03.31
***CONTEST NOW CLOSED***
“The Nature Boy” Ric Flair.
He’s a 16-time world heavyweight champion — a guy who still today talks a great game and will be in the middle of the action (but not actually wrestling) alongside actor Mickey Rourke Sunday at WrestleMania 25 in Houston.
He’s known as the greatest wrestler of all time — the best bleeder, too. He’s known as a guy who wrestled hard but partied harder — after all, he is the guy also known as the limosine ridin’ jet flyin’ kiss stealin’ wheelin’ dealin’ son of a gun.
He’s a guy who led The Four Horsemen and was the backbone of another famous faction, Evolution, in more recent years. He’s a WWE Hall of Famer — the first guy inducted before his career was over. He’s the guy who literally traveled around the world as the last great NWA world heavyweight champion before World Wrestling Entertainment changed the landscape of professional wrestling.
And, until now — until Panini America landed him for an autograph signing earlier this year — he also had been known as the greatest professional wrestler to never sign autographs for a trading card company.
That’s right, despite his decades in the business — and he appeared on his first wrestling card back in 1982 — and his long runs with WCW and WWE, he never signed a single certified autograph for inclusion in packs of wrestling cards. Never for Topps’ WCW sets of the late 1990s, never for Fleer’s WWE sets and none for Topps in its current run as a WWE licensee.
But he has now. And you can own one — a signed promotional Donruss Americana card specially produced just for this contest with Beckett Media.
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03.30
TRISTAR released preview information on Monday for its upcoming TNA Knockouts wrestling card set that focuses on the female competitors of Total Nonstop Action wrestling.
The first women’s-only product for TNA will consist of two separate runs — 150 standard cases and 50 Knockouts Revealed cases that guarantee more hits per box and cards exclusively found only in those packs. The product is scheduled for an April 28 release.
The standard boxes will include four hits — two Signature Curves autographs, one Top Drawer memorabilia card and one parallel card serial-numbered to 40 copies or less. The autographs come with as many as four signatures per card and have four levels of parallels limited to 75 or fewer cards.
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03.27
Tiger Woods is included in Upper Deck‘s autographed mini cards in the 2008-09 NHL Champ’s product and Upper Deck announced on Friday that there are four different variations to be found.
According to Upper Deck, Woods signed cards with brown-, purple-, blue- and black-ink backs. The cards were inserted as redemptions.
So what was already a tough pull has gotten tougher to collect.
Chris Olds has collected sports cards and memorabilia since 1987. Before coming to Beckett Media, he wrote about the hobby for the Orlando Sentinel on his blog, SportsStuff, and for the San Antonio Express-News and The Tuscaloosa (Ala.) News. Do you have a comment, question or idea? Send e-mail to him at colds@beckett.com.
03.26
You may remember Scott Schwartz from “The Toy” or from “A Christmas Story.” What you might not know is that he’s a long-time collector and had a guest editor stint here at Beckett Media last year. He’s decided to share some of his views on the sports world with us …
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I am sitting here the day the clean baseball player died. Props to Don McLean, but here we go…
Alex Rodriguez tested positive in 2003 for steroids. Is anyone really surprised? Anyone who is familiar with MLB players knows that in the words of “Jose” that 70 to 85 percent of players did some form of steroids. So, now here we go. Barry Bonds will go on trial for perjury, A-Rod tests positive. (Funny, wasn’t he playing for Texas just like Juan Gonzalez, Rafael Palmeiro and Jose Canseco?) What is the world coming to? Realize this: The tests from 2003 were supposed to be anonymous. So, how in the world can this be possible?
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03.26
Why do companies include unusual cards in their products?
They get people talking. They get added attention.
In the case of a 2009 Topps Allen & Ginter Bernie Madoff or Charles Ponzi, they get written about in Fortune magazine and elsewhere in the business world.
Check out one story here.
Update: Topps announced in early May that the card was pulled from the set per a request from Major League Baseball.
03.26
Razor announced on Thursday that it has acquired the remaining autograph inventory of Inkworks, a staple of the non-sport autograph industry that announced it was ceasing regular business operations earlier this month.
More than 400 autographed cards will be included in Razor’s upcoming InkArchives product, a release that includes one encapsulated autograph per pack in every five-pack box (12 boxes per case).
Many notable past Inkworks inclusions are on the sell sheet above, including Jennifer Garner (“Alias”), Ozzy Osbourne (“The Osbournes”), Evangeline Lilly (“Lost”), the late John Ritter (“Buffy The Vampire Slayer) as well as Alyssa Milano and Rose McGowan (“Charmed”).
Razor announced that only 299 cases will be produced.
Chris Olds has collected sports cards and memorabilia since 1987. Before coming to Beckett Media, he wrote about the hobby for the Orlando Sentinel on his blog, SportsStuff, and for the San Antonio Express-News and The Tuscaloosa (Ala.) News. Do you have a comment, question or idea? Send e-mail to him at colds@beckett.com.
03.25
Donruss Elite football is set to release in June delivering serial-numbered Rookie Cards and even some autographed RCs. Each box will deliver three autograph or memorabilia cards, including the popular Passing the Torch, Throwback Threads and College Ties inserts.
Take a look at some exclusive debut images after the jump.
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03.25
Topps recently announced that it will release another retro-themed football set in June — this time focusing on its first nationally released product, the 1951 Topps Magic set.
That release featured college football stars as will this one, 2009 Topps Magic, when it arrives in mid-June. Many current players and former legends will appear in the set in their college threads.
The set will include 250 different autograph signers, which the company claims is the most ever, with signed cards found three per hobby box. The packs will carry a $4 suggested retail price.
See more images after the jump.
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03.25
Upper Deck released the first preview images and basic product information for its 2009 Football set on Wednesday.
Scheduled for an August release, the product will include one autograph per 16-pack box as well as three memorabilia cards and two lenticular 3D Stars cards. Each box also will include at least 64 Star Rookies. (And, yes, some Star Rookies are short-prints.)
Each 12-box case should include one Iconic Cuts cut signature, one Premier Signature and one Same Day Signature.
See more card images after the jump.
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03.25
Topps revealed the final two players in its 10-card World Baseball Classic redemption set on Wednesday and they are Japan’s Daisuke Matsuzaka and Korea’s Jung Keun Bong.
Japan won the WBC championship on Monday night, defeating Korea 5-3 in 10 innings.
The WBC redemptions are found one per hobby or HTA jumbo box of 2009 Topps Series 1. They can be redeemed at topps.com. The cards will be printed on Chrome stock and shipped in early June.
The final checklist is:
1. Lee Jin Young, Korea
2. Derek Jeter, USA
3. Gift Ngoepe, South Africa
4. Ubaldo Jimenez, Dominican Republic
5. Sidney De Jong, Netherlands
6. Yoennis Cespedes, Cuba
7. Dae Ho Lee, Korea
8. Yu Darvish, Japan
9. Jung Keun Bong, Korea
10. Daisuke Matsuzaka, Japan
Chris Olds has collected sports cards and memorabilia since 1987. Before coming to Beckett Media, he wrote about the hobby for the Orlando Sentinel on his blog, SportsStuff, and for the San Antonio Express-News and The Tuscaloosa (Ala.) News. Do you have a comment, question or idea? Send e-mail to him at colds@beckett.com.
