Update: Greenberg struck out on three pitches against 20-game winner R.A. Dickey during the sixth inning.

By Chris Olds | Beckett Baseball Editor

Seven summers ago, Adam Greenberg stepped into the batters box on a Saturday afternoon in Miami.

His life would never be the same again.

The Chicago Cubs rookie was making his major league debut in the ninth inning, pinch-hitting at the end of an 8-2 win over the Marlins, a game where many of the 22,863 fans in attendance had left.

The first and only pitch he faced in the major leagues, a 92-mph fastball from reliever Valerio de los Santos, hit him in the head. He never played in the majors again, toiling in the minors and struggling with medical issues. The last four years, he’s played independent ball, capping a decade-long odyssey that has a .263 average and 43 career homers to show for it in the minor leagues and plenty of zeroes in the MLB ledger other than one game played and one plate appearance — but not an official at-bat.

But all that changes on Tuesday night in Miami.

Greenberg’s tale was championed by documentarian Matt Liston, with an online campaign at OneAtBat.com, supporting the former Cub drawing the attention of the last-place Marlins’ front office. Greenberg was brought in for workouts and the campaign culminated in an appearance on the TODAY show (above) where the former center fielder learned the news of a one-day contract that comes this week. He’ll get his one at-bat, maybe more, on Tuesday.

With anticipation of Greenberg’s story culminating — or perhaps beginning a new chapter — Tuesday night, there has been modest interest in his baseball cards.

You see, while he had only one brief appearance on a big-league field, he’s actually got a total of 32 baseball cards valued at more than $240, according to the Beckett.com database and Online Price Guide. (Click here for a Greenberg checklist.)

Four of those cards are classified as Rookie Cards and seven of them are certified autographs. The most-valuable RC is his 2004 Bowman’s Best, a signed card that has sold for as much as $25. His other three RCs, which are unsigned, can be found for $5 or less. Those include his 2004 Bowman Chrome ($5), 2004 Bowman ($1.50) and 2004 Topps Total ($1.50) cards.

(Click here to see Greenberg cards on eBay. Click here to see those on Beckett Marketplace.)

The most-expensive Greenberg card priced by Beckett Media, one that reflects the recent surge in interest, is his 2004 Bowman’s Best Green card, which is signed and limited to just 50 copies. It has sold for as much as $50. His rarest autograph card is his Red version of his Bowman’s Best card, which is limited to just 10 copies and too rare to price, though one eBay seller is asking $100 for a copy of the card right now.

Greenberg’s earliest card is his 2002 Upper Deck Prospect Premieres XRC, which typically sells for $3 or less, while  he has a handful of minor league issues and other releases for collectors to chase.

Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball magazine. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an email to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.

By Chris Olds | Beckett Basketball Editor

The auctions have ended, the numbers have been crunched. The ranges have been tabulated and the Online Price Guide has been posted.

The 2012-13 Prestige basketball card set from Panini America has arrived on Beckett.com with the favorites, autographs and memories in tow. Let’s take a look inside the numbers crunched by Beckett Basketball Senior Market Analyst Rob Springs – and see even more — after the jump.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Total value: $9,070

Average high: $9.70

Highest cards:
Prestigious Picks Signatures #1 Kyrie Irving $150-$300
Prestigious Picks Signatures #45 Anthony Davis $150-$300

Other notable cards:
Inside the Numbers Materials Prime #32 Kyrie Irving $50-$125
Prestigious Picks Signatures #46 Michael Kidd-Gilchrist $40-$100
Playmakers insert set

Springs Says: Prestige is the second release of the new year from Panini, featuring three autographs and one memorabilia cards per box.  If you like rookies, then this product is for you.  Not only do you get one Rookie Card per pack, but there are a ton of rookie player autographs available in the Prestigious Picks Signatures set.  The Playmakers insert set appears to be one of the toughest pulls in the product and collectors are paying solid money for these cards.  Also, the Kobe Anthology packs are beginning to yield some memorabilia cards from this particular product.

Olds’ Opinion: I got my first look at Prestige in person on Wednesday and, while it’s colorful and it’s a bit different it seemed to be a bit dry — at least for me. There’s no doubt that this one is a rookie-loaded release — one in every single pack — and there is, indeed, youth aplenty in the autographs and inserts. If that’s what you’re looking for, this one is the one for you. The base set is an interesting one with a healthy amount of horizontal cards in the mix — something I liked in some instances but not others. It’s also a meaty set with 250 cards. Perhaps this box just lacked some oomph and yours will be stronger.

Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Basketball magazine. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an email to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.

By Chris Olds | Beckett Baseball Editor

The auctions have ended, the numbers have been crunched. The ranges have been tabulated and the OPG has been posted.

The 2012 Topps Archives baseball card set has arrived on Beckett.com with the favorites, autographs and memories in tow. Let’s take a look inside the numbers crunched by Beckett Baseball Senior Market Analyst Brian Fleischer  — and see even more — after the jump.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Total value … of all priced cards in product: $7,749.15.

Average price … of all priced cards: $10.69.

Highest-priced cards … autographs of Hank Aaron ($400-$600) and Sandy Koufax ($500-$600)

Other notable cards:

o   Bryce Harper’s short-printed Rookie Card – his first.

o   Yu Darvish and Harper autographs.

o   Roberto Clemente’s Archives Relics bat card, which based on market information, seems to be a very tough pull.

Fleischer’s Focus: Based on the amount of secondary market sales information for the product, collectors are really enjoying the return of the brand. There seem to be a lot of set collectors for the autographs insert set which has driven up even the price of common autographs in the product. For example, an unnumbered Greg Luzinski autograph, in almost any other product, would be a $3-to-$8 card, but in Archives, it is a $6-to-$15 card. So, as you’re ripping packs of this product and pull a couple autographs of some common guys from the 1970s and 1980s, don’t fret – you may be surprised when you see how much they actually selling for.

Olds’ Opinion: In a word, Archives is fun. This one combines a nostalgia trip and includes autographs of players who are known commodities as many of them are players whose careers are long-since finished so you know what you have instead of having to wait and see if someone pans out. The Harper cards are tough pulls, while autographs of guys like Ken Griffey Jr. get the attention of the thirtysomethings who might not have collected in some time. The same goes for the entire product — it’s a good way to revisit the past but with today’s perks of clean printing quality and high-end inclusions if you get lucky.

Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball magazine. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an email to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.

By Chris Olds | Beckett Basketball Editor

The auctions have ended, the numbers have been crunched. The ranges have been tabulated and the OPG has been posted.

The 2011-12 Panini Past & Present basketball card set from Panini America has arrived on Beckett.com with a strong taste of the old-school and some sweet new-school inclusions that might turn some heads. Let’s take a look inside the numbers crunched by Beckett Basketball Senior Market Analyst Rob Springs  — and see even more — after the jump.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Did you miss the recent Box Busters episode? Catch it right here.

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Total value … of all priced cards in product: $11,076.

Average price … of all priced cards: $13.79.

Highest-priced card … 2011-12 Panini Past and Present Autographs #188 Phil Jackson $300-$500

Other notable cards:
– 2011 Draft Pick Redemptions Autographs
– 2012 Draft Pick Redemptions
– Modern Marks Autographs : Theyr’e on-card and pretty tough to pull.
– Variations:  Maybe not a big deal in other sports, but basketball really has not had that many base set variation-focused themes.

Springs’ Stance: A very nice break for the price of the product.  Even though collectors have to wait a while for both the Draft Pick Redemption sets, they have still caused a nice buzz in the hobby and are selling very well on the secondary market.  It’s a well done retro-themed product with some nice modern insert technology.

Olds’ Opinion: This one has a mix of the old and new and it’s breaking from the Panini America mold, too. Big fan of some of the retro inclusions — Breadfan here — as well as some of the modern stuff. It’s a fun break for the price.

Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Basketball magazine. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an email to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.

By Chris Olds | Beckett Baseball Editor

The auctions have ended, the numbers have been crunched. The ranges have been tabulated and the OPG has been posted.

The 2012 Bowman baseball card set from Topps has arrived on Beckett.com with the newest prospects, some of baseball’s hottest rookies and more. Let’s take a look inside the numbers crunched by Beckett Baseball Senior Market Analyst Brian Fleischer  — and see even more — after the jump.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Did you miss the recent Box Busters episode? Catch it right here.

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Total value … of all priced cards in product: $29,124.35.

Average price … of all priced cards: $10.45.

Highest-priced card … Bowman Chrome Rookie Autographs Gold Refractors #209 Yu Darvish ($1,300-$1,500)

Other notable cards:
– Darvish’s first Bowman Chrome autograph cards.
– The super-hot Bowman Lucky Redemption cards 1, 2 and 3.
– Bowman AFLAC Autographs.
– Bowman Chrome Prospect Autographs of Jackie Bradley Jr., Josh Bell, Gerrit Cole, Danny Hultzen, Anthony Rendon, Dante Bichette Jr., Oscar Taveras and Xander Bogaerts.
– Bowman Chrome Rookie Autographs of Jesus Montero and Matt Moore.

Fleischer’s Focus: Fans of Bowman will not be disappointed with this year’s offering. While much of the product is almost identical to previous year’s Bowman products, there are plenty of new chase elements like the Darvish autographs, the Lucky Redemptions and the Debut Golden Contract. Almost half of the Prospect/Rookie autographs are priced at $20 or more, so there’s a pretty good chance that collectors will pull top prospect’s signature.

Olds’ Opinion: Bowman is a hobby staple — if not THE hobby staple — these days, so it can seemingly do no wrong whether it’s a strong crop of rookies and prospects or not. This year is looking pretty darn strong.

Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball magazine. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an email to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.