I don't know which shocks me more on Beckett's Baseball Dec. '07 issue (see Monday's blog re: The Hit King):
Rose's autograph is for sale every week at Caesar's Palace and Fidel runs a communist country which once tried to point nukes at us!
Did someone say Ricky Williams was back?! Argh!
Maybe he'll join the Patriots next year, he'll win a Super Bowl and his card value will climb again. That sounds familiar - didn't the Patriots do that to another player recently??? Randy Moss maybe?
In his latest Steve Howe impression, Ricky Williams is back in the NFL - for now.
I confess, I was a huge Ricky Williams fan when he came out of Texas. He ran so much like Earl Campbell that I thought he was going to have a great career. Instead of making his days count in the NFL, he became dazed while in the NFL.
I bought so many of his rookie cards, from Donruss to PressPass only to watch their value drop to the floor faster than Ricky did trying to roll his last hippie lettuce smoke. I can't see his card value doing anything but stay in the basement.
So I've definitely been burned by the Ricky Williams smoke screen.
Rookie busts are a dime a dozen (Ryan Leaf, Rick Mirer, Bryan Taylor, Harold Miner), but how many rookies had the talent and blew it or never reached their full potential because of the off the field the issues? Here's a list of players that I could think of:
Pete Rose is back in the baseball card market. Until now, the only Rose card really worth much was his 1963 rookie card.
The 2007 Sportkings has Rose autograph and memorabilia cards. This is the first time a banned player has been on cards since '04 Sweet Spot Classic Shoeless Joe Jackson. But that was an MLB and MLBPA approved card... this Rose card by Sportskings is not.
The Rose autograph card and memorabilia card are both ranked #1 on the Beckett baseball December issue. The Rose autograph card is ranked higher than Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth cut autograph cards.
Is this right? Should the Rose card be that high? I say... YES... for now.
Rose cards are long overdue and in the short-term will be high on the list. But long-term... I think the Rose cards will come down in price and in rankings. Ruth and Gerhig autographs will jump back to the top spots in time because of their demand. Rose's will come down because he's still signing autographs (200 days a year at Caesar's Palace) and will probably do 2 more books about his apologies to baseball.
As a general, common sense rule - you probably should not reference Adolph Hitler in your argument against someone. Perhaps Philadelphia Daily News columnist Bill Conlin should have thought about this before his arguing with a fellow Phillies fan about the NL MVP voting.
Conlin invoked the Hitler hate speech during an email exchange with the http://crashburnalley.com/ blogger. Crashburnalley has the email exchange detailed in his blog. As a Phillies fan, crashburnally was questioning the NL MVP award given to Jimmy Rollins by comparing his numbers to NY Mets 3B David Wright.
My advice to Conlin, read part of "Mein Kampf" or open a history book before you use Hitler as a would-be ally against anyone you disagree with.
So the Bonds indictment is here, Roger Cossack has a job again saying absolutely nothing, and some holding Bonds’ memorabilia are asking, “now what?”
I heard someone on ESPN radio over the weekend suggesting that the Bonds memorabilia value will decrease. I don’t see it happening.
The best historical example of memorabilia pricing following a baseball scandal this big is Pete Rose. Rose’s card values dipped when he was banned from baseball and subsequently sent to jail for tax issues. However, I think the betting on baseball scandal was somewhat of a surprise to many collectors. Although he was investigated for some time, the collecting industry (still in a somewhat premature state) didn’t react to the brewing scandal. When Giamatti finally made a decision and many were surprised… his value dropped.
Bonds’ link to steroid use isn’t a surprise to anyone. Bonds testified that he didn’t “knowingly” take them. Collectors knew what they started collecting if they bought Bonds memorabilia after 1998.
I don’t think anyone is surprised by the perjury charge regarding Bonds’ steroid use. And because no one is surprised, I don’t think collectors will look to dump their Bonds memorabilia. They’ll hold their cards and wait for Bonds to finally break down to Charlie Gibson on an upcoming “20/20” special.
Super VI Helmet
6th championship inscription
I went to the Land of Boz (http://www.landofboz.com/) Sunday for the Forrest Gregg signing.
Pros:
What a mess! November and December are great months to see how your team is going to improve for next season. The decisions on what players will get signed and traded are mostly complete by Christmas.
And just when we should be gearing up for this hot-stove time. . . MLB once again puked all over itself. Like a bad dream where you can't move your legs in the middle of a busy intersection, MLB can't seem to dodge any of traffic heading right at them.
I'm making my first trip to the Land of Boz this weekend.
Forrest Gregg is signing and since he was on the Super Bowl VI team, I'll get him to add his autograph on my SB VI Cowboys helmet. It's cool RK Riddell helmet with the two-bar face mask (Roger's style). This is back-to-back months the Boz has had Cowboys linemen - Rayfield Wright was the last one.
The Boz web site says that 40 dealer tables will be there. I'll report back next week with some details.
The Boz site also has Dec. 23 as their next show. It seems odd to me that they'd actually have one two days before Christmas. I think it's safe to bet that if they do have it, it'll be someone from the area.
What's Mo Clarrett doing these days? Oh, that's right....
Heck, I didn’t know until a few weeks ago. And why didn’t I? The easy answer is to say, “because I’m an idiot.” But I think there’s more to it.
Forrest Greg is a hall of fame lineman, mainly for the Packers, but also won a championship for the Super Bowl VI Champion Cowboys, and won 6 world championships. He was on the NFL 75th anniversary team, a 9-time Pro Bowler and was head coach of the Bengals in Super Bowl XVI.
So why don’t people know more about him? And not just him, but the entire generation of players who created the NFL.
I think the NFL needs to do more to embrace the history of the league. There should be more anniversary celebrations like the Steelers did a week ago and the way the Lions did with their ’57 championship team.
As collectors, we can do more by requesting these types of guests at autograph shows. Memorabilia show companies are constantly asking for feedback and autograph show requests. Let them hear us, give the suggestions.
What’s worth more to you and to your collection? A mini-helmet autograph of Forrest Gregg or Donald Driver? You can probably guess which one will cost more.
This summer I met Art Donovan at an autograph session in a Canton area mall. For $30 (or whatever it was), he signed a 1952 Dallas Texans helmet. He was awesome. He told stories about that team, playing their game in Akron, and was really engaging.
Last week he canceled his appearance at a CSA Show in Chantilly, VA due to health concerns. This week CSA's website (www.csashows.com) is explaining to people how they've gone to Art's hospital room so he can sign memorabilia!
What? The man, who has given so much to football, has to be bothered by a memorabilia hound on his bedside with a poster, photo, mini helmet and a black sharpie? Imagine walking through the hospital with a box of mini-helmets and a sharpie as you pass families praying their loved ones aren't leaving this Earth.
Hopefully Art is doing fine and he's just in the hospital for a few days. Maybe CSA could spend more time praying for Art and his family, and less time trying to squeeze every autograph they can out this great man. I think they crossed a line.
Beckett's Nov. 07 Baseball Card Guide has their Top 12 cards of the 21st Century.
What? Apparently Beckett believes that we need a progress report on the Top 12 cards of the past 7 years. Are this century's cards so great that they can't decide on the standard "Top 10" so we get 12?
Here's their top ... 12 (whatever).
Did anyone hear Barry Bonds giving the Baseball Hall of Fame advice re: the * on his #756 baseball?
Is it me, or is it kind of like David Duke, Robert Byrd, and Dom Imus giving advice to Dog the Bounty Hunter?
. . . no longer sanitized for your protection!
This blog is designed for the sports memorabilia collector who is tired of finding blogs, newsgroups, and anything else on line trying to sell something. It's designed for the fan who wants to collect the autograph or memorabilia of their favorite players.
In this blog we'll do the following:
- Share tips on sports collecting
- Ask for help from other collectors
- Rant about our teams
- Share stories about autograph experiences
- Complain about the current memorabilia environment
I don't work for Beckett, Topps, or anyone associated with sports collecting. I'm just a sports fan who collects autographs for my favorite teams and is looking for a cool environment to share stories.
Lets get it on!
First topic:
Assuming ARod doesn't resign with the Yankees via Free Agency, what does this move do to his card and memorabilia popularity?
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