Card of the Day: Eric Turner 1995 Upper Deck SP Championship #83

State College Spikes ’18 Topps Pro Debut Relic Contest! – NOW CLOSED

This contest is for a Zach Kirtley 2018 Topps Pro Debut Fragments of the Farm New York-Penn League Championship Banner From Medlar Field At Lubrano Park Relic.  I will be attending the National Sports Collectors Convention this week, so this contest will run a little longer.  Good luck!!!

Contest Details:

• This contest will end Sunday, August 5, 2018 @ 8:00 p.m. EST.
• To enter, please leave a comment in this post.
• You can enter once per day.
• The winner will be selected at random.
• Please provide a valid e-mail address when entering.
• The winner will receive an e-mail when the contest is over.
• The winner has one week to send me their contact information or the contest will be held again.
• Once the contest is over, I will need the winner’s mailing address so I can ship them this card for FREE!!!

Card of the Day: Trevor Siemian 2015 Panini Contenders Championship Ticket RC Auto

Flashback Product of the Week: 1984 Topps Milton Bradley Championship Baseball

Tabletop board games based on baseball have been around a lot longer than you would think.  Some can be dated all the way back to the late 19th and early 20th century.  Those older games can be worth quite a bit depending on the condition.  As the decades rolled by, more and more baseball board games began to surface.  Baseball wasn’t the only sport to get the board game treatment, but that’s the sport I’m dealing with here today.  Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten the cultural impact of electronic football.

There is a point in time where I believe every baseball superstar either had their own board game, or was included in one.  Guys like Roger Maris, George Brett, Steve Garvey, and Mickey Mantle all had their own board game.  Did any of these games revolutionize the board game industry?  No.  It was a cash grab.  Slapping the names and faces of a famous baseball players on a game can help move them off the store shelves.  The only reason people buy these games today is for the collector value.  I highly doubt collectors are buying them to actually play.

Some of these games are fairly simple.  Others can be very complicated with an endless list of tedious rules.  One of the better reviewed games was released in 1984 by Milton Bradley.  It was called Championship Baseball.  Topps created (30) cards for this game.  The players include stars like Pete Rose, Rod Carew, Cal Ripken, Jr., and Reggie Jackson.  Even though the cards were made by Topps, the set was not licensed by Major League Baseball Properties.  That is why the team names and logos are airbrushed out.  On the back of each card you’ll find batting records that have been converted into dice roll combinations.  You basically roll the two die, compare the results to a chart on the back of the player’s card, and that’s it.  The game play is quite simple.

Given that this set was cheaply made, and contains no rookies, the demand isn’t there.  You can easily pickup a sealed set for under $10.00.  A complete game is worth about $20.00.

“Pin-Up” of the Week: 1948 Philadelphia Eagles World Championship Game Press Pin

The Eagles have been making moves all over the place this off season.  LeSean McCoy left for Buffalo in exchange for Kiko Alonso.  This past week they picked up Sam Bradford and Ryan Mathews.  I think Chip Kelly secretly just wants an Eagles team made up of all former Oregon Ducks players.  It wouldn’t surprise me if Marcus Mariota gets drafted by Philadelphia.

Known as the Philly Blizzard, the 1948 World Championship Game took place between the Philadelphia Eagles and Chicago Cardinals.  It snowed a lot.  The game was scoreless until the fourth quarter when Chicago fumbled and Philadelphia recovered.  Steve Van Buren ran it in for a touchdown and the Eagles won 7-0.

Merchandise from this game has a huge demand.  Its very difficult to find a lot of stuff from this era.  The Eagles press pin is quite condition sensitive.  This exact pin recently sold for $400.00.

The 35th National: Day #2

Day #2 of the 35th National was a fun one.  Then again, everyday at the National is fun.  I participated in promos from Upper Deck and Topps, then took some time to check out some of the many dealers found outside of the Corporate Area.  I even seemed to pull a little MOJO!

Here are the major highlights of the day for me.

Diamond Stars paintings of “Cards That Never Were” – Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig.

Van Mungo and Billy Werber Diamond Stars cards.

Frank Crosetti Diamond Stars.

1927 World Series (New York Yankees) Press Pin

1902 Pittsburgh Pirates National League Championship Lapel Pin

Dennis Rodman

1992 Donruss Diamond Kings Supers.  This auction house had a complete set on display.  Only 10 sets are known to exist.

I purchased 15 packs of 2014 Topps Baseball and took them over to the Topps booth.  In return I got 6 Allen & Ginter minis – (2) Jim Brown, Johnny Manziel, Mike Trout, Jadeveon Clowney, and Derek Jeter.

Upper Deck started their wrapper redemption program this morning at 10:25 a.m.  Today’s promo cards were of Jack Nicklaus, Joc Pederson, Johnny Manziel, Archie Griffin, and Wayne Gretzky.  I also got one of those Magic Johnson Amazon.com cards.  Wait until you see what I got in the pack I needed to open in order to get these.

In order to get my Upper Deck wrapper redemption pack today, I decided to open a pack of 2014 Upper Deck SP Game-Used Edition Golf.  Inside the pack was this Jack Nicklaus Inked Fabrics Shirt/Auto #’ed/10.  I also pulled a Nancy Lopez Tour Gear Dual Shirt #’ed/35.

“Pin-Up” of the Week: 2014 Vizio BCS National Championship Logo Pin

If you were watching closely last night you would have seen that 2013 Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston was wearing this 2014 Vizio BCS National Championship logo pin.  The Florida State quarterback will take on Auburn January 6th.  Very few of these pins have been made available to the public.  I would imagine that more will surface once it gets closer to game time.

“Pin-Up” of the Week: RDZ Super Bowl 30 Club – First World Championship Game AFL vs NFL Pin

The Super 30 Club is a set of pins made by RDZ for the NFL.  Certain members of the media that covered the first thirty Super Bowls were given this exclusive set.  Each pin in the set commemorates one of the first thirty Super Bowls.  Depending on which Super Bowl you’re looking at, the price per pin can vary.  Especially when there were only 110 sets produced.  In the world of pins, that isn’t a lot.  This pin that commemorates the first Super Bowl recently sold at auction for just over $100.00.  Pins like this can be found from one of the best pin dealers on eBay – THE PIN MAN.

Super Bowl I took place on January 15, 1967 between the Packers and Chiefs.  The Packers went on to win 35-10 and Bart Starr was named the MVP.

“Pin-Up” of the Week: Baltimore Ravens Super Bowl XXXV Championship Ring Pin

Ray Lewis could go out on top retiring right after winning Super Bowl XLVII.  It sounds like a storybook ending, and it just might happen.  Season ticket holders of the Ravens not only got to see their team go all the way back in 2001 in Super Bowl XXXV, but were awarded this championship ring pin.  For those die-hard Ravens collectors, this pin is highly sought after since it wasn’t something that you could buy in the gift shop or obtain while walking through the gate.  The last example sold for over $100.00.

On February 3rd, the 49ers and Ravens will play in Super Bowl XLVII.  Many generic pins have popped up for sale, but nothing too rare yet.  I’m waiting to see what the media pin looks like.

“Pin-Up” of the Week: 2013 BCS National Championship Game Logo Pin

Those little golden domes didn’t have a chance in hell last Monday night.  Alabama rolled right over Notre Dame 42-14.  After Alabama’s win, Nick Saban’s autographs spiked in price selling for as high as $500.00.  The above pin, which only sells for $5.00 to $10.00, was given to fans that attended the game.

A big shout out to Mac for sending me a picture of the pin he received.  Mac is a daily viewer of Sports Card Info and got to go to the game.  Lucky!