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I have always said that prospecting is the one way to make money in the hobby, if you are actually good at it. Despite the fact that many people arent very good at it, many still try based on the buy low and sell high. This is not one of those instances.
In his first major league at bat top prospect Jason Heyward hit a three run home run off Carlos Zambrano. Its one at bat of a predicted 500 this year, but it has caused major value ripples across eBay. His cards have gone nuts, with people paying ridiculous amounts of money
expecting him to continue on his pace. Obviously they didnt get the prospector's rulebook memo.
This comes a few weeks after the Braves announced him as their starter for the 2010 season, causing a huge spike in value among collectors looking to get in on the 32nd level. Yes, the ground level has come and gone, but that hasnt stopped people.
Its called small sample size, and I can only wonder what will happen if he hits a few more.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Its One Home Run, Dont Go Nuts Or Anything
Baseball Brings Hope To The Weary
I have said every year that I have two religious holidays that I celebrate. First is the opening Sunday of the NFL season, and the second is obviously Opening Day for MLB. This year the Twins are playing in LA, so I have the privilege of watching the first four games on TV here. I will also be venturing towards the land of Mickey on Wednesday to see the game, which means that all is well in the world of Gellman. Funny enough, though my wife is VERY pregnant, she was the one who wanted to go more than anyone.
Other than that, Im glad there are a slew of games today, and I have the opportunity to watch each and every one on demand, thanks to my purchase of 1 month of MLB TV. See, this is the part of the season when I am so interested in baseball that I would sit and watch any game that is on. The feeling quickly wears off about 50 games in, where I switch modes to paying attention to only the Twins. I have the feeling that this particular season will try my patience with the Twinkies, especially after the Target Field new car smell wears off. This is the first season in a long time where pitching is the hole rather than hitting, and everyone knows that pitching is always more important. There are also teams like Detroit who made as many moves as the Twins, slating them atop many lists as a contender for the AL Central Crown. However, with good improvements made to the infield due to the signing of Orlando Hudson and JJ Hardy, as well as Jim Thome to fill the ever fluctuating DH slot on occasion, I still think the Twins have a good shot at a run into the post season.
I still think its kind of odd that despite my lack of interest in baseball cards and most things baseball that come extra, I still pay very close attention to what is going on for most of the season. I follow the stats more than anything, and I get awfully heated when the all star rosters and season ending awards come around. I hate undue recognition in Baseball, mainly because of the outdated stats used to determine success. With last year's awards being the first in a long time to pick the right players, I felt somewhat vindicated in my hulabaloo. This year, I hope the trend continues as dumb ass sports writers move away from stats like Wins for Pitchers and RBIs for Batters. Baseball has long shown that the good players excel at getting on base and hitting for both average and power over knocking in runs, and that Wins are about as meaningless of a stat as Holds or something similar. I can see that maybe people like Joe Morgan, Woody Paige and Mike Celezic are finally becoming part of a growing minority now that Sabremetrics are finally making their way to the top of player measurements.
Lastly, because Baseball is here, we know that nice weather isnt far behind. Baseball is a constant in our lives and I expect it to be for as long as I am around. It’s a long, long, long season and its tough to not get caught up in early hype and small sample size success. At this point I don’t care, as its obvious that the Yankees are slated for 162 losses if they continue on their current pace. Hopefully this statement turns out to be true as the season moves on, but right now, everyone is in first place, and everyone has the shot at being world champs. I cant help but wonder who will rise to the challenge this year, and Im praying to the baseball gods that my Twins will be the ones to raise the trophy when all is said and done.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Its One Thing To Be Bad At Faking
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I just dont understand the stupidity of some people. Why anyone even think of spending their hard earned cash on something as expensive as a Mark Sanchez SPA without looking at it first is beyond me. Look at this auction
Friday, April 2, 2010
Multi Player Logo Cards Can Be Dangerous
Back in 2006 and 2007 a lot of people chased the quad logo auto cards that Exquisite made famous. Four NFL logos on one card with four autos, simple as that. After being absent in 2008, they are back for 2009, and the first one is up on eBay. This particular one suffers from multi-player shock syndrome as I call it, or when higher value rookies like Freeman, are paired with players like Rhett Bomar who will most likely be gone in a few years. For this reason alone, the single logo signature cards from last year were some of the best ever created, mainly because there was no M.P.S.S. anywhere to be found.
Upper Deck Has A Exquisitely Tough Problem To Deal With
There is a time when signing on the patch of a card is great. I am a big fan of signed memorabilia cards, and I seek them for my collection when available. There are also times when it is catestrophic, and this is one of those times.
For some of the 2009 Exquisite Rookie Patch Auto cards, a few rookies got the instructions wrong
. With so many signed patch sets in the product, I can see why they may get confused, yet it should be the job of Upper Deck to run QC and maybe even include more detailed instructions for the rookies to sign. Mark Sanchez, in particular is the most visible rookie in the set, and it looks as if he did each and every one of his /99 base rookie autos incorrectly. What makes this even more ridiculous is that he did all of his /25 cards right
, signing on the card and not the patch. This makes me wonder a few things.
First, when Phil Hughes was a member over on the old BMB, he documented a signing he did on about five or six different card sets. Each card set had EXPLICIT instructions, including little arrow stickers where he should sign. Did someone label Sanchez's cards incorrectly? It could be a definite possibility.
Secondly, with all the signing of memorabilia in this set, it’s a possibility that sanchez signed all sorts of material for the mem cards, his /25 cards, and all the other subsets for the product
, but didn’t sign the /99 ones due to whatever problem. Instead of having a redemption and making people wait, they just used 99 pieces of the material he signed. The reason I say this is because the swatches are signed in silver pen, not the blue that the cards are usually signed in
. Not a likely scenario, but plausible.
Lastly, maybe this is a Sanchez problem, and he made a mistake due to rushing through the cards. One of our closest family friends is close with a past NBA lottery pick, and he told me a story that would make a ton of sense. Basically, his friend HATED signing the cards because of how long it took, so they had to force him to do it due to the contract he signed. They helped keep him focused while he signed, and im sure he didn’t mind if he made a mistake. On the other hand, from what I heard from people watching Sanchez at the rookie premiere, that’s not his personality, and he is one of those people who likes making his fans happy. As for Kenny Britt, another player who made the SAME mistake, Im not sure.
In the end, we are stuck with what we got, and I guess its better than nothing. Sanchez's /25 cards just became more valuable, either way, so I guess that’s a plus for the people who pulled them. Regardless of whose mistake it was, this is the biggest football set of the year without question, and it should have been taken care of rather than packed out. With all the recent problems for Upper Deck, you don’t want the biggest player in the biggest set to have these issues.
I guess we can await the news of what UD will do, if anything.
SCU Breaks - Multi Team Random Cards
As with every Exquisite box, there are going to be a lot of multi-team cards. I entered each team on the card into random.org, and here are the results for all the cards with more than one slot on them.
Quad LB Auto - Bucs
Exquisite 8 Patch - Vikings
Wallace/Robiskie Book Auto - Steelers
Massaquoi/Butler Book Auto - Seahawks
Marino/Manning Dual Auto - Dolphins
I will have the video for the HD break of the three boxes as well as the vids for these up tonight. I would upload them now, but I cannot get Youtube on my laptop when I am on the work network.
Thanks for joining!
Thursday, April 1, 2010
SCU Breaks: 2009 Exquisite and Ultimate Sponsored By Blowout Cards
Rookie Patch Autos:
Exquisite/Ultimate Break Is Tonight - Trade Until 7pm EST
Just a reminder to those of you who are participating in the break, you have until tonight to execute any trades for the teams you were randomly assigned. If you want to reach someone through email please let me know and I will forward your request on to them.
Happy April Fools From SCU! - Dont Worry, Ill Definitely Be Signing
This may be one of the most controversial cards to ever be produced, but I am excited none-the-less. Yesterday I was notified that there will be a chase in Exquisite similar to the Tiger Woods cards from last year, but these cards will be a tad different. This time they will be the first time in history that a blogger will be included in a card set. Upper Deck has recently made a push to embrace social media, but this is taking it to the extreme.
