Baseball Cards

It is now apparently impossible for Topps to release a set without including mini cards. The overused insert has now made its way to Bowman.The Bowman minis are cards called "Cream of the Crop." The checklist is made up of each of the 30 teams' top five prospects. For the Cubs, four of the five were already included in the Top 100 set, so these cards seem a little redundant. Of course, since they are mini cards, I guess that means we're supposed to get all stoked about them.I'm not.I'm tired of mini cards. The novelty has worn off. The uniqueness of them is gone. Please stop!Third baseman Jeimer Candelario is the only of the five Cubs that didn't make the Top 100. I don't know who at Topps picked the top five Cubs prospects, but I wouldn't put Candelario on the list--he's still a bit raw. He's in his third professional season though only 19-years-old. WIth Kane County in Low A, he's got a .241 average and only 1 homer.The other four minis are the same four guys I wrote about yesterday, so I'm not going to bother rehashing all of that. Instead, just take a look at at the cards. I'll finish up Bowman week tomorrow with a post on some words that Topps either can't say or doesn't want to say.

Have you ever read a post from someone and think that it's exactly what you're going through? Well, ditto.http://nightowlcards.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-post-office-hiatus-continues.htmlOf course, those of you that are expecting packages from me know what I'm talking about. Well, I'm on my way to mail a couple of packages later this morning and will be mailing a couple a week until I get caught up. Unlike Night Owl, I don't have a complete list of names in front of me, but rest assured, getting packages out is something I'm getting back too. Thanks for your extreme patience.

Name: Rob Dibble Team: Cincinnati Reds Position: Reliever Value of card: It's nasty Key 1991 stat: 999 times being nasty Rob Dibble is talking to you: "Yo. I'm Rob Dibble, and I'm a Nasty Boy. That's right, I'm nasty. How nasty? I like to swim in raw sewage. I enjoy cleaning my teeth with motor oil dipsticks. I live in a trash bin, in a junkyard, in Detroit. Yeah, I'm nasty. I once wore Norm Charlton's jockstrap as a necklace, and stored my hard-boiled eggs in Randy Myers' tighty-whities. Yeah! Nasty! For breakfast, I have whatever's rotting. For lunch, I throw up in my mouth. For dinner, Hawaiian barbecue. Ooh, yeah. That's nasty. I once saw John Kruk in the nude. I took a photo. I put it in my locker. Next to a lock of his chest hair. Oooooh, nasty! Like my gelled-up hair? Guess what: It's not gel. Nasty boy! Oooooh, so nasty. Tell Marge Schott I'm game. Nasty!"

Born on today's date, Bartolo Colon. That deli he eats at? I'd try it sight unseen.

Keith Hernandez 1989 Bowman When  I picked up this baseball card of Keith Hernandez, I bought it ‘on the blind’ during a little spree on Sportlots.com. Being the dedicated player collector that I am, I was going after stacks of cards for the new PC’s I am working on, and that list included Mr. Hernandez. When I shop at Sportlots.com, my lone goal is ‘cheap’.  Buy what I need for a very low price and get out unscathed.  And that is exactly what I did, bringing home more than forty new cards for my collection including a healthy stack of cards of Hernandez. And I have to say that once my cards arrived, I was pleasantly surprised to see a 1989 Bowman baseball card that featured a photo that was not a posed, head-shot!!! Have a look:

Noted dealer Henry Yee has launched his Spring eBay Event Auction with over 2,400 lots including many rare sports photographs dating back to the first part of the 20th century.  Yee’s quarterly auctions are conducting exclusively on eBay and attract numerous advanced collectors who bid on one-of-a-kind original photos, negatives and transparencies. None of the items have a reserve price. About half of the lots included in the five-part auction are sports related.  There are a total of 68 Babe Ruth items, 58 Mickey Mantle lots and 30 featuring Lou Gehrig, many of them black and white candid photographs. The top highlights attracting attention include an original 1927 glass plate negative of Ruth batting, a 1921 original photograph of Ruth selecting a bat in front of the Yankees dugout and a 1926 Yankees team photograph. Among the oldest photos Yee is offering is a 1912 Jim Thorpe photograph, which shows the 20th century’s greatest athlete in football gear at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School.  There is also a 1920’s photo of Hall of Fame pitcher Walter Johnson. Yee has been granted exclusive rights to sell the vintage, original color slide transparencies of well-known photographer Marvin Newman. A pioneer in the field of color photography during the 1950s, Newman photographs have appeared in Sports Illustrated, TIME, Life and Esquire.  Numerous sports shots taken by Newman in the 1950s’, 60’s and 70’s are being offered for sale with bids starting at 99 cents. Other photos from later years include a 1955 image of Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe and a wire photo picturing Michael Jordan speaking to reporters at his introductory news conference in Chicago following the NBA Draft. The sports auctions conclude over four days, this Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and can be found  here.

Tickets go on sale today for autograph signers at the 2013 National Sports Collectors Convention in Chicago, slated for July 31-August 4.  Tri-Star Productions, which handles the autograph sessions, has secured contracts with dozens of current and former athletes from a variety of sports to appear at the show, which begins with a preview on Wednesday night.  Dwight Gooden, former Bear Neal Anderson and Olympic greats Bob Beamon and Dick Fosbury will sign free autographs. Tri-Star and the NSCC are continuing to add guests to the list.  Some recent additions include NBA Rookie of the Year Damian Lillard, Football Hall of Famers Frank Gifford, Eric Dickerson, Joe Greene, Ron Mix and Bob St. Clair, Baseball Hall of Famer Goose Gossage and recent retirees Chipper Jones and  Johnny Damon, Heisman winners Terry Baker and Archie Griffin and Hockey Hall of Famer Tony Esposito. Pricing varies according to Tri-Star's website--with most signers at $20-$89 for a ball, photo or card but some bigger names will cost much more.  Roger Clemens, somewhat surprisingly, is $199 minimum, while show newcomer Mike Piazza is $179 .  Cal Ripken starts at $159 and Bart Starr''s price has risen to $169. Times for each athlete’s appearance(s) are posted below.  Some athletes may limit the number of autographs they sign.  Others will offer photo opportunities for an extra fee. Autograph signers at the 2013 National include: Wednesday 7/31 Neal Anderson....................        4:30pm Dwight Gooden...................        4:30pm Bob Beamon.......................        5:00pm Dick Fosbury......................          5:00pm Milt Pappas*........................       5:30pm Mel Renfro*.........................      5:45pm Luis Aparicio.......................        6:30pm                  Thursday 8/1 Luis Aparicio.......................        11:00am Marv Levy..........................         11:00am Dan Fouts..........................         11:15am Eddie Olczyk*....................          11:15am Bob St. Clair.......................         11:30am Tony Gwynn.....................           11:45am Paul Krause.......................          12:00pm Rick Monday*....................         12:00pm Ron Turcotte.....................          12:00pm Jean Cruguet....................           12:30pm Joe Green.........................           12:30pm Ron Mix.............................         12:30pm Eric Dickerson...................           12:45pm Steve Cauthen...................          1:00pm Jim Palmer.........................         1:15pm Pat Day..............................         1:30pm Dan Hampton.....................         1:45pm Archie Griffin.....................          2:00pm Laffit Pincay......................          2:15pm Jorge Velasquez...............            2:15pm Ronnie Bull*.......................         2:30pm Troy Smith.........................         2:30pm Lawrence Taylor...............           3:00pm Frank Gifford.....................          3:15pm                  Friday 8/2 Terry Baker.......................          11:15am Gary Beban*......................         11:30am Bobby Hull.........................         11:30am Tony Esposito...................           12:00pm Bob Gibson.......................           1:00pm Paul Molitor........................        1:00pm Jim Rice.............................         1:15pm Dennis Eckersley..............            1:30pm Elvin Hayes......................            1:45pm Ozzie Smith......................            1:45pm Chris Mullin.......................          2:00pm Carlton Fisk.......................          2:15pm Ron Kittle*........................          2:30pm Larry Brown.....................            2:45pm Mike Ditka.........................         3:00pm Brian Campbell.................           3:30pm Pat Listach*.......................         3:30pm Jerry Lucas.......................           4:00pm Bret Saberhagen.

He's still only 28 years old.  Ten years in the league.  Four MVPs.  You may not have been crazy about how his departure from Cleveland and grand entrance to Miami went down, but know that you are watching a guy who, before he's through, will be the current generation's Michael Jordan.  While there may only be only one licensed Jordan rookie card, James arrived in the midst of autographed jersey cards and multiple manufacturers.   When you consider the  hottest LeBron James rookie cards at present--it's sometimes more fun to dig beyond that 2003-04 debut season. When it comes to LeBron, it's not always the first year cards that are the most popular with collectors. Some prefer the dual-signed cards with James and Jordan.  Others like the low print runs of other relic cards.  James' debut coincided with Upper Deck Exquisite, which created a whole new tier of cards, the likes of which had never really been seen before.  They were limited enough to push prices well out of sight for many. As LeBron, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Birdman and the rest of the Heat draw closer to back-to-back championships, demand for James cards is peaking again.  It's a good time to check the pulse of what collectors and investors are watching on eBay.  Sellers hoping to take advantage of the attention the NBA playoffs are getting--are likely to do well, although you wonder if selling now might be selling too low as the next few years play out and LeBron chases even more hardware.  He may re-write the NBA record book if his body holds up.  Six, seven, eight more years of playing at a very high level is not out of the question. Luckily for those with limited budgets, there is no shortage of LeBron's rookie cards and if you simply want a few from any portion of his career, there are plenty of low priced options.  Beckett's database shows over 5,700 different cards created so far. Still, the action is on the higher end.  It's common for autographed rookie cards numbered to less than 100 to sell for well into five figures.   The same is true for certain 1/1 autographs.  Those with 9.5 or 10 grades consistently draw big bucks.  Like vintage baseball card collectors and Mickey Mantle, the demand for James cards keeps prices strong. With that in mind, whether you're reading this now--or in 2016, here's a real-time list of the hottest LeBron James rookie cards right now on eBay. 03-04 topps chrome black refractor lebron james rookie #393/50021 bids - Price: $315.00 - Watchers: 48Item # 39059807199303-04 spx lebron james auto jersey rookie#438/750 bgs9 with 10 centering27 bids - Price: $744.99 - Watchers: 40Item # 3905980738802003-04 TOPPS CHROME LEBRON JAMES ROOKIE REFRACTOR7 bids - Price: $202.50 - Watchers: 38Item # 3309262772432003-04 TOPPS CHROME LEBRON JAMES RC ROOKIE #11110 bids - Price: $43.50 - Watchers: 31Item # 4004936206922003-04 TOPPS CHROME LEBRON JAMES ROOKIE REFRACTOR7 bids - Price: $200.00 - Watchers: 28Item # 330926288616LEBRON JAMES 03-04 Topps Chrome #111 RC Rookie BGS 9.5 with 2 X 10 GEM MINT HOT22 bids - Price: $165.66 - Watchers: 28Item # 2309839188032003-04 TOPPS CHROME LEBRON JAMES ROOKIE10 bids - Price: $66.00 - Watchers: 27Item # 3309262968892003-04 LEBRON JAMES TOPPS CHROME RC ROOKIE #111- MINT LOOKING!!16 bids - Price: $102.50 - Watchers: 26Item # 1710442601732003-2004 Topps Chrome Lebron James Rookie BGS 9.5 gem mint2 bids - Price: $10.50 - Watchers: 26Item # 39060016183103-04 bowman signature lebron james rookie #113/1256 bids - Price: $51.77 - Watchers: 22Item # 271208400637

Mounted Memories Shows is bringing a new event to the southeastern United States, just a few weeks after the National.  They’ll host a three-day card show at the Richmond, VA Convention Center, August 23-25. No word yet on autograph signers but they say they’ll offer free admission at the inaugural show. Richmond has been home to larger conventions in the past. ------------ Cleveland Indians manager Terry Francona grew up as the son of a big leaguer (Tito) so dad’s cards were always popular when he was a kid. Francona chatted  about his card collecting days with Bill Livingston of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer. ------------- You’re in jail.  There’s nothing to do.  You have an idea. Sell autographs from your cell via sympathetic business partners on the outside. It did not work for one inmate who is in the slammer for murder but tried to make a few bucks selling celebrity sigs. He wound up facing charges according to this story by our friend Matt Miller of the Patriot-News in Central Pennsylvania. ----------- Bargain hunting? The largest online seller of sports memorabilia, SportsMemorabilia.com is having a Memorial Day Sale with 70% off selected baseball items. Click here to see what they've got. Twitter photo from @JoeWink13 -------------- Those small independent baseball leagues are always coming up with wacky promotions and last night across the Ohio River from Cincinnati, the Florence Freedom had ‘Lennay Kekua Bobble Head Night’. You remember her, right?  Manti Teo’s girlfriend who was actually just a voice on the other end of the phone and didn’t really exist? So…give the Florence Freedom credit for creativity (see right). --------------- Have a safe and sound Memorial Day weekend and take a moment to remember those who gave their lives to protect us over the years.  That's what the holiday is supposed to be about. Unless there's breaking news, we'll be back Monday night with more sports collecting news and features. But....chances are we'll be on Facebook and Twitter from time to time all weekend, so be sure to connect with us there.  The discussion is always lively and fun, especially on our Facebook page which has over 9,200 fans.   Links are in the upper right of the page.

I though Slaton was actually going to make it. 2008 Masterpieces Patch #58 /50