The Beckett Blog


Work Like Your Dog
September 30, 2008, 11:34 am
Filed under: Beckett Blog, Sports Cards | Tags: , , , , , , ,

My college philosophy professor co-wrote a book titled Work Like Your Dog. The book’s message is that dogs don’t know the difference between work and play. Chasing the ball, going for a walk or a swim–they’re one in the same for the good puppy dog.

The book offers different things just about anyone can do to “work like your dog” and make work more enjoyable. Writing about sports cards for a living isn’t in there, but it should be its own chapter.

I recently went to my 10-year high school reunion, and when talking to people I haven’t seen since the Peyton Manning-Ryan Leaf debate was a hot topic, I couldn’t help but think of that book. Some of my old friends were insurance adjusters, owned their own businesses, working in construction … but I threw them all for a loop when I told them that I get paid to publish magazines on sports cards.

Of course, I got several questions about the 1989 Griffey RC, and some folks asked about grading cards. It seemed that most people’s knowledge of the sports card hobby was five to 10 years behind the actual happenings of today.

Making your living by doing what you do as a hobby is a dream for most people. It’s that and a reality for me. The job of course has some frustrating and annoying aspects, but generally, I don’t think I could ask for anything that’s more taylor made for me.

Well, I’ve got to run. I have two boxes of UD Premier Football to open.



The last Red Hot Rookies

Finally I see a personal “must-have” out of the Red Hot Rookie redemption program….not that they aren’t all good-looking cards.

#18 is former University of Texas star and future MLB All-Star, Taylor Teagarden, Catcher, Rangers


# 19 is Collin Balester, Pitcher, Nationals

#20 Lou Montanez, Outfielder, Orioles




UD Black Hockey arrives…

We like them so much there will be a gallery of UD Black in the next BSCM issue…(which by the way is featuring Manny Ramirez on the cover, pine tar and all).



It’s Fred Merkle Day (Edited!)

Almost forgot to mention that it’s the 100th Anniversary of the famous Fred Merkle incident.  In 1908, Merkle, a nineteen-year-old first baseman for the first-place NY Giants, was on first base, with a teammate on third, when a base hit drove in what was thought to be the winning run over the second-place Cubs.

The problem was that Merkle did not finish running from first to second base, so on appeal, he was called out (the rule was Rule 59), and the run did not count.

There is plenty on the story around the net, Sports Illustrated did a nice piece on it today, and thoughts and opinions galore.  There is even a “Curse of Fred Merkle,” that people talk about.  We have been so busy lately, I need to say thanks to James over at Sports Locker for reminding me.

Here are some Merkle cards to enjoy on today.  They are part of the Beckett find that also included the first Honus Wagner BGS ever graded.  These cards will be going up for auction starting on Sunday, they should bring a bunch of attention.

NOTE– Actually I had the information wrong on some of the cards, they went up for auction last night!

You can see them here and here.



Evan Longoria is Red Hot, and on-card

Topps announced the player redeemable for the 2008 Topps Baseball Series 2 RED HOT ROOKIE Redemption # 17 is Evan Longoria, Third Baseman, Tampa Bay Rays.  Longoria’s card will be autographed on-card.  (Thanks Topps!)

Throughout the remainder of the 2008 Major League Baseball season, Topps will announce the subjects for the 20-card RED HOT ROOKIE program.  Each Topps Series 2 Hobby Box includes on Red Hot Rookie Redemption, which can be redeemed online at www.topps.com/redemption.

The cards will be printed on Topps Chrome Refractor technology and shipped to collectors first week of November.

Three more to go, here is a list of the players that have been announced so far:

# 1 Jay Bruce, Cincinnati Reds/ Autographed

# 2 Justin Masterson, Boston Red Sox

# 3 John Bowker, San Francisco Giants

# 4 Kosuke Fukudome, Chicago Cubs

# 5 Mike Aviles, Kansas City Royals

# 6 Chris Davis, Texas Rangers

# 7 Chris Volsatd, Florida Marlins

# 8 Jeff Samardzija, Chicago Cubs

# 9 Brad Ziegler, Oakland A’s

# 10 Gio Gonzalez, Oakland A’s

# 11 Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers

# 12 Daniel Murphy, New York Mets

# 13 Chris Dickerson, Cincinnati Reds

# 14 Pablo Sandoval, San Francisco Giants

# 15 Nick Evans, New York Mets

# 16 Clayton Richard, Chicago White Sox

# 17 Evan Longoria, Tampa Bay Rays/ Autographed



Why even insult us with this attempt?

We have a potential top-ten candidate for the “Worst Autograph Ever” contest.

I’d be so mad if I pulled this…even though it’s a sticker it could have been a nice card for someone.

Card companies simply need to stop paying players for this kind of garbage.  I don’t care how insignificant the pay is in the scheme of things for these guys, don’t agree to do something if you aren’t going to give your best effort.



Score some 2008 Score

It’s football season and the long, hot days are over in Texas so we are all in good moods around here.

Since being charitable goes right along with good moods we are going to give more stuff away…

This will run contest on the Beckett blog and beckett.com at the same time.

You can answer either place, but only one answer per person.

If you answer on the blog, you need to use your first name and last initial OR your beckett.com name, AND use the same email address that you use for your beckett.com account (NEVER published, so don’t worry).

The contest runs until 10 am on Friday, September 26, 2008.

The prize is an opened, but complete, box of 2008 Score football that we busted and cataloged already.

Here is a small sample of what the winner will receive–

Starting top left and going across-

Gold Zone (#’d to 400), Sticker, Tattoo, Young Stars, Scorecard (#’d to 649), Red Zone (#’d to 100), Future Franchise [and The Franchise] (both regular and glossy), Hot Rookies, Base card (regular and glossy)

The person who answers these questions correctly gets the entire box.

1.  What % of the regular BASE set (including rookies) did we get out of this box? (closest without going over wins, and decimals count, up to 5 places if needed)

2.  How many serial-numbered cards did we pull?

3.  How many tattoos did we pull?

4.  How many stickers did we pull?

5.  How many glossy rookie base cards did we pull?

You do not have to answer these correctly to win, but In case of a tie – answer these…

There are two glossy base cards of a players who went to USC – name them.

There is one (1) glossy base card of someone on the Houston Texans – name him.

If there is still a tie, then it’s “I am thinking of a number between one and ten” time…but we’ll do that if it happens.

To make this as fair as possible, here is the side of the box for all to enjoy–if you go to the blog you can click the image to make it bigger.

Good luck!



The result…
September 19, 2008, 3:17 pm
Filed under: Beckett Blog | Tags: , , , ,

Well, there are no fireworks going off, no wood 1/1 or red-ink auto, but I am not unhappy at all!

I pulled a nice card out, and it was fun as heck after all.  I taped it, but it will be at least Monday before I can post that and I won’t make anyone wait that long to see it.

This is listed on beckett.com between $40 and $60, so I sure can’t complain!

The back-

All in all, not a bad box!  I’ll get the rest up later.

That is the first time I ever saw an unripped rip card, so that was good stuff.



To rip, or not to rip?
September 18, 2008, 11:31 pm
Filed under: Beckett Blog, Box break, Topps | Tags: , , , , ,

I thought I would be busy tonight trying to round up any Josh Howard cards I have in my house so I could have a little burning session this weekend, but I slipped up and stopped at a card shop.  These things happen from time to time, I am an admittedly weak man.

Thankfully I escaped without too much damage to my puny bank account balance…and one little box never hurt anyone, right?

Wrong.

Now I can’t sleep.  I am going to take it to work tomorrow, and I will be terribly proud of myself if I make it to the office without ripping it open.  At worst, I’ll keep my camera handy if I wake up at 3:30 am with an overwhelming urge.

I’ll post the rest of the break sometime soon…



Josh Howard is an idiot…

I am not going to post anything with swearing in it, even mild cursing, and most importantly I am not going to disgrace this fine blog and put this certified moron’s YouTube video clip on here.

By now I’d expect everyone knows what this misguided wanna-be said anyway.  It was taped back in July, at Allen Iverson’s charity flag football game, and is just now coming to light.

Spineless, gutless, bottom-feeder Howard: “‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ is going on right now. I don’t even celebrate that [censored]. I’m black.”

Then he mumbles some unintelligible garbage about Obama…way to support a candidate for the presidency, I bet Obama is so thrilled to have that ignorant-sounding endorsement.

.

Hey Josh, I was at the Texas Rangers game tonight and -because I had literally just heard about your views on America- I looked around and I saw EVERYONE standing for the National Anthem, people of all colors.  Here is another shocker for you, Josh, even the people behind us were standing -and they weren’t even AMERICANS.  They were guests here, visiting the country you spit on.

It’s not about race, you moron, it’s about pride and respect, and you, sir, don’t possess either one.

.


I didn’t have time tonight to do it, due to the game (I will post about it later), but I am going to take the time to search my collection and burn every single thing I own that has Josh Howard on it.

It won’t be much of a fire, I lost the tiny bit of admiration I had for him when he selfishly threw a party for himself DURING THE PLAYOFFS (a series the Mavericks lost), but still, not even a random base card will exist in my house.

I could trade or sell this garbage, but that would make me as big a loser as he is.  My only profit off this guy will be my own satisfaction, and that is priceless.

Are those puffs of smoke?  How fitting.

Are those puffs of smoke? How fitting.

Maverick owner Mark Cuban says, “Josh really is a good guy with a great heart.  He just doesn’t do a good job of showing that side of himself publicly. We will work on that.”

Oh?  So it’s OK with Mark Cuban that this pseudo-star piece of human waste holds these anti-American views, as long as he shuts his mouth when a camera is around?

That’s admirable.

How about you do the right thing, Mr. Cuban, and just cut the worthless bum.  Set an example, take a stand.  Let’s face it, your team is going nowhere next season anyway.

Besides that, why should a real NBA superstar like Dirk Nowitzki have to hear all the booing that NBA fans around the country will rain down on the Mavericks when that punk takes the floor?

Let me show you something, Josh, look at this video.

.

.

.

That is America…you are just too stupid to understand what it’s all about.  See Maurice Cheeks?  That is a MAN, Josh.  That is an AMERICAN.  You should take some notes, but somehow I bet you can’t.



Creative?
September 16, 2008, 9:23 am
Filed under: Beckett HQ | Tags: , , , , ,

What do you do with those blank pieces of cardboard that come in some packs?  Personally, I use them to separate sets/teams/players in 5,000-count boxes.

Some people hoard them.

I didn’t understand why anyone would keep those things until Keith Hower, Beckett Basketball Senior Market Analyst went out of town.

I will not name names…

Big Ben does not look amused...



I’ll take sports cards for $400….
September 16, 2008, 9:18 am
Filed under: Beckett Blog

 

Ok, the trivia game is now over. We had a winner and we had a runner up that got 8/10 right. Real nice!

Just one question for today and its an “easy” one!

 

Name the one player who was featured on an 1887-90 Old Judge card and a Topps cards during his career.

Good luck to everyone!