I could write up a whole blog post about how Topps lost their Player’s Inc license yesterday and probably won’t be able to produce football cards in 2010, but this being the “Year of the License” it shouldn’t surprise you that these things are happening.  I’m not going to repeat everything that has been said already.

Yesterday in the mail I received a copy of Insider’s Edge magazine and I came across an interesting article about Sean Broderick.  Mr. Broderick probably has one of the best cut signature collections The Hobby has ever seen, especially if your a hockey fan.  His collection doesn’t consist of cards that were pulled from packs.  Instead he purchases authentic documents signed by players such as Art Ross, Lord Stanley, and Georges Vezina.  For those collectors not familier with hockey, these players are equal to Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Cap Anson, “Shoeless” Joe Jackson, Alexander Cartwright, and Jim Thorpe.  In many cases these signatures are much harder to find.  With help from Garret Morrison, these rare signatures are inserted into custom made cards just for Broderick’s collection.  In the end they are slabbed and authenticated by PSA/DNA.  In my opinion, these are some of the best looking cut signatures I’ve ever seen.  You rarely see photography like this on cut signatures.  They have the perfect balance of photograph and autograph.  Take a look at the windows too.  Usually a cut signature is placed in a plain square.  These windows have unique designs and cater towards the signature themselves.  Mr. Broderick was nice enough to send over a few images for you to take a look.  He is constantly looking for more signatures of players and donors from this era.  If you have something you think he might need, please e-mail him at: seanieb21@hotmail.com.  For a closer look, click on each image.

What do yah think?  Could Figgins be the face at 3rd base for the Phillies next year?  As of right now, Figgins is probably one of the best guys to cover 3rd base who is a free agent.  He had a great season with the Angels and I think he’d make a great addition to the Phillies roster.  He has various rookies throughout 2002 products.  This is his ‘02 Donruss Rookie Crusade autograph.  Unfortunately these Crusades aren’t worth near as much as the ones from the 90’s.

Tonight I received an e-mail from my contact at Upper Deck letting me know that they will be sending some new items over for me to review and use for future contests.  I plan to give my honest opinion about each and every product they send over.  I ask everyone to comment on my reviews so Upper Deck receives some feedback about what collectors like and don’t like.  The more feedback they get, the more products I’ll get to review and get to use as giveaways.  I’d like to welcome Upper Deck to Sports Card Info.

Later this week Press Pass will be releasing its third KISS product this year, and by looking at all the pre-sales it looks to be like another sellout.  The demand these cards have almost makes it look like Press Pass was the first company to make KISS trading cards, but thats not true.  Starting in the 1970’s manufacturers really started to make products based around T.V. shows, movies, and bands.  This was actually done before the 70’s, but it seems like this is when manufacturers seemed to get a real high from it because of all the products they began producing.  In 1978 Donruss produced the very first set of KISS cards for collectors.  There weren’t any autographs or relics, but there was such a high demand Donruss produced a second series.  Each box contained 36 wax packs featuring great photography of the band.  If your lucky enough to find a sealed box, your probably going to pay out the nose to get it.  I think its safe to say that KISS is one of the most collectible bands in history.

Twenty years ago the Berlin Wall was ripped down to unite the East and West sides of Germany.  The Berlin Wall has made its way on to a handful of trading cards, but in 2001 Topps created a product called American Pie that featured an image of John F. Kennedy and contained an actual piece of the Berlin Wall.  These can easily be found for under $10.00.

Lynn Swann is one of the most difficult football players to obtain an autograph of.  He rarely makes show appearances, and when he does you have to follow a long list of directions and pay out the rear.  I’d hate to see what Donruss and Upper Deck had to pay Swann for sitting down to sign a few cards.  One of his most popular autographs comes from 2003 Sweet Spot and usually sells for $100.00-$200.00.  His most recent autograph can be found in Razor’s National Cut Signature Edition.  Nobody knows why Swann is so fussy about his signature, but its been like that for years.

I can still remember going into my first card shop and seeing boxes of ‘97 Donruss Studio sitting on the glass case.  At the time of their release they were quite popular because inside each pack you would receive two large portraits.  The popularity didn’t last long and after 1997 Donruss never made this product again either for football or baseball.  A few years ago Upper Deck brought back this idea with a product called Portraits but it too didn’t reach much success, even though it contained relics and autographs.  I guess collectors find it a little harder to store photos rather than standard sized cards.  Both companies may have been able to avoid these failures if they would have looked back to the ’80’s when Topps produced a jumbo card sized product which didn’t take off.

Yes, today’s card features Purple Jesus himself.  This is probably one of the most popular base cards you can pull from this year’s ‘09 Finest Football.  Whoever pulls the one-of-one version of this card is going to be one lucky collector.  Finest Football hasn’t really impressed me much this year.  To me, the relics get in the way of the chrome like finish and don’t fit in very well.  I still might try a mini box just for the heck of it.

Kerry was the lucky winner of the hits I pulled from the box of 2009 Press Pass Legends Racing I opened last weekend.  Kerry, please send me an e-mail with your mailing address so I can send your cards out ASAP.  Congrats!!!!

Atlanta Braves rookie center fielder Jordan Schafer didn’t make much of an impression in Major League Baseball this year.  He started off red hot after hitting a home run in his first Major League at bat off of Brett Myers in April, but in June he was sent back down to the minors after only hitting .204.  I have no idea why I recognized this, but Schafer’s signature on his cards have really changed since a facsimile appeared on his ‘05 Bowman rookies.  For some crazy reason Schafer now puts two lines through his signature.  Its not uncommon for players to change their signatures over the years, but I wonder why he puts the lines through now?  Maybe he doesn’t even like his own autograph.