Ed The Collector - Blog

Compartmentalization

1/27/2015

According to Wikipedia, compartmentalization is an unconscious psychological defense mechanism used to avoid cognitive dissonance, or the mental discomfort and anxiety caused by a person's having conflicting values, cognitions, emotions, beliefs, etc. within themselves.

So if I admit that I need to compartmentalize different parts of my life, does that make me some sort of case study for psychology? Actually, if you ask some of my long-time followers (cough Dale cough); it makes me a flip-flopper -- and I guess I can admit that they'd be right.

When I started on Twitter, I had multiple accounts because I kept my collecting separate from the rest of my life. It's not a "shame" thing -- it's merely because the majority of my friends could care less about the cards and memorabilia that I've accumulated. On the other hand, many of the people who follow me to talk cards and about the hobby, couldn't care less about the hockey game I'm watching or the food truck serving lunch outside of my office.

So if you want to follow me for collecting, @edthecollector is back. If you want to follow the rest of my ordinary life, @heyyoeddie is still there. Follow one, follow both, unfollow at will -- the choice is yours; because if you need to compartmentalize too, who am I to judge?

Hello World

1/21/2015

Welcome to my new blog for 2015. I'm collecting sports cards and autographs, and will be using this site to also track my collections of vinyl records and Xbox One games.

I'm going to attempt to blog at least once a week going forward, and will touch on a variety of subjects. I feel that there's a bunch of things I'll have to re-educate myself on in the sports card world after taking most of the last year off. EDIT 1/24/05: I've also gone back and added as many of my older blog posts as I can find.

As for what I'm collecting, I'll be chasing autographed cards and rookie cards from my favorite teams (the New York Mets, New York Rangers and New York Giants); as well as some UFC & WWE stuff too. I've had some people tell me that my focus is too broad -- but I don't want to pigeonhole myself into something too narrow, either.

What's different this time around, is that I'm collecting on a budget, and won't be chasing any and everything. I'll wait to get the pieces I really want to add to my collection. On-card autographs will still be a preference for me, and I'll be looking at PSA & BGS graded rookies too. While I can't deny the thrill of ripping open packs now and then, or the thrill of buying into a group break; I'll probably try to buy more single cards in 2015; as that will give me the best bang for my buck.

This page will evolve over the next couple of weeks and I'll be adding more pages with scans of autographs, cards, albums & games that I currently own. If you see something you'd like to trade for, be sure to message me.

Trading Isn't Dead

1/6/2015

One of the things that was a staple of collecting sports cards as a kid was trading. I would have an album of cards that came with me to school, summer camp, when I went to hang out with friends, whenever -- and I was always ready to trade dupes for cards I needed.

When collecting hit the internet age, trading came with it -- but there were always bumps in the road. How trustworthy was this stranger? What if the item wasn't as nice as they said it was? It took way more research than just trading a Mattingly for a Hernandez with the kid who hated the Mets and lived around the corner.

As I re-entered the autograph realm, I've been posting my successes and scans over at StarTiger (the best subscription site I've seen for this hobby); and out of the blue had a trade offer in my inbox this week. I arrived home from work tonight to find a couple of autographs in my mailbox. One of them was this nearly 40-year-old issue of Hockey Illustrated signed by Guy LaFleur, and it may be one of the coolest ever additions to my collection. Not only does it have a clear, crisp signature on the front; it's chock full of stories and ads that are just fun to read in hindsight.

So, no, trading isn't dead -- it just takes a little more legwork than it used to; unless you have a Met-hating neighbor around the corner who happens to collect autographs.

Autographs: A Collector's Bargain?

1/4/2015

With the emphasis on high-end card collecting these days, you can find "boxes" of 1 card in the $300 range (hello, Topps Dynasty).

So in the age of expensive collectibles, can autographs be a bargain? I think so.

It goes without saying that in-person autographs require nothing but preparedness, time, patience and a little bit of luck; while through-the-mail autographs ("TTM's") require planning, a few stamps and a lot of patience.

But what about purchasing a legitimate autograph from a reputable source? Let me present this comparison.

Who's the hottest rookie autograph in football right now? In my eyes, it's Odell Beckham Jr. But take a look at what his autographed cards are commanding...

$100+ for an autographed card. That's not really that bad, right? That's pretty much what a mid-range box of cards would cost. But yesterday, NFL.com had 11x14's of "The Catch" with a Mounted Memories COA for just $99 (they've since sold out). They also have 8x10's for $89 and mini-helmets for $149. Steiner Sports has a 16x20 of "The Catch" for $159.

Now I know that this memorabilia isn't as small or easy to store as a card; but it's something that can be displayed more prominently. And while it may not be as much fun as ripping into a pack and finding the autograph of one of your favorite players, there's also less of a "chase" -- there won't be a better or more limited version made by another manufacturer this year.

In my 2015 world, there's room for both methods -- the question remains which one will get an OBJ autograph into my collection?

A Heartfelt Thank You...

3/1/2014

I just wanted to send a very sincere thank you to everyone who has reached out over the past few days since my mom lost her battle with breast cancer.

All of your prayers, concern and well wishes have been very much appreciated by myself and my entire family.

A very special thank you to Joey, Steve, Chris, Joel, Paul W, Larry, Paul S, Dale, Mark and Travis for their thoughtful gift and donation in my mom's honor.

It's another indication that the good people in the hobby are concerned more about "big hits" and eBay sales -- we are all part of an extended family.

So once again, thanks to everyone and apologies if I left anyone out but please know that I appreciate everything you guys and gals have done. Oh, and #FuckCancer.

What Year Is It?

4/22/2013

Panini Prizm baseball is one of the hot new products on the hobby landscape. It came out last Wednesday, April 17th, following in the footsteps of Prizm basketball and football products.

As I've seen some of the cards pulled from group breaks, one of the things that stuck out in my mind was cards being labeled "Rookie" when they were clearly of last year's rookie card crop (Bryce Harper, Yu Darvish, Matt Harvey, etc).

But last night I realized that this set is being called 2012 Panini Prizm. 2012??? It came out in April 2013. 4 months into the year, 2 months after 2013 Topps, 2 weeks after the 2013 MLB season began and days after Panini released it's own 2013 Triple Play product.

If you thought calling National Treasures a 2012 product was a stretch, what do you call this? If you're like me, you call it a money grab.

Panini has found a successful mid-range priced product in Prizm and by releasing their 2012 version now, can capitalize on those 2012 rookies AND release a 2013 version this year as well. Twice as much Prizm money for Panini in fiscal 2013, right?

I believe that Beckett and even the leagues had guidelines about release years at one point; but being a non-licensed product, I guess Panini can do what they want. So it looks like it will fall upon the hobby to determine whether this truly is a 2012 product or not.

So I ask... do you consider this a 2012 product or a 2013 product?

Heroes of Sport: A Belated Review

4/12/2013

Heroes of Sport is a re-pack product that made a splash in the hobby over the last few months. Their product contains just 4 cards (and in most boxes it's 3 cards and a raffle ticket) and cost between $400 and $500.

It's been said that the product was even created for group breakers. With spots around $125-150 each, it's been a "high roller" favorite since its introduction.

Now I have to admit that I've gotten caught up in the HoS hype and bought into a few boxes. Too many, honestly. Here's a rundown of everything I've got in HoS:

2011 Bowman Stephen Strasburg BGS 9.5 - this card is worth $1 ungraded and though it was labled "ROOKIE" by HoS, it is not. These have sold for about $5 on eBay.
1956 Topps Eddie Mathews (ungraded) - I submitted this card to Beckett and it was graded a BVG 4, making it worth $25
1957 Topps Ted Williams (ungraded) - This card would've had to come back a 7 to be worth the $600 that HoS claimed on their sticker. It didn't. It came back a BVG 3 -- which makes it worth $100
Cal Ripken Jr. autographed pro jersey (PSA/DNA) - approximate value $350
Reggie Jackson autographed OML Reggie Jackson Day baseball (PSA/DNA) - approximate value $100
1960 Fleer Wilbert Robinson PSA 8 - this card is worth $4 ungraded.
1990 Fleer Ken Griffey Jr. BGS 9.5 - this card is worth 75 cents ungraded. These have sold for about $4 on eBay.
2003 Leaf Certified Materials Fabric of the Game Don Mattingly game jersey /50 (ungraded) - book value $30
Al Kaline autographed 8x10 PSA/DNA graded 10 - approximate value $75

Additionally I got 5500 "Heroic Points". I sold 2000 for $40, and have 3500 unsold right now. Assuming I can get the same 2 cents per point, that's a total of $110.

That brings the total value a bit over $800, with 9 spots at varying prices costing me nearly $1200.

That's a loss of nearly $400, not including the fees to get the two vintage cards graded. And that's assuming I could sell everything at full value. It's definitely hobby money that I could've spent more wisely; like buying single cards off my wantlist or getting some memorabilia I've wanted to pick up.

Now, I've seen people pull some really nice stuff out of these boxes. Ty Cobbs, Babe Ruths, Nolan Ryan autographed game-used jersey cards, a Kirby Puckett game-used bat. I like the idea, I really do; it's just been poorly executed in my admittedly small sample size.

But 1990 Fleer belongs nowhere near this product. Don't over-inflate "value" by quoting Beckett prices for cards in better condition than the actual card someone's pulled, and don't label cards rookies when they're not. I don't think those are unreasonable demands.

Now I'm prepared to cut Heroes of Sport some slack, as this is their first product -- and there has been value delivered in their products. It's just that when a product is this high-end, it's hard to have value distributed evenly -- and that's going to lead to some customer dissatisfaction. The key for Heroes is that they have to learn from this product and make the necessary changes to ensure that dissatisfaction remains at a minimum and they have a healthy customer base for their next product.

Reflecting & Refocusing

4/5/2013

I'm fickle. Let's start with that and get it out of the way. Not with my sports teams, mind you, but with things I buy. I try all kinds of things and then try something else. Mac, PC, iPhone, Android, Beats, Bose, tastes great, less filling -- you get the picture.

But not with your collection, you may be thinking... yes, even with my collection. As a kid, I only collected baseball cards. Then I added hockey. Shortly after that, I switched to hockey only. But then wrestling cards crept in. Hockey and wrestling, that's it. Oooh... autographs. You get the picture.

I've tried doing player collections, but I'm qucikly realizing that the completist in me will put me in the poorhouse if I try to chase every card down.

Quite simply, I'm going to collect what catches my eye from now on. Cool cards that I pull from packs, they're mine. Bargains I find online or at shows, keeping 'em. Some memorabilia and TTM autographs have their place also. Nicely graded copies of cards I had as a kid, they're in too. But I'm going to try and pare down the wantlist, so that I'm not constantly on a chase.

In fact, you'll see that my wantlist is pretty much down to several key rookies that I'm looking for and stuff I need to complete sets. One thing that I'm going to try and do however, is limit the number of sticker autographs in my collection. While flipping through some of the cards I've picked up over the past few months, some of them seem to stick out like a sore thumb.

Now, don't go around thinking that my Velvet Sky autographs are on their way out, because TNA hasn't released any on-card autos that I can replace them with! But there are definitely some players that I'll be looking to trade my sticker autos for on-cards of.

So What Is It, Really?

3/29/2013

To the left is the back of a 2001 Donruss game-used bat card of Mike Schmidt. This card, limited to just 250 copies, included a photo of the actual bat used to make it. It also includes the guarantee that the bat was used by Schmidt in an MLB game. This practice was widely abandoned by the industry around 2005, but I think it's time to bring it back.

Today I'll use the back of a 2013 Topps jersey card of Jered Weaver as a comparison. There's no picture of the jersey on the back. Not even a statement that it was worn by Weaver in an MLB game. In fact, it doesn't even explicitly state that it's a Jered Weaver jersey at all.

"The relic contained on this card is not from any specific game, event, or season." The optimist in me says that all that means is that Topps is saying it's not the same jersey Weaver is wearing in the picture on the front of this card. The pessimist in me says that Topps could legally get away with using the bat boy's jersey with a statement like that.

Relic cards; be they jerseys, bats, balls, stadium seats, pucks, sticks, gloves, cleats, turf pieces, or whatever else a manufacturer has embedded on a piece of cardboard; have been around since the mid-90s. That's nearly two decades at this point -- and wow, does that make me feel old! In the past two decades we've seen "high-end" packs go from about $10-15 a pack to $500 (or more) per pack.

You would think that as the price of a product grows exponentially, the demand for authentication would as well. But it appears that it's not so. Now I don't want to just pick on Topps, as most of the major companies use a blanket statement about authenticity. But what was wrong with the Donruss model? Maybe it was more doable when relic cards had short print runs? Maybe its an issue because some of these cards use multiple jerseys/bats/etc. for their run? But why can't they at least state who used it and in what kind of game?

As a collector, I know I'd want to pay less for a Spring Training jersey, but be willing to pay more for a World Series jersey. I know that secondary market prices would improve for cards with more provenance. Hell, the companies could make special game-dated cards with a photo that shows the actual jersey being worn. It's been done before, but it could become a standard.

The whole thing makes me think of the movie Tommy Boy, when Tommy (Chris Farley) says "If you want me to take a dump in a box and mark it guaranteed, I will. I've got spare time."

It really shouldn't be that hard to mention who wore the jersey and in what kind of game. At a minimum, "This jersey was worn by Jered Weaver in a MLB game" would suffice. Otherwise, what is it they're actually guaranteeing?

Who Doesn't Love Free Cards?

3/24/2013

The picture you see here is a 2012 Panini Golden Age Museum Age relic featuring a piece of clothing worn by actress Jayne Mansfield. I got this card last week -- but the best part about it, was that I got it for free.

You see, I got this through an NPN, or No Purchase Necessary, drawing held by Panini. And I got the information about this drawing from npncards.com.

All I needed to do was put a 3x5 index card with my name, address, and email address on it in an envelope and send it off to Panini before their drawing date. Panini will even add the information to your redemption page if you win, but not completely ruin the surprise by telling you what exact card you're receiving.

Every major company has an NPN program. In fact, they are required to have it by law. It's in the small print that you probably don't read on the back of a pack. I usually send in one NPN per product (some companies will limit you to one anyway). With all that we invest in the hobby, gambling the cost of one postage stamp for a hit isn't too bad, right?

So if you've never tried this before, check out the site and follow @npncards on Twitter for all of the addresses and information on currently available programs. If you have, use the comments to share what you've received.