CollectorCrate Announces March Exclusives

UPDATE

• This company is no longer in business.

CollectorCrate has announced it’s March lineup of exclusive sketch print cards.  Depending on which sport you decide to purchase, you will receive a sketch print card of Tom Brady, Andrew Wiggins, or Ted Williams.  All were drawn by Emily Tester.  Good luck with your box breaks!!!

February’s CollectorCrate Exclusives Are…

UPDATE

• This company is no longer in business.

CollectorCrate is still going and today they announced their February exclusives.  Depending on which sport you decide to buy, your CollectorCrate will have a sketch print card of Joe Montana, Kevin Durant, or Nolan Ryan.  This month’s cards were drawn by artist Steven Burch.  Good luck opening your CollectorCrates!!!

Leaf Announces Pete Rose Legacy Reverse Negatives SP List

For those collectors opening boxes of 2011 Leaf Pete Rose Legacy, you better take a close look at your base cards.  Leaf announced today that there are several reverse negative short print variations.  This applies to the following base cards: #2,6,16,20,23,27,30,32,34,37,38,43,47,51,52,54,60.  Leaf has stated that these reverse negatives come 1-2 per case.

The cards in top loaders are examples of reverse negatives.

’11 Leaf Valiant Baseball SP’s

2011 Leaf Valiant Baseball hits the market tomorrow and Brian Gray has announced the Short Prints that can be found.

The following cards are short printed in their base (GREEN) versions:

Short Prints (1/2 to 2/3 of standard prinmt run):

• Alex Meyer
• Blake Swihart
• Danny Hultzen
• Dylan Howard
• Francisco Lindor
• George Springer
• Jed Bradley
• Levi Michael
• Mikie Mahtook
• Trevor Bauer

Super Short Prints (1/3 or less of Standard print run):

• Cheslor Cuthbert
• Luis Heredia
• Manny Machado
• Zack Wheeler
• Ichiro Suzuki

This is one product I’m really looking forward too.  I love the Crusade design.  Its actually releasing 8 days earlier than originally scheduled.  I’m heading to the Collectors Showcase of America show in Oaks, PA in a few weeks and I’m hoping to try a box.

The Perfect Christmas Gift For Any Phillies Fan

The Philadelphia Phillies have a ton of great stuff in their online store over at MLB.com.  But there is one item that might be a little more difficult to find.  I’m referring to the “Phillies Dream Scene” print that is modeled after the mural which is in the Diamond Club of Citizens Bank Park.  You might be able to find prints available for sale in art galleries, but you can always contact the artist, Jamie Cooper, at: jamie@jcap.com.au

No Phillies fan should be without one.  I have a print hanging in my room and

it looks great.  Here is a little info about the print:

• It’s printed on 300gsm quality art stock
• The size is approx. 39 x 15 inches
• Each print comes signed by Jamie Cooper
• The print is accompanied by an A4 sheet with the entire story of the painting including the many hidden secrets woven into the scene
• Price is $125 plus postage and handling ($25)

Click to enlarge

Welcome Home Phillies “Dream Scene” Print

A few weeks ago I received a package in the mail from Jamie Cooper who painted the Phillies “Dream Scene” painting that hangs in the Diamond Club of Citizens Bank Park.  Inside the package were two signed prints of this famous piece of art.  I decided to get one framed to place on my wall.  As a Phillies fan, this is a great addition to my personal collection.  If your interested in adding one of these prints to your collection, please contact Jamie Cooper at: jamie@jcap.com.au

Click to enlarge

FCB Announces Second Autograph Guest For The National

Chris Gilmore of FCB announced last night that Blue Jays relief pitcher Dirk Hayhurst will be signing autographs at their booth Saturday afternoon during the National.

Hayhurst is part of the FCB promotional card set too.  The base set featuring the baseball diamond is limited to 1,500 copies.  The second rarest features a night scene of Baltimore’s Inner Harbor and is limited to 100 copies.  The autographed version is limited to only 25 copies.

I think FCB should get into the card making business.  These things look great!

Cooper’s Phillies “Dream Team” Painting IS Coming To Fans

This evening I received an e-mail from Jamie Cooper.  Jamie is the artist who painted the famous Phillies “Dream Team” painting that is hanging in the Diamond Club at Citizens Bank Park.  He contacted me awhile back to see if I could help spread the word to see if collectors would be interested in a more affordable version of this great piece of art.  I’m happy to announce that after a few blog posts later the feedback has been overwhelming and Jamie has decided to bring this painting to the fans.  Thats the power of blogging!

Print Highlights:

• It will be printed on 300gsm quality art stock
• The size will be approx. 39 x 15 inches
• Each print will come signed by Jamie Cooper
• The print will be accompanied by an A4 sheet with the entire story of the painting including the many hidden secrets woven into the scene
• Price is $125 plus postage and handling ($25)
• The lithographic print on paper will be released in 2 weeks time, delivery within 4 weeks

For more information, you can contact Jamie Cooper at:

jamie@jcap.com.au

Click to enlarge

Phillies “Dream Team” Painting Possibly Coming Soon To Fans

Upstairs at Citizens Bank Park hanging in the Phillies Diamond Club is one of the greatest pieces of Phillies artwork ever created.  The Phillies “Dream Team” piece was created by Jamie Cooper and features various Philadelphia Phillies from different eras.  It even has Harry Kalas interviewing Richie Ashburn to the right.  I wrote a post about this piece of work last January, and recently I was contacted by Mr. Cooper who wanted to know my thoughts about making prints of the piece available to collectors.  As of right now, only extremely high-end copies are available to collectors and can cost into the thousands.  Cooper would like to offer collectors a chance to own a copy of this print, but at a more economical cost.

What he is thinking about is creating a 45 x 18 inch print on 250 gsm art stock.  The price would probably be around $125.00 plus shipping & handing.  Right now this isn’t definite, but he asked if I would help spread the word informing Phillies fans that this could be something available.  In my opinion, its the greatest piece of Phillies artwork ever created.  It just looks so cool!!

Please let me know what you think of this idea.  Jamie is looking for some feedback to see if its worth going through with.  He has had a lot of requests to make the painting more affordable.

Click on each to enlarge.

This is a mock-up of what the print could look like.  The names of the players and the story of the painting would come on an attached COA.  If anyone is interested in purchasing a print, please contact Jamie Cooper at: jamie@jcap.com.au

Finally Print Media Free

The first time I picked up a price guide was back in the early 90’s.  It was a copy of Beckett Baseball with Michael Jordan on the cover.  The first time I actually subscribed to a hobby publication was after I purchased a copy of Tuff Stuff featuring Grant Hill on the front.  For years I received copies of Tuff Stuff before flipping over to Beckett.  Before I even thought of starting a blog, I locked myself into a long term subscription to Beckett.  A few months ago I started to receive notices from Beckett asking me to renew my subscription, and I confidently threw them in the garbage.  I’m not ashamed to admit that while starting Sports Card Info I kept receiving copies of the magazine, but it has been a very long time since I have opened one up.  I never saw the need.  Next month will be the first time I’ve never received a print publication that pertains to The Hobby.  Print media is dead and the blogs have taken over.  Price guides are a complete joke and you can get all the information you need online.  Before I started this blog, I was an active member of the Beckett Message Boards (BMB).  At the time, Kevin Haake was the editor of Beckett Baseball and he would ask members to contribute articles which would then be featured in the magazine.  I had a bunch of stuff printed in their magazine and I thought it was the coolest when the magazine came and I saw it in there.  After they changed their website, I left the boards and focused much more on blogging.  Why wait a month for an article to be published when I can do it instantly at my computer?

Does anyone see a good reason for you to subscribe to a print publication that deals with The Hobby?  I don’t.  You can save yourself a lot of money by reading the blogs.  That extra cash can buy you a lot of cards 🙂

Inside these magazines I remember seeing ads for very large shows.  Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d ever get to attend some of them.