12.30
Panini America unveiled the basic product preview information and sample card images on Wednesday for its 2009-10 Classics basketball set, which is scheduled to arrive on March 31.
Set to pack four autograph or memorabilia cards in each 18-pack box (one autograph guaranteed), Classics will celebrate basketball’s past as well as its present as the line has done for years in baseball and football. Each 16-box case will include an autograph from either Panini spokesman Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson, Blake Griffin, Elvin Hayes, Isiah Thomas or Jerry West.
Five-card packs will carry a suggested retail price of $6.
See additional card images after the jump.
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12.30
It’s become tradition over the last decade for fans attending the annual U.S. Army All-American Bowl to grab one last glimpse at the country’s top high school football players as well as a host of “where I’m going to college” declarations.
But those attending the 2010 edition on Jan. 9 in San Antonio will have the chance to grab something even better: Two of Tim Tebow’s first football cards.
To help celebrate the U.S. Army All-American Bowl’s 10th anniversary, Dallas-based Razor Entertainment has produced a special 100-card promotional set that will be distributed – via four-card packs – to all active military personnel and children under the age of 14. Included in that set will be two short-printed cards featuring Tebow during the 2006 game.
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12.29
After a five-year absence, Topps has revived its Topps Tribute line with every pack including an autograph or Relic card.
We’ve gotten our boxes in at Beckett HQ will in advance of Tribute’s Jan. 7 street date, and will have a Box Busters video shot sometime in the coming days (hectic holiday schedules permitting).
But until then we’ll let you examine the contents of a box busted off camera — one that did indeed deliver a hit per pack as well as three base cards and a parallel card in every one.
The base set consists of 100 cards — 83 retired legends of the game, 14 veterans and just three rookies and will includes parallels — Reds (1/1s), Golds (/50), Blacks (/99) and Blues (/199). It also will include Framed Printing Plates. You can read more about the product and see the preliminary checklist by clicking here.
After the jump, you will find scans of 18 cards — the notable half of the box — along with the in-box checklist, which you can compare to the preliminary checklist. (Not much appears to have changed based on a very quick glance.)
It’s worth noting that these high-end cards (suggested retail price is $50 a pack) will be condition sensitive because of their holographic surface. Several cards came out of packs with smudges and/or scratches — some of which may rub off (but we didn’t try it).
Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball and Beckett Graded Card Investor. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an e-mail to him at colds@beckett.com.
See the images after the jump. (Click for a closer look.)
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12.28
TRISTAR's new line of autographed Total Nonstop Action wrestling photos appears to use stickers. Does it make sense? Perhaps.
There’s no question that the sticker autograph is a sticking point for many a collector.
They often loathe them because they want something that someone held signed, because they want an autograph that can accentuate the image that it is affixed to, because they want a signature that is not cut off by the edge of a sticker that’s smaller than the item it’s affixed to.
But collectors also don’t want to wait on redemption cards — an inevitable byproduct of on-card signatures. But collectors also don’t want to receive cards with dinged corners, either. (This just in, many athletes don’t treasure corners on their cards as much as you do … ) This, in turn, has spawned the letter patch autographs, the manufactured logo autographs, the Sweet Spot autographs and so on …
There are advantages for companies to get stickers (and non-card items) signed — primarily pertaining to the issues above — but it’s also one of asset management. What does a company do when there are cards left over after redemptions are fulfilled (something that also costs money)? They’ve cost the company something — yet aren’t necessarily usable in a future product.
Stickers or other types of autographs on the other hand can be used later down the line if a lineup changes or a deadline is missed or if redemptions go unfulfilled — something that saves the company money, which is more important than ever as a shrinking industry continues to weather a poor economy in a world where costs for autographs aren’t shrinking. (Even though they probably should be.) Every company uses them — and it’s become en vogue to tout when they aren’t, likely when it’s time to move some products.
So, we have to ask — is there a right way to do sticker autographs?
Read more after the jump.
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12.27
We’re closing in on making our selections for The Best of 2009 and want to make sure that Beckett Baseball‘s readers have a say, too.
Vote now for your picks for the best baseball cards of 2009 — the awards (editors’ picks and readers choice) will appear in the next issue along with our picks for the Best of the Decade.
See them all — and place your votes – after the jump.
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12.26
Urban Meyer‘s decision to step down as the coach of the Florida Gators on Saturday night citing health reasons at age 45 has sent a few shockwaves through the college football world.
But it also prompted this writer to do a little research on college football coaches and their trading cards, which led to another shocking discovery — their near-complete lack of cards — despite there being a constant flow of cards showing athletes in their NCAA uniforms.
It seems that all of the major football card manufacturers — and all of the smaller ones, too — have dabbled with players in college uniforms in their sets, but very few have dabbled with the idea of getting the most famous names in college football (the coaches) in their sets. Or if they have, they’ve chosen not to as they’ve also failed to sit them down with a pen to sign a few cards that can be placed into packs (certified autographs for the non-collector).
In fact, it appears that among college coaching’s elite names only Florida State’s Bobby Bowden and Nebraska’s Tom Osborne have signed for a card company.
And the game’s biggest college coaching legends? If they have any autographed cards at all, they’re immensely rare cut autographs where the signatures were cut from documents and matted into the card.
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12.23
Collectors of World Wrestling Entertaiment memorabilia will have some new items to look for in 2010 as it has tied up some long-running loose ends with its merchandising lines recently and a new company will take over as the manufacturer for another.
WWE on Tuesday announced that it has renewed its long-standing relationship with video game maker THQ – an eight-year deal that takes effect on Jan. 1. While that’s not the news that impacts collectors, it’s no secret that video games are a big part of the WWE merchandising portfolio.
The other big news on Tuesday was that the company ended long-running litigation with toy manufacturer Jakks Pacific – the maker of all of its popular toys — which also is tied to the THQ deal as the two companies are a joint venture.
THQ will pay WWE $13.2 million as part of the agreement, while the video game deal is a longer-term deal than one previously signed between the companies. THQ will, in turn, pay Jakks Pacific $20 million over the next four years as part of the agreement.
The companies were batting in court over alleged payoffs and other wrongdoings to draw WWE’s merchandising rights. All allegations have been dropped as part of these new deals.
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12.23
What did The Rip Master and crew land at the Topps Triple Threads Football Rip Party? Watch and find out …
12.23
Joe Galiardi has been collecting autographs for more than 20 years, and he’s had a ball doing it. Literally. Actually, he’s had 231 balls – and counting – doing it.
Galiardi, you see, is a collector of signed golf balls. The retired PR professional’s first dimpled endeavor, inked by Arnold Palmer, remains his favorite. But that one, like the 230 others – including balls signed by the likes of Bob Hope, Jack Lemmon, Joe Paterno and Tiger Woods – has its own unique story to tell.
And it is those stories that provided the inspiration behind Galiardi’s new book Hooked on Autographs, a 154-page collection of the Pennsylvania native’s favorite trials, tribulations and anecdotes from two decades tracking true American legends.
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12.23
Well, there are just hours left to finish that Christmas shopping, so if you haven’t tracked down something for your collector you’re likely out of luck.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t make up for being a little late — and that’s where Blowout Cards wants to come in.
The company that’s been busy this year launching crazy promotions, helping card-related causes and donating plenty of free prizes for collectors to keep the collecting community engaged and energized has more up its sleeve.
Blowout’s Thomas Fish said today that its end-of-the-year clearance sale will run from now until midnight Sunday (Dec. 27) with its in-stock items at blowoutcards.com as much as 50 percent off. All this, of course, comes on top of outrageous deals on cards often at already rock-bottom prices.
So, if you blew it for your collector by blowing one of the most meaningful deadlines in all of sports collecting, there’s still a chance to hit one out of the park.
