06.28
The Stephen Strasburg SuperFractor from 2010 Bowman has set yet another sales record.
The card sold for $25,000 after 75 bids on eBay Monday evening as Robert J. Power, opted to sell the card in the wake of the publicity that the since-removed 1/1 Red autograph generated on the auction block. (The Red autograph, the only card that can presently top the SuperFractor in significance, neared $1 million in bad bids before it the auction was ended this past weekend.)
Power’s auction ended Monday, topping the previous mark of $16,304 he paid for the card before Strasburg made his MLB debut earlier this month. The new sale sets a record for a SuperFractor.
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06.28
By Russ Cohen
LOS ANGELES – When it was all said and done, I – along with many others – had correctly predicted that Taylor Hall would be the first overall pick of the Edmonton Oilers during the 2010 NHL Entry Draft over the weekend.
The speedy forward was legitimately excited when his name was called his name and that’s part of what makes him so special. He had to know this was coming.
“I was so shocked,” Hall said. “I was shaking in my seat.”
While the excitement of the draft was taking place, Upper Deck was headlining a scaled-down NHL Draft collectibles show. There were a handful of top-notch vendors along with the card manufacturer.
Regarding the redemption card sets, Upper Deck produced two different six-card packs available during the course of the Draft while supplies lasted. Collectors had to rip open three packs of any 2009-10 Upper Deck NHL product (excluding Victory or Collector’s Choice brands) at the Upper Deck booth; in exchange, they got their choice of either six-card set.
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06.28
We’re a couple days away from the official Allen & Ginter release date, but here are some basics about the set…
Yes, Stephen Strasburg appears in the set — as a mini card only (card No. 401; presumed to be an SP) and as an autograph redemption.
The SPs in the set are card Nos. 301-350.
There are no autograph or Relic “groups” noted on boxes or packs this year.
Autographs are found one in every 40 packs, while Relics are 1:11. With no groups you can still presume that signed cards like Albert Pujols and Ryan Howard will be tougher pulls than the likes of Ross Ohlendorf and Clayton Kershaw. It’s simple economics based on the athletes’ costs for Topps to obtain their autographs.
Among the interesting inclusions on the autograph and Relic lists are Marvin Miller, who does not appear in the base set. Others of note on the autograph list include Jason Heyward, Evan Longoria, Alexei Ramirez, Tommy Hanson, David Blaine, Jordin Sparks, Regis Philbin, Sig Hansen, Shawn Johnson, Summer Sanders, Tony Hawk, Anne Donovan and Stuart Scott.
It’s interesting to note that David Wright has two mini framed Relics in Ginter — no other subject does.
See more after the jump …
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06.28
This past week’s Free Stuff Friday took a slightly different twist as we had you guys guess exactly how many sales of Stephen Strasburg‘s 2010 Bowman Chrome Prospects card had been tracked in the last month or so by Beckett Baseball.
We gave you a hint — it was a number between 1 and 5,000 — and if you guessed that number first (and answered a simple second question), the box, courtesy of GlobalSportsCards.com, is yours.
Who won? Find out after the jump.
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06.27
This year’s edition of Allen & Ginter is trickling into the marketplace in advance of its Wednesday release and 28-year-old Nick Jacoby is already at work examining the nuances of every card he can find, trying to discover the next big thing on cardboard.
And it’s got nothing to do with Stephen Strasburg.
He’s looking for clues on this year’s Ginter Code as he seeks to become the first repeat champion in the deciphering competition. Last year, he found the hidden messages on Ginter’s cards in less than a week after the popular baseball card set’s release and, as a result, appears on card No. 165 in this year’s set.
Beckett Baseball‘s Chris Olds caught up with him for this Q&A …
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06.27
Rojo Johnson made a memorable debut for the Round Rock Express not long ago here in Texas, which meant he also would likely appear on a baseball card.
Now, he’s a Pacific Coast League Top Prospect.
The league unveiled its 36-card set with Johnson mixed in with names like Buster Posey, Madison Bumgarner, Brett Wallace, Logan Morrison and Jason Castro.
Will Ferrell, aka Rojo Johnson, authorized the card appearance as a way to further lend his support for Cancer for College, a charitable foundation that grants college scholarships to cancer survivors.
Later this year, 500 special Rojo Johnson cards — as well as 100 numbered cards signed by Ferrell — will be available for a donation on the foundation’s site.
Ferrell does not appear on a certified autograph card but has appeared on a sports card — a promo card of Jackie Moon made for his basketball movie, Semi-Pro.
Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an e-mail to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.
06.25
AP Images
Upper Deck officials on Friday announced that they have signed nine of the top 16 picks from last night’s 2010 NBA Draft to appear in the late-September release of 2010-11 Ultimate Collection Basketball, an 81-card set featuring autographs from the likes of company spokesmen LeBron James and Michael Jordan as well as basketball legends such as Magic Johnson, Bill Russell, Larry Bird and Julius Erving.
Highlighting the slew of Thursday’s draft picks signed by Upper Deck are Derrick Favors (No. 3 overall to the Nets), DeMarcus Cousins (No. 5 overall to the Kings), Ekpe Udoh (No. 6 overall to the Warriors), Greg Monroe (No. 7 overall to the Pistons), Gordon Heyward (No. 9 overall to the Jazz), Paul George (No. 10 overall to the Pacers), Cole Aldrich (No. 11 overall to the Hornets), Xavier Henry (No. 12 overall to the Grizzlies) and Luke Babbitt (No. 16 overall to the Timberwolves).
Stay tuned to Beckett.com for additional information on 2010-11 Ultimate Collection Basketball.
06.24
“Michael Jackson is dead.”
It was one of those “remember exactly where you were” bombshell bits of news that seemed somewhere between implausible and impossible. My parents had the John F. Kennedy assassination. I had this.
Completely different circumstances, I know, but both were tragic, shocking and left a heavy-hearted world to mourn the loss of a true American icon. All this time later, there are those all over the globe grieving both monumental losses still.
Frankly, it doesn’t seem like an entire year has passed since the King of Pop passed away so unexpectedly at the age of 50 in his California home. But that’s the alarming revelation that stunned us all some 365 days ago.
In the hours, days, weeks and months that followed Jackson’s death, there were countless tributes paid to one of the greatest entertainers the world has ever known. And those tributes, in concert with the passage of time, have helped the forevermore memories – the music, the moves, the transcendent artistry – prevail.
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06.24
While it left Beckett Grading Services not long after filming on Wednesday, the Stephen Strasburg SuperFractor from 2010 Bowman did make one other stop.
A flatbed scanner.
Here’s a closer look at the $16,400 card — front and back — as it rests inside a BGS slab. This is the highest-resolution image available of the well talked-about card.
(Click on the images for a closer look – the back is after the jump.)
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06.23
We’ve busted the world’s first two boxes of 2010 Allen & Ginter baseball cards from Topps about a week before its official release and, as always, they were absolutely loaded with eccentric inclusions in the style of the 1880s tobacco set of “World’s Champions.”
How eccentric and unusual? Well, enough we broke our Box Busters video into two parts so you can soak it all up as Beckett Baseball‘s Chris Olds and Brian Fleischer do the same.
And, because we know Allen & Ginter is a big, big deal to many of you, we have added a gallery of more than 40 cards found in the boxes so you can get a good look.
We’ll have more about the set later in the week.
See all of it after the jump.
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