Sports Card Geek Heaven
Card of the Moment
User Steals of the Week
May 8th
- A top prospect autograph with a print run of 10 for just a shade over $5. Impressive @nyr4life- Thomas Hickey Auto 7/10
- Another grab by @nyr4life that is a more than stellar pickup. $9.99 for a Mirror black is a good deal any day of the week! Thomas Plekanec Mirror Black 11-12 Certified 1/1
- @sellmycardsonline grabbed a Sam Bradford 2011 Prime Signatures Autograph numbered to 25 for $17.11 after getting a second chance offer from a seller who listed the card with a reserve that wasn’t met. Congrats on adding that to your Bradford collection.
- An anonymous submitter (not sure if it was intentionally anonymous) found this Maurice Cheeks Cramer’s Choice style autograph #’d to 74 from Panini Preferred and the nicest looking version outside of the green one, for only $7.50.
Keep submitting your steals to us via twitter or through our steal submitter.
Linsanity: Buy 2010-11 Wax Now!
Feb 13th
You’ve probably noticed that Jeremy Lin is everywhere in the media lately and his cards are disappearing fast and at very high prices. In fact, good luck finding an autographed RC under $100 of this young gun.
If you haven’t already bought some 2010-11 products, specifally Panini products to get Jeremy Lin RC’s and Auto’s chances are you’re going to pay $20-30 more than you would have a week ago. We were able to nab 6 boxes of Panini Classics for $67.95 apiece last Monday. Now you’re lucky to find them under $87.95. Blowout Cards is either currently sold out of most 2010-11 products, once again not the case a week ago, OR they haven’t decided what to post them up at after yanking them when they realized their prices were very low for the current Linsanity market. Dave and Adam’s Card World jumped their prices quite significantly with Absolute at $220 now.
DCS Sportscards has gone out of stock on several of the products as well but does still have Classics posted for $82.95.
Panini did an incredible job of pimping Jeremy Lin and his RC’s in their products this past week and provided some pretty solid price information while they were at it. Here is a repost of their table. Once again this is from last week.
Card of the Day 2/1/2012: 2004-05 Topps Chrome Dwight Howard RC
Feb 1st
2004-05 Topps Chrome Dwight Howard RC
Right now is the time to buy DH12 as his stock seems to be dropping like a lead balloon as his persona grows larger than his play. If he were to be traded, which you would think is inevitable at this point, his values will climb back to their original $8-10 per Topps Chrome RC rather than their current $3-5. Jump on some of them now. Even if he doesn’t get traded this season these are a good investment at less than $5.
Card(s) of the Moment: Clayton Kershaw RC’s
Jul 15th
The Player: Can this guy get much better? He’s a lefty which automatically makes fans that much more enthralled with him. He could pitch until he is 45 like Tom Glavine if he does things right and doesn’t end up like Johan Santana taking a yearly trip to the DL for half the season or more. His curveball is absolutely ridiculous when he has it working. He’s putting it together this year even more than past years and is an NL Cy Young leader at this point. He’s only 23 years old to boot!
The Cards: Basically anything with his face on it is getting hot this summer. Being a USA homer I still think his 2005 UD USA Juniors Autograph XRC is underappreciated.
2006 Bowman Chrome Draft Autos are of course “the card to have” of Kershaw but his 2008 Bowman Chrome with the RC logo is gaining momentum. the 2008 will never be as valuable as the 2006 simply because it’s not his first chrome nor is it an autograph card but they are definitely gaining appreciation.
Prices and Outlook:
2005 UD USA Junior Autograph: You can buy the Autograph RC /495 which most consider the “base” RC from the set for under $20 all day long. So this one is cheaper, more limited, earlier and more condition sensitive then the 2006 Chrome Draft. Hmmmmm…
2006 Bowman Chrome Draft: These are about $50 raw right now but are still considerably cheaper than Tim Lincecum’s Bowman Chrome Autographs. Lincecum is a bit more established but Kershaw isn’t far behind and is two years younger. In 2009 these were less than $40 so they are climbing.(Thanks to CardFolio for the pricing from 2009)
2008 Bowman Chrome: For the other kind of “True” RC collectors out there wanting RC logos only this one can be had cheap. Refractors usually end at 99 cents and even Blue and Gold Refractors don’t top $20. There is an autograph parallel numbered to 99 available but even that one doesn’t touch the price of a raw non numbered 2006 Chrome Draft.
My Cheapo Derek Jeter RC and Why I Don’t Need an Upgrade
Jul 9th
I am not a Yankees fan but I am a Jeter admirer. This guy has been a class act for quite some time and he should be celebrated for that reason. Thus far today the reception of his 3,000th hit has been good despite the obscene amount of Yankee haters out there and I must say I’m pleasantly surprised. Doing it on a HR probably made it so even the biggest haters had to say “Wow”. There were a few tweets saying David Price served it up but he also looked pretty pissed about the pitch immediately. Was it acting, I don’t think so. I think Price wanted to avoid being on Jeter’s eternal highlight reel.
Back to the card at hand, a 1992 Classic Draft Picks XRC. Jeter had three XRC’s in three different Classic sets in 1992 before he ever had the infamous 1993 SP and Upper Deck RC’s. I wouldn’t ever turn down a 1993 SP but I am perfectly satisfied with this one because it is different. When I am looking at my PC in twenty years it will be cool to see this because the image of the 1993 SP is burnt into my brain anyway. This gem cost me $.99 plus shipping about three years ago on ebay and it brings me all the joy of a 1993 SP minus the ability to liquidate it for some cash if I were in need. Maybe this is just the rationalization of a guy who doesn’t want to shell out the cash for a precious copy of the SP RC but I’m not above living in that type of denial.
Congrats to Derek. Now let’s see if the Yankees can pull off the victory.
Paul Goldschmidt Bowman Chrome Autos and Parallels
Jun 27th
Paul Goldschmidt Bowman Chrome Autos and Parallels
Price Range: Base $35-50, Gold $400-500, Orange $800-900
Why it matters: Goldschmidt was never a super highly touted prospect. An 8th round pick in 2009 belted 35 HR’s in 2010 and was immediately on everyone’s radar. His first autographed chrome cards came out this season in Bowman and I think has caught quite a few people by surprise with the values it has realized. Prices have been on the rise again this season as he is currently slapping a HR every 11-12 AB’s with a .315 average in the Southern League (AA).
Outlook: Comparisons are all over the map with this guy. Some say Ryan Howard, some say Ryan Shealy, but I’m confident with a prediction somewhere in between. I think he will be serviceable in the field an above average at the plate. I would expect his average to drop quite a bit as he advances and but the HR’s will be there. The real question will be how much his average drops.Last season in A+ ball he struck out once every 3.26 AB’s. Is that because he was outmatched? Most of the time no. He had some issues with swinging for the fence every time but supposedly he doesn’t have that bad of discipline. He has cleaned it up a bit this season and is close to a 1:1 K:BB ratio which scouts love to see especially from a guy with this powerband. As for the potential of his cards I certainly wouldn’t recommend picking up the highly volatile rarer parallels but at less than $40 per it may be wise to pick up a few to see if this one can climb to closer to $80 at time of callup and $100 if he does well in his debut week.
Be sure to follow us on twitter (@cardgeeksblog) and leave comments or criticisms. If you just want to chat hit us up there as well!
2005 Bowman Chrome Matt Kemp Autograph RC
Jun 21st
2005 Bowman Chrome Matt Kemp Auto RC
Price Range: $75-$150 depending on grade.
Why it matters: Kemp is the only thing keeping the Dodgers offense afloat this season. Hitting .330+ with 20 HR and 16 SB Kemp is a darkhorse for the MVP award at this point. If his team were doing better he would be a frontrunner. Assuming the Brewers cool off and the Dodgers pick it up a bit Kemp will be in the discussion for the award along with Braun, Fielder and Jose Reyes if he is still in NY at the end of the season. Of the names mentioned Kemp is the youngest at 27 years old. He currently leads the NL in slugging percentage (.638), HR (20) and is top five in average, OBP, and RBI.
Outlook: I don’t think many people realize he is the youngest of the aforementioned bunch but he most certainly is. Unfortunately for the value of this card he is going to need some national spotlight aka playoff appearance by LA to see further rise in this cards value. The 2005 Bowman Chrome set is a very good one so there may be plenty of this card locked up in sets with Verlander, Butler, McCutchen, Kinsler and the recently hot bat of Mike Morse. If he wins MVP expect this ones range to move up to $100-200 but it’s already pretty high at this point. If Kemp would have been doing this the past few seasons rather than fighting nagging injuries this one might be that high already. Editor’s note- I think he is doing so well because he and his girlfriend Rihanna broke up early this year. He needed to run free!
Be sure to follow us on twitter (@cardgeeksblog) and leave comments or criticisms. If you just want to chat hit us up there as well!
