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Filed under: Beckett Media, college basketball, Upper Deck | Tags: 2011 Upper Deck World of Sports, Bob Hugguns, David Beckham, Joe Canseco, Tiger Woods, Upper Deck, World of Sports
By Chris Olds | Editor
In the college ranks, there’s typically one man who stands above the rest.
The head coach.
While countless coaching legends have appeared on cards through the years, it’s in Collegiate Licensing Company-approved and draft pick products where the legends are often found. The likes of Bobby Knight, John Wooden, Bobby Bowden, Tom Osborne and many more have made their way into packs.
But there are still more to be found — and that’s where the latest effort from Upper Deck comes in.
Filed under: Beckett Media, MLB, Topps | Tags: 2011 Bowman Platinum, baseball cards, Bowman Platinum, Bryce Harper, MLB, Topps
By Chris Olds | Editor
You might not have fully digested your first helping of Bowman Platinum, but the next helping is already here.
Topps released preview images and basic product information for 2011 Bowman Platinum on Thursday, a product that will arrive in late-June — just months after the product made its baseball debut.
There will be two prospect autographs as well as one autographed Relic in every 20-pack hobby box. Each 12-box case will include one multi-autograph card and redemptions for on-card autographs from the latest crop of USA Baseball players.
The product will mark a high-end (Chrome) arrival of Bryce Harper autographs as the 18-year-old No. 1 overall pick is slated to have a Chrome Refractor Prospect autograph in the product as well as appear on the triple-autograph card (top) also signed by Stephen Strasburg and Ryan Zimmerman.
Filed under: Beckett Media, First look, MLB, Topps | Tags: 2011 Topps Pro Debut, MILB, minor league
By Chris Olds | Editor
Topps‘ second year of producing officially licensed minor-league baseball cards will start off with a little something extra — four hits in every box of 2011 Pro Debut.
Set to arrive in late May, Pro Debut will consist of 330 cards — apparently just one series this year — but will pack two autographs and two game-used Relics in every 24-pack box along with eight parallels and 18 insert cards. (Last year’s two-series release included two autographs and one memorabilia card in every hobby-only box.)
New this year are Side-by-side Dual Autographs which pair two players together, while the rest of the lineup is pretty similar. There are Gold (/25), Red (1/1) and Blue (/199) parallels, while there are also printing plates to be found. The insert sets include Single-A All-Stars, Double-A All-Stars and Triple-A All-Stars.
Filed under: Beckett Media, Card gallery, MLB, Topps | Tags: 2011 Topps baseball, Albert Pujols, Diamond, MLB, Topps
By Chris Olds | Editor
Today’s the day that many had marked on their calendars — well, after Topps pushed up the release date — as it marked the arrival of the annual baseball card-collecting staple.
You know, the annual Topps Baseball set.
While our Box Busters review boxes are somewhere in an iced-over UPS truck likely stuck in a snow drift and the Beckett Media offices are closed for a second consecutive day, a little lot of snow ice wasn’t going to stop your idiot intrepid editor from journeying through the tundra to a Target store.
After a blaster box, jumbo pack and way-too-many loose packs to mention, here’s a selection of cards from this year’s set … after the jump.
Also be sure to take our poll — on whether you think 2011 Topps is a winner or a loser.
Filed under: Beckett Media, MLB, Topps | Tags: 2011 Topps, Diamond Anniversary, MLB, Topps
By Chris Olds | Editor
The first boxes of 2011 Topps Baseball have been ripped and the first reports of oddball findings are coming in, too.
The most notable previously unannounced finds are cards that have the twinkle or sparkle of a diamond digitally placed into the photograph of the card.
Filed under: Beckett Media | Tags: Green Bay Packers, Pittsburgh Steelers, PSA/DNA, Super Bowl XLV
By Chris Olds | Editor
Each and every game ball used in Super Bowl XLV on Sunday will be tagged with invisible ink to authenticate it as being used in game-play, announced PSA/DNA on Tuesday.
Roughly 120 balls will he used during the big game between the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh Steelers, and they won’t be the only items authenticated — the pylons and the coin for the coin toss also will be marked.
“The DNA ink has an astronomical 1-in-33 trillion chance of being accurately reproduced by counterfeiters,” said Joe Orlando, President of PSA/DNA. “Many of the game-used Super Bowl footballs are sold by the NFL through charity auctions. The PSA/DNA certification combats potential counterfeiting and helps assure future owners that each ball is genuine.”
The Santa Ana, Calif.-based company uses a synthetic DNA strand that can be seen only with a specific laser. This will be the 13th year that the company has authenticated Super Bowl balls, which also will include a letter of authenticity. For added protection, the letters will have codes that can be verified at PSADNA.com.
The first of three In The Game uncut sheet auctions is under way.
A trio of eBay auctions of sheets from ITG: Heroes & Prospects “Hits” Series 1 will benefit charity.
The first auction — a sheet of autographed prospect cards from the set — benefits Special Olympics and is at $635 with a week remaining.
Filed under: Beckett Media
By Chris Olds | Editor
The NBA‘s long-running Starting Five promotion — one that gets exclusive stuff into the hands of collectors just for visiting hobby shops and buying cards — starts today.
In its fourth season, the program is once again led by NBA exclusive card licensee Panini America, which has produced the special cards for the program. There will be 10 exclusive cards to be collected at participating shops. (Find that list here.)
Dear Beckett User,
As many of you know, we have had our dose of Murphy’s Law in the last week. We suffered a severe network outage at our old host provider. That was fun. In addition, Dallas is under a few inches of ice, sleet and snow, which has our office closed.
We expected to launch the new site this last weekend – as it stands we are doing so now. Yep, currently we are importing your data and the massive database (have been since Monday) into our new hosting location.
Due to the extremely slow nature of the data migration, it is hard to say exactly when it will be complete. Likely by 48 to 72 hours.
So the time is here. Once the data migration is complete, the main components of the new site will be live. This will be followed shortly by an update to both our Grading and Marketplace sites.
Thanks,
Brian
Brian D. Gulledge
President
Beckett Media LLC
Filed under: Golf, NHL, Upper Deck | Tags: Bubba Watson, Goodwin Champions, PGA, Tiger Woods, Upper Deck
By Chris Olds | Editor
Upper Deck has its sights set on a return to the golf world sometime soon and a pair of future products will include a golf card first and a big batch of Tiger Woods.
Those are things that golf fans — who have been without a set of their own since 2005 — will undoubtedly appreciate.
Up first, is a first — Bubba Watson‘s first Upper Deck golf card. It will appear in 2011 Goodwin Champions, which will arrive later this year.
Upper Deck’s Sports Marketing and Social Media Manager Chris Carlin had additional details.
“We’ve reached a deal with the 2011 Farmers Insurance Open winner for image rights and autographs,” he said. “That’s kind of big news as many were wondering if we would ever produce Goodwin Champions again. The last Goodwin Champions set had a lot of very unique and innovative trading card inserts sets, so we are very excited to bring that product back with even more bells and whistles that will be announced in the coming months.
“Watson’s first autograph cards will appear in 2011 Upper Deck Ultimate Champions, a cross-sport product with a high-end look and feel.”
The second item — a whole lot of Tiger — can be seen after the jump.
Filed under: Beckett Media, MLB, Topps | Tags: baseball cards, Gypsy Queen, MLB, Topps
By Chris Olds | Editor
The Queen will now include some royalty.
Topps unveiled its plans for a new baseball card set styled in the fashion of an 1887 release some time ago, but on Friday the longest-running manufacturer of baseball cards announced a little something extra in packs of the forthcoming 2011 Gypsy Queen baseball cards.
Prince William and Kate Middleton — two members of Britain’s Royal Family — will appear on a card.
Building on the product’s “jewels” theme — which includes bonus cards of various gypsys (yeah, we’re mystified, too) — a “Royal Jewels” card can also be found in packs.
No word on a card of Enrico Palazzo, though.
Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an e-mail to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.
Filed under: MLB, Topps | Tags: 2011 Topps, baseball cards, Topps, Topps Anniversary Ring
By Chris Olds | Editor
Topps‘ 60th anniversary ring (the quick image here does it no justice) features 50 diamonds and will only be owned by a select few.
How rare will they be? Topps’ order has not been finalized — one could speculate perhaps 60 rings? Maybe more, maybe less …
What’s it worth? We’ll let the market take care of that when they arrive.
But what we do know is this:
— One Beckett Baseball reader will own the ring seen here. (Details to come in upcoming issues.)
— Ten randomly selected hobby shops will receive a ring as part of their Diamond Anniversary Kit to promote the product in stores.
— The remainder of the rings will be given away as part of the Diamond Anniversary program’s online codes found beginning in 2011 Topps Series 1 — the company’s anniversary product — that arrives soon. Code cards are found one in every four packs.
Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an e-mail to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.
Filed under: Beckett Media
Late Wednesday afternoon, Beckett.com experienced a major server failure at our old server facility. We have pooled all available resources to work on this issue, and hope to update you on our progress real soon.
Our new site is scheduled to launch on Monday, Jan.31, and we are working to have the old site restored as soon as possible. We thank you for your understanding as we work through this issue.
Filed under: NFL, Panini | Tags: football, football cards, NFL, Panini, Panini Plates & Patches
Join Beckett Football’s Dan Hitt and Andrew Tolentino as they rip into a pair of 2010 Panini Plates & Patches football boxes from Panini America in this latest edition of Box Busters.
What will they find inside? Watch and find out …
Filed under: NFL, Topps | Tags: football, football cards, NFL, Topps, Topps Supreme
Join Beckett Football’s Dan Hitt and Andrew Tolentino as they open a pair of 2010 Topps Supreme football card boxes in this latest edition of Box Busters.
What’s inside? Watch and find out …
Filed under: Beckett Media, MLB, Topps | Tags: 2011 Topps, baseball, baseball cards, MLB, Topps
Join Beckett Baseball‘s Chris Olds as he opens a pretty special box from Topps that contains something that just might be yours soon.
What’s inside? Watch and find out …
Filed under: Beckett Media, Hall of Fame, MLB, Topps | Tags: 2010 Topps Tribute, Babe Ruth, baseball, baseball cards, lou gehrig, MLB, Topps
By Chris Olds | Editor
A heavily scrutinized Topps baseball card featuring the autographs of nine members of the 1927 New York Yankees has been judged to be authentic, according to more than one authentication company, and will return to the auction block on Thursday.
However, the card’s examination wasn’t without a new caveat not previously mentioned publicly as the autograph of Lou Gehrig appears to have been painted around to obscure lesser signatures near it — making it more visually appealing — according to James Spence Jr. of James Spence Authentication.
How rare is this kind of alteration?
“More often than a flat item, multi-signed baseballs are often painted over to give the illusion that they appear as single-signed,” Spence said Thursday. “A company in California specializes in this type of craft.”
This aspect is noted on the Spence Letter of Authenticity, which will be included with the card when it is sold by Beckett Select Auctions , the consignment auction service division of Beckett Media. The auction will launch Thursday with an opening bid of $20,000. The auction will close on on Super Bowl Sunday following the game here in Dallas.
The 2010 Topps Tribute Legendary Lineup Cuts card features the signatures of Earle Combs, Mark Koenig, Babe Ruth, Gehrig, Bob Meusel, Tony Lazzeri, Joe Dugan, Pat Collins and Waite Hoyt — all on one booklet.
A redemption for the card was found by a collector in Missouri, who opted to sell the card through Beckett Select. The auction briefly ran in December with a starting bid of $20,000. However, Select ended the auction early as a precaution when it received multiple questions about the authenticity of the Ruth and Gehrig signatures.
The Beckett Blog 