Really?

We all know Obama is still the man, but his own Beckett? Actually, I'm not really all that surprised. I do find it interesting that the cover makes "the U.S. Presidents" seem like a bit of an afterthought.

He does have his own set, cards in several sports sets, a $100 eTopps card and some Spider-man comic that kicked butt in sales over the "death" of Batman (sorry, comic fans, but someone dying in a comic has lost 99% of its impact seeing as how 99.9% of deaths are negated by aliens, clones and really bad writing).


Here's the link if you're an Obamaniac.

Sneak Peek: Dexter Autographs from Breygent

The wait is almost over. Breygent's first set based on the awesome Showtime series Dexter should be out later this spring. Here's a look at some of the autographs you can expect to find:

 

  

  

  

  

  

Yup, that would be just about every major cast member from the first two seasons. According to the numbering on the back, there's one card missing from the checklist: DA3. Unless it goes unreleased, I'd wager that the card is going to be Jennifer Carpenter, who plays Dexter's sister in the show. 

Oddly enough, Carpenter and Hall got married in real life not too long ago. I know they're not related but it'd still seem strange to me to get hitched to the person the world sees as my sibling. 

Ethan's Wantlist: 1995 Topps DIII

Recently my two-year-old son Ethan and I opened a box of 1995 Topps DIII. With its tough and somewhat durable material and cool-looking depth effects, I figured this would be a good intro for him into the hobby. I promised my wife I wouldn't push our kids into collecting, but what's a little nudging. This was an activity for us to do together. It's utopian, I know but it's something I wish I could've shared as a kid too.

So after busting his box, Ethan completed the six-card D-Zone inserts, which were a big hit with both him and his sister because there were "lots of baseballs." Ethan did come up a little short with his base set though so I'm hoping there's someone out there who might be able to trade with him.

He needs the following to finish his base set:
45. Rafael Palmeiro

Yup, one card short. It was actually two but I happened to have Jeff Frye tucked away from the two packs I'd bought back in 1995.

Ethan has some traders from this set, although several were given to his sister. I will allow him to dip into Dad's trade list though.

Any help would be appreciated and it would fill out his folder and complete his set.

Goose Joak Originals - Seattle Mariners: Kenji Johjima

There's a story behind this picture, but I'm guessing there isn't a man alive who wants to hear it.

In three seasons with the Mariners Johjima hasn't exactly been tearing things up. In fact, last year's stats are downright brutal: .227 batting average, 39 RBI, .277 OBP. Yikes! And here he is for another season in the Pacific Northwest. Here's hoping that the batting average can come back up this year seeing as how everyone's happy just to have Junior back.

Trader Crack's on Twitter

Trader Crack's is now on Twitter (much like everyone else it seems). Sometimes new things take me a bit of playing to get used to it. My plan is to provide quick updates, random thoughts and hobby headlines as I get them. Matters won't be helped much as I ran out of bandwidth at home so all updates, blogging, emails, etc. will be done from work.

So if you want to subscribe to my Twitter feed, the URL is http://www.twitter.com/tradercracks.

Old Cards Rule: Is That a Pot Leaf on His Shirt?

I love old cards. I received the following today:

I did a double-take the first time I saw it. Did burnouts really exist in 1910? Maybe, but I'm not sure Percy Sellen here would have made nice with Jay and Silent Boy. It's my country's national symbol (the official one), the maple leaf.

Sellen was a runner who, according to the back of the card, came to Canada as a 27-year-old and was a fast runner, "defeat[ing] such good men as St. Yves, John D. March, Crowley , and many others of the professional crowd." Apparently runners at the tun of the 20th century were one-name wonders like Madonna, Prince, Shakira and Twiggy.

The bio on the back continues, "He has run fast races with Alfred Shrubb but has always been beaten by the latter." Uh oh. Percy no win all his races. Schooled by the Shrubb-master.

I do believe that this is now officially the oldest card I have in my collection. I received another really old card, but I'll hold that one aside for another day. There's some creases, rounded corners and a little bit of writing on the back, but for about the price of a pack of 2009 Upper Deck Spectrum, I was able to grab a little piece of century-old hobby history.

The card comes from Mecca Cigarettes Champion Athletes series (T218). Released in 1910, the complete set encompasses athletes from several sports. There's 153 cards in the set, including many boxers, which seem to get the most attention. The design, like most sets from this era, carry a certain beauty even if the image of Sellen on the front doesn't show a lot of action to it. Although looking at some images doing a little background research I came across two cards that have an uncanny resemblance to two of my favorite characters from the last decade.

Example 1

Example 2

If you've seen There Will Be Blood, you'll probably remember the last scene, which makes the resemblance even funnier.

So there you have it. Old cards rule!

Coming Soon: 17,940 Inkworks Autographs

Beckett is reporting today that Razor bought Inkworks' autograph remaining overstock and is releasing them as a repackaged set entitled Ink Archives. There'll be five packs per box with one autograph in every pack. Cases consist of 12 boxes and 299 cases will make up the print run. The sell sheet says there'll be more than 400 different cards.

So let's do a little math, shall we.

5 packs x 12 boxes x 299 cases = 17,940 autographs hitting the market all at the same time. Eek. And when I say all at the same time, I mean it. A dealer on Non-Sport Update's Card Talk says that Razor is already sold out.

It's definitely looking like it's going to be a buyer's market. From the sounds of things, expect packs to run $20. In all honesty, you're still going to be better off getting singles off of eBay. While there's going to be some of the nice cards that are shown on the sell sheet, which is very Three's Company in that it has John Ritter surrounded by beautiful ladies (and Ozzy Osbourne), there's also going to be a lot of supporting actors in these packs. Plus, with the quick influx of autographs hitting the market all at the same time, their prices should also soften, thus making some deals to be had. It won't take many $20 packs to make up the cost of simply going out and getting that $200 Jennifer Garner or $120 Ozzy.

To further add to the market glut, the Razor aquisition appears to only be the remaining Inkworks stock. Other dealers have also acquired stock from Inkworks as well.

From a hobby standpoint, there's some possible implications that could impact things beyond a flooded autograph market. Razor competes at the much larger sports crowd as compared to the more niche-oriented non-sport market. By putting these cards in the hands of sports collectors it could show a small sample of what it's like on the other end of the hobby where things are still relatively low-key and simple. That, in turn, could end up bringing an influx of new collectors over and helping the hurting market out. So that could be a small piece of good news to come from one business closing their doors and their extra stock flooding a potentially fragile market.

Monsters vs. Aliens Card Giveaway at IMAX Theatres

An exclusive eight-card promo set for the new animated film Monsters vs. Aliens will be available at IMAX theatres this weekend.

The set will cover each of the lead characters. To receive a set you should go to the movie's official website and print a "Top Secret ID Card," then present it at the theatre box office. Then the cashier will either stare at you blankly or hand over the cards. Hopefully it'll be the latter.

If the cards weren't incentive enough, the movie is going to be shown in 3-D as well. Often 3-D is lame, but in IMAX it's different. You get full color, not just the blue and the red. Plus, it's IMAX, so it's huge.

Goose Joak Originals - Seattle Mariners: The New Batch

 

Felix Hernandez

Will this be the year? Here's hoping. The past couple of years Hernandez has shown brief signs of brilliance but he still hasn't put all the pieces into place. Still, he's going to be blowing out just 23 candles a few sleeps after Opening Day, so the Mariners faithful still have time on their hands.

 

 

Endy Chavez

Now with his fifth franchise (sixth if you count the Expos' move to Washington) since playing in his first Major League game in 2001, Chavez will likely provide some speed off the bench. His role will be limited and if the past shows a pattern we'll likely see Endy in a new uniform next year.

 

Jose Lopez

In his three seasons as a full-time player in Seattle, Lopez is quietly stacking up some solid numbers at second base. Last year he had 97 RBIs, a .297 batting average and 191 hits. I love this photo as it shows the bat in full splinter mode, bringing a little violent action that people often complain is missing from baseball.

Goose Joak Originals - WBC Mariners

With the World Baseball Classic wrapped up again, here's a few Mariner "variants" of players from the team who appeared in the tournament. Have no fear, they'll all have their regular cards as well.

 

  

  

  

I felt that all four captured a certain element of drama and ceremony. From Lopez and the pre-game anthem to Chavez sharing a playful bump to Johjima shattering his bat to - my favourite - Ichiro marching out like an unassuming superstar. For me, this is baseball.

Enjoy!

More American Heritage and UFC Coming from Topps in June

According to Previews Magazine, Topps has follow-up sets scheduled for June for both their American Heritage and UFC brands.

American Heritage: Heroes Edition appears to be following a similar path to the original set: old school Topps designs for old school folks that helped shape American history. The basic breakdown is two autographs or relics per box, six inserts and eight parallels. There will be eight cards per pack and 24 packs in a box. No details were given as to the subjects, signers or memorabilia that will be used, although my guess is that those who liked American Heritage are going to think the same about this set.

Topps UFC 2009 also seems to be much the same. Small boxes (16 packs), emphasis on autographs and memorabilia. Maybe this time Brock's autograph will show up.

I'll keep my eyes peeled for more info as it is released.

Expos-ed by Tribe Cards

Last week I received a box overflowing with Expos cards courtesy of Tribe Cards. These were a surprise and a testament to his continued gerosity. Stacked, the cards were more than a foot tall and gave an excellent representation of the entire Expos history.

Here's just a small taste of some highlights. Really, it's just a mouse-like nibble with all the great stuff inside the box:

1996 Ultra Gold Medallion 232. Mike Lansing

This is my favourite use of gold foil ever. A lot of Ultra cards over the years were wrecked by their overuse of the shiny, making it hard to read names and teams. However, the one-per-pack 1996 parallels went to the extreme in a good way rendering the entire background in gold. This really makes the photo standout. The embossed Ultra logo in the background is like a cherry on top.

 

2003 Fleer EX 41. Jose Vidro

The scan doesn't do this card justice. Made of vinyl, this is one of the toughest cards I've seen. The hard, sharp corners could poke out an eye for sure if projected across a room ninja-star style. The white that you see is actually the top of my scanner bed as the backgrounds are clear. My one gripe - the jersey number in the top corner makes the card resemble a playing card.

 

1971 Topps 536. Claude Raymond

A trifecta hit of card-y goodness: Expo, Canadian-born player, vintage.

 

1986 Topps Tattoos Hubie Brooks and Andre Dawson

Yeah! Tattoos! Topps gets some major retroactive street cred here for including Hubie. Back in 1986 Dawson was a no-brainer but Hubie was simply a better-than-average outfielder who'd muscled in 100 runs the year prior. Topps is still doing tattoos in lots of their non-sport sets, so why not bring them back to baseball. You say you want more kids collecting and there's no greater pledge of allegiance than a sharp temporary tattoo.

Thanks again!

Updates and Such

A couple of quick notes and tidbits:

• I created a new banner yesterday. I was kind of tired of the old one and started playing with Photoshop. It's not perfect but I like the concept. My take is that traditional card collecting is changing. I now totally rely on the Internet to not only get my cards, locate the things I'm looking for but to also connect with others. You can also look at how quickly information is passed down now through blogs and other sites. Just today I saw several "news-y" stories posted on multiple sites, yet it'll probably be a month or two before they're in print. It's no slight against the presses but it's all about perspective and change. For anyone with the know-how and ability, here's another innovation I'd love to have access to: an online database connected to my iPod. Basically you'd search a card or set, get the pricing, images and whatnot while in a shop or at a show. Or maybe I'd want to browse through the cards I'm missing. Be the evolution.
• Goose Joak Originals. I've got a bunch of Mariners I'll be unveiling in the coming days. I have to say I'm having tons of fun putting the M's together. All of my contributions will be added to the Slideshow on the sidebar.
  
• Spring Break. I've got a week off of school and I'm taking it as a break. I'll probably head in one day this week to get my office organized and do a little planning to get my classes in order for the final push of the year, but it's relaxation time - I hope. It should also give me a chance to post more frequently.
  
• Trades. If you've shot me an email about a trade I'll be getting back to you tomorrow afternoon after some Lego building with my daughter.
• Sidebar. I've gone and updated a few things on the sidebar. The MLB Trade Rumors widget is for me to check. The ladies have the gossip columns, I've got my trade rumors. I also added a bunch of blogs to the news feed. If I'm missing yours, please let me know and I'll add it ASAP. Between my RSS reader and the various sources I read, I know I'm missing some. 

That's all for now. If you have any questions or comments, I'd love to hear from you.

Breaking Down the Initial 2009 Allen & Ginter Checklist

Here's the quick and dirty of the 2009 Allen & Ginter Baseball checklist as I look at it for the first time. (I've gone and edited to include insertion odds and info on parallel mini variations, which I found on the sell sheet.)

Base Set:
350 cards: 230 veterans, 30 rookies, 25 historical figures, 15 champions, 50 short prints.

Mini Parallels: 350 cards

Wood Grain: /1
Framed Cloth: /10
Bazooka Back: /25
No Number: limited to 50
Black Border: 1:10 packs
A&G Back: 1:5 packs

Mini and Wood Exclusives:
#'ed 351 - 400

Interesting. Topps knows we love our A&G Minis. So what do they do? Make some of the "parallels" exclusive to the parallel sets. Not only that, they're exclusive to "Rip Cards." It should be interesting as a lot of superstars and fan favourites are in with the Mini Exclusives. I wonder if some set collectors going after the regular set will chase these exclusives and include them in their base set.

Some of the highlights for me (outside of the usual suspects): The Milky Way, Charles Darwin, Freud, Richard Gatling and Dominique Wilkins. There's still lots of TBD under "rookies" and "champions."

The Ginter Code:
Break the code and be a hobby superstar (or target). 

World's Biggest Hoaxes, Hoodwinks and Bamboozles: (1:12)

D.B. Cooper - Finally, a Prison Break card! Not that I've caught an episode in about two years. Others include Enron, Bernie Madoff and "The War of the Worlds." Nothing like reminding us when we're stupid.

Creatures of Legend, Myth & Terror: (1:48)

Bigfoot

The Loch Ness Monster

Grendel

Unicorn

The Invisible Man

Kraken

Medusa

Sphinx

Minotaur

Dragon

Leviathan

Cyclops

Vampire

Griffin

Chupacabra

Cerberus

Hydra

Werewolf

Fairy

Yeti

A&G always has crossover appeal. I could see these bringing some people into this set who might not of otherwise. I mean, unicorns, Yetis and Bigfoot. This is one set I'll be going after from top to bottom.

National Pride: (1:1)

It's like the retro version of the old Bowman International cards. Subjects have their national flag in the background. With 75 cards, the checklist is extensive for an insert.

National Heroes: (1:12)

This year's equivalent to the mini World Leaders set from 2008. William Wallace! Braveheart! Heck yeah. I wonder if Topps will get permissions to make a Mel Gibson variant. Which reminds me:

Back to the program.

Baseball Highlight Sketch Cards (1:6)

No indication as to whether or not they'll be actual sketch cards or mass produced cards done in a sketch design. Edit: Mass-produced it is.

Rip Cards (1 per case)

Who cares about who's on them? The big question is whether or not you'll be able to search them like year's past. Inside the Rip Cards you can find the Exclusive and Wood Minis (mentioned above), Dick Perez Sketch cards, Red Autographs and Mini Press Plates. The minis intrigue me the most, although there's a few solid names amongst the autographs. One Rip Card per case.

Autographs

Lots of familiar names from previous Topps autograph checkli--What the heck?--Billy the Marlin? I can see the dog show dog, I even think the Bigfoot tire print was cool, but Billy the Marlin? No offense, Mario.

Relics

More Billy the Marlin. Yawn.

DNA Relics

Hair cards are creepy. That said, here's the subjects:

Napoleon Bonaparte

Jefferson Davis

King George III

Dwight Eisenhower

Richard Nixon

Edgar Allen Poe

George Washington

Geronimo

Abraham Lincoln

Ludwig Van Beethoven

Cut Signatures

Ten total cards. You probably won't get one.

Box Topper

Cabinet cards with various versions mixing relics and autographs. The press pictures look nice but they're not selling me on a box like the unicorn and Braveheart are.

I'm exhausted.

Slow Sales Lead In the Game to Cut Production

I just received an email blast from In the Game that openly speaks of poor sales for their upcoming goalie-centric 2008-09 Between the Pipes Hockey set. Rather than cancelling the set entirely or delaying it, production was cut resulting in better insertion rates for autograph, memorabilia and Masked Men inserts. So if you are busting boxes, you're going to get better value than what the packaging tells you. Exactly how much more wasn't announced, though.

This announcement says a couple of things about the current state of the hobby. The first is that these are tough times for the manufacturers. In the last two weeks we've had Inkworks go under and Donruss sold to Panini. Coming out and publicly saying sales stink shows that others are hurting too.

That leads into my second point. By letting the cat out of the bag about better than originally stated insertion rates, In the Game is giving collectors a sales pitch. That's when it was said in advance. Now those that might have been on the fence before might be swayed by something a little extra. That's what happened with me a few months back with Topps' Indiana Jones Masterpieces. At first it was one sketch card per box. When the product hit everyone was getting two. Yet Topps didn't advertise the obvious slash in production. However, it was enough to sway me into getting a box.

The production slash will also give the appearance of a short run. But isn't it more with supply meeting demand? I'm sure there will be a bit of a sales blip for In the Game. Maybe it'll be big. But in the bigger scheme of things, if these are the new sales tactics, I can't help but wonder if there's bigger issues on the horizon for another manufacturer.

My First Go at Some Goose Joak Originals - Seattle Mariners Style

I've joined the Goose Joak Army. Here's my initial stab at some Seattle Mariners:

We'll kick things off with Ken Griffey Jr. back in the uniform where he belongs. Junior has always been about the fun. How can you go wrong with that smile?

Here we have Ichiro showing off his speed.

Finally for today we've got a Stadium card featuring the gorgeous Safeco Field on a sunny summer afternoon. With the snow that's falling around these parts, I'm definitely looking forward to taking in a game or two later this summer when I head out to visit the family on the West Coast.

Box Break: President Obama (Topps, 2009)

It took Topps only a couple of months to come up with an entire set devoted to Barack Obama's ascension to the White House, although it should hardly be surprising. After a year of plastering him and other politicians throughout their sports products, Topps happily embraced Obama-mania. And while one might think that a quick turnaround from election day to release day might lead to a lackluster set, that's absolutely not the case. Combining iconic images with fascinating text, President Obama is a set that mixes old-school simplicity with a few twists to keep modern collectors chasing.

The 90-card base set follows Obama's journey from a young boy through his historic presidential victory. There's plenty of intimate moments captured through the "family album" type photos that show Obama as a youngster through his entry into big-time politics. Then it's a collection of his greatest hits on the campaign trail. You've got your speeches, your platforms and visits from Oprah and Bruce Springsteen.

Obama's charming charisma is captured in the majority of the cards. These aren't your ordinary generic snapshots. They capture his personality, or at least the one the cameras capture and the one that captured millions of minds. Obama's rise is filled with iconography. It's a time that we'll be talking about to our grandchildren as they study it in their classes. The election coverage stands out particularly strong.

Each pack includes one of 18 stickers that combine Obama pictures, often Photoshopped, with catchy sound bites and slogans. There's even some mash-ups with Martin Luther King. I've always been a fan of Topps' die cut stickers and these are some of the best and most inspired they've done in a long time. A foil parallel version falls at a reasonable 1:4 packs.

The other main insert set is a foil stamp parallel. Although they're pretty easy to find at 1:3 packs, with 90 required for the set it's a tricky proposition to get them all. For the particularly picky, these parallels come in two versions (that I know of): gold and silver. I'm only speculating but I think the difference is whether or not they come from hobby or retail packs. My box had silver parallels and I'm pretty certain it was a retail box.

The two cards in the set drumming up the most interest are a couple of super short prints. A high school basketball card showing Obama as a teenager and using a retro Topps design falls 1:192 packs. There's also a Presidential Pup Redemption (1:384) that collectors can redeem online for a card of the First Family's pet once it's selected.

My box gave me exactly what I expected and a little bit more. Collation was excellent as I got one complete set, exactly half of another and eight parallels. I also got a set of the stickers as well as six foil stickers. To my surprise I also pulled the rare basketball card.

Overall, I'm very pleased with this set and the results from my box. President Obama is one of those sets that has a definite purpose outside of selling some product. From the sounds of things, it has sold very well. But then again so has everything with Obama's face and name on it. It's also nice to see the non-sport cards in a non-sport set rather than being added to the sports mix to get a little cheap publicity.

We're only at the beginning of this historic journey, which could be a good one or it could be a bad one. Either way, Topps has provided an excellent primer into Obama-mania and a fun set for collectors.

For more images and a detailed breakdown, click here.

Box Break: 2007 Upper Deck Futures Baseball (Retail)

So let me get this straight - the set is filled with the usual veterans save for the inserts and 89 short-printed and super short-printed autographs and it's dubbed Future Stars? And the cards are boring to boot. Let's just call 2007 Upper Deck Future Stars for what it really is - crap.

So you might be able to stike it lucky and land a good rookie autograph of Tim Linecum, Alex Gordon or Joba Chamberlain. But if you're opening this stuff by the case you're left with a ton of garbage left over.

I love building sets and the balance here is way out of whack. My retail box had almost the complete base set. That was fine. But with the one autograph, I was 88 short of the set there. I'm normally okay with just going for the base set when the checklists are this insane (yes, when the short prints have about two percent of the print run of the base cards, that's insane) but Upper Deck called this set Future Stars. Give me my dang 28-year-old rookies who will pitch the seventh inning in one game that's already a blowout, have a cup of coffee afterward, get confused for the maintenance guy three times and head back to Minor League purgatory for the rest of their careers. If I wanted guys like Jeter, Rodriguez and Pujols, I'd go for a set not branded Future Stars.

In a nutshell, the premise of this set is probably the worst I've seen. Sure, there've been a lot of bad sets over the years, but most at least hinge on some sort of innovation and I don't consider autographed rookie cards - with stickers, no less - on foil board to be innovative.

Retail boxes boast 24 packs of four cards with a guarantee of one autograph per box. Normally $20 for all that is a solid deal. Hobby boxes give you four autographs and six numbered inserts but the price goes up to around $70 to $80. Collation-wise, you couldn't ask for a better box. I'm nearly done the base set, although I'm not sure I want to take the effort to track down the missing handful. My autograph was Jamie Vermilyea. All I know about Vermilyea from this card is that he's a pitcher who in 2007 was with the Blue Jays and had some bushy hair. That's because the card back on the autographs has nothing but Upper Deck's Richard P. McWilliam telling me the signature is authentic. Because focusing your brand on future stars, largely unknowns to the majority of baseball fans, and not giving them a brief bio or some stats to help them get to know these future stars would be dumb.

The base card design is boring. You've got lots of writing in an ugly futuristic font, an isolated player action shot, some green and a Pole Position race track in the background.

There's no mention of inserts on the pack but I got two anyway. The first was a Rookie Dated Debuts card of White Sox pitcher John Danks numbered 277/999. The second was a Cy Young Prospects Tyler Clippard numbered 293/500. Accroding to the Upper Deck website there's also Two for the Bigs, All-Star Futures, MVP Futures and numerous colored and autographed parallels. The two inserts I got were both boring and looked like they could have been base cards in any other generic premium set. They remind me a lot of the SP Authentic line cira 1996-97.

It's been a while since I've been this down on a set. The $18 price tag lured me in as an add-on for another purchase I was making. Still, this set is a stinker that perhaps only the gamblers out there might want to roll the dice on in hopes of getting a good autograph. But even then, there's nicer cards of most of these guys out there.

For more images and a detailed breakdown, click here.