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Frank Thomas ’17 Topps Luminaries Redemption Card Received

In the middle of November, I opened a box of 2017 Topps Luminaries Baseball.  Waiting inside was a redemption for a Frank Thomas Autographed Letter Book Card #’ed 1/1.  As soon as it was pulled, I redeemed it.

At 5:01 a.m. on 12/28/17 I received an e-mail from Topps informing me that my card had been shipped.  According to the tracking number it was scheduled to be delivered the same day.  By lunch time it had arrived.

This card kicks butt.  Booklet, on-card autograph, and game-worn jersey letter patch.  It didn’t really matter to me which letter they used, but I’m glad Topps chose the “T”.

When it comes to redemption cards, you never truly know how long it will take to get your card.  Everyone’s experience can differ.  Personally, I’ve never had to wait that long with Topps products.  Historically they’ve been fast and efficient for me.  The Topps website easily lets me track my redemption cards, while I find their communication skills flawless.  No problems at all.

Book Mailday!

UPS dropped off a package today, and inside was my latest purchase.  Its not a card, instead it was a copy of The Photographic Baseball Cards of Goodwin & Company (1886-1890).  Jay Miller, Joe Gonsowski, and Richard Masson have put together what looks like the most comprehensible book about the Old Judge brand from the late 1800s.  This book isn’t the easiest piece of reference material to find either.  It is a self-published book and would normally cost $125.00, but sometimes one pops-up for sale on eBay.  My copy only cost $40.00 and came with free shipping.  Tonight I will starting working my way through this beast and plan to blog about it as I go.

The Playground or Out-Door Games for Boys

In 1953 Congress officially declared Alexander Cartwright the inventor of the modern game of baseball.  Before that, a heated battle went on debating whether Cartwright or Abner Doubleday was the true inventor.  To this day scholars still debate over it, but Cartwright is recognized as the true inventor of the modern game.  One of the pieces of evidence used in the investigation to help declare Cartwright the true inventor was a book published in 1866 titled The Playground or Out-Door Games for Boys.  Inside it describes various activities for children to participate in so they could get some outside activity.  One of these activities is the game of Base-Ball.  It takes you through the basic rules of the game and teaches you everything from how the bases work to how you should use the bat.

This sure isn’t something you see everyday.  Recently a copied surfaced on eBay and the seller was asking $3,500.00 for it.  I think its really interesting to see the game of baseball referenced in such an old book.  Believe it or not, but the world “baseball” was used in a book published in the 18th century, many years before the one pictured below.  Good luck finding either.  Both are extremely rare and expensive.

When this book was published, Connie Mack was only 4 years old.  For a true baseball fan, this book would make one cool collectible.

John Newbery Needs A Card Too

If TRISTAR brings Obak back next year I have another historical figure they could add to their list of Game Changers, John Newbery.  Newbery started the entire children’s literature genre back in 1744 with is publication A Pretty Little Pocket-Book.  What makes this book so fascinating to sports collectors is the fact that it contains the first reference to the word baseball historians have ever found.  One of the main differences in the picture is that the colonial figures are using wooden posts instead of bases.  Can you imagine the historical significance if someone were to uncover a post or something that was used in one of these early games?  Its almost impossible to happen though.

During the late 1800’s, Henry Chadwick (The Father of Baseball) developed the modern box score.  He was the guy to think of using the letter “K” to symbol a strike out.  He used a “K” because it was the last letter in the word “struck”.  I find it interesting that at the top of the page from the 1744 book it reads “The little k Play.”

New Book!

 

I’m almost done reading Joe Orlando’s Collecting Sports Legends: The Ultimate Hobby Guide and decided to pick up Card Sharks: How Upper Deck Turned a Child’s Hobby into a High Stakes, Billion-Dollar Business.  I know its not brand new, but it sounds like an interesting read about the hobby.  I highly suggest that you take a look at Mr. Orlando’s book.  It has a ton of beautiful photographs that any collector would love.  I found it very interesting to learn about the athletes and their cards.  Probably my favorite part of the book is the autograph section.  This is the first time I ever saw what a “Shoeless” Joe Jackson signature looks like.  Since Jackson was uneducated, he didn’t know how to sign his name very well and usually his wife would have to do it for him.  He did sign a few stock certificates that remain in private collections.  The section on the bats was also very good.  Did you know there are only about 20 Lou Gehrig bats around?  It really makes you think whether they should be cutting those up to include into trading cards.  The book does not go into the whole story about the famous Honus Wagner 1909-11 T206 graded an 8, but I wouldn’t expect it to because Joe Orlando is part of PSA.  This book fits many collectors and is must read, even for people that aren’t a fan of grading.

Has anyone else read Card Sharks?  If so, what did you think?

Baseball Card Humor

Maybe President Obama is more fond of the Turkey Red “Cabinets”.

Collecting Sports Legends: The Ultimate Hobby Guide

 

Last weekend I was on Amazon.com looking for a good book to read.  I wanted something that dealt with the sports memorabilia industry, and I came across this book titled “Collecting Sports Legends: The Ultimate Hobby Guide“.  Today this book arrived, and it looks awesome.  There are over 300 pages featuring some of the rarest cards in the world from a wide variety of sports.  They showcase some of the best athletes through their collectibles.  Just browsing through it I came across a picture of a Mickey Mantle 1951 Bowman RC graded by PSA a Gem Mint 10!!!  I can’t wait to read through the entire book.  Every sports collector would enjoy a book like this, I highly suggest that you check it out.

Speaking of Book Value

This video was posted on YouTube 9/7/2008.  I think this guy, and that lady from the other video should get married.  They have so much in common.

I Just Finished Reading “The Card”

Last night I finished reading “The Card” which is about the world famous Honus Wagner T206 baseball card graded by PSA an 8.  Not only does the book talk about this card, but it talks about the hobby in general and how greedy and corrupt some people really are.  Many people believe that the card has been doctored and should never have been graded by PSA.  Others claim that it has never been doctored and has never been changed since it was printed almost 100 years ago.  A lot of people think that it was cut from a sheet by a human versus a machine.  Having a human cut a card from a sheet allows the collector to have total control over how well the edges are cut.  The original owner of the card says he has photos of it as an uncut sheet which would prove that it was indeed cut by a human.  I have yet to find any photos of the card when it was still part of a sheet.  You get a good glimpse of what Honus Wagner was like when he was alive.  He sounded like a really good guy and enjoyed children.  In the book it states that Wagner would let kids sneak in behind him at games so they wouldn’t have to pay.  I wonder how many players do that today?  I would highly suggest that any sports card collector read this book.  It is very educating and entertaining that all collectors would enjoy.

I saw “The Card” in August 2007 during the National Sports Collectors Convention.