Finally, a $2000 pack of cards

Razor entertainment, who is no doubt lapping up the free publicity due to this sort of thing for their upcoming baseball release, has announced they will release a pack of cards with a $2000 price tag.

The product has nothing to do with baseball, but will instead mimic the Topps Update and Highlight insert featuring president’s signatures as well as dual signatures cards with their wives and other figures associated with them (so John Kennedy and Jack Ruby are featured on a card, for example).

I’m just so glad that someone has listened to the call of the blogosphere and hardcore collectors everywhere by finally releasing a product that rivals my house payment for a month. I’m sure my wife will understand living on the street when I tell her it’s for that Chester A Arthur/Ellen Lewis Herndon dual autograph I’ve wanted since I was 7.

Thanks Razor. Enjoy your free publicity.

Chris Davis is the 5th Finest redemption

Chris Davis of the Texas Rangers breaks the NL Central stranglehold on the Topps Finest redemptions by being announced at the fifth card in the series. 

The announced so far:
1. Johnny Cueto
2. Jay Bruce
3. Kosuke Fukudome
4. Jeff Samardzjia
5. Chris Davis

Upper Deck First Edition… Update?!?

What’s going on with that?  I don’t see any sell sheets at the usual places, but apparently Upper Deck is releasing an update set to their requisite release for kids, First Edition.  The update will have 200 cards, and each pack features a Star Quest insert.

Upper Deck is also releasing a factory issued set that will also have five Yankee Stadium Legacy cards and a Game Used card.

I had no idea that First Edition was popular enough to warrant a) an update or b) an factory set.  I really have nothing to add to this other than the stunned sort of silence that should be evident in this post.

The update boxes release early August while the factory sealed sets are scheduled for a September 27th release.

Jeff Samardzija is the 4th Finest redemption

That didn’t take long.

Called up last week, Jeff Samardzija is already appearing on a Topps card. He’s the forth of the Topps Finest  redemptions from this year.

Perhaps the most amazing thing about Jeff is that he overcame having a third arm in order to make it to the majors. Here on the card you can see the vestigial limb tucked into the belly of his jersey.

And the fact that Jeff got a card so quickly makes one wonder why they Fukudomed around so long with some others.

The redemptions so far:
1. Johnny Cueto
2. Jay Bruce
3. Kosuke Fukudome
4. Jeff Samardzija

It’s a clean sweep for the NL Central so far.  I’m not sure who’s left from the division that still deserves a card, though.

Customer service

Before I left for vacation, I dropped off a couple packages to the post office.  One was a package full of damaged cards to Topps, the other Upper Deck.  One (Topps) is clear across the country, the other (Upper Deck) is clear across the state.  Since I was going to be gone for a week, I was a bit concerned about them sitting in the mailbox while we were gone.

Then I laughed at my foolishness.  There’s no way that either company would have less than a nine day turnaround.  We then arraigned for someone to grab our mail anyway, just in case.

Sitting on the counter when we returned was a package from Topps.  In nine days (or less) the cards went across the country, were replaced, and then shipped back.

I’m still waiting to hear from Upper Deck.

For those of you who’ve tried for replacements, is this typical of Topps?  The last time I dealt with Upper Deck, they just sent my cards back with a message of apology, so my bar is pretty low for them.  I’ll keep you updated when the other half arrives.

Upper Deck announces print runs on uncut Cup sheets

Baseball collectors can skip this one, but hockey collectors take note.  Those of you who can afford to throw $300 at a tin of four hockey cards may be interested in the print runs for Upper Deck’s The Cup uncut sheets.  So here you go:

Forms	Description	Limited Of
1	Regular Cards	25
2	Autograph Rookies/Autograph Rookie Patch cards	15
3	Regular Cards, Gold Parallels	10
4	Regular Cards, Black Parallels	1
5	Regular Cards, Jersey variation	8
6	Regular Cards, Gold Patch variation	3
7a	Regular Cards, Autograph Patch variation	1
7b	Regular Cards, Non-Autograph Patch variation	1
8	Rookie Cards (non-signed), Gold variation	10
9	Rookie Cards (non-signed), Black variation	1
10a	Autograph Rookies Patch Cards, Gold Parallel	1
10b	Autograph Rookie Cards, Gold Parallel	1
11	Signature Patches	15
12	Emblems of Endorsement	5
13	Limited Logos	10
14	Honorable Numbers/Dual Honorable Numbers	1
15	Scripted Swatches/Dual Scripted Swatches	3
16	Hardware Heroes/Stanley Cup Titleists/All-Star Royalty	1
17	Stanley Cup Signatures	8
18	Cup Chirography	10
19	Cup Foundations Quad Jerseys	7
20	Cup Foundations Quad Patches	3
21	Autographed Cup Foundations Quad Jerseys	5
22	Autographed Cup Foundations Quad Patches	2
23	Dual NHL Shields (front & back)	1
24	Dual Autographed NHL Shields (front & back)	1
26	Cup Enshrinements — Singles, Duals & Triples	5
27	Cup Trios/Cup Foursomes	3
28	Cup Trios Patch/Cup Foursomes Patch Parallel	2

It’s funny that the black parallels, the supposed 1 of 1’s end up with an uncut sheet, isn’t it?  That means that Upper Deck actually printed two of the 1 of 1’s, which logically would mean they aren’t really one of ones.  Not that most people in the hobby drool for the 1 of 1’s anymore anyway.

Imagine the guy who gets the framed uncut sheet breaks it open and slices them up.  Oh, the delicious havoc that would wreak.

So, which would you prefer?  I think I’d take the Chirography sheet if I could pick any of them as the cards look nice individually.  I imagine, though, that this would be pretty expensive, so the only way I’d manage one is if I found it in the street, though.  Or generous donation of a reader.  I’m not picky.

The Effects of Joe Collector on Joe Collector

Look, if the whole thing was meant as a joke, if the guy at SCU really doesn’t get angry at these people, then that’s great news for him and perhaps bad news for blood pressure pill manufacturers everywhere. 

But look at the effects of the Joe Collector posts on this Beckett message board post.  No !!!!!!11!!1 on his mojo.  No scans of his big hit.  No capital letters or even correct punctuation.  Just a few simple statements and that’s that.

I hope this isn’t a sign of things to come.  If so, we need to start thinking about how we can save Joe Collector from extinction?  Fund raising?  Some sort of Joe Collector zoo where we feed them all the packs with the hits in it?

We need to take this threat seriously, before it’s too late.

By Lincoln’s eyelash!

Hey kids, if you were buying all the Topps Allen & Ginter up hoping to crack the pack that has Lincoln’s DNA, well, you should sit down because I’ve got bad news.

The 1/1 has been pulled and is up on America’s favorite auction site.

You can stop buying and hoarding boxes, and by extension driving up prices so I can get one dirt cheap.  Thanks.

A new kind of insert

Mugshots.

It would look nice as a Chrome Refractor, don’t you think? I’ll post the picture when I get home so you don’t all strain fingers clicking through. (Edited to add – Picture added, as you can see. It’s Jorge Castillo, minor league pitcher for the Cubs. At least he was when the picture was taken. If he’s not released by the end of tonight, well he get fined for missing the team bus?)

Story here. I thought it was crazy when I first heard about the brawl, and then realized it was the Reds affiliate in Dayton and thought, ‘yeah, that makes sense.’

And this stood out for me, too:

There were 15 ejections issued immediately following the incident. However, umpires went back into the clubhouse and were instructed by Spelius to reinstate all the players and both managers to avoid placing pitchers in the outfield to fill out the lineups.

I say make them play or forefit the game. If the players are dumb enough to get involved in something like this and not realize the impact on the team, then that’s their problem. And if each team just needed a couple of outfielders, why allow all fifteen players back and not just two or three?

If people and teams break the rules, make them pay for it. Make both teams forfeit and take the loss. Make them uses pitchers or the peanut sellers. Don’t bend the rules to help those who broke them, though.

Anyway, my soap box is creaking. Time to get down off it.

Stadium Club’s name returns

Fielder’s Choice breaks the news that 2008 Topps Stadium Club Baseball is back.

Stadium Club debuted for baseball in 1991, the year I left the hobby for the first time, so I never developed a deep relationship with it. When I made a return to the hockey card world in 1999, I bought a couple of packs here and there, but never a box and I never put together a set. Now the name returns a year after I did to the baseball world, and it’s like a girl I dated a few times but never got serious with, wondered how she was doing, and then she shows up with a lavish lifestyle and covered in bling.

2008 Stadium Club has a SRP of $225. For reference, old boxes of Stadium Club sell on the bay for around $10, but at the time of release sold for around $5 a pack. Each pack of 2008 will have an autograph, a numbered rookie, and a numbered parallel in it, leaving two base cards for us set collectors.

Will 2008 be able to hold it’s value? Well, it will depend on the execution, really, and the quality of the autographs. If it’s packed with guys like Norris Hopper and Javier Valentin, then the answer is clearly no. And even if it’s a star studded line up, we are in the midst of the auto card heyday, so is one a pack really enough to give this product value?

And here’s another thing I’ve always wondered about Stadium Club. If Topps has the technology to use beautiful photography in their releases, why not use it in all of them? Why save it for one (now super premium) product? Is great photography really going to be enough of a draw to a Topps release that costs $225 a box when Upper Deck has it in a release that costs $50?

Initial interest will be high, I’m sure, simply because it’s got the Stadium Club name. But I’m also sure that as time goes by that the price will drop. Not to $10 a box, but I’ll guess the $150 range before it’s all over. And this assumes that Topps make a good looking product, too.

Stadium Club is scheduled for a November 3rd release date.