Look Out Leaf! Here Comes 2012 UD SP Authentic Golf

Look out Leaf.  It looks as if Upper Deck is coming out with 2012 SP Authentic Golf.  Every box will contain at least (3) autographs and (1) rookie card on average.  As you can see, Upper Deck hasn’t lost its touch when it comes to product design.  I think they look fantastic!  Boxes will contain (20) packs each.

Collectors have been wanting manufacturers to bring a golf product back to the market for years.  Now after 7 long years, collectors will have two to look forward too.  Leaf’s Golf Metal will hit the market in March and SP Authentic will makes its way out in June.  With Upper Deck having relics, Tiger Woods, and Michael Jordan on their side it will be interesting to see how Leaf’s Golf Metal will stand up.  Either way, collectors are going to get two great looking golf products this year.

2010 Exquisite Football Is Packing Out – New Images!

Upper Deck is packing out 2010 Exquisite Football and is sharing some more images.  This could be one of the nicest looking college products produced.  You can see even more new images on Upper Deck’s Facebook Fan Page.

Dig Out Those Trevor Bayne Cards

Trevor Bayne became the youngest person to ever win the Daytona 500 on Sunday.  As you can imagine, being such a new driver his cards are taking off in popularity.  His rookies can be found in the following 2010 Press Pass products:

• Element
• Stealth
• Press Pass Racing
• Main Event

Between 2010 and 2011, Bayne only has 48 different cards.  Believe it or not, but 26 of those are autographed.

I’m really glad to see someone new win the “Super Bowl” of NASCAR racing.

Why Do Managers Do This?

I am by no means and expert on all the rules of baseball.  But I do have one question that has been on my mind for awhile.  Maybe someone can clear up my confusion.  My question is this:  When a starting pitcher is doing very well, and winning the game, why does the manager take them out?  I know this doesn’t happen all the time, but it happens often enough.  If a pitcher is “in the zone” why decide to put somebody else in?  I have seen it backfire so many times this season.  I just finished watching the Phillies beat the Giants 7-6 in 11 innings.  I’m very glad they won, but Tim Lincecum had them down 4-1 and then the manager decided to take him out.  If Lincecum would have stayed in, I bet they would have won.  This was a mistake by Bruce Bochy that I’m glad he made and worked in the Phillies favor.  But what is the reasoning of decisions like this?

The Weird Stuff I Notice

I notice a lot of weird stuff.  I’m telling you its some kind of sickness I have.  Did you ever notice that the foam cut out around packs of 2009 National Treasures Football resembles a certain logo all collectors should be familiar with?  Take a look!

Maybe I just have Upper Deck on the brain.  Or perhaps I’ve uncovered one of the biggest stories of the year 🙂

Babe Ruth Sparked The Market

How many Babe Ruth bats are left?  This is a question that was brought up in a post over on A Cardboard Problem today.

This week Topps released one of its most highly anticipated products of the year, Topps Tribute Baseball.  After watching a few box breaks and browsing eBay, you’ll find a ton of collectors that have pulled Babe Ruth relics.  Of coarse whenever you have an abundance of people pulling relic cards out of one of the best baseball players in history, your automatically going to have skeptical people saying they don’t trust the possibility that there could actually be that many Babe Ruth bats left to hack up and insert into cards.  I’m a pretty skeptical personal myself, because I think we can all agree The Babe isn’t playing anymore games and his relics are limited.  When Babe Ruth was alive, there was no market for sports memorabilia.  But even though there was no real market for sports collectibles when he was alive, Ruth still had people lining up for autographs.  In my opinion, Ruth was one of the first major sports celebrities baseball had ever seen.  He was considered collectible before there was a market.  Thats why I think companies can still find relics of him.  You don’t see Babe Ruth relics in every product.  It seems like Topps is saving Ruth stuff for some of their bigger products.  Panini is doing the same with Jim Thorpe relics, except there are much fewer Thorpe pieces left.

This morning I put in my order in for one box of ’09 Topps Tribute and I can’t wait to open it.  I plan on giving it a full review once I’m done.

The Babe did sign a few items in his day.

Are Thorpe Relics Running Out?

I consider Jim Thorpe to be the Babe Ruth of football.  Its been almost 5 years since I opened up that pack of 2003 Leaf Limited and pulled a 2 color piece of jacket limited to only 25 copies.  Back in 2003, Donruss/Playoff purchased a jacket/sweater once worn by Thorpe so they could cut it up an include it with some of their products.  In 2005, Donruss/Playoff was able to obtain a baseball jersey worn by Thorpe too, which I’ve always thought was petty cool because I always considered Jim Thorpe to be associated only with football.  From 2003 to 2007, Donruss/Playoff used many pieces of that famous burgundy jacket/sweater for their cards, but none have been seen since.  Is it possible that there is nothing left for them to cut up other than baseball stuff?  I can understand the possibility of Donruss/Playoff running low and only saving pieces for their high-end products like National Treasures, but Thorpe relics haven’t been in that product either for the last two years.  This wouldn’t be the first time manufacturers have run low on relics for an athlete.  Larry Little hasn’t had any new relic cards made either within the last two years.  There will come a day when some of these older players just won’t have any relics for manufacturers to get their hands on.  Relics for Mickey Mantle, Babe Ruth, Michael Jordan, Bobby Orr, and Jim Thorpe will all run out someday.  Its only a matter of time.

Anyone have a Jim Thorpe jersey they could sell to a manufacturer? 🙂

For more information be sure to check out the Blowout Cards Football Forum.

A Good Sign

Yesturday when I visited one of my local card shops, I saw a good sign.  There are a lot of people that think the bad economy is having a big hit on the hobby, but when I walked in that door yesturday it sure didn’t look like the case to me.  The cash register up by the front door is on a table that is pretty high, and the tape reached all the way to the floor.  I asked the owner how business was going?  He replied that they are selling a ton of high-end products by the box such as 2008 Bowman Sterling football.  This bad economy doesn’t seem to be hurting the card collectors in my neighborhood.  Its great to see a card shop that has been in business for over 30 years have a register tape reach all the way to the floor, especially when its full of expensive products.  A recent report on The Cardboard Connection stated that Topps and Upper Deck both have sold out of some of their products from last year.  I’m thinking that sports card collecting provides an escape for some people from the world’s problems.  For those people that think our hobby is in the crapper, I respectfully disagree.  I think our hobby is doing good, and I can’t wait to see what surprises come next.