’52 Mantle Makes Cameo Appearance In Netflix’s The Christmas Chronicles

Rarely do I stray away from a core group of Christmas movies during the holiday season.  Movies such as Elf, The Santa Clause, and my personal favorite, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, are classics that I tend to stop on while browsing through the channels.  When I heard that Kurt Russell was going to play Santa in the Netflix exclusive film The Christmas Chronicles, I decided to give it a shot over the weekend.

Without giving away any spoilers, I have to say Kurt Russell makes one cool, straight talking Santa.  Fans even get some classic Kurt Russell car chasing/action movie scenes.  Lets not forget a fun Star Wars reference too.  Fans seem to enjoy it, as the movie received 20 million views within the first week.

My favorite scene in the entire movie is when the reindeer get lost.  Santa walks into a nearby restaurant, and attempts to barter with people in exchange for their car.  Given that its Santa, he knows the names of everyone, and what they’ve always wanted for Christmas.  One of the customers he tries to make a trade with is named Larry.  In exchange for Larry’s Porsche, Santa offers him a “Mint condition 1952 Mickey Mantle rookie card”.  Larry’s wife quickly tears the card up while saying “You’re not trading our Porsche for a baseball card.”

You can clearly tell that the card they used for this scene is a reprinted prop.  Its far from the real thing.  That’s not Mickey Mantle’s rookie card either.  Its his first Topps card, but his 1951 Bowman #253 is his actual rookie.  I have two theories as to why this choice was made.  One, I believe the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle #311 card is much more recognizable to the general public.  You hear people refer to it as his rookie card all the time despite that not being true.  Or two, they just didn’t know any better.

I know that I sound like an internet troll pointing out these imperfections.  But I had to do it.  I find it incredibly fun to see sports cards randomly popup in films.  Its Kurt Russell as Santa.  Go watch The Christmas Chronicles.

FYI – Kurt Russell played minor league baseball until an injury ended his career in the 70’s.  He’s had some cards made for celebrity-themed products like Americana, Threads, and Celebrity Cuts.  An autographed card of him in one of his minor league uniforms would be perfect for Heritage Minor League Baseball and/or Archives.

Topps Customer Service Makes Good On Goof

No company is perfect.  Mistakes are bound to be made.  How those mistakes are handled are what make or break their customer service department.  Ask any collector about their experience with a card manufacturer’s customer service, and you’re guaranteed to be flooded with great stories and horrific ones.  With the internet overloaded with so much negativity towards company’s customer service, I’d like to share a positive experience.

On August 21, 2017 I purchased card #504 from the 2017 Topps Now set celebrating the 1st MLB Little League Classic At Historic Bowman Field.  This was such a cool game that took place at a stadium that isn’t far from me, and I visit a few times every summer.  I had to have one of these cards.  I placed my order and eagerly awaited for my card to arrive.  When the package showed up, I dove into it like a child on Christmas morning.  But there was a little problem.  Inside was card #503 of Bartolo Colon commemorating him being the 18th player in MLB history to defeat all 30 clubs.  Definitely not the card I purchased.  The receipt had the correct card listed though.

I fired an e-mail off to the Topps Store (storehelp@topps.com) and explained to them what had happened.  That was a Friday night right before a three day holiday weekend.  The following Wednesday I received an e-mail back from a Topps customer service representative.  In the message they informed me that a replacement card had been ordered, and they supplied me with a prepaid FedEx label so I could ship the incorrect card back.  Not long after they received the Bartolo Colon card, my correct card arrived.

A big thank you to the Topps customer service team for taking care of this so promptly.  If you ever find yourself in a similar situation, I suggest following the same steps I took.

It was announced that the Phillies and Mets will play in the 2nd MLB Little League Classic next year on August 19, 2018.  We should see another Topps Now card for this.  Relics and autographs from this game would be great.  I’d also like to see a Topps Now card next year celebrating the Phillie Phanatic’s 40th birthday.  We have yet to have a Topps Now card featuring a mascot.

BCW Shoe Box House Makes Storing Your Collection Simple

With the 35th National Sports Collectors Convention just on the horizon, collectors are always on the lookout for new ways to store their collection.  My friends over at BCW have created a new Shoe Box House that can hold up to six boxes.  Each box can hold 1,600 cards.  That’s a total number of 9,600 cards in all.

It took a bit longer than I had expected to put the whole thing together, but that’s mostly because the boxes I purchase are already assembled.  The main benefit to the Shoe Box House is that you can stack boxes on top of each other with ease.  You can easily go straight to the box you need and pull it out.  No unstacking needed.  I do think some short instructions would help, especially for those people that may have never assembled something like this before.

BCW offers collectors two ways they can purchase their Shoe Box House.

If you already have the white boxes, BCW sells the house alone.  But if you need the boxes, BCW offers a complete package deal too.  BCW even offers houses that store 800-ct boxes.

BCW should hold a contest during the National to see who can put these Shoe Box Houses together the fastest.

Harry Kalas Makes Cameo Appearance In ’89 Upper Deck

The Phillies 2012 season has officially come to an end.  They finished the year 81-81 which seemed like a dream a few months ago.  If you’ve been reading Sports Card Info for awhile, you know what a fan I am of the Phillies former broadcaster Harry Kalas.  Harry Kalas doesn’t have a ton of cards, which in one way makes him easy to collect.  But then on the other hand the cards he does have rarely show up for sale and when they do be prepared to open your wallets.

Here is a little discovery I made today:

At first glance, it looks like your standard Mike Schmidt 1989 Upper Deck #407 base card.  Look harder.  Who is that interviewing Schmidt?  It sure looks like Harry Kalas to me.  ’89 Upper Deck Baseball has been released for 23 years, and its still shooting out surprises.

For those of you interested, here is my Harry Kalas wantlist:

• Harry Kalas 1984 Tastykake Phillies Broadcasters #7
• Harry Kalas/Gary Maddox/Richie Ashburn 1988 Phillies Tastykake Phillies Announcers #39
• Harry Kalas/Chris Wheeler/Andy Musser 1990 Phillies Tastykake Phillies Announcers #35
• 2004 Fleer Greats of the Game Mike Schmidt/Harry Kalas Announcing Greats Dual Auto #’ed/25
• Harry Kalas 2004 UD Sweet Spot Classic Signatures Auto Black #’ed/100
• Harry Kalas 2005 UD Sweet Spot Classic Signatures Auto Black Stitch #’ed/1
• Harry Kalas 2005 UD Sweet Spot Classic Signatures Auto Red-Blue Stitch #’ed/40
• Harry Kalas Sportkings Premium Back Redemption Sketches #’ed/1
• Harry Kalas Sportkings Series E Top 50 Broadcasters Cut Signature #’ed/1