What Can You Do With $1,000? Buy Some Mets Cards!

Twenty-six years of Mets team sets could cost you just under $1,000.

I found this eBay auction this week that is selling every Mets team set card from 1962 - 1988. The auction appears to include the Seaver and Ryan rookies... and Ed Kranepool!

The Easter Bunny Likes Baseball Cards in My House

I'm not big on giving out tons of candy to the kids. I'm not raising a pair of Todd Marinovich's, but I just don't want pass out chocolate and sugar by the basket. A little is fine. I'm have a soft spot for Peanut M&Ms and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, but a basket filled with it? Not so much. 

Instead, the Easter Bunny at our house gives out baseball cards and packs of them. The boys usually get a few packs of Topps, maybe an Upper Deck pack, t-shirts, and some chocolate candy.

I'm thinking of getting a few Jumbo Topps packs and maybe even some old-school wax packs this year!

WWYD What Would Yogi Do?

Another series loss, a double-header sweep, and the season highlight so far is a series win against the Marlins on the road: What Would Yogi Do?

I really like this card with Yogi and his coaches. For me this card has three classic pieces:
1 - Yogi
2 - Any card with just the coaches is good for me
3 - The black/white coaches' heads on a yellow background is greatness!

Can We Have a National App for That?

There should be a National App. 

The road map to building apps has become easier. The programs are better and there are plenty of consultants ready to do the heavy lifting if you need it.

To take the National to the next step, they need an App for the National Sports Collectors Convention. Apps for conventions are almost common at this point. For comparison, I downloaded the StarWars Celebration V app to my iPhone. It's for last year's event, but the set-up for the National can be similar.

If I were designing the structure, I'd go this route: 

• Home Screen - Sign up for email newsletter option and countdown to the National
• News - latest official information and tweets. 
• Guests - the National could use a Tri-Star autograph list
• Schedule - Hours of the show and link to buy tickets. 
• Fan Photos - Anyone can upload tickets to a Flickr page
• Exhibitors - List of dealers attending the show
• Map - Map of convention space
• Travel - Travel information, hotels, trains, etc. 

Let's get this going.

Blogger Central at the National Sports Collectors Convention

I'm continuing my blog posts on Opportunities for Improvement with the National Sports Collectors Convention. Last week I blogged about a Ron Santo charity, simple ticket prices and a free sneak peak.

These are all ways to improve partnerships, pricing, marketing and vendor opportunities with the National. Hitting those keys areas can make the National more than just a sports memorabilia show - it can become a premier conference standard.

My question to the National: Is this the media most influential to your buyers?
The answer: Probably not.

Most collectors and hobby enthusiasts are not referring to page 2 of the ESPN website for their hobby news. They are reading sites like this and this and forums like this. It's time the National made it easier for their most influential outlets to cover their event. They need to have a Blogger Central.


What is Blogger Central? 
It's a conference room with tables, chairs, outlets, free wifi and a place for bloggers to collect their thoughts and report on the National Sports Collectors Convention while they are at the event. Bloggers who want to write about the National should have to request credentials so they can have access to an area to report on their experience. Credentials should include:

1. Access to Blogger Central room to report
2. Access to some of the National organizers for interviews
3. Access to behind the scenes of the National

Some of the blogs may not get the hits and media attention that some ESPN2 writers do, but in my opinion they are more influential to the buyers at the National.

Jerry Mays Key to eBay Combined Shipping

Hello.... Jerry.

This 1962 Fleer Jerry Mays card is the latest add to my Dallas Texans team set.

I really lucked out with my last four cards of this set. I found one eBay seller listing the last four Texans cards that I needed and was combining the shipping. All four cards cost $3.00 to ship. Not a bad deal.

1987 Topps Mets - New Team Set Project

I have a head start on my new team set project. Jason from The Writer's Journey sent me about 15 cards from the '87 set - all Mets!

Thanks to Jason for the great start on my new project.

I decided to go with the '87 Topps Mets set because this was a team that I watched a lot during the '87 season. I was a big fan of the WWOR crew when I was growing up in south Jersey.

Of course the '87 season was disappointing. I still blame Roger McDowell for part a good part in that.

I had a lot of the '87 Topps set during that season. Unfortunately they lined the pennant on my wall instead of a occupying a page in my binder. This set will stay in the binder.

One Card from Finishing a 1952 Team Set

James Phelan, card #122, nearly finishes my '52 Bowman Large Texans team set.

I used some eBay bucks to get this card for free. I'm a big fan of the eBay bucks now.

I really like the '52 Bowman style and the back of the card says, "He captained the 1917 Fighting Irish . . . " How many cards reference a player from the 1917 Notre Dame team?!

Now I just need to capture the elusive Jim Lansford to complete the set.

The Rabbit - Jimmy Saxton

I had a good eBay mail day this week - Jimmy Saxton!

This one goes with my '62 Fleer Dallas Texans team set I'm building. Where did they take this picture? It looks like a river bank in the background.

I have no idea why Saxton was nicknamed the "The Rabbit" when he played for Texas before jumping to the Texans. Wouldn't Jackelope be a little more fun?

A Card so Nice, I Had to Buy it Twice

Actually, this card helped me with my 2011 New Year's Resolution: Check the spreadsheet before bidding!  

I already have this '52 Bowman Large card of James Hammond. The eBay auction bid was $4 so I placed the bid. After I won it for $4, I checked my spreadsheet and had my duh moment.

Oh well, it's $4, it's a cool card... I "won" auctions far worse than this I suppose.

Is a New Beckett Media Site Scheduled for 2011?

Beckett Media introducted new president, Brian Gulledge, on July 7, 2010. Part of Brian's opening remarks focused on the customer service issues of the Becket Media website and the plan to launch a new site in December, 2010.

At the time, I blogged that this was a pretty aggressive plan. Honestly, I don't visit the website much (I RSS the blog though), but I checked in on today and it looks the same to me.

Is there going to be a new website? Will it be in the last days of 2010? Will there be one in 2011?

Try to Smack that Smile off Gino Marchetti's Face

Hey Rookie - What are you smiling at?

This is Gino Marchetti's 1952 Bowman Large rookie card (#23). I picked up this card on eBay for a fraction of the book value. Yes, add your own book value comment here.

I met Gino at an autograph show a few years ago. He didn't say much (unlike his HOF teammate Art Donovan), but he signed my item, and said thank you.

This is card almost finishes my 52 Bowman Large Texans team set. Two more to go!

You Say Weiner, I Say Weiner

Now this is a cool vintage card. I've noticed some of the 1952 Bowman cards are landscape instead of portrait - not all, but a handful are designed this way.

This is another one for my Dallas Texans team set. This is card #114, Art Weiner from the 1952 Bowman Large series.

Does this Dallas Texan Look "Sneaky Fast?"

The back of this card describes Chris Burford as "Sneaky Fast!"

In 1961, Burford averaged 16.7 yards per reception and 51 catches for 850 yards and 5 touchdowns.

This 1962 Fleer is the latest Dallas Texans card I've picked up on eBay. I only have five more before completing the team set.

Great Action Shots from Dallas Texan E.J. Holub

The 1962 Fleer set I'm collecting is entertaining if nothing else.

I'm focusing on the Dallas Texans and some of these cards are pretty hilarious. This is E.J. Holub, a linebacker from Texas Tech.

As David commented on my previous blog post about the 1962 Texans, "Part of the reason for so many local collegiate guys was to help create an interest in the team by having the fans recognize the players. They were referred to as "Territorial Picks."

Great comment and thanks for the contribution.

Breaking News: I Haven't Blogged Much Lately

This just in . . . there haven't been too many October and November blog posts from me.

About a year or so ago, I decided to start living more. What does that mean? To me, it meant doing instead of watching.

I tackled my fear of heights by skydiving last year and this year I did my first polar bear plunge and started running. If you follow me on twitter, you know I've just completed my first 1/2 marathon - The Rock and Roll Marathon series in Las Vegas (pictured with my medal here).

Do I still love sports cards and marketing? Of course and I'll continue to blog and tweet about both.

I've picked up some nice '62 Fleers and '52 Bowman Larges recently. I'll start blogging about them shortly. 

When Will Sports Cards Have QR Codes?

You've seen this in magazines, Best Buy advertisements, and even in the windows of some businesses.

It's a QR Code. If you scan it with your smart phone camera via a QR Scanner app, it opens a video or URL.

It sounds complicated, but it's not. 
For example, I downloaded a QR scanner from the iPhone app store. There are a ton of free ones out there. I use the AT&T Scanner and QR Scanner.

A few weeks ago there was a code to scan in the Sunday Best Buy ad. When I scanned it, the code launched a 5 minute YouTube video of the highlighted band recording their song - very cool behind the scenes video.

I'm writing a blog post at work about us doing this on business cards to either our corporate home page or to our personal LinkedIn page. The QR Code pictured here goes to my LinkedIn public profile.


When will sports cards have QR codes on the back?
I think this is another way to give the collector extra content and make cards more digital. Some types that I'd like to see the QR code linking to: 
- A video of a current player talking about the upcoming season.
- A video of a player talking about a career highlight. A 500 home run series having a member of the club talking about hitting #500.
- Upper Deck or Topps running giveaways with some of the codes for free cards and boxes.
- A video of a historic moment.
- A video link of the player signing the card you have.

There are a lot of possibilities and it would add some life to the industry.

Remember the Blue Road Uniforms

At the time I wasn't a big fan of them, but looking back, I really like the blue road uniforms some teams had.

This Paul Molitor, '84 Topps card has Paul in his blues. I like the Brewers blue, the Blue Jays blue and the Phillies blue . . . the grays that teams wear now, just seem a little boring compared to these.

We Can't Have Bullets and Colt .45s, but Redskins are OK?

One of my Topps Million Card give-away is this 1962 Joe Amalfitano card of the Houston Colt .45s. After looking at the wiki page and some of their cool logos the story of the .45s seems really interesting to me.

In today's politically correct world, we could never have another Colt .45s team, just as we can't have a Washington Bullets team name. I get it, I'm not here to argue the name change, but I don't understand what appears to be a double-standard.

We can't have:
- Colt .45s
- Washington Bullets
- Eastern Michigan Hurons
- Miami (OH) Redskins

Why can we have the Washington Redskins and Chief Wahoo of the Cleveland Indians? Why are these images and stereotypes OK?

Signs Your Baseball Career is Going in the Wrong Direction

There are several key signs to alert a player that his baseball career is trending in the right direction. A player's bat speed could slow down, velocity on his pitches may drop or getting injured more frequently are all signs that the career is in the wrong direction.

Former NY Mets pitcher Dennis Ribant could also see this by reading the back of his 1966 Topps card!

This is a '66 card, but the highlight listed in the top right corner is, "Dennis led the midwest league in ERA in 1961."

So his career highlight is 5 years ago . . . and it's a minor league accomplishment. Dennis ended up having a decent 1966 season in New York, but was out of baseball a few years later.