  Kurt Warner, Antonio Gates, Jeremy Lin and Mike Piazza are a few more that weren’t heralded rookies.  For every “out of nowhere” guy there are probably 5 can’t miss guys.  Anybody remember Kevin Maas, Brien Taylor, Ryan Leaf, Tim Tebow, Matt Leinart, Todd Van Poppel, Darko Milicic, Kwame Brown or Greg Oden?  I remember them very well.  They were huge busts!

Last on the docket for this discussion is the oddballs, cool inserts and errors.  Errors used to be just that.  Mistakes made at the printing facility that escaped into packs and had to be corrected later.  Billy Ripkin’s 1989 Fleer is one of the most famous.  He had a pretty vulgar comment written on the knob of his bat and it was captured for all the world to see.  Once they discovered it, they tried to correct it several ways.  First, it was just rubbed out, then there was black tape superimposed.  I think there were 4 versions in total.  These were highly sought after mistakes back in the day.  Now, companies will make intentional errors in a call back to the good old days.  Topps has even superimposed a gum stain on the back of some recent releases to harken back to the days where gum was included in the packs.  Perhaps the most error ridden set was 1990 Pro Set Football.  They either turned a kid loose in the system or had a kangaroo running the plant.  There are so many errors in the set!  But it still makes opening a vintage $10 box entertaining.  And there’s also a cards with Santa Claus on it.  Yeah.  Throw in old Kaybee or KMart sets, Purina Cards, Garbage Pail (old school) and card of that sort and you’ve got something for everyone.

So that’s my 10 cent, 20,000 foot view of collecting.  Now, maybe the puzzling look on my face at Wal Mart or my excitement walking out of Comics and Cards here in Albany can have a little depth.  It’s a legit hobby and the companies try something new every year to keep it fresh.  Some ideas are home runs and some are fumbles.  But they are making an effort and I appreciate it as a collector.  I love talking about the hobby and it’s a wonderful experience that I share with Bailey.  It’s just more complicated than you think.

J-Dub

A Legendary Tale

  I remember the first time I fell in love.  It was actually the day after first feeling painful heartbreak.  All I wanted for Christmas that year was a Nintendo.  Coop had one, Corey and Jared had one.  I wanted one.  Christmas Eve is always when we celebrate with my Papa.  We had it at our house that particular year and as the festivities were dying down, discussion among the kids turned to what they hoped Santa was dropping off overnight.  As visions of “Crossfire” danced in Coop’s head, I was mentally rearranging my room to perfectly house that electronic dreamboat.  As the final guests left, Dewey dropped the bomb on me that Nintendo was likely not in the cards.  Devastation, call Santa and tell him not to bother.  He could just drop off Chase’s sweet bolo tie and cowboy hat and hit the road.

Alas, my old man had set me up.  That sweet piece of technology was front and center the next morning as I stumbled into the living room.  Looking back, I understand why the let down had to happen the night before.  I had all but accepted that I was getting one and there would be no fun in that for my folks.  Back then, they videoed our reactions as we entered the room to see our gifts and that year I let out a boisterous “Ninnn” and didn’t finish the word.  Don’t worry, Chase got the cowboy hat too. 

 Thus began my lifelong love affair with video games.  I still play them today.  I just put the controller down from another session of Fallout 4.  Games have come a long way since that Christmas.  Now there are ever expanding storylines, open worlds to explore and graphics that make you think you are watching a movie.  Groundbreaking stuff I tell you.  Perhaps the first groundbreaker though was a game that is what I can only describe as the most amazing game of all time.  Super Mario was fun, RBI was a classic and I always had a great time battling Uncle Speedy and Greg with the Bash Brothers, Lego my Gallego and Walt “Three Blind” Weiss.  But in 1991, the video game industry was turned on its head with the introduction of Tecmo Super Bowl “TSB”.  

TSB was the first sports game that had all of the NFL players (well, almost – more on that in a minute) and allowed you to play an entire season while keeping stats and setting up playoffs and a Super Bowl.  It’s not the first time stats had been involved in a video game but it was definitely a much easier process.  Prior to that, Jim and Rusty and I had played various seasons of RBI Baseball 3 with us keeping stats ourselves over the course of battle.  This time, the game kept it for you and saved it, provided you held down reset while powering off.  Tecmo Bowl (minus the “Super”) preceded TSB but didn’t have all of the teams and didn’t keep stats over time.  This game introduced a whole new way to play video games.  My buddies and I became stat junkies and began trying to one up each other on a daily basis.

For me, there was only one team on TSB back in my younger days.  That was the Buffalo Bills.  I loved them, despite their inability to win the big one.  I made sure that I won it for them over and over on TSB.  They had it all.  The stout defense included Bruce Smith, Cornelius Bennett, Daryll Talley and Little Man Nate Odomes.  Then the offense was high powered with Thurman Thomas, James Lofton, Andre Reed and QB Bills.  Ah, “almost” all of the NFL players.  The game lacked 4 official NFL’ers.  QB Bills was Jim Kelly, QB Eagles was Randall Cunningham and QB Browns was Bernie Kosar.  There was some issue with a new licensing group called NFL Quarterback Club and the NLFPA that disallowed their names from being used.  Their attributes were the same as their real life personas though so we all knew who they were.  The fourth player not included was a biggie too.  Eric Dickerson was not included on the Colts due to a contract squabble and I wager that they would have been quite the team with Jeff George and Dickerson but it was not to be.

I became quite the player, in my opinion, with the Bills and was able to dispatch most opponents with relative ease.  I recall the first time Coop almost took me down with Philly.  QB Eagles was a difficult weapon to stop.  He was one of the fastest offensive players on the game and he was a QB.  The ultimate run/pass option.  If you wanted to beat this guy, you better be prepared to put up 60 points.  Coop battled hard that day but he was ultimately bit by an ugly facet of the game.  In what would later be dubbed “Self Preservation”, the game had a way of sensing when someone was on the cusp of ultimate joy and it would pounce.  Late in the game, Coop was trailing by a slim margin when Reggie White, The Minister of Defense, smashed QB Bills causing a fumble.  White picked it up and Coop began the cheer “Go Reggie, Go Reggie!”  Thurman Thomas chased him down and White promptly fumbled it back to the Bills as the cheer turned to a cry of desperation “Noooo Reggie!”  Bills win! 

 I spread my teams out a little more over the years but I’ve always had my favorites.  The Bills, Lions (Barry Sanders), Chiefs and Bengals have remained go to teams.  I still recall David Fulcher and the Bengals putting Byron’s Chicago Bears in their place as he tried to take down the champ.  Though I rarely used the Raiders, the greatest player in TSB history, without a doubt, was Bo Jackson.  Epic YouTube videos are available that show the sheer dominance one 8 bit player was able to inflict on the video game world.  It’s the stuff of legends.  There is one video in which a player takes Bo, runs the length of the field, turns back right before he scores, runs back the length of the field and then turns one more time to score what is essentially a 300 yard TD.  The game could have been called “Bo Jackson’s Tecmo Super Bowl” and there would have been no arguments.  Besides Barry Sanders, there wasn’t even anyone close to his ability.  Christian Okoye had a shot but was injured too often in the game and was always one self preservation play away from a controller toss.  There are still T shirts being made in 2016 in their honor. 

 Speaking of 2016, the game remains so popular that clothing is not the only merchandise that still pops up.  The masters at Tecmobowlers.com updated the original game on NES to bring fans TSB 16 with fully updated rosters but the same old gameplay.  Like a true dork, I bought it right up and rotate playing that and the old one on my classic NES.  It’s truly the only game that holds up in my opinion.  It has replay value out the wazoo.  It has been called the greatest video game of all time by major video game publications and to this day is the standard bearer for football video games.  It brought out the best and worst of my generation and still has its own annual tournament in Madison, Wisconsin each year.  This years tourney is Feb 20 and I would love to go but just don’t have the proper time to prepare.  Entry fee is only $40 but the experience would be once in a lifetime.  It would so be worth the thumb callous that would be sure to follow.

From “Go Reggie” to “Self Preservation” to the most famous scream in TSB history, “PLAY ME!!”, the game left its mark on my youth.  By the way, “PLAY ME!!” immediately followed one of the most egregious forms of “Self Preservation” in TSB history and ended with a head butt to the closet door, all at 3am.  Never has a video game been so triumphant and emasculating at the same time.  Today’s kids can have their Madden and NCAA football.  They will never know the feeling of winning a super bowl with only 8 plays in your arsenal and no way to audible in and out of poorly timed pre snap movement.  If I didn’t think Alicia would kill me for waking her up, I’d get a game in right now.  I’m proud to say I’m a Tecmo Bowler and will die one.  Hopefully they will play the TSB injury music at my funeral. 

 You may be wondering if Coop got Crossfire that year.  He did and he wound up with stitches.  What a Christmas!

Cardboard Memories

   

The year was 1989.  A lot was going on that year; The Berlin Wall came down, the Exxon-Valdez dumped massive amounts of oil into the ocean, Gameboy was introduced, The Simpsons first episode aired and half of my seventh grade class was doing the Buffalo Stance thanks to Neneh Cherry.  If you look a little further off into the weeds though, you’ll find me and what made that year one of the best ever.  Our sleepy little Camilla Wal-Mart introduced me to my lifelong addiction, Sports Cards.

These tiny pieces of cardboard have seen fluctuations that would rival the real estate market over time, to scale of course.  I caught them during the peak that year.  Several now Hall of Famers, or soon to be, were rookies and appearing on cards for the first time.  Names like Troy Aikman, Barry Sanders, David Robinson, Randy Johnson, Craig Biggio, Gary Sheffield and…..The Kid himself, Ken Griffey Jr.  My first big get that year was the 1989 Donruss version of this young phenom.  That was of course because our Wal-Mart carried Donruss, Topps and Score and he would only appear in one of those base sets.  Another card company would join the hobby along with me that year.  That company was Upper Deck and the card pictured above was the version that drove me nuts then and still does 27 years later.  It’s when I realized that I had a problem.  More on that card later.

It’s been quite a strange journey with cards over the years, really too much to simply blog about.  But, I have watched an industry that operated at a production level of what seems like 1,000,000+ cards each year in the early 1990’s shrink to runs as low as 1 of certain cards today.  I had not yet taken economics from Mr. Spivey in 1989 but it all made sense as I got older.  Cards from the 50’s were worth a ton of money and the country wanted to buy in.  This was a direct contradiction to the reason the cards from the 50’s were valuable.  They weren’t collected then.  They were toys that were basically played with or used as bicycle tire accessories.  So, if you could find one in good condition, you had a pretty rare item.  When everybody started buying in the late 80’s, the companies started pumping them out 24/7 and rare was not even a consideration.

Thankfully, that was never the reason I started collecting and even though my 1989 collection is worth very little in the bank, it is a treasure chest of nostalgia.  Trading baseball cards became a part time gig for me in those days and I was a shark.  I was always looking for that next deal while stocking up whenever I went to Wal-Mart or had a birthday roll around.  I had my marks too.  Shook was a Minnesota Twins fan, Coop liked Robert Parrish, Uncle Speedy liked the old guys.  I was happy to move those players for what I was after; Griffey, McGwire, Canseco, Shawn Kemp, Bo Jackson, the Ryan Express.  And if you ask any of us, we all thought we got the better of each other.  I remember hauling my collection around in a sweet binder protecting the cards in plastic sleeves.  I even took them to school once in 7th grade but Ms. Merritt interrupted one of my many deals and confiscated them. I didn’t get them back until the end of the school year in her effort to prove that she “was the captain of the ship.”  I didn’t make that mistake again.

Along with trades, I loved opening those packs.  I would take out the Beckett Monthly Price Guide and look up every single card.  At 12, value of $10-$15 for a card might as well have been $100.  Among those semi valuable cards in those days were can’t miss kids like Kevin Maas, Brien Taylor and Todd Van Poppel.  Who?  Exactly…..but those guys were exciting pulls back then.  I actually pulled a Kevin Maas Stadium Club as I opened a vintage pack I got at my friend Charlie Heinisch’s card shop in Warner Robins last weekend.  That would have been a tremendous hit back in the day but it turned out to be little more than a punchline in the photo I sent to him.  Any base cards today are of little consequence in the value department.  The hits today are jersey swatches, printing plates, short prints and autographs among other subset items.  

I’m still a purest for the most part.  I get excited about Braves, Falcons, Hawks, Bulldogs and my favorite players, regardless of rarity.  I’ve tried to pass that along to my daughter Bailey.  She has fallen in her father’s footsteps as it relates to collecting.  She has her favorite players and it really doesn’t matter what kind of card it is.  That’s what it is about to me.  A cardboard photograph of my favorite player reminds me of the days when cards came in a pack that cost about $1.00 and there weren’t 2,000 subsets and variations you had to keep up with.  I do love adding autographs and short prints to my personal collection but that’s not what our Saturday trips to Comics and Cards to see our buddy Wade is all about.  We walk around looking at all of the singles in the case and try to find our favorite player.  It’s also about us having a common interest.  She enjoys something that I enjoyed during my youth and I can understand that enthusiasm better than anyone.

I like to think of myself as being in the minority when it comes to classifying myself as a collector.  I am collecting memories and if they are worth something one day, that’s even better.  If not, I’ll always remember when Bailey pulled her first Todd Gurley from a pack.  I have met others like me over the years and have even found a home for those who share my addiction thanks to Charlie and the Middle Georgia Collector group he created on FaceBook.  The hobby has gone through countless changes and peaks and valleys but it has always been very special to me.  It’s been refreshing to find others that want to keep the hobby alive for those that remember the wonder it brought as kids.  I really still get just as excited when I am opening cards as I did at 12.  Even those 1991 Stadium Club I bought last weekend.

Back to the Griffey in the picture above. That card is arguably one of the most popular cards ever and really is a measuring stick when comparing hot cards that come and go.  The value did not hold because of the print runs of the product but it remains my white whale.  In 27 years, I have never pulled that card out of a pack.  I have 2 that are a part of the base sets I own but have never experienced the thrill of seeing one appear in a pack that I bought.  I’ve tried, believe me.  When I see 1989 Upper Deck, I pluck a few out of the box and try my luck but over time my odds have dwindled.  You see, along with the massive print runs, there was also a problem with sequence in those days.  It’s rumored that some people can predict where the cards are in the box because of that issue and the packs left in circulation are littered with left over worthless cards.  I will hold out hope that one day I will find my Griffey Upper Deck, much like Ken Forrester did on our youth trip to Helen that year.  Yes, I remember…..did I mention I had a problem?