There are very few baseball cards featuring Jose Canseco that I have not seen, either in person or through the Internet. The sad thing is that even if I someday hit the lottery I will never have the opportunity to own every single Canseco card in existence.

That being said, I ran into this amazing 2004 Donruss-produced dual relic featuring Jose Canseco and Will Clark this afternoon. If Donruss had managed to make anything close to this beauty with their over-hyped Prime Cuts last year, I would have jumped on the bandwagon.

Instead, Donruss came back into the baseball market with sticker autographs on 100% of their releases, used same images across brands, and just made some really ugly, dark baseball cards. I truly believe that if Donruss spent more time on design and less on stickers and relics, they could make a full comeback someday.

As for this wonderful card, I didn’t make a bid seeing as the opening price was $10 dollars. Maybe I was being cheap but I think really it was me being tired of the “memorabilia” era of The Hobby. In the long run, this card features two tiny pieces of bats that may or may not have been used by two great players.

Call me crazy but to me this card is not worth $10 dollars.

As a collector, my biggest problem is having a short attention span. It took me nearly twenty years to pick up a Jose Canseco certified autograph and within a month I sold them all to focus on my Andrew Miller collection. Now a year later my Miller collection is something special and Jose is getting overlooked.

Recently, a fellow Canseco collector sent over a stash of cards which included two parallels from 1997 Upper Deck SPx. I already had the base version (silver) but the Bronze and Gold versions, while not exactly rare, never found their way into my collection. After 12 long years, I am a proud owner of the entire set and I couldn’t be happier.

As a longtime collector, I must say that 1997 SPx is Upper Deck’s best version of the brand. If was the second year of SPx but also the last in which the base cards featured holograms. I cannot explain just how “high-end” these cards were back in 1997 but I’d say they were the equivalent of today’s Exquisite line.

If anyone ever comes across an unopened box I would highly recommend picking it up. It may not bring the guaranteed autograph or relic per box that collectors are used to these days but if you are extremely lucky, you actually have a chance to pull an on-hologram autograph of Ken Griffey Jr., among others.

You can read my review of 2009 SPx here.

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In case you haven’t heard, Dallas Cowboys quarterback, Tony Romo, split with his longtime girlfriend and former reality TV star, Jessica Simpson. Now while it may be true that Jessica, once on top of the celebrity world, is down and out, she is still one of the most beautiful women on the planet.

Ironically, Romo spent the last weekend of being “locked down” with Upper Deck for their annual Diamond Club Summit. As you can see from these pictures (#3 down), he was clearly writing his phone number to that pretty lady in the flower dress. Well, maybe not but how can you explain that huge smirk on his face?

For further proof, check out picture #11. He is clearly chatting on his cell with his new woman in the flower dress, we’ll call her “Amy”. So there you have it, breaking news from none other than Upper Deck. How does that make you feel, TMZ, Perez Hilton, and Entertainment Tonight?

I want to thank everyone for their contributions on the upcoming Spectrum of Stars contest. One of the ideas I am kicking around at the moment is a group break type raffle. The entry fee would be a one-time Pay Pal payment of $3.00 dollars. That payment would ensure your entry to 8 different raffles (see below).

The fee would cover postage, secure bubble mailer, and other protective items. Any leftover money would go into purchasing an old school box of Upper Deck to be reviewed on Wax Heaven in the future. My question now is how much should the fee be? Originally I was thinking $5 dollars but that may be too much.

Also, the drawings would be through Random.org and performed by a third party, preferably a well-respected blogger from Georgia. I could even thank him for his work by sending him a recently pulled Braves autograph. Take a look at the image below and tell me what you think of the groupings.

Leslie Nielsen/ Burt Reynolds = Hollywood

Kim Kardashian/ Kendra = dirty skanks

Cheech / Chong = pothead legends

Also, the entry fee means you could essentially win more than once.

Take the poll below and be as honest as possible.

By all accounts, Topps Magic football is a great product. It features wonderful photography, a beloved retro theme by the company that does it best, and features informative card backs and well-designed inserts. The problem is that despite all these great traits, it falls just short of another recent football release, Heroes.

One surprise I found out from bustin’ this product is that unlike other retro-themed releases, this one featured sticker autographs. Thankfully, unlike 2007 Topps Turkey Red baseball, these are not eyesores. You can sit and nitpick all you like but these clear stickers are a vast improvement over the holographic ones of the past.

There are parallels in the form of black borders but with no serial numbering anywhere, it doesn’t bring in much excitement. The same goes for the non-sport cards, which fall way short of entertaining, unlike the ones we saw in Heroes. Still, the potential is there for some really big “hits”.

You be the judge. What do you think of Topps Magic football?

(For a full listing of all Wax Heaven reviews, click HERE)

When I returned to collecting in 2007 all anyone wanted to talk about was Allen & Ginter. By the time I was able to find a Hobby box ($185 at B.C. Sports) I felt like I got a kick in the gut. Sure, the cards were nice and there was not a sticker autograph to be found but for that outrageously inflated price, I was left with a bad taste in my mouth.

That bad taste remained in 2008 when after one lone retail blaster I decided to skip Allen & Ginter altogether. Everything looked identical to the previous year’s release and I was still seeing the same boring relics being pulled, along with autographs of subjects who did not deserve them.

This year has been a tough one for baseball as we have been hit with many less than desirable products. As usual, the Allen & Ginter hype began early but would Topps be able to wipe away my memory of the B.C. Sports’ criminally insane price of ‘07 A & G?

Below is my review of 2009 Topps Allen & Ginter.

Design: A

Almost perfect, this year’s design is a welcomed change from previous A & G releases. The base cards feature amazing photography/artwork, the black border parallel looks unbelievable and the Brian Kong sketches work well as an insert.

The only reason A & G didn’t get a perfect “A+” is because of the framed “hits”, which now too need a makeover of some kind. It will be a challenge but if we see Allen & Ginter in 2010 it would be best to try something new for relics and autographs or do something new with the frames.

Price: B

You are going to get close to 200 of the best-designed cards of 2009 from $90-$100 dollars, along with your guaranteed three “hits”. The only way to save Allen & Ginter at this price point is to increase the size of the relics an inch or two. I wouldn’t be so disappointed with a Bill Hall bat relic if it were an above average size.

Pulls: A-

I scored an on-card autograph of a Negro League star, a decent-looking relic of Chase Utley, and Mike Cameron. It certainly could have been a lot worse. If you’re all about “hits” this box was right up your alley, considering I also pulled a hand-numbered mini.

Overall: A

Perfect design, well-done parallels, sketch cards, and on-card autographs make Allen & Ginter easily the best baseball product of 2009. It’s treading on dangerous ground by not changing up the relic and autograph design and including some not so interesting subjects in the non-sports checklist but aside from that Topps could do no wrong.

P.S. – Not a single Andrew Miller pulled!

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In reality, Jaime is supposed to be my nemesis. As a fellow hardcore Jose Canseco collector, we should be spending our days battling it out on eBay. Instead, Jaime, a Super Collector by all meanings of the term surprised me today with a nice stack of Jose Canseco doubles I desperately needed.

Originally, the idea was to buy up some of his doubles but when I saw mostly high-end relics and autographs I knew I had better dig through his less valuable cards to get a decent price. By last week I had gotten a good 20+ cards for around $15 dollars.  When I didn’t hear from Jaime for a while I figured he had lost interest.

Below is some of the best cards he sent over. Just in case the scan doesn’t show it, the 1998 Bowman Chrome is a Refractor and the two 1997 SPx cards are not doubles but actually the Gold and Bronze parallels. The two buttons come from Topps and despite their oddball reputation, are actually very well designed and produced.

CLICK HERE to check out Jaime’s awesome Jose Canseco site!

For several months I have been writing about the genius that is Upper Deck’s Spectrum of Stars insert set. After all, Wax Heaven’s slogan is ‘Trading Cards and Pop Culture’. How could I not love a set featuring autographs of Al Bundy, Cheech & Chong, and Kim Kardashian?

Two weeks ago, Upper Deck’s baseball license was renewed. As a thank you for the blogosphere’s support, the men & women of U.D sent over an entire set of Spectrum of Stars. I’m talking about autographs of Leslie Nielsen, Burt Reynolds, Playboy’s Kendra and so much more.

Now I am torn on just how to give these awesome cards away. My original idea was to have multiple contests with several winners but money is tight and shipping would kill me. My second idea was to give away the entire set to one lucky winner but then hundreds of readers would be left in the cold.

The only thing I know right now is that I am giving away every single card because without the readers of the site, this place would not be 1/4th of what it is today. So if you’ve got suggestions by all means let me know through the comments section, by e-mail, and/or through the Wax Heaven Twitter account.

As always, many thanks to Upper Deck for supporting the blogosphere.

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Last night, the Arizona Diamondbacks released Tony Clark.

While young baseball fans will remember Clark as a “good guy” who hadn’t played full-time in over a decade, older fans will think back to his meteoric rise with the Detroit Tigers back in the mid-90’s. From 1996 through 1999, Clark was one of the league’s most feared sluggers.

Despite his decade-long struggle (not counting 2005), Clark is truly one of the nicest, most genuine players in the game. In 2008, after a loss to my Marlins, Mr. Clark made his way to the team bus with at least two items in each hand. When Tatiana and I called him over he did everything in his power to make our night.

Tony Clark is 37 years old and will likely announce his retirement.

Once a Razor exclusive, Baltimore Orioles’ Matt Wieters has just made his Upper Deck debut in 2009 SPx. The rumor is that Razor sold Wieters autographs to Upper Deck. So now that Wieters has his first card in a Major League uniform, what’s that going to do to his three Razor releases?

Wieters, who has three home runs in his first 30 games in The Show, can be found in Razor Signature, Razor Metal eBay exclusives, Razor Lettermen, and in a few weeks through Razor National exclusives. Seeing as the first SPx autograph sold for close to $300, it appears this will be one of Matt’s most-desired cards next to his 2007 Donruss Elite Extra Edition.

Matt Wieters will also have an autograph in 2009 Upper Deck Ballpark Collection.