Tracy Hackler
Danielle Edlund
Doug Kale
Keith Hower
The Hammer
dinkfod
Brian Fleischer
Andy Broome
dsliepka
escaladefan
Tim Trout
chrisoldsFiled under: Autographs, BSCM, Beckett Basketball, Beckett Blog, Beckett Media, Beckett.com, Card gallery, Donruss, Hobby Stories, Memorabilia, NBA, Opinions, Panini, Pro Sports | Tags: Autographs, basketball cards, Beckett.com, memorabilia cards, NBA, Panini
Basketball collectors from around the globe have been on pins and needles since the landscape-altering announcements earlier this year that Italian collectibles giant Panini had a) secured an exclusive license from the NBA and b) subsequently acquired Donruss.
Obviously, such massive hobby headlines signaled the dawning of a new era for the NBA trading card category. Yet, all most collectors really wanted to know was what on earth the new cards would look like.
The wait is over.
Filed under: Autographs, BSCM, Beckett Blog, Beckett Football, Beckett Media, Beckett.com, College Football, MLB, Memorabilia, NFL, Prospect Watch, Razor, Sports Cards | Tags: Autographs, Beckett Media, Bryce Brown, College Football, Donovan Tate, high school football, memorabilia cards, Razor, SEC recruiting, Tennessee Volunteers
Never one to duck potential controversy, Razor President Brian Gray is at it again.
Gray recently began taking orders for a U.S. Army All-American Bowl football product that includes autographs from the top 2008 high school seniors (including highly touted Tennessee signee Bryce Brown) and base cards of three kids in junior high – the progeny of NFL notables Ray Lewis, Ed McCaffrey and Ty Detmer.
Producing cards of high school football players is by no means a new concept; there have been Big 33 sets devoted to prep stars in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Ohio for years. It’s the thin-line introduction of the younger players – incoming ninth grader Ray A. Lewis III, and future eighth graders Christian McCaffrey and Koy Detmer – that might ruffle some feathers.
Filed under: Autographs, BSCM, Beckett Baseball, MLB, Memorabilia, Non-sport, Topps | Tags: 2009 Allen & Ginter, 2009 Topps Allen & Ginter, Allen & Ginter, baseball cards, Box busters, MLB, Tobacco Cards, Topps
The Beckett Media crew — Chris Olds, Brian Fleischer, Tracy Hackler and Doug Kale — has opened the first boxes of 2009 Topps Allen & Ginter baseball cards and you get to see it all happen as it was recorded live before a studio audience.
What will the find in the fourth installment of the popular tobacco card-style brand? Some unusual cards, as always …
Check it out here.
Filed under: Autographs, BSCM, Beckett Football, Memorabilia, NFL, Upper Deck | Tags: Autographs, football cards, Memorabilia, NFL, UD Black, Upper Deck
Upper Deck has unveiled its plans to bring UD Black to the football field with two cards per pack and two packs per box in October.
There will be two autographs per box and one autograph or autographed American flag patch card in every pack. All autographs are signed on-card.
The standard set will consist of 90 cards and a selection of Rookie Lustrous autograph cards, while the inserts will include Film Slide PETG Autographs, Biography Signatures, Dual Manufactured College Pennants as well as cut signature cards, which can be found one per case.
See a collection of images after the jump…
Filed under: BSCM, Beckett Baseball | Tags: baseball card licensing, MLBPA, Upper Deck
Upper Deck announced on Thursday that it has been granted a new trading card license from the Major League Baseball Players Association.
An MLBPA spokesman said as of Thursday afternoon that there are not any other licensing agreements to yet announce.
“We are thrilled to renew our commitment to the baseball card market and look forward to working closely with the Players Association to further grow the category,” said Upper Deck CEO Richard McWilliam in a news release. “Upper Deck has an unsurpassed record of delivering the most innovative, premium and authentic baseball trading cards, and we are poised to continue that tradition into the next decade.”
Said MLBPA’s Evan Kaplan:
“Our goal is to provide collectors with great baseball card products, while continuing to grow the market with an infusion of new consumers. We’re confident Upper Deck can help us realize those goals.”
The first release of the new license term will be Upper Deck Series One Baseball, currently scheduled to launch on Feb. 6, 2010.
“Needless to say, we are extremely eager and very excited to put our 2010 baseball trading card product and marketing plans into motion,” said Jason Masherah, Director of Sports Brands for The Upper Deck Company. “Baseball fans and card collectors have a lot to look forward to!”
Filed under: Autographs, BSCM, MMA, Memorabilia, Upper Deck, non-sports sets | Tags: 2009 Prominent Cuts, Autographs, celebrity memorabilia, Cut Autographs, memorabilia cards, MMA, MMA autographs, non-sports cards, Upper Deck
Upper Deck has announced a new multi-sport (and non-sport) product set for release in October, Prominent Cuts.
Each pack will include a cut signature, an autograph or a celebrity memorabilia card of top entertainers, athletes and historical figures. Autographs will be found two per box, cut signatures will be one per box and memorabilia cards will be two per box.
In addition, there will be autographs from MMA stars.
The standard set consists of 90 cards, while the autograph inserts will include MMA Signatures. The memorabilia cards focus on Hollywood History. Cut signatures will be found as Prominent Cuts singles as well as duals and quads.
Chris Olds has collected sports cards and memorabilia since 1987. Before coming to Beckett Media, he wrote about the hobby for the Orlando Sentinel on his blog, SportsStuff, and for the San Antonio Express-News and The Tuscaloosa (Ala.) News. Do you have a comment, question or idea? Send e-mail to him at colds@beckett.com.
Filed under: BSCM, Beckett Baseball, Box busters, First look, MLB, Topps | Tags: 2009 Allen & Ginter, 2009 Topps Allen & Ginter, baseball cards, MLB, The Invisible Man, Tobacco Cards, Topps
The 2009 Topps Allen & Ginter baseball set has arrived and we’ll be presenting a very special episode of Box Busters here on Thursday.
But, until then, behold perhaps the greatest Allen & Ginter card of all time.
The card of The Invisible Man.
No trickery, no sleight of hand. No Photoshop needed here. That’s the actual card from the Creatures of Legend Myth and Terror insert set.
We’ve got our hands on some Ginter a week early — it arrives in hobby shops on July 8. See additional cards after the jump…
Filed under: BSCM, Beckett Baseball, MLB, Topps, the National | Tags: baseball cards, Brooklyn Dodgers, Jackie Robinson, Mickey Mantle, New York baseball, new york yankees, Roger Maris, Roy Campanella, the National, Topps
Topps has announced its VIP cards for this year’s National Sports Collectors Convention in Cleveland and it’s an assortment of cards using the memorable 1959 design that get the nod this year.
There will be two Mickey Mantle cards — one showing him batting righty, the other lefty — with all VIP bags receiving four cards — but only one of the Mantle cards.
The others include Roger Maris, Jackie Robinson and Roy Campanella.
Robinson’s card shows him as a member of the New York Giants, a team he was traded to in December of 1956 but never played for.
Chris Olds has collected sports cards and memorabilia since 1987. Before coming to Beckett Media, he wrote about the hobby for the Orlando Sentinel on his blog, SportsStuff, and for the San Antonio Express-News and The Tuscaloosa (Ala.) News. Do you have a comment, question or idea? Send e-mail to him at colds@beckett.com.
Filed under: BSCM, Beckett Baseball, MLB, Topps, Vintage Cards | Tags: baseball cards, Bowman, Memory Lane Inc., Mickey Mantle, new york yankees, PSA, the National, Topps
Memory Lane Inc. will offer the first public showing of the finest known collection of Mickey Mantle baseball cards during this year’s National Sports Collectors Convention.
The California-based auction company will have the Donald E. Spence Mantle collection on display for collectors to enjoy inside the IX Center in Cleveland July 29-August 2.
The collection includes all 21 major Mantle cards in mint or gem mint condition, all of them authenticated and graded by PSA. Every card is graded 9 or 10 and several are the highest graded Mantle cards in existence.
Collectors will be able to see the cards and have their picture taken with the “Million-Dollar Mantle card” — a PSA 10-graded 1951 Bowman Mantle rookie — at booth 101.
The collection grades out at a 9.53 on a 10-point scale, making it the No. 1 “set” of Mantle cards on PSA’s Set Registry. Eleven of the cards been graded PSA 10 and the group was named to PSA’s Set Hall of Fame this year.
Filed under: Autographs, BSCM, Memorabilia, NASCAR, Press Pass | Tags: Joey Logano, NASCAR cards, NASCAR memorabilia, NASCAR rookies, Press Pass, Press Pass Showcase
NASCAR rookie Joey Logano made history Sunday by becoming the youngest winner ever in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and in July Press Pass will deliver some of the the 19-year old’s hottest cards in two new brands.
Press Pass Series 2 arrives July 8 with gold edition Press Pass Autographs as well as a retail-exclusive red edition limited to 10 copies. Of the memorabilia cards, there will be Tread Marks autographed race-used tire cards (#’d to 10),
2009 Daytona 500 race-used tire cards and Four Wide multi-swatch cards (#’d to 50).
Press Pass floors it with its first high-end set, Press Pass Showcase, on July 15. Each $225 three-pack box will deliver one autograph plus two race-used memorabilia cards of the sport’s premier drivers. Logano’s featured card will be the short-printed Premier Prospects Rookie Card, which is an autographed, race-used firesuit card. There will be four types all varied by foil stamp color, sequential numbering and firesuit swatch:
Filed under: Autographs, BSCM, Beckett Basketball, Golf, Memorabilia, NBA, Upper Deck | Tags: basketball cards, golf cards, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Stanford, Tiger Woods, Upper Deck, Upper Deck Draft Edition
Upper Deck’s Draft Edition basketball set is on the way in late-July with a mix of newly drafted college stars in their school colors.
And then there’s this other guy named Eldrick.
You probably know him as Tiger Woods, the top pro golfer in the world. As one of Upper Deck’s spokesmen, he’s popped up in several sets in the last year and this upcoming basketball set will be one of them, too.
Not many of his gold cards display his Stanford ties so prominently — in fact, this writer can’t think of any cards that do so.
Cool move.
The set also will include cards of a few other company spokesmen — Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Michael Jordan.
And, of course, it also will include more than a few draft picks.
Chris Olds has collected sports cards and memorabilia since 1987. Before coming to Beckett Media, he wrote about the hobby for the Orlando Sentinel on his blog, SportsStuff, and for the San Antonio Express-News and The Tuscaloosa (Ala.) News. Do you have a comment, question or idea? Send e-mail to him at colds@beckett.com.
Filed under: Autographs, BSCM, Beckett Baseball, Donruss, MLB, Panini | Tags: Americana Sports Legends, Autographs, Donruss, Donruss Threads, Elite Extra Edition, New York Mets, Panini, Playoff Contenders, Wilmer Flores, Wilmer flores redemption
The wait is over for those collectors holding redemption cards for Wilmer Flores autographs.
The New York Mets’ 17-year-old shortstop prospect has returned his signatures and those redemptions should begin being fulfilled soon by Panini America. Redemptions for Flores signatures were inserted into four 2008 Donruss products – Threads, Elite Extra Edition, Americana Sports Legends and Contenders.
“This is definitely a big one for everyone,” Panini America brand manager Mike Payne said. “Our acquisitions team deserves a lot of credit for staying on top of this and for their continued pursuit of the signatures, even after Flores left the country after last season and after he had changed agents during the off-season.”
Flores, ranked the No. 2 prospect in the New York Mets organization by Baseball America before the 2009 season began, will represent the World Team in the 2009 Futures Game.
Last season, his first as a professional, Flores batted .307 with eight home runs and 42 RBI in 280 at-bats combined between three minor league teams. Through June 25 of this season, he was batting .273-2-18 with 11 doubles at Class A Savannah of the South Atlantic League.
