Danielle Edlund
Doug Kale
Keith Hower
The Hammer
dinkfod
Brian Fleischer
danhitt
Andy Broome
dsliepka
escaladefan
Tim Trout
chrisoldsFiled under: BGS | Tags: Beckett, Beckett Hockey, hockey cards, Honus Wagner, Sports Cards, Wayne Gretzky
You never know comes through the door here at Beckett. Today, a guy walks in with 270 Gretzky rookies for grading.
They look to be in pretty good condition and are working their way through the BGS system right now (actually, they’re in the vault for the weekend).
People are welcome to drop off and pick up grading orders here at Beckett HQ. From time to time, you’ll get a sad one come in.
A few years back, a guy from Oklahoma called me and said he was driving down that morning with a Honus Wagner T-206 card he found and he wanted to graded it with walk-through service. “It’s too valuable to send through the mail!” I explained to him about the rarity of that card, and the proliferation of reprints of that card over the years. It didn’t matter. He was blinded by the possibility that he had just hit the lottery.
Three hours later, the guy walks through the front door holding an obvious reprint. I could have told him the second he handed it to me, but I gave him the courtesy to at least run it by a grader to make sure.
When I reemerged with the bad news, he looked like he’d just been socked in the stomach and had his lunch money stolen. What a sad drive back up I-35 that must have been.
Filed under: Autographs, Beckett Football, NFL, Sports Cards, Upper Deck | Tags: 2007 Ultimate Collection Football, Ultimate Collection
It’s Friday and I just finished previewing and reviewing the latest basketball products for Beckett Basketball.
There were two unopened boxes of 2007 Ultimate Collection Football on my desk just begging to be opened. So, I decided to take a break and bust ‘em.
Ultimate Collection is usually one of my favorite products. The on-card autographs and simple, but slick, design make it one of the most attractive products every year. So, you can imagine the shock when I opened the first pack to find a (gulp!) sticker autograph. A sticker auto in Ultimate Collection? Please tell me this is a cruel joke.
Ultimate Collection was one of the last homes of the on-card autograph. Not anymore. Even the Rookie Cards, which used to be fantastic looking on-card autographs, are now essentially cut/trapped autographs. Plus, many of the other rookie autographs I’ve seen picture the rookies in college uniforms. Now, I’m a big college football fan, but isn’t it a little late in the season to be showing rookies in college uniforms on sticker autographs?
The overall design and the memorabilia cards I pulled (two of these come in each pack) look the same as the ones in SPx and Premier. All of these products (more…)
Filed under: Beckett Baseball, Sports Cards, Topps, Vintage Cards | Tags: 1952 Topps, Joe Nuxhall
Joe Nuxhall, who at age 15 became the youngest player ever to appear in the major leagues, passed away last night at the age of 79.
On June 10, 1944, Nuxhall (15 years, 10 
months, 11 days to be exact) took to the mound for the Reds. Joe would pitch until 1966 before he traded his spikes for a microphone. Nuxhall was a broadcaster for the Reds until 2004. Fans who never saw Joe pitch may remember him best for what he said after each broadcast: “”This is the old left-hander, rounding third and heading for home”
His signature sign-off can be found illuminated across the top of the Reds’ administration building.
Joe can be found in numerous card sets including several regional sets but his rookie card is found in the legendary 1952 Topps high number series.
