“Pin-Up” of the Week: 2016 MLB All-Star Game Logo Pin

The 2016 MLB All-Star Game is fast approaching.  We’re just under two months away.  It takes place in San Diego this year at Petco Park, home of the Padres.  This will be the 87th MLB All-Star Game, and the third time its been held in San Diego.

Right now you can find a lot of retail merchandise already for sale featuring the new logo.  They’ve got hats, baseballs, patches, keychains, and pins.  Nothing super rare has shown up yet.  Just a lot of mass produced stuff.  As we get closer I expect that to drastically change.  The pin pictured above is about as generic as you can get.  Its your run of the mill logo pin for the 2016 MLB All-Star Game.  You can easily find them for sale along with a few others.  This one is made by PSG, but others come from Aminco.

We should see pins from WinCraft show up when the actual game and home run derby near.  Specifically when the All-Star FanFest is going on.  WinCraft makes a ton of promotional pins they give out at certain times each day.  I like the OYO Sportstoys themed pins they’ve made.  You can’t go wrong combing minifigures, pins, and the All-Star Game.  I look forward to seeing what they have in store for 2016.

One of the most sought after pieces of memorabilia from the All-Star Game are the press/media pins.  Since they’re only provided to a select group of people from the press and executives, demand for them is high.

“Pin-Up” of the Week: 2016 Little League World Series Logo Pin

This pin may not quite exist yet, but its coming very soon.  Little League hasn’t announced what the official logo will look like for the 2016 World Series.  However, Harley Creative posted a picture of the above logo on their Twitter account a few weeks ago.  It was then quickly taken down.  Harley Creative is known for creating a lot of popular sports logos for certain events.  Little League could have asked them to take it down because they didn’t want it shown yet.  Or perhaps they wanted to make changes to it.  Little League has shown what the 2016 International Tournament logo looks like.  The design layout is very similar, which makes me believe they probably aren’t making any changes to this one.

The 2016 Little League World Series runs from 8/18 to 8/28.  Main logo pins such as this aren’t super rare and can easily be purchased in their gift shop.  In the past they have been known to make some variations.  Last year they made a version of the main logo with a baseball that you can actually spin.  If there are any left over from the National, I plan on taking some Sports Card Info pins to pass out.

“Pin-Up” of the Week: Sports Legends Museum At Camden Yards Logo Pin

Anyone that’s been to an Orioles game since 2005 or even attended the National Sports Collectors Convention in 2010 or 2012 should have an idea of what this place was.  It was located right outside of Camden Yards in the old Camden Station.  You could view tons of artifacts from Baltimore’s sports history over the 22,000 square feet the museum took up.  A few months before attending the National in 2010, I took a trip down there and went through it.  That place was a great museum which housed some amazing relics.

Unfortunately the Sports Legends Museum closed it’s doors last fall.  They couldn’t come to turns on a new lease.  That prime location next to Camden Yards came with a hefty $28,000 per month rent.  Depending on how you look at it I guess that amount could be big or small to some people.  The Babe Ruth Birthplace Foundation were/are the people that ran it.  That is the same group which operates the Babe Ruth Birthplace And Museum.  Some of the artifacts which were on display at the Sports Legends Museum are now over at the Babe Ruth Birthplace And Museum.  A majority of the items are now in storage.  They’re currently looking for a new location.

“Pin-Up” of the Week: 2015 Little League World Series Logo Pin

For me, the Little League World Series is one of the final big events of the summer.  This year the 2015 LLWS takes place from 8/20/15 to 8/30/15.  Earlier this week, Little League not only revealed what the main logo will look like for this year, but they also rolled out a whole new batch of pins.  They’ve got logo pins, spinner pins, ring pins, jersey pins, and even a Dugout birthday pin.  This is just the start.  Lots more pins will begin to surface as the LLWS approaches.

Flashback Product of the Week: 1999 Leaf Certified Gridiron Gear NFL Logo Patch Set

The 90’s are notorious for having some of the most popular inserts, parallels, autographs, and relics.  Collectors are constantly looking for those rare gems to add to their collection.  Some can be worth a few dollars, while others can reach triple digits.  Its insane to see the level of popularity many of these cards have reached.

In 1999, relic cards had only been around for two or three years.  It was still considered a big deal to pull a game-used card, even though it might have been of a nobody and limited to a thousand copies.  If you pulled something like that today, it would most likely fall to the bottom of a bargain bin.  Among all the parallels and inserts found within packs of 1999 Leaf Certified, what many collectors kept their eyes open for were the Gridiron Gear jersey pieces.  Every one of the Gridiron Gear relics were serial numbered to 300.  It didn’t matter if the piece was a plain colored jersey or a multi-colored patch.  It was stamped out of 300 on the back.  Now those NFL logo patches.  They’re a little different.

Even though these NFL logo patches look like something that could be pulled from a pack of 1999 Leaf Certified.  That simply is not the case.  They’re designed like the others, but you could open every single box that Donruss/Playoff made and you’d never find one.  These were made after Leaf Certified was released for a special charity auction.  There are 72 total cards each numbered 1/1.  Why they included Thurman Thomas and Emmitt Smith in this set is a mystery, because those two do not have NFL logo patches.  The Thomas and Smith cards just have regular looking patches that can easily blend in with the versions numbered to 300 that came out of the packs.

This set has changed hands a few times over the years.  Dave & Adams Card World were the original owners.  Since then it has been bought and sold as a complete set numerous times.  The last person to own them decided to sell the cards individually.  From time to time you’ll see one of these cards surface.  Prices for each card can vary based on the player.  For a handful of players, this is the only NFL logo patch card ever made.  I believe the last time the complete set sold was for around $5,000.00.  That doesn’t seem too high of a price for all 72 cards.  Maybe because these were after market production promos.  Despite being 1/1 NFL logo patches, some collectors only want the stuff from packs.  There is also a rumor that some of the patches were fake even though they came with an LOA from Donruss/Playoff.  Its one of those crazy oddball sets.

“Pin-Up” of the Week: Super Bowl 50 Logo Pin

Exactly one year from today, Super Bowl 50 will be taking place.  Super Bowl XLIX may have just ended, but its never too late to start thinking about the next one.  WinCraft sold and gave away a lot of specially made pins last week to those lucky people that attended the game.  One of those pins sets you up for next year’s Super Bowl already.  This is the only Super Bowl 50 pin I’ve seen surface and collectors jumped all over it.  With 35 bids this pin sold for $35.00.  They decided to go with the standard number 50 instead of using the Roman numeral “L”.  Their marketing people decided that the “L” wasn’t aesthetically pleasing.  The Roman numerals will return for Super Bowl LI.  I can’t imagine what they have in store for the 50th Super Bowl.  More pins for sure!

“Pin-Up” of the Week: College Football Hall Of Fame Logo Pin

The College Football Hall of Fame is actually older than it’s pro counterpart.  I never realized that.  This week the College Football Hall of Fame announced it’s class of 2015.  Some of the key inductees include Brian Bosworth, Ricky Williams, Zach Thomas, and Jim Tressel.  Overall there are 17 inductees this year.

In other college football collectible news, Panini announced this week that they have entered into a multi-year exclusive agreement with the CLC which includes almost 200 schools.  This is something I think we all saw coming.  When it comes to licenses, the company with the deeper pockets wins no matter what the quality of the product is.  As collectors all we can do is watch… or boycott.

This is an older pin.  The College Football Hall of Fame is no longer located in South Bend, Indiana.  It recently moved to Atlanta, Georgia.  I haven’t seen any pins with their new location on it.

“Pin-Up” of the Week: Tampa Bay Bandits USFL Helmet Logo Pin

Given the buzz on Burt Reynolds’s current financial status, I’m betting he wishes he could have back that small investment he made in the USFL.  Reynolds was part owner of the Tampa Bay Bandits from it’s start in 1983 until the league finally folded a few years later.  Over the weekend he sold a ton of memorabilia for around $2.5 million.  That included the Smokey and the Bandit Trans Am for $450,000, and his film worn helmet from The Longest Yard for $8,125.

If you had to invest in a USFL team at the time, Tampa Bay was one of the better choices.  The Bandits were one of the few teams that had a solid home and steady finances.  They were also the only team to have the same coach, owner, and home city throughout the league’s entire existence.  Coach Steve Spurrier is probably the most recognizable member of the team.  If the league would have been run better, the Bandits could have had a bright future.  Then again, we are talking about the USFL here.  Picking the best team to invest in is like trying to decide whether you’d like to suffer from explosive diarrhea or projectile vomiting for a week.  Either one you choose, the end result isn’t going to be fun.

Just like the NFL, USFL teams had merchandise too.  Some of that merchandise is highly sought after today because the league wasn’t around that long.  This Bandits pin is worth about $8.00.  An entire USFL helmet logo 20 pin set recently sold for $154.00.

Collectors are always looking for something new.  It would be fun to see someone bring back the USFL in the form of cards.  I’m not talking about a whole set, but something thrown into an existing product.  The USFL had a lot of great players like Steve Young, Jim Kelly, and Reggie White.

Card of the Day: Jose Altuve 2014 Topps Museum Collection MLB Silhouetted Batter Logo Patch

Card of the Day: Rory McIlroy 2014 Upper Deck SP Game-Used Edition Supreme Gear Tournament Worn Shirt Nike Logo Patch