The Hottest Card In The Hobby

The Hobby has a funny way of surprising you every once in a while. In an era when teenagers still in High School have certified autographs selling for thousands of dollars, right now one of the hottest players in baseball is a 30-year old adult.

His name is Jayson Werth and he’s quickly becoming a household name thanks to his performance in the post-season. So while his underdog Phillies are one game away from being eliminated by the $200+ million dollar team, collectors are going ga-ga over his certified autographs.

Need proof? Two “white whale” printing plates have recently sold for well over $300 dollars, with one reaching $410. That’s not even close to what one brave soul paid for a 1/1 wood version of the card. That card just sold for a shocking $700+ on eBay.

So while Beckett Magazine and Sports Illustrated are putting a 16-year old on their cover and some collectors are stalking High School kids for autographs, for a short moment in time, an old man named Jayson Werth is ruling The Hobby.

Two years ago you couldn’t give away his cards …

Topps In Dog House Over Cancellation

Cat Osterman is no stranger to The Hobby. Having already been featured prominently in 2008 Donruss brands, fans of the Olympic medalist were thrilled to find out she had an on-card autograph in 2009 Topps Allen & Ginter.

For whatever reason, the extremely generous in-person and through the mail signer has yet to put her John Hancock on those Allen & Ginter cards and now Topps is sending out forced replacements to those who redeemed Osterman’s card.

As you can see, members of both Blowout Cards and Freedom Card Board are not taking it well. It doesn’t just end in the forums, either. Jay, a Cat Osterman collector and fellow blogger posted a long rant against Topps’ cancellation of the Cat autograph.

Perhaps the most interesting case to come out of “Osterman-gate” is Marvin, a collector who recently began collecting again after a fifteen year break. In 2009 alone he has spent thousands on Topps products and is one of those collectors being forced an unwanted replacement.

Along with a sternly-worded letter (any A.D. fans?), Marvin is shipping out a box from Texas all the way to Topps Headquarters in New York. Inside that box is every single Topps product Marvin has purchased in 2009. He’s giving up collecting for good this time.

It may sound a little nutty but it goes to show you just how damaging redemption failures can be. Having already dealt with two Topps redemption issues myself, I know how utterly frustrating it can be to spend hundreds of dollars only to not receive what was promised.

If you’re looking for Cat Osterman relics and autographs you have two options. Go with 2008 Donruss releases which feature sticker autographs or pick up an Allen & Ginter base card and have Cat sign it through the mail. It’s not exactly what collectors wanted but it will have to do for now.

Cat Osterman, a true hobby heartbreaker …

Prospect Battle: Tristar vs. Panini

Just last month, the prospect collectors in The Hobby were crying about a lack of products being produced in 2009. This year we were treated to Tristar Projection & Obak, Bowman releases, and not much else.

Missing from the scene this year was the extremely popular Donruss Elite Extra Edition and Razor’s several baseball releases, which took collectors by storm in 2008 and then vanished into thin air a few months later, at least with the prospect market.

Surprising many, Panini America announced today that it would bring back Elite Extra Edition for the 2009 calendar (in January) and just last week Tristar announced Prospects Plus to be released at the end of November.

Below are two cards in the sell sheets of Elite Extra Edition and Tristar Prospects Plus and as you can see there are quite a few similarities. For starters, it appears that both companies used the same photograph, not to mention stickers.

Given these two early previews, which would you rather have?

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One Word: Insanity

I think it’s fair to say that after three years with the Red Sox, Daisuke Matsuzaka hasn’t quite earned what his team paid to bring him to America. In three seasons, Dice-K has won 37 games and has had a very public spat with front office.

That being said, collectors still love the 28-year old Japanese pitcher and cards of his still sell for extremely respectable prices on the secondary market. While collectors have many great cards to pick from, the card you see below might be the coolest of all.

The quad autograph comes from 2007 Upper Deck Ultimate’s “Ultimate Choice” program. If you were one of ten lucky collectors to pull the redemption, you had your choice of picking any four players’ signatures to go on a custom card.

Personally, I would have gone with two Derek Jeter and two Tiger Woods autographs but as you can see, the collector chose four Dice-K autographs. What makes the card even cooler (and somewhat surreal) is that each photo of the Red Sox starter is different.

No word on how many of the ten Ultimate Choice redemptions were actually redeemed but according to Upper Deck, it will not be making a return in any upcoming products anytime soon.

Who will produce my Jose Canseco quad autograph now …?

Upper Deck, Topps Not Infallible

In today’s hobby, it’s impossible for a card company to make a mistake without someone pointing it out on a blog or message board. It’s this kind of interaction that makes places like Freedom Card Board one of the premier forums to discuss trading cards.

Check out this very embarrassing mistake made by Upper Deck in their so far excellent release of 2009 Sweet Spot. It features a bat barrel by Yankees’ Hideki Matsui or so it was believed. In reality, it’s that of Kazuo Matsui of the Houston Astros.

Just as bad is this disaster of a card by Topps Company in 2009 Updates & Highlights. An incredibly tough pull of superstar Prince Fielder was ruined by terrible sticker placement and a misspelling of his name.

Odds of pulling the card was 1:13,000, according to the seller.

While it’s easy for collectors who prefer one company over another to start pointing fingers and cursing at “yet another error”, it’s easy to forget that at some point every card company has made an error, intentional or not.

Despite the overall terrible look of the “Fiedler” card, it still sold for over $150 dollars. It will be interesting to see what the fate of the Sweet Spot bat barrel will be and if Upper Deck will choose to make a statement on it.

UPDATE

Statement from Upper Deck:

“We’re working with the seller to get this one back so we can correct this.”

2009-’10 Fleer Ultra Review

Being the furthest thing from a fan of hockey, it’s strange to me that some of my favorite cards come from hockey releases. Last year I had a blast bustin’ 2008-’09 Fleer Ultra so you can imagine my excitement when I found a box of Fleer Ultra 2009-’10 at my doorstep.

Take a look at last year’s Fleer Ultra release. Now, take a look at the scans from the new Ultra. Clearly, Upper Deck took one step backwards as everything from the base cards to the parallels are downgrades from the previous year.

Thankfully, Upper Deck brought back the Fleer/Skybox “E-X” inserts and this year they look better than they have ever looked. If this is Upper Deck’s secret weapon in baseball for 2010, Topps better tread lightly.

Information:

Current eBay price – $60-$65 per box

Guarantees – 192 cards with 2 relics per box

Look for – Hard to find autographs, rare Jambalaya inserts

The Good:

E-X inserts look simply amazing

Relics are designed well despite featuring tiny relics

The Bad:

Fun brand brought down by bland designs

Results:

Relic – Adam Hall

Relic – Jonathan Cheechoo

Final Grade: B

Upper Deck Conspiracy pt. 3

For the record, I don’t believe there’s a conspiracy. I just title these to make a statement and that is … Upper Deck doesn’t care about baseball collectors.

Alright, let me take off my Kanye hat for one moment and talk to you about the card below. It comes from 2009-’10 Fleer Ultra, a product that will be reviewed tonight.

In case you missed it, Upper Deck seeded E-X inserts into Ultra this year but what I did not know (cause I didn’t pull one) is that it also brought back the very popular 90’s insert, Jambalaya, and they look amazing.

These new Jambalaya inserts are tough pulls, too. Odds are listed at 1:288 packs which means you will have to open lots of boxes before you find one. As for the popularity, see for yourself what the big names are selling for.

As an old school collector, I have to personally thank Upper Deck for bringing back beautiful, well-designed inserts that don’t have to rely on an autograph or piece of memorabilia to be valuable for collectors.

If only they’d throw baseball a bone …