Topps Spring Fever Fail'

I saw these infocards at Don's when I stopped by this afternoon.  I wanted to grab a couple packs of Heritage and see if there was anything cool on the drop board.

If you remember from last year Topps inserted Spring Fever redemption cards into Series 1 packs and you could go down to your participating sports card shop and turn it in for a pack of exclusive Spring Fever cards.  Well this year Topps was going to do the same thing, if you look at the sell sheets it even says so there, but somewhere along the way that changed and the redemption cards were not put into packs.

Fast forward to now and Topps saying that all you have to do is go to your local card shop and buy 18 packs of cards to get a free pack.  Series 1 has already been out for a couple months. How many of us really  want to have to go buy half a box of hobby packs to get one free pack of these cards? No word if  Jumbo packs count more.  Something tells me that these might be pretty rare as I doubt most collectors who have already moved on to Heritage or Opening Day and are waiting for Series 2 and Gypsy Queen are really going to want  to shell out more money for this promotion. I can't decide if this is just a major screw up on Topps' part or something more nefarious with them trying to sell more Series 1.  Either way this is pretty piss poor Topps. I will probably end up getting some of these packs anyways, as my LCS's probably will have to eventually just give them away or a lot of shop owners will probably just open them and sell the singles and autos.

I haven't seen a checklist for the promotion either, but from the preview images \ the cards look very similar to last years. 

Here's what the infocards look like.

What do you guys think, screw up or devious plot to sell overstock?

The year of the Return Ofs....Topps announces the Return of Topps Tek

Sorry I've been MIA, had to have a baby.  Anyways the Industry Summit is going on and Sooz posted this interesting tidbit over at  Beckett News.

Topps also announced a little more about Topps Stadium Club and the new Topps Dynasty.  All of which will be higher end products.  Last year Topps asked collectors to give feedback on what we wanted, what could be improved on, etc, etc.  I can't remember if it was on Facebook or Twitter, but I ended up putting in a few suggestions. One was the return of Stadium Club. I also suggested bring back Tek. But I did say that Tek would work great as an insert, like the Strata cards in Series 1 this year. And I thought that maybe the clear parallels in Series 1 might be the precursor for this. I also suggested that they bring back the old subsets like Future Stars and Turn Back the Clock.  To be fair I wasn't the only one who voiced these ideas, but it makes me wonder if Topps is actually paying attention to us.

I'm a little dismayed at the growing trend of Topps to price out the average collector with all these high end releases.  If Topps really cared about getting new blood into the hobby I would think they would also care about keeping the collectors they already have.  Regardless, I won't be opening any of the expensive wax and I'll wait to pick up what I want on the secondary market.

Thoughts?

My First Auto

I remember like it was yesterday.  I'm a military brat. My father was a career military man and I spent the first 18 years of my life moving from fort to fort around the country and the world.  At the time I thought it sucked. Having to pack up every 3 years or so and say goodbye to my friends and having to start over somewhere else.  Looking back I can see just how that upbringing made me the man I am to day and I wouldn't trade it for the world.  My dad's last duty station was Berlin, Germany. We got there right after the wall fell in December of 1989 and we were there till I graduated high school in the spring of 1992. It was a great time to be there and a perfect time in my life. But that's a whole other story this is a story of the first autograph I ever pulled from a pack of card.  I opened a lot of 1990 and 1991 baseball product. The base PX and all the little shopettes, or convenience stores, had cases and cases of baseball cards. I happen to have worked at one of these shopettes. The US military in Berlin wasn't set up in a centralized base. Rather it was spread out in the American sector on multiple kaserns, or small bases.  I happen to work in the compound that housed the Post Exchange, commissary, book store, Burger King, and a shopette.  It was a fine job to have while in high school. It was close to the American DoD school so I would just walk over after classes were done.  I also had lots of baseball product set right in front of me.  

Anyways I opened a lot of 1991 Score. Maybe that's why it's one of my least favorite sets. It's also a monster set.  And I have no idea why I bought so much, but one lucky day I pulled this card.  Well a card like this one below, I long ago sold mine.

Update: Fuji is right in the comments.  I pulled this out of 1992 Score not 1991.

I was flabbergasted. I had no idea that Score had put these autos in their product. I don't ever remember seeing this advertised, but at the time this was huge. Chuck was Rookie of the Year in 1991 and this card was serial numbered too. This wasn't the first auto inserted into packs, but it was close.  I wish I had sold this back there it was worth big bucks. Years later I looked it up and it was booked at about $15.  I was plesently surprised when the card went for almost double it's book value and the last two of these I saw on ebay sold between $20 - $25.

Chuck's story is a sad one and I won't go into his decline and PED use, but for me this card still holds a place in my collecting history, even if I have let it go.

We can always have zombies!

I realize I'm starting my 5th year of this blog.  When I started I really had no idea what I was in for, how long I'd stay, or really what I wanted to say.  I think over the years I've found my voice and I enjoy sharing, ranting, complaining, and trading with the best of them.

I recently read the eulogy for another sports card blog over at the Adventures of Napkin Doon.  I had the pleasure of trading with Mr. Doon and I've always enjoyed his posts, especially his Cleve's Auction tales. It got my thinking of how many blogs I've seen come and go.  I'm always checking out others blog rolls and checking out the new section on the Sports Card Blogroll seeing who I can add. I have a hard time removing blogs. Not because I don't know how to do it, but because like zombies some times dead blogs come back.

I was really happy to see Sooz and Marie started blogging again over at A Cardboard Problem and the Troll is back as well. I always get a little sad when someone drops out. I realize that there are usually underlying issues, responsibilities, and sometimes people just are done.

So for the ones that have left us I say thank you for the time and to the ones who come back, welcome, and beware I have my zombie shotgun ready! Rule #2.

Need a job?

Want to work close to Bill Gates? Like sorting cards? Like working with computers and 9 pocket pages?

COMC is hiring!  You can check it out here on their blog and then hit the link to apply. 

Just thought I'd try and help out the economy.

Topps announces the return of Stadium Club!!

 Just saw this on my Facebook feed. Topps teased the following picture of the return of Stadium Club.  There was no additional information like, date of release, cost, set size, inserts, etc, yet.

It'll be interesting to see if Topps makes this another super high end set again, or brings it down to a level us mere mortals can enjoy.  But I'm happy the brand is returning and if the mock up is any indication we can enjoy a borderless full bleed set like days of yore!

Thoughts?

The Last Great Race

Not much going on here except the last great race, the Iditarod. The race started Sunday with the ceremonial start here in Anchorage on Saturday.  The weather up here has been weird, with an unseasonably warm weather coming in waves and it's melting a lot of the snow.  As a matter of fact of the about 70 mushers in this race, yesterday saw 10 drop out do to trail conditions and injuries.  The reports claim that there are huge sections of the trail completely snow free. Which is bad for the dogs, sleds and mushers.  This might go down as the roughest and toughest Iditarod yet.

Every year a bunch of friends and I tailgate the ceremonial start here in Anchorage, it was pretty enjoyable with temperatures hovering right around freezing most of the day, which in early March is balmy.

If you're interested you can check out the official website for the race HERE.

And here is a picture of the 4 time Iditarod winning musher Martin Buser heading down the street in Anchorage. It's a pretty good time, Mushers give high fives to fans and throw out dog booties to the kids.  We set up away from downtown.  It's a mad house down by the starting line.