All-purpose baseball card thread (part ll?)

[Elster88]

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2429888&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab3pos2

Ballplayer's card trading for $2,550 because it's not supposed to be out yet.

Updated: May 2, 2006
This card costs 'cause you aren't supposed to have it
By Darren Rovell
ESPN.com

Alex Gordon has yet to play a single game in the major leagues and yet his rookie card is the hottest in all of baseball, selling for as much as $2,550 in recent weeks.

Is Gordon the Kansas City Royals' next great player? Could be. But that isn't why his card, which is No. 297 in Topps' 2006 set, is worth that kind of money.

The piece of cardboard is worth that much only because it never should have been produced in the first place.

Last year, in part to reduce confusion in the marketplace, the Major League Baseball Players Association ruled that card manufacturers could make rookie cards only of players who either made the 25-man roster or played in a major league game the season before. Gordon didn't qualify either way. After he led Nebraska into the College World Series, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2005 draft didn't sign his contract -- including a $4 million signing bonus -- until late September.

"At the last second, we realized we had made a mistake, so we pulled the cards, destroyed them by cutting out the photo and then destroyed the plates," said Topps spokesman Clay Luraschi.

But a fan named Jeremy Troutman pulled five of Gordon's cards on a shopping trip in his hometown of Wichita, where, coincidentally, Gordon is playing Double-A ball for the Wranglers this season.

"I went to Wal-Mart, bought two boxes, and got two in the same pack," Troutman said. "So I bought seven more boxes and got another three in the same pack."

Troutman, whose story first appeared in the Wichita Eagle, opened 1,000 packs to find his five cards. He sold all five of them to different collectors for a total of $5,761.79.

Troutman had the right idea. The Gordon cards are believed to exist only in the earliest shipped packs, many of which went to Wal-Marts across the country.

But before you raid your local Wal-Mart in search of a bonanza, you should know that the odds of a payday like Troutman's aren't in your favor. Fewer than 20 of the Gordon cards have shown up for sale on eBay, leading some in the collectibles industry to believe that the card is as rare as they come. Luraschi is confident that fewer than 100 cards got out.

A few weeks ago, Jason Mauk, owner of the card store "In The Zone" in Hagerstown, Md., purchased one of the cards from the wholesaler who provides boxes for his store. After hearing the story, Mauk paid $1,000 for it. He then put it up on eBay and sold it for $1,425.

"I've sold thousands of cards online and I've never had 2,000 hits on one auction like I did in this case," Mauk said. "I've never had 100 people put a single auction on their watch list like I did with this card."

John Schulteis, a 28-year-old from Mission, Kan., bought one of the Gordon cards from Troutman for $895. Schulteis, who buys to sell, currently has the card up for auction.

"The fact of the matter is that Topps is the most collected brand out there, and this card ruins it for people in that they won't be able to have it in their set," Schulteis said.

The last major error of this magnitude in the trading card industry happened in 1989, when a Fleer card featuring Billy Ripken was released that carried an obscenity clearly written on the knob of the bat Ripken was holding. Fleer's attempted cover-up created more than six versions of that card, but the original remained the hottest property, selling for hundreds of dollars at the time. Today, that card can be had for $5.

Some think the price of the Gordon card is worth more than other error cards because of his great potential as a player. In his first full season as a pro, Gordon is batting .326 with 6 home runs and 12 RBI with the Wranglers.

"If he turns out to be a superstar, the price can be sustained for a long time," said Rich Klein, price guide analyst for Beckett, a collectibles publisher. "If he's a flash in the pan, people will still remember it, but they won't care as much."

But Schulteis doesn't agree that Gordon's star potential is much of a factor in the frenzy.

"The fact of the matter is that Topps is the most collected brand out there, and people won't be able to have a complete set without getting this card," Schulteis said. "The scarcity of the card means much more than the caliber of player this guy is or does become."

Like the Ripken card, other versions of the Gordon card have emerged. One version has the photo missing and so just includes the thin card borders, and it has been selling in the $30 to $50 range. A full Gordon card that just has his name on the front and a blank on the back has sold in the $100 to $200 range.

What does Gordon himself think? He was shocked when he first heard about the value of his card.

"One of my buddies said he searched the card online, just as a joke to see how much I was worth," Gordon said. "And he told me, 'Your card is selling for hundreds and hundreds of dollars.' I thought he was joking. It blew my mind."

So far, Gordon hasn't come into possession of any of the valuable cards, but he says he does a double-take every time he signs an autograph to make sure he stays on the lookout for one.

And he certainly isn't complaining about the error.

"Topps is helping to get my name out there," Gordon said. "I should send them a thank you card or something."

BASEBALL CARD ERRORS
� 1969 Topps Aurelio Rodriguez: picture of team batboy Leonard Garcia
� 1981 Fleer John Littlefield: picture is reversed
� 1985 Topps Gary Pettis: picture of Pettis' younger brother
� 1987 Donruss "Opening Day" Barry Bonds: picture of Johnny Ray
� 1985 Donruss Tom Seaver: picture of Floyd Bannister
� 1988 Topps Al Leiter: picture is Steve George
� 1989 Upper Deck Dale Murphy: picture is reversed
� 1989 Fleer Billy Ripken: obscenity on bat knob
� 1990 Donruss John Smoltz: picture of Tom Glavine
� 1990 Donruss Juan Gonzalez: picture is reversed
� 1990 Topps Frank Thomas: has no name on front

[Elster88]

]1989 Fleer Billy Ripken: obscenity on bat knob

Haha

Lots of Mets and Met fathers in there. What no-good organization can't even get their cards right?

[Guest Edgy DC]

Donruss was clearly screwing up on purpose to boost sales. Who doesn't notice when Seaver isn't Seaver?

The seller's market on that card is absurd (and further boosted by that article plus the presence of e-bay). The the value is going to seriously depress in a few months, unless Alex Gordon debuts on fire.

I wonder how many people paid thousands for a first printing of Primary Colors only to see the bottom drop out of the market.

[seawolf17]

This story's actually been around a while in the card community; it just hit the major media because of the guy who pulled five of the cards. I'm hoping the market bottoms out on this one, because I was hoping to complete the set for MiniWolf, and it's got a big Card #297-sized hole in it right now.

Topps knew what they were doing here; this kind of "mistake" seems too obvious. FWIW, Topps screwed up a lot in this year's set; lots of typos, mixed-and-matched Photoshopped team uniforms and card border colors, halfassed card selection, screwed up photos, etc. Somewhat of a disappointment, methinks. But hell, I bought it anyway.

[Guest Edgy DC]

]This story's actually been around a while in the card community; it just hit the major media because of the guy who pulled five of the cards.

Right, which should bring out a whole lot of new demand from bidders less than experienced with the market.

When Eddie Murray hit his 500th homer, a neo-rich guy who made a ton of money with the Psychic Friends Network (Michael Laskey) got caught up in the hype (he was from Baltimore) and paid $500,000 for it. The market value, and the next highest bid, was more like $30,000.

[Guest Edgy DC]

"That was done out of hype," said Jimmy Spence, president of PSA/DNA vintage authentication services, a division of Collectors Universe, Inc. "We have a saying in the hobby: Things can sell for a tremendous amount of money if all the moons are aligned exactly. If you have one guy who is really hot for something, it means nothing. You need two psychos out there. If you're paying half a million dollars for an Eddie Murray ball, you're a psycho."

Maybe there was another.

[stevejrogers]

Edgy DC wrote: ]This story's actually been around a while in the card community; it just hit the major media because of the guy who pulled five of the cards. Right, which should bring out a whole lot of new demand from bidders less than experienced with the market. When Eddie Murray hit his 500th homer, a neo-rich guy who made a ton of money with the Psychic Friends Network (Michael Laskey) got caught up in the hype (he was from Baltimore) and paid $500,000 for it. The market value, and the next highest bid, was more like $30,000.

My all time favorite example of the lack of any understanding about the card market is still the 10.00 (or whatever it was) Nolan Ryan/Jerry Koosman rookie card!

True story, sometime in the early 1990's right when Ryan-Mania really was running wild (Ryan was a Ranger by this point) some card shop clerk, who clearly had no clue who Nolan Ryan was, put a grossly under valued price sticker on the Ryan/Koosman card based on his error, book value was in the 1,000 range and he put a decemil point in instead of a comma and the card's sticker price turned into 10 bucks!

So some kid, who clearly was a hobby follower, comes in, sees the card and asks if the price is right, dumb clerk says yes it is, and viola a 10 dollar Ryan rookie card!

Kid then proceeds to trade the card for a Seaver rookie and some other vintage high end stuff so he couldn't even return the card!

[Willets Point]

seawolf17 wrote: I'm hoping the market bottoms out on this one, because I was hoping to complete the set for MiniWolf, and it's got a big Card #297-sized hole in it right now.

Of course you could insert the "Robert" card as #297.

Adorable picture by the way.

[seawolf17]

When we made the cards, I thought about numbering it #297 on the back and slotting it in there, but nobody would get the joke except me. So I numbered it as card #1 instead.

[Guest Edgy DC]

]When we made the cards, I thought about numbering it #297 on the back and slotting it in there, but nobody would get the joke except me.

And Willets, apparently.

[Centerfield]

Great job with the photoshops guys. Isn't it funny how our perception of baseball cards depends on the year we started watching the game?

To me, baseball cards will always look like this:

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

You're right, CF. 1971 was my first year as a fan, and to me the essential baseball card looks like this:

http://leaptoad.com/mets/jpeg/MikePiazza1971.jpg

[Willets Point]

Edgy DC wrote: ]When we made the cards, I thought about numbering it #297 on the back and slotting it in there, but nobody would get the joke except me. And Willets, apparently.

I only get the joke now, but seawolf made the cards two months ago.

[stevejrogers]

This would be from my first set to ever put together

[stevejrogers]

Though I have a real softspot for the stuff that came out a year later:




I have a framed wall mounting of that years Mets set, I believe they managed to get most of the 24 man postseason roster, I'll have to double check

[Willets Point]

My first baseball cards were inherited from my uncle who gave me about 350 of the 1978 Topps set:

[stevejrogers]

This is a pretty darn good card, and you can get it pretty cheap. Really, thanks to overproduction of base sets and the High End craze of paraell (sp) sets and memorabillia/autograph cards and Lord knows what else, you can find this first apperance in a Topps base set of one of the top 5 catchers of all time as well as a borderline HOFer



Also an ex-Met for 4 games before becoming another nameless and faceless backup backstop and a fellow drafted by the Yanks who never played a single MLB game!

[seawolf17]

Bought two boxes of 1991 Donruss wax packs for a buck each this weekend. There wasn't anything of any real value in this set, but I opened one box just for the heck of it. Two quick observations:

** The Mets' "Diamond King" in that set? Dave Magadan. Yikes.



** Always weird to see Gary Carter in a Giants uni.



note: This is not the regular-issue card, it's from one of the subsets they produced that year -- but you kinda get the point. The photo on the card above was taken at Shea, though, which is funny. Actually, I think the vast majority of baseball card photos from that era were either taken in New York or Chicago. Interesting.

[A Boy Named Seo]

That's Shea? It kinda looks like turf and red seats? Busch maybe?

[stevejrogers]

Yeah, no way is that Shea, the back of the dugouts were never that blue and if that is the wall, its a bit too short. Its Busch

[seawolf17]

Bump for all the recent baseball card discussion.

[RealityChuck]

Baseball cards? The first baseball cards I bought predated the Mets: I started in 1959. I do have several original Mets: Bob Miller, Chris Cannizaro, Jay Hook, and Roger Craig. I got Miller in '62, but picked up the rest later.

I also have Tom Terrific's rookie card. Rod Carew's rookie card. Maury Wills's first card (Wills refused to let himself be on a card until he was traded to Pittsburg in 1967. When he was in the minors, Topps didn't sign all players and when they asked the Dodgers if Wills would make the club, they said he had no chance. Once Wills made the team, he turned down Topps for ignoring him. He did appear in a Dodgers uniform on a card in 1970, when he was traded back to them. I have that one, too.) These, and many others are in my safe deposit box.

I stopped collecting in 1994. At that point, I had at least one representative sample of every Topps issue except the 1952 blue back. I never started up; once the back of the card was in color, they lost all interest for me.

[Zvon]

RealityChuck wrote: I stopped collecting in 1994.

I stopped collecting at just about the same time.
Ill buy a pack here and there over the years since, but just for the old jones of openin a pack.

I think for me, it was the amount of card companys and the average price per pack that turned me off.
I could afford it, but I didnt think it was right to pay like 3 dollars a pack.
Baseball cards should be affordable for the kids, even if it means toneing down the flashy stock and graphics.

[seawolf17]

I have to put a plug in for The Bench, which is, hands down, the best active baseball card community I've found. I'm almost done completing my old sets (still need seven 1980s and nineteen 1981s) making trades on this site... so if anyone's interested in trying to work out baseball (or other sport) card trades, I highly recommend it.

[soupcan]

1975 was the year I really started collecting



It seemed like I got a Nolan Ryan in every pack.

I have a big tupperware container in my attic with a crapload of cards from a million different years.

If the junior soupcans want 'em, they're theirs.

[seawolf17]

Hurry, hurry... step right up and get your Alay Soler rookie cards...



Sold for $80
Sold for $63
Up to $58.51 as of this post

This pricing has nothing to do with Soler's current or future success; apparently, Topps short-printed the card in their Series 2, which came out this week. It's not even on the checklist. Why they chose Soler to short-print is beyond me.

[RealityChuck]

I decided to use one of my cards for my avatar. I had to cut off part of it to fit.

[Guest cleonjones11]

I am a professional card dealer on ebay only at seller moops-baseball

Mets are selling again.. Wright is gold...Reyes is hot...not much market for Pedro..Milledge scalding hot!!!!

[Guest Edgy DC]

]The Mets' "Diamond King" in that set? Dave Magadan. Yikes.

Who is and isn't a Diamond King is a source of controversy back at the Dugout.

[stevejrogers]

="seawolf17"]Hurry, hurry... step right up and get your Alay Soler rookie cards... Sold for $80 Sold for $63 Up to $58.51 as of this post This pricing has nothing to do with Soler's current or future success; apparently, Topps short-printed the card in their Series 2, which came out this week. It's not even on the checklist. Why they chose Soler to short-print is beyond me.

Loses are a burning thing
And they make a firey ring
Pitched, in a wild fire
My card value fell into a ring of fire

It fell into a buring ring of fire
Price went down down down
Rasing Met fan's ire
And it burns burns burns
Here in Norfolk, here in Norfolk...

All apologies to Mrs. June Carter-Cash and Mr. Merle Kilgore!