Governor of Oregon declares April 7th, Bobby Doerr Day

One of my favorite players is Bobby Doerr who played from 1937 to 1951 for the Red Sox.  He lives in the next town over from me and he just turned 90.  The Governor of Oregon, Ted Kulongoski had this to say “It is appropriate to thank and honor this accomplished and most modest gentleman as an Oregon legend”.  Once Bobby retired from baseball he moved his family to Oregon and that is where he has stayed.  I believe Bobby Doerr is the oldest living Hall of Fame baseball player.

My opinion on the Beckett Video Box Break of Exquisite Football

If you have not seen it yet, you can go view the March 25th. video here.  Obviously the Peterson and Payton/Piccolo autograph cards are amazing.  But I don’t believe there is a conspiracy by UD to put once in a lifetime pulls in the box they gave to Beckett.  I believe it is a coincidence, or more accurately how odds work.  It is like the Allen & Ginter product last year, one guy pulled a Mother Teresa auto worth $10,000, and another guy pulled a Jeremy Hermida auto worth a buck.  Another example is a few months ago a guy walked into my local card shop and bought a sealed box of football cards for $100 and opened it and every single card was a 1 of 1.  It was just a fluke, a coincidence, he turned around and made a quck $10,000 for the box.  I think as a community we should give Upper Deck and Beckett a break, and keep busting wax trying to get our own $10,000 hit.

Card News - Fleer is dead?

According to Stale Gum, 2008 Fleer baseball has been cancelled. 

News - Ebay, Shopping.com conspiracy

I applaud the boycotters of ebay.  I don’t believe such boycotts are effective however.  I believe ebay imposing fees when no sale was made (such as listing fees) is a terrible business model.  I think auction sites that charge only when you sell an item sets up a great partnership.  That way you the seller and them the facilitator benefit when a sale is made.  From what I have read the Shopping.com listings were a lame attempt by ebay to spin the boycott to their advantage.  If it is true, shame on ebay.

Card News - Campaign Letter Patches

In their 2008 Topps Baseball Series 2 cards, Topps announced that they are including Campaign Letter Patches.  I have to say that while I like actual “relics” these fake patches are pathetic.  Here is an example of Hillary Clinton’s; 

News - defaced 2007 Allen & Ginter Fidel Castro card

Some idiot defaced an awesome 1 of 1 historical autograph of Fidel Castro.  That would have been a pull of a lifetime:

News - create your own Topps card

I have to say I am pretty excited about the new promotion from Topps.  Having a professional baseball card created with your own image is a great idea.  After I told my wife that I wanted to dress up my 2 year old in a baseball uniform, she promptly went out and got one.  The shirt doesn’t button, because he is a big little boy, and it is the Rockies but he looks like a natural.  I am hoping this weekend to get him dressed up in it with a mini-bat and take some photos and design his card.  Is anyone else planning on putting their child on one of these.

News - another shameless card from Topps

Here is another spoof cards that is getting Topps alot of publicity. Once again, it is more amusing than annoying. I would not mind pulling it. I was excited last year when I pulled my first Bush card.

News - too many relic cards?

Beckett reported in an article that since 1997 - 416, 739 relic cards have been produced.  That is ridiculous to me.  Don’t get me wrong I really like the concept of relic cards.  Card companies giving regular guys like me the chance of owning a piece of memorabilia from one of our heroes is awesome.  But making relics so common that they become worthless isn’t a great idea, it’s a greedy one.  Occassionally I get on ebay and buy relic cards for $2.50, which includes shipping.  Obviously the genie is out of the bottle so I don’t know the solution to the problem, but it is still frustrating pulling a great relic card out of an expensive pack and knowing it is worth only a dollar.

News - Upper Deck Hillary Clinton Card

Like I mentioned in my Michael Buysner Card post, I really enjoy these cards.  Sure I understand that they are an attempt to drum up sales, but they are funny as hell.  Let’s not take everything so serious, we are collecting baseball cards not Holy relics.