Orioles Victory Card Number Twenty-Two (1987 Season Edition): The One Where We Talk About Project 2020

Baltimore Orioles Victory #22: 5-4 over the Oakland Athletics

2020 Topps Project 2020 Cal Ripken, Jr. #50 by Gregory Siff

With the sporting world on hold due to the novel coronavirus shutting down the world for a few months we here at The Hopeful Chase are going to our rain delay programming. For the last two seasons we've posted a baseball card following every Baltimore Orioles victory (I know, talk about the minimum commitment required). It's fun and keeps us writing about baseball and collecting. Rather than sit back and stare forlornly at the outside world we've decided to continue the series with a season from the past.  The season of choice - 1987. Please enjoy.

Ah, the latest elephant in the card collecting living room - Topps Project 2020. From derision to delight, from overpriced to overwhelming profit, the ongoing on-line release from Topps has definitely generated a ton of publicity. 

For those not familiar with the project, earlier this year Topps announced that they would take 20 iconic rookie cards and have 20 different artists produce an original design based on each of the cards. The cards would be released every business day (two per day) and would be open for purchase for 48 hours. The print run would be however many cards were purchased in those 48 hours. Each card would also have an Artist's Proof version limited to 20 - we'll get back to the Artist's Proofs in a minute.

Personally I was intrigued and was intending to only buy the Cal Ripken, Jr. cards that I liked. Once I saw the price point ($19.99 per card or $34.99 for both of the days cards) I was a little put off. That seemed like a pretty steep investment for a personal collection card.

The initial response was...mixed, but leaning a little heavily to the negative. Each day Topps would post the two cards that were being released and the response on social media tended to go along the lines of:

"Oh my god, this is so ugly"

"How could they destroy a classic card like that?"

"Topps is ruining the hobby!"

"F*CK Topps"

"Where is the Mantle rookie?"

"Eh...I kind of like it."

Sales weren't overly impressive.  Card number one - a 2001 Ichiro rookie by Ben Baller had a print run of only 1,334. For the first few weeks the print runs stayed around that number. Of the first 20 cards released, only three had print runs about 2,000 cards.  The first card to really pop was the first Derek Jeter card to hit the mix - card number 29. Designed by King Saladeen, the Yankee icon hit a then record print run of 9,873 cards. Not bad. 

On the secondary market there wasn't much movement. If you missed a card you could still pick it up for a minimal mark-up, or in some cases, a discount. In mid-April, when it was initially released, the Jeter card was routinely closing on eBay for around $25.00. A little mark-up for the flippers, but not much.

A few days later, a Mike Trout by Andrew Thiele cracked the 10,000 barrier by having a print run of 13,200. Still, it was a bit of an outlier, but it seemed like a little traction was being made. More cards were topping 2,000 in their print runs and pricing was starting to pick up on the secondary market.

Then, two cards were released that made this project catch fire. First was #51 - a Mike Trout by Ben Baller that looked phenomenal. It blew away previous sales by hitting 34,950. Not only were collectors coming around, but it seemed like fans of the artists themselves were starting to get on board. 

The other card that helped blow things up came a few days later. Keith Shore, who had already released a few other cards had his interpretation of Bob Gibson's 1959 card drop. Only 1,451 of these cards were produced, but it also led to a Sporting News post declaring it the "worst baseball card ever manufactured".

You know that cliche that there is no such thing as bad press? Well, here's an example of that being the case. As more and more mainstream media articles delved into the project, sales on the secondary market skyrocketed. Remember that Jeter card you could get for $25? By mid-may it was closing for closer to $125. The same goes for most of those cards. 

Attention wasn't the only factor going into the rise in interest. The artists themselves were pushing the product and fans of their work who had no previous reason to collect baseball cards were starting to get in on the action. Collectors who had been stuck at home with no new product gave in and started buying. People who hadn't had an interested in cards for decades, but rediscovered them as they were doing some COVID Cleaning got back into the hobby and bought them. Flippers, seeing the market start to climb started buying more cards. 

People who had bought the early releases for personal collections couldn't resist the prices they were seeing on-line and started to sell their copies. This thing just took off. It probably helps that a few people received their stimulus checks and tax refunds and may have had a little discretionary income to spend and no where else to spend it since many businesses were still closed. 

Whatever the reasons were, it was a perfect storm for these cards. 

I had made one purchase rather early on - the Ripken card you see above by Gregory Siff. I bought it because I liked it. I also picked up the Sandy Koufax by Andrew Thiele, figuring I could at least get some money back or trade it to a Dodger collector for a nice Orioles card.

When I did finally get them in hand, I checked eBay just to see what they were going for (assuming it would be around $20-$30). My jaw hit the floor when they were closing for $90 all day long. It was a no brainer at that point and I quickly listed the Koufax and accepted an offer a few hours later. It was one of the quickest sales I ever made and it set me up to make some purchases in the future.  In the end, if I had held onto it for another week or so I would have made a little more money, but I sold it at a price I was comfortable at and don't regret it.

Since then the prices seem to have reached a point where they've stabilized. That Jeter card was selling for almost $200 last week, but has since dropped a bit. There is still a crazy demand for the early cards, but with print runs numbering in the 20,000-40,000 range the newer cards aren't experiencing quite as dramatic of a price change. You're still making money on cards you buy, but not quite at the mark-up of some early cards.

So what o I think of overall of this project? I like it. Topps tried something new, although it's a logical progression from The Living Set series that has gone on for a couple of years. I don't like all of the cards that are released, but that's the beauty of the project. Art is subjective, what I think is bad, plenty of people may really, really like. The reverse is true, what I think is awesome may be shat upon by millions.

I did have to stop looking at the comments on social media when Topps announces their daily releases because of comments such as the ones I listed above. As is in most cases, reading the comments is a dumb thing to do in the first place, but I just don't get the hate and the vitriol that some people have. If you don't like it, fine, that's great, don't buy it.

There are collectors out there that act like Topps is forcing everyone to buy every product out there. The beauty of this hobby is that there are so many different ways to approach it, so many different products to buy. Not everything released will appeal to everyone out there. For instance I don't have any interest whatsoever in the current version of Topps Total cards. So I ignore it. There is no need for me to get bent out of shape and post comments on social media every time they release a new wave. What good does that do anyway? Not everything in this hobby needs my comment on it.

For the "ruining the hobby" crowd. Hell, if anything it's probably keeping them in business right now. It's a mystery as to what their costs are to produce these cards, but based on the sales they are definitely generating revenue. Since it's a print on demand product they're also not wasting any cards. Everything they've made, they've sold. In a time when new releases are a bit scarce or on hold, it has to be comforting for them to know that they have a consistent stream of revenue coming in with this product.

There are some valid complaints. Remember those Artist's Proofs I talked about? It seems getting those directly from Topps (at a cost of $199.99 per card) is nigh on impossible. Could Topps distribute those in a more fair manner than first come, first serve? Probably, but in the end does Topps care - probably not. They are a business and selling 40 cards at $200 a shot for five days a week is what they care about. 

The lag time in production is a problem as well. It does take weeks for these cards to actually ship and receive in hand. Some of it is demand (there are persistent rumors that Topps has problems keeping te  one-touch cases that these cards ship in  in stock) and some of it may be related to the virus shutting things down. I doubt Topps is operating with a full staff, and the increased number of cards being bought hasn't made things easy.

I also wonder how the resale value of these cards will hold up once the project is over or once baseball and other diversions return. Will this product become out-of-sight, out-of-mind once it's over or once Topps come up with another project? Should I sell my Ripken now and gamble that prices will drop if this is the latest passing fad?

I remember selling a Shohei Ohtani Topps Living Set for almost $70 when that was a hot product. Now I could buy it for $3 on eBay. Will there be a similar burst in this bubble or will the very nature of this product help keep some if it's value? There are a couple of difference between this and the Living Set cards.

For one, this is a limited set. There will only be 400 cards made and they will all be different. That appeals to set collectors, player collectors, and art collectors. Theoretically, The Living Set could go on forever. As long as major league baseball is played, Topps can drop two cards a week for the rest of eternity. That's an exhausting thought. 

Also, as nice as the cards look in The Living Set, they are all pretty much the same since they are based on the 1953 set. Part of the fun of Project 2020 is the variety of the cards. It is fun looking forward to each card as it's released, even the ones I personally don't care for. Even the cards that individual artists produce are unique. Keith Shore has 20 cards and while they are done in the same style, since they are of 20 players on them they are all different in their own way. I think that will have them hold some value even as time moves past this project.

So what are your thoughts? If Topps does another version of this, what cards or artists would you like to see represented?

My NSCC Haul!

OK. So I didn't actually go to the National Sports Collectors Convention. It was in Cleveland. I've been to Cleveland twice and I think I've hit about all I need to see (except for the “Christmas Story house”. Besides, next year's NSCC is back here in Chicago and if I put in my request for days off now, I should be able to go (unless I'm paddling a kayak through some remote waterway like I was the last time it was in the Windy City).

However, I was so jealous of everyone posting their loot from the NSCC that I went online and bought some cards. A healthy PayPal account and a couple of hours to spare led me to pick up 17 new cards from COMC.com. For roughly the price of a blaster I added 17 cards to my shoeboxes. Here, presented with commentary are those 17 newest cards.

2011 Topps Finest Refractor Rookie Autographs Zach Britton

It's an Oriole. It's shiny. It has an on-card autograph. Winner Winner Winner. Britton has taken over as the closer for the first place O's and not doing a bad job of it. Say what you will about the O's front office, but they saved themselves some money by letting Jim Johnson ($10 million) walk and finding a way out of the Grant Balfour ($4 million) contract.

Instead they installed former starting rotation savior Britton in the closer role and he's thrived. He's converted 24 saves while striking out 51 batters in 58 2/3 innings. All for the low, low sum of $522,000. Which once again proves that teams that spend more than $4 million on a closer are insane.

2008 Topps Sterling Eddie Murray

One for the personal collection. For some reason I never know what to make of these Sterling cards. I like the fact that they frame the action, but the serial numbering seems excessive. Is there any reason to only make 250 of these cards? Other than artificially driving up the value of course.

2012 Topps Heritage Dee Gordon

I have a deal with myself. Anytime I buy cards on COMC I have to knock at least one card off of my “Wanted” list. I'm pretty sure that I had this Gordon card at one point and then traded it away because I am bad at keeping track of things. Oh well.

2010 Bowman Platinum Jake Arrieta

I've been in Wrigley for two of Arrieta's starts this year. Both times he's taken a no-hitter past the 5^th inning. I've never been to a professional game where a no-hitter has been pitched. Much like knocking down a hole-in-one,I would like to attend a no-hitter before I die. I should put together a sports-related bucket lists of things I'd like to see that are out of my control. I'd also like to catch a foul ball, just once. My niece is five and she already has a foul ball. Life isn't fair.

2012 Topps Heritage Aroldis Chapman

He throws really, really hard. I like the fact that there is someone who just brings the heat. I also like the fact that he doesn't have any wins this year. If you're a closer you should either get the save or the loss. When I see a closer that has 5 or 6 wins I think, “He's probably blown a lot of leads only to get bailed out by his offense in the bottom of the inning.” That's not cool. Don't be a wins poacher.

2013 Bowman Dylan Bundy

The price was right for a rookie card of the O's best prospect. I'm glad that they made it through the deadline without parting with any of the big three young pitchers in the organization. While the pressure to make a big deal to WIN NOW there is something to be said for holding on to your prospects. Especially pitching prospects since projecting their success is pretty much a crap shoot. Bundy is working his way back from Tommy John surgery and it isn't unreasonable to think he might make it back to the majors in time to help the O's in September.

2012 Topps Chrome Wei-Yen Chen

If I was to tell you Chen is 12-4 this year would you believe me? No, you would probably go look it up and say, “huh – how about that”. On a staff without a true ace Chen is at least the most consistent of the starters. He goes out there every start and gives the O's about 6 innings of solid work. He doesn't dazzle nor does he get knocked around. He's only had one start where he's gone less than 5 innings (June 28^th against the Rays) and has only one start where he's gone eight innings.

2013 Topps Manufactured Rookie Card Patch Eddie Murray

Card number two for the personal collection. Normally I'm not a fan of the manufactured patch card, but at least it's not a fake jersey letter. I kind of like the reprint of the rookie card on a cloth background. I also like any card that says “Congratulations” on the back. Thanks for the inspiration Topps!

2008 Razor Signature Series Bobby Bundy

And Justin G. goes WAY off the board for this pickup. Honestly, at this point I was just looking for an on-card autograph at a reasonable price. The older of the Bundy brothers, Bobby is also working his way back from elbow surgery. After showing some success in the A level, Bundy has struggled a bit over the last few years. If he can work his way back from the elbow issue, maybe he can find a spot in the organization as bullpen arm.

2009 Bowman Draft Picks and Prospects Chris Tillman

I guess Tillman is the “ace” of the staff. Or at least the number one starter. Well, he was the opening day starter. It's kind of weird to think that he is only 26 years old. Oriole fans have been on the phenom/bust/phenom/bust roller coaster with him for what seems like a decade.

He has nine wins on the year which is boosted slightly by the 4.76 average in run support he gets during his starts. Come stretch run/playoff time he's going to have to turn it up a notch as he won't be seeing that type of support against quality teams.

2014 Bowman Blue Kevin Gausman

2014 Topps Kevin Gausman

2013 Bowman Draft Picks and Prospects Blue Refractor Kevin Gausman

2013 Topps Finest Refractor Kevin Gausman

Yeah, I kind of went on a Gausman run there didn't I? When I went back to Baltimore this summer for a wedding (Congrats Little Cuz!) it was in the midst of the Jeff Samardzija trade talks. It kind of surprised me that the popular consensus in the Charm City was that if the O's were going to pull off the trade it would be better to ship Dylan Bundy to Chicago instead of Gausman. Now granted some of that could have been due to the “what have you done for me lately” syndrome. With Bundy on the shelf and Gausman contributing it would be easy to forget that Bundy is the top-rated prospect.

Luckily, Oakland went all in for the Shark and O's fans can look forward to a future rotation with both Gausman and Bundy starting. It'll be interesting to see how much Gausman pitches down the stretch. He has been bounced back and forth between Norfolk and Baltimore quite a bit (12 starts in the majors and 11 in AAA) and is at about 112 innings pitched between the two. In 2013 he threw about 129 innings.

In spring training it looked like he would have an innings cap around170 innings, but since his last call up it seems like Buck Sholwalter might be removing that limit. I could see him moving to the bullpen once Miguel Gonzalez is recalled from the minors. Granted, I would rather see Ubaldo Jimenez sitting out beyond center field eating sunflower seeds, but you don't pay someone $11 million to pitch in blowouts.

2000 Skybox Matt Riley

Speaking about blowouts. Hey it's former prospect Matt Riley! I bought this card more because of the photo than of the player (Motion Blur-Jo!). The former 3^rd round pick was a hard-throwing, left-handed prospect during the lean years for the Orioles at the turn of the century. He lasted parts of three seasons before injuries and a lack of discipline derailed his chances of being the next Brad Pennington.

He was shipped to Texas for the legend that was Ramon Nivar (one career RBI for the O's) and then quietly faded away. Not before I stocked up on a few of his rookie cards, though.

2008 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects Jake Arrieta

Another early card of the Cubs current ace. Arrieta was the opening day starter for the O's in 2012. By 2013 he was on the Cubs. The 2013 opening day starter for the O's was Jason Hammel. By 2014 he was on the Cubs. The 2014 opening day starter for the O's was Chris Tillman. Will he keep the streak going?

2013 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects Chrome Draft Picks Hunter Harvey

The last card in the bunch has the longest set name in the history of baseball cards. Also, in keeping with the Justin G. curse the day I selected this card, Harvey was shut down for the season with an elbow injury.

Seventeen cards at an average of $1.44 per card. The most expensive card was the Britton and the least expensive was the Dylan Bundy Bowman. The card I feel like I overpaid the most for was the Matt Riley. The card that looks better in person than online was the Britton. The best value I thin was the Gausman Finest refractor.

National Hockey Day Comes to the States

I'm too lay to check, but I'm pretty sure at some point in the past I've bitched about there not being a National Hockey Day in the U.S. for us hockey card collectors. Well, 2012 marked the debut of NHCD south of the Border.  Huzzah!  So I was obliged to visit the Local Card Store and pick up a pack.

I had checked ahead of time to make sure they had the packs and was told that they were free to collectors with any Upper Deck purchase.  Luckily for my broke ass that wasn't limited to just boxes of product and I was able to get just a pack of Series I to qualify.

I won't waste your time with the results of the Series I pack - the highlight being a Tomas Vincour Young Guns. Lets move right to the five card NHCD pack (plus bonus Tim Thomas card!).

A Swede, A Russian and A Czech start off the US version of this pack

You're looking at:

Gabriel Landeskog (America's Franchises)
Alex Ovechkin (America's Franchises)
Jaromir Jagr (America's Franchises)
Zach Parise (Stars in Stripes)
Mike Modano (American Icons)
Tim Thomas (Memorable Moments)

Not a bad pack, but nothing that I feel the need to hold on to.  If anyone needs any of these let me know.  If anyone has a Patrick Kane I'll take it off your hands and if any of our Canadian readers have a Stamkos they don't feel the need to hold on to - let me know.

Now if only we could get McDonalds to start giving packs away.....

Mail Time! What Did the Postman Bring This Week?

The Super Bowl is over, Spring Training is still a week or two away, hockey is in its pre-trade deadline doldrums and basketball is well.....basketball.  So lets brighten the day with some new cards!  Today we have an eBay purchase and the results of my first ever group break. 

First up is the eBay purchase.  I strayed a little from my 2011-12 mandate of only picking up single cards of players in my personal collection.  Honestly, I was a bit bored with what I was seeing out there so I expanded my search a little. 

With another 4th or 5th place finish projected for the O's again this year I've turned my eye to the future for the club. That got me to looking into their cards on eBay and while Manny Machado is a little out of my range, there is one prospect that is still rather cheap to pick up, and could be just as important to the future of the ball team. 

 2011 Bowman Chrome Johnathan Schoop.  Less than $4.00 with free shipping?  Sure I'll take it.  Of course, the temptation is now to get all the versions of this card.

If my usual luck with prospects holds, Schoop will suffer at least 3 career-ending injuries in the next month and a half; and then get hit by a bus.  When that happens this card will join its spiritual brothers Ryan Anderson and Rick Asadoorian in the "Failed Prospects I Collected" Wing in my Sports Cards Hall of Fame.

For now Schoop is projected as the heir apparent to Brian Roberts at second base. The native of Wedge errr Netherlands Antilles projects to have a big league bat with average defense. He'll probably spend the season in the minors with a possible late season callup, but if he pans out the Orioles could have a very strong nucleus up the middle with him, Machado at short, Adam Jones in center and Matt Wieters behind the plate.

Despite all the hoopla surrounding the newest base set released by Topps I'm sticking by my stance of not buying any packs of it this year.  The only way I planned on picking up cards from this set was through trades and with one group break buy in.  Flywheels over at Cardboard Collections was putting together one of his "Affordable Group Breaks" and I was lucky enough to catch it early enough to secure the O's.

Each participant was able to choose a team and then had another team randomly assigned to him.  My random team - the Chicago Cubs.  Hey that worked out pretty nice.  In addition to the jumbo box of Topps he also ripped up a 2009 Topps Ticket to Stardom box as well.  Here are the results.

The highlights of the Orioles base cards and some thoughts.
Hopefully Nick Markakis recovers from his off -eason surgery and rediscovers his power.
Best of luck to Jeremy Guthrie in Colorado.  O's fans will miss you. 
I like to think that this was taken after Nolan Reimold broke the Red Sox Nation on the last day of the season.
Luke Scott played defense?
Josh Bell getting ready to throw one into the stands.

The O's hits.
Frank Robinson Gold Standard.  I know this isn't a popular view, but I like the layout of the Gold Standard cards.  Sure, it looks like a card designed for a signature, but still over all it looks nice.  Nice photo of the player, no clutter and a nice gold medallion in the middle.  That being said, if I get a chance to have Frank Robinson sign a card, he's signing this one, baby.

Adam Jones. Gooooooollllllllllld.  Jones and Markakis celebrating as the ghost of Josh Bell heads to the plate for another strikeout. From what I've seen of 2012 Topps so far they're big on celebration, multiplayer cards - and not just for shortprints, either.  I guess that's cool.

The Cubs base cards:
Kosuke Fukudome.  Wow, did Cubs fans not like Kosuke. I guess when you think you're getting another Ichiro and you end up with Turner Ward you tend to boo the guy a bit.

Milton Bradley.  Yeah, that didn't work out either.

Two Starlin base cards in series one.  His highlight/checklist card (the horizontal one) celebrates his "Youngest Hits Leader" accomplishment. I like Castro, hopefully his off-field issues don't distract from his one field issues.

Reed Johnson.  As much as Cubs fans dislike Kosuke, they love Reed Johnson. Don't know why, but they do. Heck I loved Joe Orsulak as a kid so I've got no room to complain.

The Hits

Yes the 1987 mini-parallels are fantastic.  Yes I want to collect them all despite my disdain for the mini phenomena (does the fact that the Duchess and I own a Mini Cooper make that ironic?)

Timeless Talents - Eh, throwaway insert for me.  Take an old guy and a new guy and stick them together based on some handpicked stat. Ryne Sandberg and Dan Uggla are paired together because they "bring rare power to their position".

Alphonso Soriano Seasoned Veterans - If Soriano made $7 million less a year he would be beloved by Cubs fans.  Instead they want him gone on the next train out of Union Station.

Carlos Zambrano deckle edge - I'm going to miss "Big Z" as are the beat writers for the Cubs.  Along with the first 80 degree day game at Wrigley, the Zambrano melts down and breaks things are time honored traditions in the Windy City.

No big hits, but still a nice haul for what I paid. 

A Card Showin' I Went

Before the holiday weekend I attended the Sun Times Sports Collectibles show.  There wasn't really a good reason for me to go since no vendors accept PayPal in person and that's where my card budget is located.  But I knew Sal and Tim would be there and they lured me in with the promise of free cards. 

So I went.  I browsed, but did not buy.  Finally I met up with my fellow bloggers - and blogger aficionado Nick B. and swapped out some cards.  I had one card for Sal and about 15 commons for Tim....I left with 52 new cards. 

I was also able to live vicariously through those two and watched them bust a couple of boxes of product I won't be buying this year (Upper Deck Base and Parkhurst Champions).  It's fun to rip packs even if I'm not keeping the cards.

Here is a sample of the cards that have been added to the collection:

From Sal - An ITG redemption from the National earlier this year and an Emerald Parallel of Steven Stamkos from Artifacts.  It's numbered 35/50 and is the lowest numbered card in my Stamkos collection.



Some more Sal cardboard goodness.  A Cedrick Desjardins Luxury Suite Rookie numbered72/899.  Sadly, Desjardins is no longer in the Lightning organization.  He could have helped out with their current goaltender conundrum.   Next to him is a Victor Hedman Rookie Materials card from Upper Deck.  The back of the card swears that he wore the jersey - at a rookie photo shoot. Big Vic is having a rough year so far, the Bolts need him to improve to have any chance of making the playoffs.



Just a small sample of the goodies that Tim provided.  First up is a retro-parallel of Dwayne Roloson from this year's O-Pee-Chee set. Next to Father Time is a card that Tim thought was just a base set at first.  Instead, it's an unannounced parallel version.  It's the playoff beard variant.  That's not a joke, the first 50 cards in the set have a variation featuring the player rocking his best facial hair.  Seeded at 1:9 packs it won't be easy to complete, but not impossible either.

Finally, a Jimmy Wright Young Guns card.  He made the team in his rookie year, but has yet to crack the line-up since.  Hopefully, after a solid season in Norfolk he'll be back up on the roster soon.

The generosity of fellow collectors never ceased to amaze me.  Thanks, guys!

How Did I Miss Ovechkin Playing For The Lightning?

Oh Upper Deck, how I love your mock-ups.

I was wandering around Upper Deck's facebook page the other day looking at product I will never, and I do mean ever, get my hands on. Namely, the 2010-11 version of their highest end product, The Cup.

Religious overreaction aside, they should just name this product "The Holy Grail". Most collectors would love to have the rookie patch/auto cards of their favorite players from this product. However, most collectors probably can't afford them. For instance, Stamkos' rookie from 2008-09 recently closed for a cool $1000. Even the non-auto base cards routinely close for many more ducets then people are willing to part with.

Every year the set is released to much anticipation among the higher end set and Upper Deck is taking to social media to help fuel the drool. On their Facebook page they have been posting pictures for the last month or so.

Despite the description clearly labeling the image as a mock-up several commentors don't quite get the concept. For instance:

Niko K - "Haha ERROR!!!"
Jacob C - "Dang this makes me think that all of my jersey cards are screwed up like this! I'm not gunna trust you anymore, upper deck!"

The cynical among us think it's laziness. I think someone in the art department is having a little fun, perhaps a subtle dig at Ovechkin and the Caps elimination from the playoffs last season.

There is no chance that a card of this magnitude (biggest release of the year of a marquee player) would make it past their quality control, but what if it did. Would it fetch a premium on the secondary market? Would Upper Deck offer a replacement? Would they announce who the swatch actually belonged to?

Imagine a Stamkos swatch on an Ovechkin card, could it fetch more than $1000 on the secondary market? If I pulled this card I'd get a huge laugh about it. Then I would write a lame-ass post about it, contact Upper Deck and see what they would offer for it.

I like that Upper Deck is using social media to generate interest in their product and interaction with the fans. Folks need to relax about previews in general. It reminds me of the hoopla that surrounded the Stamkos free agency saga earlier this year. There is a lot of noise about something that doesn't exist. Wait till they actually screw up before burying them.

The National Loot Review Rolls On

Next up on the list of this weekend's card spending spree is the vintage portion of the collection. Something my collection severely lacks would be Orioles cards pre-1985. So one of my goals was to rectify that. I didn't go gung-ho, but did manage to pick up the below 7 cards. The average amount spent per card is $0.56.




In that photo you see are five 1960 Topps. They're in pretty decent condition with no major creases or blemishes. A little off-center here and there, but definitely worth the investment.

Hidden in the corner is a 1961 Dave Philley. The Philley and the 60 Arnie Portocarrero are both cards that I've briefly held onto electronically via Topps Diamond Giveaway, but have traded them away for other cards. So it was nice to actually get a hold of them.

The last card was one that I got almost as a throw in with a couple of cards that you'll see later. A 1968 Brooks Robinson Topps Game card. Poor Brooks is a Hit By Pitch.

A Quick Recap of The "Preview" Day at the National

I caught the Blue Line up to Rosemont to check out Day One (maybe Day -1 since things really got into swing on Thursday) of The National Sports Collectors Convention.

Enticed by the chance to get a couple of free autographs and the chance to see everything without a huge crowd I wandered into the convention center around 3.30p. A lot of folks were wandering around aimlessly until they herded all of us General Admission into line. Twenty minutes in line (mostly spent ignoring the folks talking politics) and they let us into the main floor.

A smart person would have studied the map to know where the autograph signings would be taking place, since the quicker I got in the line the less time standing would leave more time for spending. Luckily, I wandered around in the right direction and quickly found the Lee Smith line. He was signing for free courtesy of the fine folks from Freedom Cardboard. At that point it was about 40 folks deep and about 15 minutes before Smith was scheduled to sign.

I whipped out the iPad and checked to see if there was free wireless in the convention center - there wasn't. So I had to resort to reading a downloaded book. The iPad is perfect for The National. I have a book or two loaded on it for the train ride up and for killing time in line. I also have all of my want lists loaded on spreadsheets - no binders for this guy!

The line was across the aisle from the PSA authentication booth so I would occasionally pop my head up and check out what was getting authenticated. Mostly older cards, but one guy did have a sweet collage of an older White Sox team (circa 1919 I think) along with a piece of paper with some of the players autographs. Joe Jackson's was definitely on there.

We waited about 30 minutes or so before the line started moving. Apparently, Mr. Smith was a little late and they had forgotten pens for him to sign with. That was the bad news. The good news, once he started signing it went quickly and they even allowed us to get multiple items signed.

Once I was done with that I wandered over to the next autograph area to get Bill Madlock's signature resigned to the fact that I would be spending the next 30-45 minutes standing in line. How wrong I was. My wait had to have been less than 5 minutes. I love it when I expect the worst and it turns out to be not so bad.

One table over Olympian Dick Fosbury was signing....or should I say waiting to sign. No one was in his line which led to the following exchange between me and Mr. Madlock.

BM(to nobody in particular): "He's an Olympian, right? What's his name?"
Me (since no one else answered): "Dick Fosbury."
BM: "What's he famous for?"
Me: "The Fosbury Flop, you know, the first one to go over the high jummp bar backwards?"
BM: "Oh yeah"

After that it was off to check out some of the booths. As I meandered I ran into a guy in a Blackhawks jersey. The one and only Sal from Puck Junk was picking up some hockey stuff at a booth. We had pre-arranged a meeting either Wednesday or Saturday to exchange some cards (which we did).

He went his way and I went mine. Another 30 minutes or so of wandering and I was done. Total money spent: $8.00

The haul:




The free autographs. That's right I sacrificed a 1988 Donruss for Lee Smith's autograph. Unfortunately, I didn't have any cards with him in an O's uniform up here in the Chicago command center. I figured everyone would by handing Madlock Pittsburgh or Chicago stuff so I went in a different direction.




The free stuff from Sal. Way more than I expected. In exchange for some minis and an Eric Daze auto I received the following:

A Baltimore O's sticker - can't have too many!
2010-11 Donruss Press Proof Martin St Lous #85/100 - the back of the card said he's "far from over the hill"
2010-11 Boys of Winter Relic Teddy Purcell - nice swatch from the newly re-signed winger
2010-11 Artifacts Vincent Lecavalier #72/150. Two blue swatches from the Captain!

Thanks, Sal!

The cheap stuff:


Since I really didn't have anything better to do on a Wednesday afternoon

A couple of Kellog's 3D Eddie Murray cards. Two cards knocked off the want list for less than $1.00

The Big Purchase:




2010-11 Winter Warriors Vincent Lecavalier Relic. It cost a whopping $5.00 which is cheaper than I've seen it online.

Not pictures - a set of Crown's collection of Orioles that was released in 1991 at their gas stations or at selected games. I had them all when I was kid, but have since lost them.

There ya go...We'll see how Saturday goes.

Top Five Chicago Cubs Rookie Cards

You’re headed to Chicago for the National because it seems like the perfect family vacation. You can look at stuff for your man cave while the wife enjoys the sites. Or the reverse. I don’t judge. You know you want to pick up something to remind yourself of your excellent trip to the Windy City. Why not stock up on your Cubs cards?

The Hopeful Chase is here to provide you with a handy-dandy guide to the top five Cubs rookie cards that should be in your collection (and alternative cheaper priced options for those lacking in money). For financial sake I’m keeping it to modern era (post WWII) cards.

If you’ve already knocked off these five players, feel free to take a gander at some Cap Anson cards. Maybe you brought enough cash to put together a nice Tinkers-to-Evers-to-Chance collection. If that’s the case, don’t worry - there will be plenty of vintage dealers at the show to help you.

All of the prices were pulled from e-Bay from auctions that closed with bids in the last 30 days. Shipping costs are not included

With that in mind lets get rolling!

5. Fergie Jenkins - It came down to Jenkins and Greg Maddux. Both are Hall of Fame pitchers (well Maddux will be soon) who spent a significant portion of their career in the Friendly Confines. Jenkins gets the edge because he’s Canadian (hey it’s my list).




1966 Topps. The only non-Cubs uniformed card in the collection, Jenkins collectors (or Bill Sorrell collectors!) will usually have to pony over about $30 for a decent copy of this card. For about a third of that price you might be able to pick up this card:




A 2011 Topps Tribute Bat Relic/Auto numbered to 99. A lucky e-bayer picked up this card for $11 last week. Not too shabby for a card with a Hall of Famer’s signature on it.

4. Ryne Sandberg - Another Hall of Famer who began his career with the Phillies, Sandberg is the guy I remember as the face of the Cubs when I was growing up. To me he seemed like a National League version of Cal Ripken - a power-hitting middle infielder who played solid defense.




1983 Topps. Despite getting a cup of coffee with the Phillies in 1981 he didn’t get his face on cardboard until 1983 where he joined Wade Boggs and Tony Gwynn in a pretty good set for the 80s. This card can be had for as little as $2 on e-Bay so there is really no reason not to get one.

So in addition not instead of, pick up his Donruss and Fleer rookies from that year as well. You should be able to pick up the trifecta for $10-$15.

3. Ron Santo - If Ernie Banks is “Mr. Cub” then Santo has to be “Mr. Cub Fan”. The younger generation of fans probably know him best as the radio color man for the Cubs on WGN, a position he held for over 20 years. He never hid his love for the team, yet never came across as off-putting as his south side counterpart “Hawk” Harrelson.

Cubs fans and sabermetricians argue for his inclusion into the Hall of Fame based on his numbers, which were better than most people outside of the Chicago area realize. He was a nine-time All-Star who hit 342 home runs and collected five Gold Gloves (back when that award actually meant something).




1961 Topps. Another one that isn’t that expensive. His rookie will set you back anywhere between $8 and $12. However, if that’s a little too pricey for you I offer you this alternative.




His 1974 Topps. You shouldn’t be hard pressed to find this card for around the $1.50 mark. It’s a hot mess of what the heck is going on. Honestly, if you told me this was taken at a Sunday rec league softball game, I wouldn’t argue with you. If I’m not mistaken this is also his last card in a Cubs uniform as he was traded to the Cubs that season.

2. Starlin Castro - The youngest player on the list, Castro is the cornerstone for the next wave of Cubs rebuilding. One of the few players on the roster that’s branded as “untouchable” is matching his rookie year almost stat-for-stat. No sophomore slump here!




2010 Bowman Chrome Auto. This card can be had on the internet for between $50 and $80. Based on collectors love for young prospects (and Bowman Chrome) it’s actually a rather decent price for a higher-end rookie card.






2010 Topps Chrome. For those of us stuck in a lower-end rookie card price range this is a decent alternative. At a $1.00 his Topps Chrome rookie is a must for any Cubs fan. Keep an eye out for the Topps Debut version which his a similar design, but features him hitting. Heck, pick that one up as well while you’re at it. They make a nice pair.

1. Ernie Banks - Could it have been anyone else?





1954 Topps. Mr. Cub will set you back anywhere from $300-$800 for a decent version of this card. The occasional beat-to-hell copy shows up online from time to time as well, but even those go for $25-$40.


If that’s out of your league take a gander at his 1969 Topps. Again, condition can have a huge effect on the price, but a card with sharp corners and good centering can be had for less than $10. Look at that smile, we can assume someone had just told him that they were gonna play two that day.

Hope you enjoyed this quick recap. If you have any other suggestion, feel free to let me know in the comment field.

The National

Yeah, I broke down and bought my ticket this afternoon. Looks like I'll be rolling up there on Wednesday and Saturday...now if I can just find a printer to actually print them out on.

Ticket bought - check
Ticket printed - working on it.
Want Lists created - check
Loaded onto iPad - check
Budget set in my mind - check
Realization that I will exceed said budget - check.
Disapproving eye roll and deep sigh from significant other - check.

Will this guy be at the National this year? Who know? Check out hiscolumn on the 2009 National ......

Two New Cards For the Collection

Last week I mentioned that I didn’t see any personal cards on e-bay that I felt like bidding on. Well that might have been a little white lie, a minor distortion of the truth if you will. I actually had just won a bid, but didn’t have the card in hand.

The card in question is my first relic for the Eddie Murray collection. Here it is:




A 2006 Upper Deck Epic Materials Jersey.

Orioles Uniform – check
Shiny – check
Numbered – check (88/145)
Uniform matches card - err no.

As any Oriole fan knows they’ve never sported pin stripes in their history (orange pin stripes, hmmm, maybe that will bring the winning). If I had to hazard a guess I would say it was from his days as a New York Met. He played two seasons in the Big Apple and hitting 43 home runs and drove in 193 runs. Not too shabby.

Despite the Mets association I still like the card. It was the right price and hey – he rocks the O’s uniform in Cooperstown and that’s the most important!


Card number two was an impulse buy. I was looking for more “Steady Eddie” cards and stumbled across one of his teammates from the good ol’ days (you know when the O’s were the pride of the American League?)




A 2003 Topps Fan Favorite Jim Palmer (1975 Topps design).

I really like the Fan Favorites concept. Topps took alternative photos of iconic players and put them on their most recognizable sets. Let’s compare it to the original card:




The original is definitely from the 70’s, I mean look at those side burns! I’m not sure how the card collecting public would receive this card, what with the dark shadows covering 90% of his face. Jim is also showcasing the best hat in the history of the franchise. Now that they finally put Baltimore back on the road uniforms let us start a campaign to bring back the bird logo!

I didn’t notice it when I bought the card, but the photo used for the Fan Favorite is definitely not from the70’s. Palmer is lacking the side burns and his face is a little bit weathered. He kind of reminds me of Sam Malone in this photo.

Upon further review I’m pretty sure this is from his aborted comeback in 1991. After being inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1990, “Cakes” showed up for Spring Training the next year. His comeback lasted two innings in which he gave up two runs and five hits (which would probably get him a spot in the bullpen this season).

So two more cards for the ol’ personal collection!

Time For More Page Hits! It's a Trade Bait Post! 2011 Topps Series II

Curses Target and your value packs. You know the drill. Let me know what you need and we'll work out a trade. Check out the other ones if you haven't already.



Diamond Stars
DS-1 Evan Longoria

Gold
554- Cedric Hunter

Diamond Duos
DD12- Tulowitzki/Ramirez
DD29- Aaron/Heyward

Sixty Years of Topps
60YOT-90 Steve Garvey
60YOT-80 Nolan Ryan
Mariano Rivera Original Back

ToppsTown
TT2-35 Ian Kinsler

Target Red
THP26 Pedro Alvarez

Mail Day! Cards Older Than Me! And I'm Old!

After successfully unloading some cards on the ‘bay the other day I figured it was time to invest my proceeds into some new cards for the ol’ personal collection. I wasn’t thrilled with the prices I was seeing on the Murrays and the Lecavaliers so I didn’t get to knock down those want lists (actually I did end up bidding on a Murray, but as usual I was sniped at the end).

With money burning a hole in my Paypal account I decided to take another approach. I put the iPad down and picked up the notebook. I fired up my Card Collector program and did a quick summary inventory. I quickly discovered that the oldest card I have in my collection is a 1957 Topps Stan Lopata, a card I believe I picked up at a flea market, or in a trade, or off the street, or at gunpoint. Actually, I have no idea how I got it come to think of it.

Anyway, I figured it was time to rectify the situation. Time to get some older cards into the house, at a reasonable cost, of course. So doing my due diligence (5 minutes of searching) I settled on a 3 card lot of 1956 Topps. The cards were a little beat up, but most importantly they were cheap. With shipping (and $.03 in eBay bucks!) I think my total was less than $5.00.

The three cards didn’t depict any stars so I’m not going to be able to flip them for a profit. As a matter of fact the only thing I knew about them (to paraphrase the great Cliff Claven) is that they are three men who have never been in my kitchen. So with the help of Wikipedia and Baseball Reference.com I decided to learn a little bit more about some former players.

I received the package in the mail on Wednesday - lets see the newest (oldest) members of the collection!




133 - Ray Narleski. A reliever for the Indians in the 50’s he was a two time all-star and named as one of the Indians top 100 players of all time.




45 - Gus Zernial - “Ozark Ike” what a fantastic nickname. Looks like he beat he throw, but the catcher is doing an excellent job of blocking the plate. According to the back of the card he won the home run and RBI crowns in 1951. According to Wikipedia he has the second most career home runs hit by a player whose last name starts with a “Z”. He finished his 10 year career with 237. Former Orioles Todd Zeile is the leader with 253. Victor Zambrano - 1834th on the list.




60 - Mayo Smith - The card that sold me on the auction. Smith only played a couple of seasons and wasn’t particularly outstanding. He turned to managing and coached in Philly, Cincinnati, and Detroit (where he took them to the World Series in 1968). But look at this card, what is he doing? Holding up a runner? Surrendering to unseen police officer? Playing defense for John Thompson?

There ya go. My latest mail day. Will I collect the rest of the cards in this set? Probably not, after all it’s taking me forever to finish the couple of sets that I’m working on right now (and they’re not even vintage!)

Still it’s always nice to own a couple of pieces of cardboard that are almost as old as my dad.

Please note that the photos posted are not of the actual cards. With no scanners I had to “borrow” some images.