series | Sports Card Info

2018 Little League World Series Pin Pickups

Posted on August 20, 2018 by sportscardinfo

All eyes are on Williamsport, PA for the next week as the Little League World Series takes place. Baseball fans from all over the world have made their way to Williamsport. Hotels are booked. Restaurants are packed. Parking lots are full. And pins have become the next best thing to currency. Pins are all over the place. They’ve got commemorative pins made for everything.

While the Little League World Series is going on, I usually pick a day to go up and look around their campus. There is always a lot happening. I’m a big pin collector. I’ve got lanyards full of them. Over the last few years I’ve found it a bit more difficult to score free pins from the corporate sponsors. This is mainly due to you having to register with an electronic bracelet, and use all types of cell phone apps. Perhaps that stuff is all great for the kids, but for an older pin collector like myself I find it to be an inconvenience. Luckily, I take a handful of my Sports Card Info pins with me and use them to barter with these sponsors in order to get around all of that. In some cases it works, and others not.

Dunkin’ Donuts was my first stop. Little League came next. Following that was 4th Street downtown, Penn College, The Thomas T. Taber Museum, and then some more businesses on Williamsport’s Golden Strip. Pins just popup everywhere. I was able to get a lot more pins from the corporate sponsors setup at Little League than originally thought. My Sports Card Info pins really helped out.

Pin collecting at Little League is like opening a pack of cards. You don’t know what might happen. A man walked over and randomly handed me a pin. I didn’t catch his name, but I believe it was Troy Lare. He had what looked like a Little League World Series ring on. Judging by the pin, he is an umpire from Maine. Very cool find, and not something you can just pickup anywhere. I have very few umpire pins.

At the end of the day, I ended up with (24) new pins that filled up (3) lanyards.

The Phillies lost to the Mets 8-2 in this year’s MLB Little League Classic. Next year’s MLB Little League Classic takes place on 8/18/19 between the Pirates and Cubs.

I’d really like to see Topps have a corporate booth at Little League. It seems like a perfect fit. Hopefully someday they can work something out. Topps could have pins, special cards, make your own baseball card, and perhaps bring in a big league player to sign autographs.

Dick’s Sporting Goods

Chick-fil-A

2018 Topps Archives Signature Series Active Player Edition Box Break & Review

Posted on July 22, 2018 by sportscardinfo

Upon opening a box of Topps Archives Signature Series Active Player Edition last year, my head almost exploded. Not only did I pull a card numbered one-of-one, but it was an autograph of Mike Trout too. Its not everyday that you get to pull one of those. That was the second Mike Trout autograph I’ve pulled.

Topps Archives Signature Series Active Player Edition has returned for 2018. Housed inside each $50 box is (1) buyback autograph of a current player. The version of this product that focuses on retired stars will be released in October.

To some collectors, $50 might seem like a lot of money for just one autographed card. Especially when you have no clue as to who you might get. That’s why the secondary market is a great place to pickup singles if you don’t feel like taking the $50 gamble. Over the years, Topps has created some amazing looking sets. On-card buyback autographs amplify some of those awesome base sets. I know when opening Gypsy Queen or Allen & Ginter I’ve said to myself “Wouldn’t this base set look cool with autographs?” Products such as this do exactly that. Something as simple as an on-card autograph on a base card can be quite eye appealing. Just look at how well Stadium Club has been received the last few years. Simple is almost always better when it comes to card design.

The checklist covers (67) active MLB players. Each player has multiple cards, and the serial numbering varies. Risk takers hoping for a big pull should have fun. So should those player collectors picking up cards on the secondary market. In some way everyone can enjoy it.

Another 1/1! I’m on a roll with this product.

Here is what I pulled:

Auto

Starling Marte 2016 Gypsy Queen Walk-Off Winners Buyback Auto #’ed 1/1

Filed under: Reviews | Tagged: 2018, active, archives, box, break, edition, player, review, series, signature, topps | 1 Comment »

Yankees ’18 Topps Series 2 Relic Contest Winner Announced

Posted on July 14, 2018 by sportscardinfo

Congrats to Gregory Zakwin on being the lucky winner of the Luis Severino 2018 Topps Series 2 Major League Material Black Parallel Relic #’ed/99. Once Gregory Zakwin sends me his mailing address, I will ship this card ASAP. Thanks!

Filed under: contest | Tagged: 18, 2, announced, contest, relic, series, topps, winner, yankees | 2 Comments »

Yankees ’18 Topps Series 2 Relic Contest! – NOW CLOSED

Posted on July 7, 2018 by sportscardinfo

This contest is for a Luis Severino 2018 Topps Series 2 Major League Material Black Parallel Relic #’ed/99. Good luck!!!

Contest Details:

This contest will end Friday, July 13, 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!!!

Filed under: contest | Tagged: 2, 2018, black, contest, league, luis, major, material, parallel, relic, series, severino, topps | 76 Comments »

2018 Topps Series 2 Baseball Hobby Box Break & Review

Posted on July 4, 2018 by sportscardinfo

Baseball collectors get three flagship products per year. Series 1 comes in the winter. Series 2 arrives during the summer. And then Update Series wraps up things in the fall. All three series receive massive amounts of attention from set collectors. From a timing standpoint I like Series 2 because it comes out during the summer, which is my favorite season. When talking about a flagship set that has a lot of up-to-date content, an All-Star Game presence, and players in their new uniforms, Update Series takes the cake.

2018 Topps Series 2 continues right where Series 1 left off. The main base set ranges from card #351 to #700. Its important to note that card #564 will be of either Joey Rickard or the New York Mets. Card #365 is the same way. You’ll find #365 of either Mallex Smith or the Dynamic Dodgers. Its a numbering error. Neither card is rarer than the other. Because of this error, you won’t find card numbers 364 and 565.

Parallels of the base set include: Purple, Rainbow Foil, Gold #’ed/2018, Vintage Stock #’ed/99, Independence Day #’ed/76, Black #’ed/67, Mother’s Day Pink #’ed/50, Father’s Day Powder Blue #’ed/50, Memorial Day Camo #’ed/25, Clear #’ed/10, Platinum #’ed/1, Printing Plates #’ed/1, and Negative.

Over (100) photo variations can be pulled. That’s a lot. Luckily the CMP codes help out, and Topps printed them in bold.

Base – #359
SP Variations – #412
SSP Variations – #414
Late RC SP – #249 (Gleyber Torres & Ronald Acuna Jr.)

Inserts are plentiful. Almost all have parallels and autographs. I really enjoy how the 1983 Topps inserts came out this year. I wouldn’t mind a special parallel of these to be given out during the National Sports Collectors Convention this year. The Home Run Challenge cards have been fun. From my Series 1 box I pulled a Trey Mancini Home Run Challenge card. I picked my birthday, June 16th, for him to hit a home run. That didn’t happen, but I’ve got another shot thanks to this box.

Hobby boxes have (1) hit, while jumbos contain (3). Out of my Series 2 box I opened last summer, I pulled an Aaron Judge RC parallel #’ed/25 from the very last pack. That goes down as one of the biggest pulls I’ve had from a flagship product. This box was quite solid too. It marks the first time I’ve pulled an SSP Variation.

Set collectors should have fun!

Here is what I pulled:

Relic