A very sad day at Wax Heaven

I have lost an Andrew Miller card.

Last week, friend and fellow blogger, Eric Slette, surprised me with an Andrew Miller card I needed. It was a 2009 Upper Deck First Edition base card. It was not the fanciest or flashiest card but because I needed it, I was very happy.

Around that time, things at home began to sour. I won’t get into details but let’s just say it’s been a hectic, uncomfortable week. Naturally, I avoided working on my collection because I was just not in the mood. Sure, posts kept coming non-stop but only because writing is an obsession I’d hate to let go.

Somewhere along the way I decided to once again give away 99% of my collection. I did this back in January when I was losing space in my home and once again gave away thousands of football, baseball, basketball, and hockey cards to a local Wax Heaven reader. All I have left is Jose Canseco & Andrew Miller.

Today, a very special card arrived from Kirk, a basketball fan who wanted to trade for a Topps Signature autograph. With life settling down a bit, I decided it was time to update my Miller collection. Unfortunately, I discovered that I misplaced my Miller First Edition somewhere.

I am going to continue searching for the card but because I am so anal about organizing/cleaning, I am almost certain it is gone. An apology goes out to Eric for losing the gift he sent. In the meanwhile, enjoy this 2008 Topps Heritage Black Refractor #’d to just 59 copies.

Unless there is a Gold Refractor, I now have all of them (Base, SP, Chrome, Refractor, Black Refractor). These cards look amazing in chrome and with Refractor technology. It’s a shame that Topps left Miller out of this year’s Heritage release, along with Finest, Attax, and Bowman.

He also won’t be in Bowman Chrome, Topps Chrome, or Ticket to Stardom.

Upper Deck Icons: A tough sell

If you haven’t already seen it, I am obsessed with Upper Deck’s Spectrum of Stars autograph inserts. I love celebrity autographs as bonus “hits” in baseball products but what 2009 Upper Deck Icons is doing might have put to rest my love affair with celebrity cards.

2009 Icons, which is scheduled for release in mid-July is currently pre-selling for about $80 dollars. For that price you are guaranteed just sixty cards, two game-used relics and one certified autograph. I previewed this product many months ago and while the design team did a superb job, something is really wrong with 2009 Icons.

Non-autographed manufactured patches

I don’t blame Upper Deck for the non-auto’d ManuPatches. After all, Topps did it with their flagship and no one said a word then but those were not included in the sell sheets as your guaranteed “hits”. Besides, who in their right mind would want a Jeremy Piven card if it’s not even autographed?

I know the entire collecting world hates ManuPatches. Personally, I don’t mind a good-looking one but when it’s not signed, it’s absolutely worthless. You can add a serial number, nice photo, whatever… at the end of the day it’s still nothing more than a meaningless card that adds no real value to any product.

Need more proof?

The Wax Report – 2009 O-Pee-Chee

I was worried that I might not get a box of O-Pee-Chee from Upper Deck to review but like clockwork, Mr. Scott delivered a three-box break for the readers of Wax Heaven. Enjoy!

2009 O-Pee-Chee

Boxes: 3

Packs: 36

Cards: 6

Price: $49

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20th Anniversary Retrospective Memorabilia: 1 (Jason Varitek)

20th Anniversary Retrospective: 18

Black: 108

Black Mini: 3

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Review: This product has to be the most reasonably priced boxes I have opened this year. Not a lot of bang for your buck but you do get a great assortment of cards.  The photography is very crisp & all different. These cards would be perfect to get autographed in person or through the mail.

I would like for companies to stop putting other sports in baseball products. I don’t collect Hockey, why would I want these Hockey retro cards? The best insert in this product is the New York, New York cards. They are thicker and have a gloss to them. Only disappointment here was that about 15 packs had dupes in them. Card 5 & 6 were the exact same cards in these packs, I guess it was sorting mistake.

I wouldn’t buy anymore O-Pee-Chee but they will make a great addition to my collection. You get some players other sets don’t have since the base checklist is 600 cards deep.

Man on the Street – NFL Edition

Shane, Wax Heaven’s Man on the Street swears he’s retired from bustin’ wax. Despite that fact, Shane continues buying product to show collectors what non-Beckett breaks really look like.

If you’ve read any of the past Man on the Street segments, you know Shane is a big spender card companies dream about. He buys one box of every product and if he likes  it, he buys more. Shane was do disappointed with Upper Deck and Donruss’ efforts that he vowed to never touch either product again.

2009 UD Football Heroes

24 Packs per Box

8 Cards per Pack

$90.00

2009 Donruss Elite Football

20 Packs per Box

5 Cards per Pack

$90.00

(thumbnails lead to full-size scans)

Is Dice-K a bust?

When I returned to collecting and baseball in general in 2007, the big story of the year was Daisuke Matsuzaka. When bustin’ baseball boxes, collectors were so obsessed with Dice-K that more than once I traded a mid-end product’s base card of Matsuzaka for a game-used card or autograph.

Dice-K recently went on the disabled list after starting the year 1-5 with an ERA over 8. In 69 career starts since joining the Red Sox, Matsuzaka is 34-20. Since 2007, forgotten senior citizen, Tim Wakefield has 36 victories and is getting paid much less.

Maybe Dice-K will return to form but even then I don’t see how he was worth anything close to $100 million dollars. It appears that the Red Sox, a few years removed from a World Series title did everything in their power to remain dominant over those New York Yankees and spent way more than they should have.

Click HERE for a mini Tim Wakefield tribute.

Photograph of the year?

One of the big improvements in Topps’ flagship this year was photography. Usually, it would take Chrome & Refractors to get me excited over the historic brand but not this year. Keeping up with the great theme of action photographs, Topps has releases information for Red Hot Redemption #3.

This time around, Pirates Outfielder, Andrew McCutchen, gets the “Hot” treatment. While the 22-year old McCutchen hasn’t been fantastic, he has managed to hit .333 in the 17 games he’s played in this season.

What really sticks out about this card is the wonderful photograph of Andrew attempting to bunt. I love how his name is in the frame, along with the eerie shadow. While I am the furthest thing from a Pirates fan, this is one card I wouldn’t mind owning.

Previous 2009 Red Hot Rookies:

1. Fernando Martinez, Mets

2. Gordon Beckham, White Sox

3. Andrew McCutchen, Pirates