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Monthly Archives: June 2010
Strasburg SuperFractor owner tries for “Hail Mary” in wake of Red 1/1 auction
06.22
Update: The reserve has been met, so the card will likely sell a second time unless he cancels the auction.
Robert J. Power, the owner of the Stephen Strasburg SuperFractor from 2010 Bowman, confirmed to Beckett Media on Tuesday morning that it is, indeed, his card and his auction legitimately on eBay.
While it may appear that he’s working on a quick flip of the card that has gotten him national attention, including an interview on ESPN’s “First Take,” Power said his intention wasn’t that at all. He said the attention that the Strasburg 1/1 Red autograph auction is getting (after 103 bids, it’s presently at $36,100) prompted his decision.
“That is my auction,” he said Tuesday of the SuperFractor offering. “I saw what the Red auto 1/1 is going for, so I thought I’d throw up a Hail Mary.
“My reserve price most likely won’t be met, so it won’t sell. I am actually hoping to keep the card, it will be worth more in the future, but $35,000 for the Red Auto kind of blew me away.”
The SuperFractor sat at $15,800 after 41 bids Tuesday morning.
It’s worth noting that the Red auction does not require pre-approved bidders, which, in the case of a high-profile card such as this, can increase the likelihood of a non-sale.
Strasburg’s next start is Wednesday against the Kansas City Royals (29-42).
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.
Strasburg SuperFractor buyer talks about card on ESPN’s First Take
06.21
Robert J. Power appeared on ESPN’s “First Take” show to talk about buying the Stephen Strasburg SuperFractor not long after talking about the card with Beckett Media.
Check it out …
Were you the winner on Free Stuff Friday?
06.21
Another Free Stuff Friday has come and gone — this week we awarded a box of the not-even-out-yet 2010 Topps Allen & Ginter baseball cards courtesy of GlobalSportsCards.com.
Were you the winner?
Find out after the jump.
If not, check back on Friday for a chance to win more cool stuff.
Like many past NBA players, Manute Bol is easy to collect — because he has so few basketball cards
06.20
Manute Bol — the only player in NBA history to record more blocked shots than points in his career — died on Saturday at age 47, leaving behind a legacy of trying to help people in his native Sudan.
His legacy on cardboard, despite playing 10 seasons in the NBA? Not so lengthy.
The 7-foot-7 center played for four NBA teams but appears on just 98 cards, his lone Rookie Card coming in the landmark 1986-87 Fleer set — it’s worth just $2.
He has just 15 certified autographs. His most plentiful signed card — so far — is his 2009-10 Rookies & Stars Retired NBA Team Patches Signatures set from Panini America, which is limited to just 199 copies.
Bol’s most expensive autograph card is found in the 2006-07 Topps Full Court Co-Signers set, a release that he shares with Golden State Warriors legend and Hall of Famer Rick Barry.
Five of Bol’s autographed cards are 1/1s, so there are really only 10 signed cards one will reasonably find when hunting for his memorabilia. And of those cards, all but two have known print runs — and there are fewer than 300 autographs to be had.
Bol is indicative of a trend that Panini is starting to change as it’s now the exclusive manufacturer of NBA cards — players who are under-represented on cardboard, despite having a memorable place in the game.
It’s deja vu all over again: Stephen Strasburg 2010 Bowman Red 1/1 autograph surpasses $100,000
06.19
Update: As of 10:30 a.m. on Monday, June 22, the bidding sat at $26,845 (80 bids). By Wednesday, it had topped $100,000 — most likely because of bad bids. By June 27, the auction had been canceled.
Yogi Berra would be proud.
It’s deja vu all over again as another one-of-a-kind baseball card of Washington Nationals sensation Stephen Strasburg has been re-listed on eBay and is already in brand-new-car territory.
Previously posted on the auction site with a Buy It Now price of $50,000, the 2010 Bowman Strasburg Red autograph card — only one copy made printed and signed with that color border — is sitting at $16,000 after 47 bids after the BIN option was eliminated. And there is more than a week remaining in the auction of the card discovered by a collector in Melbourne, Fla.
It’s the lone card in the product that could trump the already famous $16,403 SuperFractor purchased by accountant Robert J. Power late last month.
The SuperFractor had previously been listed on eBay with a $20,000 Buy It Now pricetag but it did not sell at that price in mid-May.The SuperFractor sale set a record for that type of card.
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.
Stephen Strasburg keeps on racking up the strikeouts …
06.18
The 1990s Nike commercial that insisted that “chicks dig the long ball” featured Atlanta’s Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine obsessing about Mark McGwire‘s mammoth home runs.
But none of those stars did what Stephen Strasburg did on Friday night against Chicago.
He set a new MLB record for the most strikeouts in his first three games. With his 10 strikeouts against the White Sox, the already highly touted right-hander upped his total to 32 for the season. He left after seven innings, trailing 1-0 but ultimately only defeated by a conservative pitch count. He walked zero in the start.
Win a Goodwin Champions Entomology card & more …
06.18
Beckett Media’s Chris Olds gives you a sneak peek at three cards from Upper Deck that can be yours by reading us online here at The Beckett Blog and on Beckett.com as well as in a future issue of Beckett Baseball.
Check it out …
Stephen Strasburg sells out Uncirculateds, too
06.18
It’s been about a year since Beckett Grading Services launched its SI Uncirculated program with Sports Illustrated, which takes a limited quantity of the long-collected magazine and slabs the copies in a permanent holder in their condition as found directly from the printing plant.
And, about a year after the program’s first sold-out issue (Bryce Harper‘s debut cover), another member of the Washington Nationals has had his debut SI cover sell out, too.
You might know him … he’s Stephen Strasburg.
The Uncirculated concept is simple — it’s one modeled after mint set coins with a touch of the professional grading feel commonly used for baseball cards and comic books. The magazines aren’t graded but they are shipped directly from the printer and placed into the slabs with an Uncirculated notation. Once a limited number of copies are encased, there are no more produced.
Only 35 copies of the Strasburg issue were encased — and all were gone less than two hours after arrival at $24.99 a pop. Other sold-out issues include the Pittsburgh Penguins Stanley Cup championship issue, a pair of University of Alabama covers featuring Heisman winner Mark Ingram, Derek Jeter‘s Sportsman of the Year cover, the New Orleans Saints‘ Super Bowl championship, Sidney Crosby‘s Winter Olympics goal and a Matt Ryan NFL preview issue.
It’s reflective of a trend that should be obvious to magazine collectors and memorabilia collectors as well. Debut issues and key moments like championships are often the issues that are the most-coveted.
To see what other issues remain available click the link above or click here.
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.
Colorado Rockies pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez is red hot … but are his baseball cards?
06.18
There’s an adage that performance on the field means performance on cardboard.
There are times when it happens and times when it doesn’t.
Colorado Rockies pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez is in the midst of a season for the ages, sporting a 13-1 record with a 1.15 ERA for the year — made all the more impressive when you consider that he pitches in Denver’s Coors Field, the launching pad of all launching pads in MLB.
But has it translated into cardboard sales?
Yes and no, which is a surprising answer as his pace for victories is the best since Roger Clemens started 14-0 in 1986. And even more surprising since he could be in contention for winning 30 games — not done since Denny McLain in 1968 — and he could challenge Bob Gibson‘s record for the lowest ERA in a season (1.12) also set in, yep, 1968.
Earlier this month, Jimenez’s 2005 Leaf Certified Materials Mirror Autograph Black card, a 1/1, sold for $2,247 on eBay — a buy that pales in comparison to the record-setting (on cardboard) $16,403 arrival of Stephen Strasburg.
A Kobe Kind of Year
06.18
For those counting at home, the Los Angeles Lakers‘ just-won 16th NBA championship gives transcendent superstar Kobe Bryant five titles for his career. That’s five more than LeBron James, one more than Shaquille O’Neal and just one shy of Michael Jordan.
All that math got us to thinking about what a banner year it’s been for Bryant — and how Beckett’s been there every step of the way.
Here’s how Beckett Basketball started the 2009-10 season: