Optimus Prime is in the house!

I previewed this card way back in March. It’s an autograph of Peter Cullen, the voice actor of Optimus Prime in the new Transformers films. Those films suck, though. The reason this autograph is so awesome is because Cullen, 64, was the original voice actor of Optimus Prime from the 80’s cartoon.

Now, as far as the card itself… it looks great! Although I hate the look of Michael Bay’s version of Optimus, Topps’ design team did just enough by adding the logo, name of the film, Optimus, and yes, a sticker autograph. Surprisingly enough, I am not the only one drooling over this card as it recently sold for a whopping $255 dollars on eBay.

With Megan Fox not on this year’s checklist, former Nickelodeon actor Shia LeBeouf is the big “hit” from this product. Despite having an autograph in last year’s Indiana Jones trading card set, his new autograph from Revenge of the Fallen is selling for as high as $320 dollars.

Is it just me or are non-sports trading cards building some serious momentum?

How great will Stephen Strasburg be?

Around the time of Randy Johnson’s slow creep to 300 wins many analyst began speculating on the achievement. In the entire history of baseball, only 24 pitchers have reached 300 victories. Some believe that due to pitch counts and 5-man rotations, we may never again see a pitcher win 300 games.

Furthermore, only 16 pitchers have ever struck out 3,000 hitters or more. Stat nerds can come up with hundreds of  new ways to measure greatness but wins and strikeouts are still the most recognized stats for a pitcher. That’s why I was shocked to discover this game-used, signed and framed Nolan Ryan jersey didn’t even sell. Ryan is not only the all-time Strike Out King, he’s also won over 300 games.

Meanwhile, a signed and game-used Team USA jersey of 20-year old Stephen Strasburg brought in over $3,500 dollars through MLB.com recently. Not only has Stephen not pitched in a single game, he’s also been drafted by the Washington Nationals and will likely sign a long-term contract. What that means is whatever small chance Strasburg had at 300 victories has already diminished.

Am I wrong to think someone severely overpaid for that jersey?

Is this the most rare Ichiro ever?

At one point or another, every collector has fantasized about one day working in the industry. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of trading card history and be involved with the production of today’s high tech baseball cards?

For one such collector, that dream became a reality in 2001 when Wayne was hired by The Topps Company. As one can imagine, the perks were fantastic. Wayne got a free box of every product he was involved in and received a nice discount from the employee store as well.

One new product that Topps was working on in early 2002 was Topps Performance Baseball. T.P.B. would have capitalized on the gambling craze by creating a card game that used a dice. Furthermore, there was scratch off codes on the back that one would use to build an online portfolio through Topps.com. Sound familiar?

Wayne spent countless hours putting together the checklist and assigning ratings for each player. All this hard work went to waste when Topps scrapped the set long before release. At one of the meetings, prototype cards were passed around and the Ichiro Suzuki you see below was given to Wayne.

Fast forward seven years and today Ichiro is not only one of the best players in the game but also has an extremely rabid fan base. Recently, his 2001 Upper Deck Ultimate Collection rookie card sold for over $2,000 after a pretty intense bidding war. Now this rare Topps prototype is set to hit eBay in a few days.

How important is this card to an Ichiro Super Collector?

You can track the auction HERE.

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Is Megan Fox the Queen of Non-Sports?

Just a little under a year ago I featured a Transformers: The Movie Megan Fox autograph. Back then, while many men knew of the 22-year old knockout, she wasn’t as mainstream as she is today.You could have easily picked up the Fox autograph for just under $300 dollars.

Today, the very same card ended in auction style for over $400 dollars. If you’d like to own the card without entering into a biding war, you will likely need some pretty serious cash. Out of the four currently on eBay, three of them have a Buy It Now of $999 or more.

Meanwhile, the previous “Holy Grail” from Inkworks just hit $470 dollars in a recent auction. It appears for now, Mrs. Jolie’s on-card Inkworks card owns the secondary market but with Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen just around the corner it might only be a matter of time before there is a new Queen of Non-Sports trading cards.

Do you hate just to hate?

Once upon a time during my 10-year hiatus from collecting I took up Transformers. I began collecting the 80’s toys, along with the DVDs that had been recently released. Considering no one I knew collected Transformers, I began looking on line for a forum where I could discuss my hobby with others.

It took a few weeks but eventually I chose to join a Transformers message board with thousands of members. It was without a doubt the worst on line experience I’ve ever had. I joined a community that did nothing all day long but bitch and moan. From the toys, tv show, and even upcoming movie… it was 99.9% negativity.

I feel the same way about some collectors right now. All I see from 4-5 on line communities is absolute hatred for the companies, products, you name it and someone hates it. I feel like some are forgetting that this is a hobby meant to be enjoyed.

Don’t get me wrong, I am the first to point out a negative but then I also go out of my way to find the positive. I may bash Donruss for too many stickers but I also gave them praise for their celebrity-themed releases.

I gave Upper Deck hell for recycled “X” designs in their baseball lines but then fell in love with this year’s Spectrum of Stars autograph inserts, which I have now blogged about three times.

Topps without a doubt took the biggest hit in 2009 with my commentary on Letterman football but then I ended falling hard for their retro-themed releases like Murad and Mayo.

Am I the only one who thinks there is just way too much negativity right now?

2009 Upper Deck Sweet Spot

2009 Upper Deck Sweet Spot

Base Set:
100 Regular Cards
30 Sweet Beginnings Rookie Autographs (Serial numbered)

Inserts:
Immortal and Historic Signatures!
2005 Classic Patch Update!
Sweet Spot or Sweet Spot Classic Autograph cards!
Sweet Swatch single, dual, triple, and quad jersey cards!
Sweet Patch single, dual, triple, and Quad patch cards!
20th Anniversary Cards
Bat Barrels

Break Summary:
Four (4) Memorabilia cards per box!
One (1) Sweet Beginnings Rookie Signature card per box, on average!
One (1) Sweet Spot or Sweet Spot Classic Autograph card per box, on average!

Configuration:
8 cards per Pack
6 packs per box
18 boxes per case

Product Arrival Date:

November 2009

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