Baseball Cards

The official Cardboard Connection radio show with your hosts Doug Cataldo, the Voice of the Collector - Rob Bertrand and David Wright! Tune in for hobby discussion with industry pros, athletes & fellow collectors. Visit www.cardboardconnection.com for all of your trading card news, checklists, forums and more. Also be sure to visit the hosts blogs: Doug Cataldo - http://dougcataldo.blogspot.com Rob Bertrand - http://voiceofthecollector.com Russ Cohen - http://sportsology.netCardboard Connection Radio | Sports Cards | Trading Cards | Collecting | Memorabilia

By Chris Olds | Beckett Baseball Editor Detroit Tigers pitcher Anibal Sanchez may only have a 5-4 record this season, but his win over the Minnesota Twins Friday night was one of the more memorable games of his career. He nearly threw the second no-hitter of his eight-years in MLB, blanking the Twins for a 6-0 win at home but allowing a single hit in the ninth to Joe Mauer. He would have been just the sixth pitcher to throw a no-no in each league. Sanchez (click here for a checklist or OPG) appears on just 571 cards for his career, carrying a total value of just $1,919.05, excluding rarities. His 12 Rookie Cards can be found in 2005 MLB products with his priciest being his 2005 Ultimate Signature card that typically checks in at $60 or less. It’s an autographed card limited to just 125 serial-numberd copies. He did not appear on a Topps card as a rookie, with 11 of his 12 made by Upper Deck and the final card produced by Donruss. His earliest cards can be found in 2004 Just Minors prospect/minor league sets. (Click here to see Sanchez items on eBay.) The right-hander is 53-55 for his career spent with the Marlins and Tigers. He has 86 certified autograph cards with a few of them noting his previous no-no among season highlights recaps. His only no-hitter was on Sept. 7, 2006, with the Marlins when he blanked the Arizona Diamondbacks in a 2-0 win as a rookie. Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball magazine. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an email to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.

Andre Dawson 2013 Topps Tribute – Green With the easy job of adding the base card of Andre Dawson from the new 2013 Topps Tribute set to my collection, it then began time to go after the colored parallel versions became the next phase for me. In years past, the colored versions of the Tribute cards came out quickly and sold for quite a bit earlier on.  Lucky for me, I learned that they could be had a few weeks later for much less money but the supply may be a little limited. But, I took that philosophy with me to this year’s release and I was able to snag the Green version if the card for under $2.00.  And I would say that is a good deal!!! The card is serial numbered as 2/75.  And the Green is a nice contrast to the Cubs uniform that Dawson is wearing. Enjoy.

I have some sort of completion problem with Allen & Ginter. What I mean by that is that I feel compelled to complete almost every insert set within the Allen & Ginter family. One of the toughest sets to complete is the box topper sets. I already showed off the 2011 Cabinet card set that I finally completed thanks to Check Out My Cards (check my archives). Today, it's another Ginter box topper that I bought from CoMC. That's Josh Hamilton from the 2012 N43 box topper set. The N43 set is tough because it has 15 different cards - each seeded 1 per box. Of course, sometimes you get one of the aforementioned Cabinet cards instead...or if you are lucky, you get an autograph or relic instead. Anyhow, I'm slowly but surely coming closer to completing the full 2012 N43 set. In fact, I'm now down to needing a mere TWO N43 cards from 2012. 2012 Topps Allen & Ginter Wants:N43: N43- 11 (Ken Griffey Jr.), 14 (Mike Schmidt) I'm also working on the 2011 Allen & Ginter N43 set. Somehow, I'm missing THREE of those still, despite having an extra year to try and collect the pesky things. 2011 Allen & Ginter Wants:N43: Joey Votto, Adam Wainwright, David Wright I can't be sure that I'll ever finish off the two N43 sets, but when I can find one of the missing cards for cheap on a site like Check Out My Cards, I will pounce! At this point, you've now seen four of the 14 cards from my recent CoMC purchase. What other goodies did I pick up? You'll have to wait and see!

Today is one of those "high holy days" of night cards that I mentioned a few months ago.Seventy-eight years ago tonight, the Reds and Phillies played the first night game in major league history. The Reds prevailed 2-1.Almost a century later, night games are the rule, not the exception. Night events in general are increasing rapidly. Who had ever heard of a PGA tournament under the lights until a few years ago? But now premiere events that used to be held exclusively during the day -- golf, horse racing, auto racing -- are now also at night. (this causes holy hell with deadlines, by the way).Increasingly, we live in a night owl world. That's right, I am hardly unique. And in some small way, we can credit or blame Reds officials Powel Crosley and Larry MacPhail for it.They were the ones so desperate for attendance (the Reds were last in 1933 and 1934) that they thought up holding a game at night as a gimmick to get people to the park. Good thing there were no bobbleheads back then. We could still be playing all our baseball games during the day.The first night game was an immediate success. Followers couldn't get over the quality of play. It was an error-less game and players didn't complain about not being able to see the ball, which critics figured would be a common issue.Paul Derringer, a pitcher who would go on to win 20 games for the Reds that year for the first of his four 20-game seasons, pitched the victory. He threw a six-hit complete game, struck out three and walked none.Sadly, I don't have a card of Derringer, which is why the Pete Harnisch card is featured. Hey, it's a Reds pitcher. It's not like I have an extensive Reds collection.Nick from Dime Boxes sent it to me a couple of weeks ago. Little did I know it'd come in handy so quickly.Incidentally, this is today's entire major league baseball schedule:Philadelphia at Washington, 7:05 p.m.Baltimore at Toronto, 7:07 p.m.Minnesota at Detroit, 7:08 p.m.Cleveland at Boston, 7:10 p.m.N.Y. Yankees at Tampa Bay, 7:10 p.m.Atlanta at N.Y. Mets, 7:10 p.m.Chicago Cubs at Cincinnati, 7:10 p.m.L.A. Angels at Kansas City, 8:10 p.m.Miami at Chicago White Sox, 8:10 p.m.Oakland at Houston, 8:10 p.m.Pittsburgh at Milwaukee, 8:10 p.m.San Diego at Arizona, 9:40 p.m.Texas at Seattle, 10:10 p.m.St. Louis at L.A. Dodgers, 10:10 pm.Colorado at San Francisco, 10:15 p.m.Not a day game to be found.I doubt it's to pay tribute to that first game 78 years ago. It's just the way it is now.I'm not anti-day game. I love day games. But there has always been something cool about a night game, even years and years after the novelty has worn off.Happy First Night Game Day ... er, Night.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Night Card Binder candidate: Pete Harnisch, 2001 Upper Deck, #252Does it make the binder?: Unfortunately, no. It can't beat this card.

We’re only about two months away from the 34th National Sports Collectors Convention which will be held in Chicago from 7/31 to 8/4.  There is no question that one of the major draws are the promos given away by many of the manufacturers.  Collectors lineup early and rush through the doors so they can get their spot in line. Its still a little early for companies to unveil their promotional programs for The National.  They typically begin announcing them in June, but I’ve got the details on one of the Topps promotions that will be held at their booth.  According to his Facebook page, sports artist James Henry Smith has been commissioned by Topps to paint eight original portraits (four baseball and four football) that they will use to make cards specifically for The National.  Each one of these portraits will be designed to look like the classic 1952 Bowman set, but will be of modern day players.  The original paintings will measure 8″ x 12-1/8″, will be signed by the player, then scanned and re-sized to 2-1/16″ x 3-1/8″ in order to get them down to a normal baseball card size.  Every card in the set will be limited to 500 copies.  Topps will also be giving away the original artwork at the show too. Here are the players that will be included in this set: Bryce Harper Mike Trout Ernie Banks Frank Thomas Geno Smith Tevon Austin EJ Manuel Eddie Lacy Now they haven’t announced how these ’52 Bowman style promos will be distributed.  Given that Topps is printing 500 copies for each player, they’ll probably give out 100 per day for every player.  Since The National is open for five days this would make the most sense.  In order to get one, you’ll most likely have to open a few packs of a 2013 Topps product at their booth.  This is exactly what Topps did with their Gypsy Queen minis last year. Topps is known for creating promos that can be integrated into their products, especially ones made for set collectors.  The 1952 Bowman design appears in 2013 Bowman this year in the form of signed minis. I’m guessing that is the connection they decided to go with. When complete, the set will probably look something like this Paul “Tank” Younger 1952 Bowman card.  I’m really looking forward to seeing that painted design. Filed under: 2013 NSCC, News

One of our top priorities at COMC is to get to know and really understand our customers.  Needless to say, we were thrilled to attend Mosaiq’s talk at The Industry Summit about the results of their 2013 Trading Card Consumer Survey.  We were happy to hear COMC was represented in the survey and were fortunate to learn how trading card consumers see us and what they expect from their experience with us. When asked about COMC, consumers most closely associated us with the following phrases: “Provides opportunity to chase specific players or cards” “Is exciting” “Good selection of products” “Knowledgeable about products and the industry” We are grateful for this feedback and are honored that you see us this way!  We found it particularly interesting that you associate us with an opportunity to chase specific players or cards and thought a bit more why that is.  It is true, our platform allows what no one else does: An enormous selection of items courtesy of our consigners.  With over 6 million items and growing, you have a good chance of finding cards of your favorite player or from that set you’re building. A one-of-a-kind system that allows you to buy now and ship later!  Where else can you purchase just the one card you need without having to find a number of other cards just to meet a shipping quota?  Instead, you can buy the cards you want, when you want, and have them shipped together at a later time for one flat rate. Beckett-standardized listings and tiered organization which allow you to easily drill down into sets and explore. Of course, high resolution front and back scans of every single item, so the card you see is the card you get. Let’s be honest, this is pretty exciting.  In order to make sure everyone understands just how different we are, we created an ad that will appear in several Beckett Magazines, as well as on the web. With this in mind, we’re giving you a preview of our newest Beckett ad (CLICK TO ENLARGE): There will be 3 variations customized for Beckett Basketball, Beckett Hockey, and Beckett Football. Click to enlarge. How about you?  Do you feel the same about COMC as those who took the Mosaiq survey?  What is it about COMC that makes it a great place for player collecting and set building for you?  Did we miss something with our ad? We also want your input on where our future ads should go.  What magazines, forums or blogs do you read, and where else can we tell people about COMC.com?  For years, we’ve relied primarily on “word of mouth”, as our customers told their friends about us and encouraged them to become new customers. And, for that, we’re thankful. Now, as we grow, we know our voice has to grow, too. Please leave your comments below, and as always, keep up with us on this blog, Facebook, Twitter, and our new Google+ page. Filed under: what others say

2013 Topps Star Wars Jedi Legacy has one of the strongest autographs lineups ever for the franchise. Get complete details on the set, including a full checklist, images, buying guide and more Signers include Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher.

2013 Topps Qubi Baseball marks the debut of a new kind of sports collectible. They're ink stamps that come with player portraits, signatures and team logos. The low-end product lets kids decorate pages and create base collages and artwork.

Just sayin'.