Monday, March 27, 2006

The Changing Face of Rookie Cards

I wrote he following article last October to help explain the new rookie baseball card guidelines and their affect on the hobby.

Lost in the uproar surrounding the demise of Fleer and Donruss losing its baseball card license is the changing face of rookie baseball cards. On a decree handed down by the Major League Baseball Player’s Association, players not on a 25-man roster will not be allowed to appear in base sets. Any rookie called to the majors after August 31 will not be available for use in current sets.

The new ruling, which will take affect with 2006 releases, is a tremendous blow to minor league aficionados and baseball card prospectors -- collectors who discovered Felix Hernandez’s mastery and Jeff Francoeur’s game long before July 2005.

Under the grandfather clause that gave Topps exclusive rights to sign non 40-man roster players to be included in mainstream sets, the manufacturer issued a ‘04 Topps Traded rookie card of Hernandez (#T144, selling for $6, Gold versions getting $21) and a ‘02 Bowman Draft card of Francoeur (#BDP23, selling for $12.50, chrome versions getting $53).

Hernandez and Francoeur have been spectacular since debuting in July, making their early rookie cards the most coveted of the season. If the new ruling had already taken affect, rookie cards of Hernandez and Francoeur would not have been released until this season. Would the demand be as great? Unlikely. Would the thrill of landing the top rookie cards be as exhilarating? No way. The hobby is in grave danger of alienating minor league prospectors, some of the hobby’s most active participators.

The MLBPA believes that the new rookie ruling will even the playing field between Topps and Upper Deck, the two manufacturers left standing after a summer of hobby discourse. The intent is to allow both manufacturers to reap the benefits of top rookies called to the majors during the season and to make rookie card collecting less confusing, but the playing field is not quite level and the confusion is mounting.

The MLBPA will allow Topps to issue non 40-man prospects in Bowman brand insert sets with no special provisions for Upper Deck. Bowman inserts will not have the official MLBPA rookie logo, but will they have a similar design as the “official” rookie cards? Will collectors, dealers, and price card editors consider these cards “inserts” or “rookies”?

With many questions still to be answered, expect more changes in the way we collect baseball cards next year or until the MLBPA realizes that the hobby’s participants determine the difference between “rookie” and “insert” cards.

Thursday, March 23, 2006

Topps Jumps the Gun on Alex Gordon

Hours after Topps 2006 Topps Baseball was released in February, case busters discovered that a card was missing from the 330-card set. A few days later, Topps announced that card #297, originally slated to featured Royals prospect Alex Gordon, was pulled from the set. Topps made this last minute change in compliance with the Major League Players Association ruling that no players can be featured in standard issue 2006 sets prior to appearing in a major league game.

Minutes after Topps released its statement, a handful of Gordon cards with a huge square hole cut out of the middle were listed on eBay. Confused collectors were paying as much as $75 for a card that consisted of nothing more than a border. Approximately 1,000 partial cards have since been discovered and are currently selling for $30-$40. Apparently, Topps was able to eliminate Gordon’s image on most of his cards before reaching the packaging process, but not all of them.

A collector from Bloomington, Illinois, was the first to unearth a fully-in-tact Gordon card #297. After calling various hobby publications and discovering that he had the one complete Gordon card to date, the veteran hobbyist sold the card on e-Bay for $500. Meanwhile, collectors and dealers continue to pay inflated prices for Topps 2006 boxes in search of another complete Gordon card.

Gordon’s 2006 “Autographs” insert survived the distribution process unscathed and is currently selling for $10-$70 depending in its scarcity. Because the card is an insert and not part of the base set, Gordon’s autograph is not restricted by the MLBPA’s ruling.

The huge Topps gaffe has raised many eyebrows within the hobby. In an attempt to clarify rookie card status, the MLBPA ruled that no player can be featured in standard issue sets before making his major league debut. How did Topps let Gordon, the second overall pick in the 2005 draft, slip through the cracks? Many dealers and collectors believe Topps created the error to cause a stir and interest in its 2006 base set. The MLBPA has yet to investigate or even issue a statement, so don’t be surprised to see a few more “errors” pop up.

Saturday, March 18, 2006

Topps & Mickey Mantle Reunite

A relationship that has brought Mickey Mantle fame and Topps fortune over the past 44 years has been renewed. Under the agreement, the Mantle family grants Topps exclusive rights for all trading cards, including inserts, memorabilia cards, cut signatures and the use of Mantle’s image on packaging and advertising.

With access to the family photo collection, upcoming Topps releases will chronicle the life and times of Mantle with a large array of base and insert cards featuring never-released photos of the prolific slugger.

Topps 2006 contains more than 1,200 game-used Mantle bat relic cards, each selling for $140-$350 depending on its scarcity. The “Mickey Mantle HR History” insert set begins with Series 1 and will continue in Topps Series 2 and Updates & Highlights. These horizontal cards sport an early ‘50s design and are readily available for under $3.

Series 1 also features the missing #7 cards from the last nine years, each sporting a rare Mantle photo. Topps retired card #7 in 1997 to honor the great Yankee slugger. The new #7s are selling on eBay for $3-$6. All future Topps and Topps Chrome sets will feature Mantle on card #7.

Topps 2006 Baseball appeals to novice set builders, deep-pocketed memorabilia afficionados, and all collectors in between. With such an inclusive fan base, expect the base brand and its Chrome counterpart to sustain popularity throughout the summer and beyond. The set features one Mantle insert per box and 12 per case, while the popular card #7s are easy finds.

Topps recently purchased rare Mantle memorabilia, including a first baseman’s glove valued at $18,000, at least two game-worn jerseys, and an “off-the-field” suit. These and other items will appear at the 2006 All-Star Fanfest and will eventually be incorporated into Topps memorabilia sets.

Mantle game-used jerseys from the ‘50s and ‘60s are extremely rare. According to Beckett Baseball, three were purchased at auctions over the past 18 months for $110,000-$145,000. Because Mantle bats – currently selling for $15,000-$20,000 – are easier finds, expect more bat cards than jersey cards in upcoming releases. A game-used jersey typically produces 2,000 swatches of fabric and a bat produces approximately 1,2000 chips.

Topps Triple Threads, scheduled for release in early April, will include a handful of rare Mantle memorabilia cards. The series will also feature “Cut Signature” cards of Mantle and Ted Williams as well as memorabilia and autographed cards of Roberto Clemente, Hank Greenberg, Buck O’Neil, Barry Bonds, and Roger Clemens. Expect to pay in excess of $80 per pack for the Topps showpiece series.

The long, storied history between Topps and Mantle began in 1952, when the Topps Chewing Gum co. marketed images of baseball players to help sell gum. As baseball became a cornerstone American life during the ‘50s and ‘60s, Mantle emerged as the game’s most prolific player, leading the Yankees to 12 Pennants and seven World Series titles. He won the Triple Crown in 1959 and was named the AL MVP in 1956, 1957, and 1962.

The ‘52 Topps card, the second Mantle card issued (Bowman released the true rookie a year earlier), has become the most sought-after postwar card and remains the most recognizable sports card ever produced.

Sunday, March 12, 2006

Fleer Baseball Returns, Upper Deck Style

Fleer Baseball – Upper Deck style – will hit the retail and hobby shelves in early April with the same Fleer designs and many of the same insert sets that made Fleer an affordable collector-favorite over the past 25 years. The Fleer brand name is among the assets purchased by Upper Deck from the bankrupt Fleer Co. last summer.

Like past Fleer products, the 2006 version will feature a good mix of veterans and future stars as well as prominent insert sets such as “Autographics,” “Smoke ‘n Heat,” and “Lumber Company.” The set will also include 60 rookie cards with the new rookie logo as designated by the Major League Players Association.

Fleer 2006 Baseball is a 400-card set specifically geared toward new collectors attempting to build entire sets without breaking the bank. Ten-card packs will carry a suggested retail price of $1.59. There will be an insert card per pack and a “Glossy” parallel card seeded in every other pack and one game-worn jersey card will be found in each box.

Insert cards will also feature 2005 MVP winners (Alex Rodriguez and Albert Pujols), Rookie of the Year winners (Ryan Howard and Huston Street), and Cy Young Award winners (Chris Carpenter and Bartolo Colon).

The popular Fleer inserts – especially Autographics – combined with Upper Deck’s outstanding marketing and packaging strategies will make 2006 Fleer Baseball a winner among set builders.

Thursday, March 09, 2006

Tobacco Cards New and Old

Tobacco cards from the early 1900s still significantly influence the hobby. Early card designs are being enhanced with foil, vibrant colors, four-color printing technologies, and embedded memorabilia while recently discovered original tobacco cards continue to drive hobby auctions and the Internet market place.

Issued in 1911, the groundbreaking T205 series sported gold borders and intricate designs. It was the first major baseball set to feature player biographies and statistics. Ninety-two years later, Topps turned back the clock, incorporating today's top players with the T205 design.

The 150-card Topps 205 set, released in July 2004, features 144 veterans, 10 prospects, 15 rookies, 11 autographs, and five reprints. The series also includes five parallel sets -- Bazooka, Drum, Honest, Polar Bear, and Brooklyn, paying homage to Topps's birthplace. For more historical perspective, Topps 205 also includes the popular 1912 Triple Folder (one per pack) featuring a current star in a black and white folder photo flanked by two original T205 designs.

The crown jewel of the set is the 2,000 original T205 cards randomly inserted into packs, which drove the price of eight-card packs well above the suggested-retail-price of $4.

Topps decided on the T205 series following the highly-successful 2003 T206 release, which started the trend of saluting the vintage baseball sets. The success of the initial release triggered an unplanned Series 2 and Series 3 releases. Topps capitalized on the most famous trading card ever issued -- the T206 Honus Wagner -- by incorporating a piece of an actual game-used Wagner bat into a unique memorabilia card limited to a production run of 25 and currently selling for $500.

The original T206 Wagner is the most renowned and costly card in existence. According to an October 1912 issue of The Sporting News, Wagner refused to be included in American Tobacco Co. series because the star shortstop did not want to promote cigarettes. Although most baseball historians believe Wagner had the cards pulled because of his disdain of cigarettes, some believe Wagner was unable to reach a contractual agreement with American Tobacco Co.

An uncut strip of five T206 cards was recently sold by MastroNet Sports & Americana for $78,665. This one-of-a-kind strip was reportedly discovered some 25 years ago in the back pocket of an original Wagner uniform stashed away in the attic of his old house. Baseball historians believe the tobacco company sent this strip to Wagner hoping he would reconsider his stance. No other T206 uncut strip has ever surfaced. Wagner remained firm in his decision, but a small number of the Wagner cards were somehow issued. Vintage collectors believe 75 originals exist today.

In addition to Wagner, the strip also includes Three-Finger Brown, Cy Young, Frank Bowerman, and Johnny King. The strip has a blank back and printer's proof marks in the corners of each card. Being stuffed in a pocket for decades, the strip is filled with severe creases.

Monday, March 06, 2006

Hank Aaron: The Dignified Home Run King & His Baseball Cards

Hank Aaron baseball cards, old and new, have become increasingly popular as the dignified "Home Run King" has become more appealing than many of today's controversial sluggers.

The slender 180-lb. outfielder accumulated 755 home runs over his 23-year career. A right-handed hitter with remarkably powerful wrists and a smoothly crafted swing, Aaron was recognized for home runs, but his legacy included 3,771 hits (third all-time), 2,174 runs (tied for second), 2,297 RBI (first), and a career .305 average. Aaron also displayed outstanding speed and one of the better right-field arms of his time.

A Hall of Fame career combined with several Topps production mishaps have made Aaron a collector’s favorite. His 1954 Topps rookie (#128), sells for $1,500 in near-mint condition. The card design sports two pictures, a large headshot and a small in-action shot in the lower left-hand corner.

After just a few years of producing baseball cards, Topps had yet to establish much of a photo library, so pictures were often recycled during the '50s. The same Aaron headshot was used from 1954-1956.

The 1956 card (#31) also includes an action shot in the lower right-hand corner picturing Willie Mays sliding into home plate wearing a Braves uniform. A Topps artist painted the uniform. The actual photo of Mays appeared in a baseball card publication a year earlier. This hard-to-find relic accidentally picturing two of baseball's greatest players sells for $275.

Topps made an even bigger gaffe on Aaron's card the following year. The production staff accidentally reversed the negative on the 1957 card (#20), which displays baseball's most prolific right-handed hitter batting left-handed. This unique card sells for $300.

The ultra conservative Topps rolled the dice in 1974 by printing "New All-Time Home Run King" on Aaron's 1974 Topps card (#1) despite Aaron entering the '74 season one home run shy of tying Babe Ruth's career mark. Fortunately for Topps, Aaron kept the suspense to a minimum, hitting a home run on Opening Day. The '74 Topps card became officially accurate a few days later when Hamerin' Hank broke the record on a nationally televised Monday Night Baseball game with a homer against the Dodgers' Al Downing.

Aaron has gained popularity with today's collectors, as baseball card manufacturers continue to combine baseball history with modern day memorabilia cards. His 2005 Bowman Heritage "Game-Used Seat" card is a great pick up for under $15. A piece of an actual seat from Milwaukee County Stadium is embedded in the lower left-hand corner of the card celebrating Aaron's 1956 NL batting title.

Thursday, March 02, 2006

DH Extends Productivity, Careers, Card Life

The designated hitter was first proposed during the 1890s as the designated pinch hitter. Connie Mack took credit for the idea in 1906. NL owners actually approved the DH rule in December 1928, but were overruled by their AL cohorts. In 1940, the Bushrod League, a California winter circuit, adopted the DH. In 1969 the International League experimented with the DH for a year.

After nearly eight decades of debate between league presidents, owners, and players, the AL finally approved the DH before the 1973 season. On April 6, Ron Blomberg, became major league baseball's first designated hitter when he drew a first-inning, bases loaded walk from Luis Tiant on a cold, windy Opening Day at Fenway Park.

A pulled hamstring forced the 24-year-old first baseman to his new position. If Matty Alou, batting third for the Yankees, didn't stroke a two-out double in the first inning, the Red Sox Orlando Cepeda, the first player signed specifically for DH duty, would have made the history books.

Although the Red Sox won the game 15-5, Cepeda, the prototype DH, went 0-for-6, the only Red Sox starter to go hitless.

AL owners hoped the DH would increase offense, give aging sluggers the chance to extend their years of productivity, and increase attendance. The three-year experiment worked. AL teams were scoring more runs, league attendance rose from 11.4 million to 13.4 million, and older stars were extending their careers.

Cepeda was exactly what the AL owners had in mind when they adopted the DH. The 35-year-old former first baseman entered the season with bad knees and 358 career home runs, and had driven in over 100 runs five times in his career.

In 1973, Cepeda played all of his 142 games at DH for the Red Sox, hitting 20 homers and 86 RBI -- excellent power numbers for the time -- winning the first Associated Press Designated Hitter Award.

The DH helped sluggers such as Cepeda, the 1958 NL Rookie of the Year with the Giants and the 1967 MVP with the Cardinals, achieve Hall of Fame status. Cepeda, elected by the Veterans Committee in 1999, finished his career with 379 home runs (21 as a DH) and 1,365 RBI. The DH also prolonged the careers of Red Sox greats Carl Yastrzemski and Jim Rice.

Cepeda's '58 Topps rookie (#343) is a nice pick up for $30 in decent condition, while his '73 Topps can be had for $5. With yesterday's stars now being featured on memorabilia cards. Cepeda's '01 Donruss Classics Legendary Lumber Game-Used Bat is a nice buy for $5.

Although Blomberg name figures prominently in baseball history, injuries and lack of production limited his career to just 461 games and 52 home runs with the Yankees and Mets.

The DH is now widely excepted and used in some form in most leagues from high school to the majors. The final hurdle may be its place in the Hall of Fame. There are several players who have appeared as a DH already in the Hall, including Yaz, Reggie Jackson, and Dave Winfield. But most of these players played the majority of their games at other positions -- usually first base or outfield.

Paul Molitor became the first Hall of Famer to have spent much of his career as a DH. Edgar Martinez will likely fall short of the Hall after his playing days are over, but he will retire as the most productive DH. Molitor's '78 Topps Rookie, which he shares with Alan Trammel (#707) can be had for $20. His '02 Upper Deck Sweet Spot Autograph is an excellent buy for $15.

Molitor's enshrinement could open the Hall of Fame doors for Tony Oliva, who hit the first home run by a DH, a position forced upon the Twins slugger after seven operations to his right knee. The three-time AL batting champion and 1964 Rookie of the Year was also able to extend his career as a DH. Because of the crippling injuries, Oliva does not meet the longevity criteria. But he was a .304 lifetime hitter and led the league in hits five times. Oliva's '63 Topps rookie (#228) is a nice pick up for $18, while his '01 SP Legendary Cuts Game-Used Bat can be had for $3.