By Chris Olds | Beckett Baseball Editor

For the second time in three years, the San Francisco Giants are your World Series champs.

We simply want to know … after a four-game sweep of Detroit and Triple Crown winner Miguel Cabrera, which Giant is the best to collect? Pick one below or tell us in the comments.

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

Sometimes I wonder if authentication goes too far … but then I remember there’s something for everybody out there to collect.

Currently on the auction block via MLB Auctions is a selection of game-used items relating to the San Francisco Giants‘ march to the World Series. You can track down a game-used ball from the team’s playoff run, an on-deck circle or even jerseys from the team’s last World Series run but the quirkiest item on the block just might be this.

A post-game NLDS celebration-used champagne bottle cork.

There are actually several of them available right now — sold separately from the empty Mumm Napa Brut Prestige NLDS-stickered and MLB-authenticated bottles also up for grabs.

The bidding opens at $10, though this particlar cork is leading the way at $30 with roughly two days to go.

There’s no player-specific notation on this one, meanwhile the leading bids for an empty bottle to go with it sits at $75.

These authenticated items really aren’t anything new — they’re just odd enough to get noticed.

And, probably odd enough that somebody who perhaps doesn’t follow baseball all that much just might be interested, too.

Of course, if they go on to win Game 3 tonight and win it all, are the World Series corks worth more?

I’ll leave that for you guys to decide …

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

With three home runs in his first three at-bats Wednesday night — two off of reigning AL Cy Young winner and MVP Justin Verlander – in Game 1 of the World Series, San Francisco Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval just might be on the minds of a few collectors.

He became just the fourth player to homer three times in a World Series game, joining Babe Ruth (who did it twice), Albert Pujols and Reggie Jackson.

Sandoval, who hit .283 with only 12 home runs and 63 RBI this season, appears on 849 cards in the Beckett.com database (click here for a Sandoval checklist or Online Price Guide). Of those, just one is classified as a Rookie Card and 207 of them feature a certified autograph.

His lone RC appears in the 2008 Topps Heritage set (No. 656, $6), while his earliest card was a 2005 Salem-Keizer Volcanoes team set from Grandstand.

His earliest autograph can be found in the 2008 Donruss Elite Extra Edition product. There, he has six different signed cards with the main autograph a bargain typically selling at $25 or less with 819 copies made. The Aspirations version of that card, limited to just 50 copies, typically has sold for $100 or less. Meanwhile, of course, current eBay asking prices are much higher for the rarer versions.

Oddly, another postseason hero for the Giants, Marco Scutaro, also appears on just one Rookie Card.

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

Marco Scutaro‘s emergence as one of the San Francisco Giants’ key players late this season culminated with him being named the NLCS MVP Monday night.

But that’s not the only surprising thing about this 11-year big-leaguer who has played for six teams and hit .276 with 75 home runs and 478 RBI in his career.

He has just one certified autograph. He has just one Rookie Card.

Click here to view the embedded video.

In a collecting world where junior high standouts have certified autographs and dozens of cards sometimes years before they’re even draftable, Scutaro is a bit of an anomaly.

Of his 347 baseball cards — a paltry number even for a reserve player — Scutaro has just the two key cards.

His autograph is found in the 2002 SP Authentic Prospects Signatures set from Upper Deck and has catapulted to $50, while his only Rookie Card is found in 2001 Topps Fusion, a one-year wonder that fused several designs under one umbrella with his RC showing him on a Gold Label card as a Cleveland Indian.

While his RC books for less than $1, it has seen surges of moderate interest on eBay. Meanwhile the autograph is a brisk seller at lower prices and has shown signs of growth in some auctions.

Scutaro has been a reliable player for much of his big-league career, but one could argue that his previous claim to fame might be his story as a minor leaguer told in a 2005 documentary, A Player to be Named Later (trailer above). In it, the lives of several players and their families are watched as they try to work their way to The Show.

How far as Scutaro come? Well, on Wednesday, he will be playing in the World Series.

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

San Francisco starter Matt Cain blanked Houston for just the 22nd perfect game in MLB history — and second this season — as his Giants rolled to a 10-0 victory over the visiting Astros Wednesday night.

The other perfecto was thrown by Philip Humber on April 21.

Cain struck out a career-high 14 batters in the game, which was just the 14th no-no in Giants history. (Need a Cain checklist or OPG? Click here.)

On cardboard, Cain is more affordable than his long-haired counterpart, Tim Lincecum, as he checks in at 1,646 different cards valued at more than $9,300 in the Beckett.com database. (Lincecum’s cards top $38,000.) Cain has just two Rookie Cards from 2002 — Bowman Chrome Draft and Bowman Draft — with the Chrome typically selling for $15 or less before the news.

His most-expensive card from 2002 is his Gold Refractor from Bowman Chrome Draft, a card limited to just 50 copies. It typically sold for $200 or less before the gem, but a BGS 9 copy of the card sold for $750 early Thursday morning. The last raw copy sold for $150 back in April.

Cain appears on 397 different certified autographs and has had the game-used option created 298 times in his career. His earliest ink can be found in the 2002-03 Justifiable sets, while his earliest MLB autograph is in the 2005 Ultimate Collection  product.

Cain’s gem was the first Giants no-no that was perfect, and that caps a list of 14 that includes includes Christy Mathewson (twice), Carl Hubbell, Juan Marichal and Gaylord Perry.

Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball. 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

One of baseball’s most memorable families has lost one of its stars.

Matty Alou, one of three Alou brothers to play the outfield for the San Francisco Giants in the same game in the 1960s, died Thursday in Miami. He was 72.

Matty, along with his brothers Felipe and Jesus, all were members of the Giants outfield in 1963 and remain the only three brothers to bat in the same half-inning of an MLB game. The Dominican-born star was the 1966 NL batting champ when he led the league with a .342 average. In 15 big-league seasons, played mostly with the Giants and Pirates, he hit .307 with 1,777 hits and 427 RBI.

On cardboard, he appears on just 114 cards in the Beckett.com database. His Rookie Card can be found in the 1961 Topps set — it typically sells for $12 or less.

Alou signed just six certified autograph cards through the years — all of them found in the 2005 Topps Retired Signatures Autographs set, and four of those are 1/1 press plates. His standard autograph card from the set typically sells for $15 or less, while the Refractor version has sold for as much as $60.

In all, his cards that aren’t too rare to price go for a total of $1,212.05, according to the database.

The three brothers also weren’t the only relatives to play in the major leagues. Their cousin, Jose Sosa, played big-league ball, while Moises Alou, Felipe’s son, was a six-time All-Star and Mel Rojas also was a big-leaguer in the family.

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

From the Just For Fun file …

If you don’t know who Keenan Cahill is, you’ve probably been living under a rock — or at least not spending a lot of time on YouTube recently.

For those who don’t know Cahill’s story, he’s a 15-year old Illinois high-schooler who suffers from a rare genetic disorder called Mucopolysaccaridosis, a metabolic affliction that stunts growth and physical abilities. Despite this, he’s become a bit of a viral phenomenon with more than 300 million views of his lip-synching videos on YouTube — popularity that has had him in videos with 50 Cent, Katy Perry, Jennifer Aniston, The Miz and many more celebs.

It’s also a feel-good kind of story that has touched on the world of Major League Baseball. Watch the clip above for a rather surreal performance from Cahill and a certain eccentric member of the San Francisco Giants, a video that’s been viewed more than 2.5 million times, itself.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The baseball ties don’t stop there as a Cahill video this summer helped launch publicity for a Massashusettts-based crooner, Brian Evans, as he readies his major-label debut album. Evans’ song “At Fenway” was Cahilled with more than 300,000 views in a short time. (Stats for it are no longer available — a newer copy of the video is above.) While his “big band” sound may not be like some of the other mainstream performers above, the exposure via the viral route via Red Sox Nation has been priceless added publicity.

Evans has worked in entertainment for several years doing commercials since age 16 and spots on TV shows such as Beverly Hills 90210 and Full House before focusing on music where he has been an opening act for Shonen Knife, Joan Rivers, Social Distortion, Lou Rawls, Better Than Ezra, Dionne Warwick and Jay Leno.

Meanwhile, coming soon will be a music video for “At Fenway” this year, with William Shatner playing the home plate umpire. For now, though, it’s available on iTunes and, of course, via Keenan Cahill.

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

“I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror over a Blu-Ray DVD edit,” I thought to myself. “I fear something remarkable has happened for sports fans, though.”

Those were my thoughts when I finally got my hands on a remarkably odd piece of new officially licensed Major League Baseball memorabilia on Saturday while all the other Star Wars geeks around the globe were busy watching their new DVDs.

What is it? It was proof that The Beard is even cool in Carbonite.

With The Force buzzing about the six movies’ Blu-Ray DVD arrival — and their new edits — there was a little less attention paid to a Star Wars item recently released by the San Francisco Giants and Lucasfilm Ltd. for a recent stadium promotion — the newest and most eccentric Brian Wilson item yet.

It’s a three-sided statue showing the Giants closer frozen in Carbonite on one panel and Han Solo as immortalized in The Empire Strikes Back on another. Wilson, of course, is frozen in his game-finishing crossed-arm tribute to his father, while Solo is frozen as seen in the film. (“I know,” a few of you just said. Ironic?) The back panel bears a Giants logo as well as the Star Wars logo.

Why make this? Why not? … And does anything involving Wilson make that much sense these days?

Fans who bought Star Wars Day ticket packages for the Diamondbacks-Giants game earlier this month (Sept. 4) got  one of these items during an event that also included a costume contest and a post-game screening of Empire. Since then, more than 100 copies of the statue have been sold on eBay with them fetching as much as $45, while most have sold in the $20-35 range.

While there have been plenty of Star Wars items in the past (and even more odd promotions with this release), this just might be one of the weirdest items yet for the masses — both for sports collectors and Star Wars fans alike.

And, shockingly, only part of it has to do with Brian Wilson.

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

There’s a new player in the game-used universe as the 8D Network launched earlier this year and made its unveiling official with a presence at the National Sports Collectors Convention last week in Chicago.

Its mission? To help athletes help their own personal causes through the sales of sports memorabilia — game-used and traditional merchandise — while offering fans a common place to find either causes or athletes who are aiming to help others all in one location. The group builds websites, markets them, helps foster the communities and aims to enhance an athlete’s image by getting him or her more involved with their cause and within that community.

The organization, which is an offshoot of the Game-Used Universe company, has several items coming up for auction this fall, including items from San Francisco Giants Pablo Sandoval and Andres Torres, while other athletes are close to coming on board. Items already set to be available this fall are game-used gloves and jerseys from Sandovall, a Josh Hamilton game-used and signed bat, Chris Chambliss‘ 1976 ALCS home run New York Yankees jersey and Vida Blue‘s 1971 MVP and Cy Young Awards.

We caught up with 8D Auction Director Ed Manguiat on the floor of The National to hear more about the organization — see the video interview above.

We’ll have more in a future issue of Beckett Baseball and/or Beckett Sports Card Monthly.

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.