The latest ESPN “Mint Condition” segment talks Jose Canseco, hot/cold players, Don Larsen and more.

By Chris Olds | Beckett Baseball Editor | Commentary

It may not look like much, but the baseball card seen here is the most-valuable release in one of the most-important sets of the 1990s.

And it might be a bit of a lesson in card manufacturing — or at least supply and demand.

New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera has been in the news lately as he has a blood clot in his right calf, a complication of tearing his ACL and injuring his knee during a fluke accident while shagging fly balls before a game in Kansas City earlier this month. It’s a career-threatening injury for the 42-year-old career saves leader, but he has vowed to return to pitch one more time not ready for his record 608 saves to be his final mark.

Despite all of this negative attention for what has been a first-ballot Hall of Fame-caliber career, Rivera’s 1992 Bowman Rookie Card has done the unthinkable of late.

It’s actually gone up in value. (Need a Rivera checklist or OPG? Click here.)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Rivera’s RC is the only one of its kind — he appeared on just one card in 1992 — and it checks in at No. 8 on the Hot List of the next issue of Beckett Baseball at $60, a full $10 higher than the previous issue.

You see, through the years, that revamped, game-changing Bowman set has had its share of superstars emerge — Mike Piazza, Manny Ramirez, Carlos Delgado and many more forgotten by the cold streaks of time gone by. But it’s this card, one that shows a young Panama product in his street clothes for a portrait leaning against a stadium pillar painted in that oddly memorable shade of older Yankee Stadium blue, that’s the most-valuable card in the set.

A relief pitcher. In street clothes. Without a single logo on the front of the card.

And it’s the best card in the set.

Sure, he is one of the Core Four Yankees responsible for many a World Series ring for the game’s most-successful franchise. Sure, he’s a player with a spotless public image. Sure, he’s had a groundswell of support since his injury, including a pretty entertaining video encouraging him to come back (above). And, sure, he’s a sure first-ballot Hall of Famer, too.

But consider that relief pitchers just don’t get love in the hobby — or in Cooperstown. Only five other closers are in the Hall — Dennis Eckersley, Rollie Fingers, Goose Gossage, Bruce Sutter and Hoyt Wilhelm — and only one has an RC more valuable than Rivera, despite being much, much older. (It’s Wilhelm’s high-number card in the landmark 1952 Topps set, checking in at a whopping $1,000.) None of the other legends come close on cardboard — and they already have made their final trips into baseball lore.

Sure, it’s easy to cast off the anomaly that is this card as “He’s a Yankee” — and that might be right. But when’s the last time a relief pitcher truly made a mark on the baseball card landscape? It’s been a while — and it probably took an Earth-defying beard, a World Series ring and a whole lot of eccentric behavior to do it. (Right, Brian Wilson?)

But could all this interest in Rivera’s RC be because Rivera has just a single Rookie Card to his name? Could it be that less is more — and less means more dollars focused on one single release when it comes time to get The Card to Have?

Might work.

In an era of baseball cards where a player can have hundreds of cards before an “official” Rookie Card appears, perhaps Rivera’s Rookie Card is a throwback lesson on how the hobby might perhaps be better off with fewer cards for us all to amass in a player’s march to hopeful immortality.

Or, maybe, just maybe, it’s a sign that Rivera truly is there already.

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 Baseball Editor | Commentary

It takes a lot these days to satisfy some collectors, but sometimes some card sales just flat-out surprise.

Rave and Super Rave inserts from the family of Skybox brands in the late 1990s are doing just that.

The 1998 Circa Thunder Super Rave Dan Wilson card seen here? Sold for $202.48 recently on eBay. Asking price for a David Ortiz from the same set? A mere $449.99 on eBay right now — same for a Manny Ramirez.

While each of these cards is limited to just 25 copies, there are no autographs or game-used memorabilia swatches to be found. Yet they — and others — are commanding cold, hard cash. Why? Perhaps many of them are tucked away in collections — or others are still in wax not yet found. (In need of a complete Circa Rave checklist or OPG? Click here.)

And when they do surface? It’s apparent that somebody — be it player collectors or set collectors — is wanting them and they know how much longer the odds are now, some 15 years later, of finding another.

But the Wilson is not an anomaly among recently completed eBay auctions, either. This Greg Maddux card from the set? Sold for $237.06. A Neifi Perez from the set? $70. A 1996 Circa Rave Ken Griffey Jr. numbered to 150? Sold for $199.99. A Randy Johnson 1999 Skybox Thunder Circa Super Rave? Sold for $79.95.

A look through data gathered by Beckett Media through the years shows that the trend really isn’t all that new — though Wilson seems a tad high considering his 88 career homers and a .262 average. Here are some sample sales of Rave cards:

– 1996 Circa Rave #65, Derek Jeter, /150 sold for $200 in July 2011.

– 1998 Circa Thunder Super Rave #25 Mark McGwire, /25 sold for $150 in July 2010.

– 1998 Circa Thunder Super Rave #241 Tony Saunders /25 sold for $140.49 in April 2007.

– 1998 Circa Thunder Super Rave #46 Jose Canseco /25 sold for $134.49 in April 2007.

– 1998 Circa Thunder Super Rave #220 Jim Edmonds /25 sold for $129 in December 2008.

While the 1998 Super Rave set seems to get a lot of attention, it’s not the only one generating cash for collectors — again, without autograph ink or memorabilia. Three more examples:

– 1997 Circa Rave #23 Ryne Sandberg /150 sold for $87.35 in May 2007.

– 1998 Circa Thunder Rave #2 Derek Jeter /150 sold for $86.35 in August 2011.

– 1996 Circa Rave #73 Mark McGwire /150 sold for $60.79 in December 2008.

And you may think it’s just star power selling these, right? Dan Wilson is not alone.

– 1998 Circa Thunder Super Rave #244 Chili Davis /25 sold for $83 in June 2011.

– 1998 Circa Thunder Super Rave #34 Henry Rodriguez /25 sold for $59 in December 2008.

– 1998 Circa Thunder Super Rave #66 Kevin Young /25 sold for $59 in December 2008.

And the same $59 amount also was spent on Randy Myers, Eli Marrero and Derek Bell, while a Magglio Ordonez dipped to $58.80.

And there are countless more examples of cards from the various Rave sets showing sales of $20 or more through the years.

Who knows, one (or more) of these might be tucked away in your junk boxes right now.

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.

(In need of a complete Circa Rave checklist or OPG? Click here.)

By CHRIS OLDS | Beckett Baseball

Imaging getting paid $20, $50 or $100 for a single swipe of a pen … for your autograph.

Collectors know all about the practice of autograph signings for cash — we see it all the time at shows. However, have you ever put yourself in an athlete’s shoes?

For a multi-millionaire, a private autograph signing might be work — if an athlete even bothers because, after all, time is money. (Meeting and signing for fans? That’s another story. Many athletes have no worries about doing those events — or signing for free if it’s the right place and right time.)

And, when you think about it, signing autographs is work in a different way, too. Can you imaging sitting down and signing your name 500 or 1,000 times with only a break or two?

Many collectors don’t — and that’s why they complain when they get autographs that look like chicken scratch. (To some degree, I understand why they sometimes look the way that they do.)

We all have heard about the “give-up graph” — and we all know about the checkmark autograph of former Houston Texans running back Vernand Morency – but there’s another type of autograph out there that has always interested me.

It’s the “early” autograph — the one where an athlete either hadn’t yet adopted a shorter version of an autograph or a rarer signature where we just don’t commonly see it on items signed in bulk.

There are countless examples where an athlete’s handwriting changes over time — just like a person’s handwriting changes with age or time. (Believe it or not, your handwriting shouldn’t look like it did when you were an 8-year-old — if it does, I’m sorry.) For example, Mark McGwire has a distinctly different looking autograph from circa 1997 on compared to his earlier signatures. Why? While there could be a steroid transformation joke here, it’s likely about supply, demand and the venue in which the autographs were signed. (And, yes, handwriting is one way a personality change could be manifested, but we’re collectors not psychologists, here, Jim.)

But there’s another reason autographs are getting smaller and less intrinsically interesting these days — and it’s not just based on the volume of them being signed. It’s what’s being signed, too — you don’t get the same type of signatures on manufactured patches or teeny, tiny stickers as you do on a card or an even larger object.

(Here’s where the critics of sticker autographs discover another reason to hate them.)

This isn’t some grand discovery — but it was reinforced for me when I sat down recently to sign a handful of “baseball card business cards” that are larger than Allen & Ginter minis but not the same size as a standard-size card. As much as I like Ginter minis, there’s flat-out no way that my signature would fit on one without signing the cards sideways or vertically, which would be awful-looking. (And of course, autograph No. 1 can be quite different than the final one if in a hurry.)

You can bet that these smaller cards — and small stickers — have aided in the deterioration of some athletes’ signatures.

But the issue really isn’t new to stickers, minis or whatever that’s being signed. I’ve always has some fascination with “early” autographs — like the Nick Swisher baseball up top that has a distinct different signature than any you will find on a certified autograph card, sticker or not. (Since Swisher is a player I collect, I’ve found that the full signature sometimes appears on items in charity auctions — a more “special” autograph — but more often than not these days it’s the shorter, quicker version that’s used.)

Changes happen.

There are other memorable examples out there… sometimes it’s an evolution seen from autograph No. 1 to autograph No. 757 in a signing like a pair of 1995 Andruw Jones Best cards and then comparing those to today. Or the changes from Vladimir Guerrero‘s early Classic autographs to what we see now.  Or Manny Ramirez‘s first certified autograph to what his signature looks like now.

It’s obvious in my book that one version of the autograph would be in smaller supply — and there might be aesthetic reasons that make a card more valuable, or at least more interesting.

But what do you think?

All that said, we also want to know … what autographs that have become dramatically different over time amuse you?

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.

(He did have an eTopps card not long after the Red Sox traded him, but it was limited to only 699 copies.)

But don’t worry Dodgers fans — he will undoubtedly have several update set appearances in his new threads. Here’s what his card in the upcoming Upper Deck Update boxed set (arriving in hobby shops on Nov. 11) will look like.

If the Dodgers own some extra bling-bling at that time (they’re down 0-1 in the NLCS right now), this card could get pretty hot — at least for a standard card.

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.