Vintage Card Of The Month: 1966 Topps Batman Bat Signal

In January 2014 I picked up a 1966 Batman Red Bat buyback card (still not sure why) that had been inserted in to a pack of Topps 75^th Anniversary. The card is cool but I am not a fan of the gold foil “Topps 75^th” stamp, I got caught up in the bidding and paid more than I should have.

This time I decided to go straight to the original, no more buybacks for me. I like the 1966 Batman sets, there are actually three different 1966 Batman sets each with their own checklist. There is the Black Bat, the Red Bat (or A Series) and the Blue Bat (or B Series). The difference being the color of the bat on the front of the card that contains the card name. The Black Bat set has 55 cards on the checklist, the Red and Blue Bat sets each have 44-card checklist.

This card is from the Black Bat set, card #3, and I picked it because of the iconic Bat Signal. I don’t plan on working on the set but this card is really cool because everyone know the Bat Signal. The card is showing its age, that corners are rounded and there is wear on both the front and the back. The perfect example of a vintage card.

Something Cool But Insanely Expensive

Do you have $7,250 burning a hole in your pocket and are willing to take a chance walking away sucking wind?

2015 Super Break Box Breakers Edition just went live and each box comes with 10 items and while a checklist has not been released by Super Break the sales materials show the product contains autographs from athletes, Presidents, inventors and other famous personalities.

Something to take in to consideration is that this is a typical high end repack product, there are buyback cards as well as redemptions for full sized autographed jerseys, balls, hats, gloves, bats, etc. The web site also lists odd descriptions like "Light Activated Talking Boxes" and "Custom Wrapped Items" so I am guessing there are plenty of surprises to be found.

What I find the coolest are "The Bar" pieces, they are oversized cards that are slabbed and graded with one of a kind original sketch card artwork with cut signatures. The back of the card includes an image of the original document from where the cut signature came from. The promo materials shows a Babe Ruth "Bar" card that contains a cut signature plus some of his hair and a Frank Sinatra "Bar" card piece that includes the center of a 45-rpm record with Sinatra's signature.

So far there are only 6 "The Bar" autograph pieces for auction from this release; 3 Presidents (Teddy Roosevelt, FDR & Nixon), a painter (Salvador Dali) and an actor (John Wayne) all with BIN prices at $3,000 or higher and there is a Kris Bryant autographed baseball redemption card sitting at $179 with no bids.

 Looking at what is available the cards don’t look too bad design-wise but when you consider the amount you are putting out to buy a box, even if you do not plan to sell any of the cards, the value just may not be there unless you pull one of the hot boxes. I would love to open a box because I do think it is very cool product but with my luck I would end up pulling 9 dummy blank cards, with EAS tags still attached, and a tissue that Babe Ruth used to pull gum off of his shoe.

At the price that the current individual cards are selling for there is no way that I would even consider hunting any down. The prices are so high because the sellers are trying to recoup their cost back and while the sketch art is unique and one of a kind the prices are artificially high.

 

Is it strange that whenever I see Salvador Dali my mind automatically cuts to Terry Jones' character (Bendy arm man) in Monty Python's Meaning of Life "Find The Fish" scene?

 

Some Relics Would Be Worth Chasing

Last football season Topps worked with the St Louis Rams to create a set of special Rams Kids Club cards with 10 Defend Our Turf cards and a Rampage fur card. The cards were given away at two games in December at a Rams Kids Club table. There were also some autographed versions that were given away through Topps Twitter and Rampage’s Twitter & Facebook pages.

There are already mascot cards as well as autographed mascot cards and collectors love them with some of the autographs topping $50, I think that mascot relics would be a natural transition. I can just imagine what a San Diego Chicken or Phillie Phanatic relic auction would look like, triple digits would probably be a realistic selling point. I would definitely chase down a Mariner Moose and Blitz relic.

Topps needs to get on this.

Some Autograph Pickups

A couple more autographs that I have added to my collection. I found a reputable autograph dealer who has some very nice IP autos and when you consider the price of some athletes/actors in some of the sets it is no wonder people look for alternatives for their collecting wants. Not to mention with the way that autographs are now coming out of packs you have to wonder who actually signed the card that Topps/Panini/Upper Deck is considering “authentic”. Just in the past few years we have seen cards from athletes like Cam Newton, Dez Bryant, Tajuan Walker and Ka’Deem Carey inserted in to packs that are highly questionable due to the vast differences in the signature. Let’s be honest, unless we actually see the personality sign the autograph there will always be questions and concerns.

 Another nice thing that I like about IP autographs on cards is that you can pick a card that you really like instead of just picking up a card that you didn’t care for only because it had the autograph that you wanted.

So a number of months ago I found this dealer and I picked up an autograph, dealing with him was so easy and quick I went back to pick up some additional signatures. He was having a promotion where he offered free shipping on any order over $25 and I had two autographs I definitely wanted so I picked out a third to hit $25.08 and free shipping.

The first card I picked up is Johnny Galecki autograph from the Cryptozoic Big Bang Theory Season 3 release. The card is from The Wheaton Recurrence episode where the group bowls against Stuart and Wil Wheaton’s team. Wheaton plays mind games and the group eventually loses and as punishment the guys are forced to dress like female superheroes. The Cryptozoic releases do include relic and autograph cards but the prices are a bit high for my liking.

The second card from my purchase is this Carrie Fisher autograph from the Topps 1977 Star Wars Green Border release. The front of the card shows Luke and Leia right before the Battle of Yavin 4 and the destruction of the Death Star. The back is part of the puzzle. Official Topps Carrie Fisher autographs can run over $100 so I got a nice deal here.

The third card from this purchase was a Wayne Pygram autograph but I covered that one in another post last month.

 

Damaged After Being Graded?

Don’t you love that you spend $35 ($17 cost plus $18 return shipping) minimum to get a card graded and encapsulated and the card ends up sliding within the case and potentially getting damage.

I have one of these 1972 Primrose Confection Superman cards and they are extremely thin, even thinner than a piece of notebook paper, so I can see how it could slide in between the pieces but this would really suck. You would think that the grading companies would take things like this in to consideration. The seller at least realizes this is an issue and is selling the card at $3.99, which is actually lower than even a raw copy price.

Happy Birthday Yogi

"Baseball is ninety percent mental and the other half is physical."

 

Yogi Berra, the man of a million quips, turns 90 today. The man is undeniably one of the best players to ever line up behind the plate and a Yankee legend to boot. After serving during WWII as a gunners mate he signed with the New York Yankees and never looked back. Playing 19 seasons (18 w/ Yankees & 1 w/ Mets) he played in 18 All-Star games, won 10 World Series Titles and was named AL MVP three times. Counting his time as a player, manager and coach for the Yankees, Mets and Astros and he made it to 21 World Series winning 13 times and since has had his number retired by the Yankees and was inducted in to the Hall of Fame in 1972.

 

"Congratulations. I knew the record would stand until it was broken."

 Having played as long as he did and being a Yankee legend there are so many options for collecting his cards with his 1948 Bowman running $100+. A decent Yogi autograph can be picked up for $30-50 and relics for under $25.

 

"It ain't over till it's over."

 

My Contest Entry For Frankie's "Very Simple Contest"

Frankie from My Life In The Sports Card Hobby is running a “Favorite Cards” contest where he asks that his readers post the three favorite cards that are in their collection. What I initially thought was a simple question I realized I was mistaken. This is like Wallet Card all over, which cards do I go with?

Do I go with vintage cards? Maybe a Griffey card, but which one? How about something from one of my other personal collections? How about a favorite pull? This took more time than I figured it would take but in the end I got it down to four cards with two being tied for the #2 spot.

#1

1933 Goudey Lou Gehrig #92

 

#2
Second place is a tie between two cards that my wife pulled from the same box in 2001
2001 SP Legendary Cuts
Babe Ruth bat
Joe DiMaggo cut signature

 

#3
2000 Ovation Griffey game used shoe- Japanese version

Figuring Out Realistic Prices

Question:

How do you price a card that is so uncommon that there are very few sales to determine a fair rate?

 

Years ago I pulled a 2011 Topps Heritage Alex Rodriguez SSP reverse negative and I have gone back and forth on selling it because there never seems to be much data to figure a good selling point. Since the 2011 Heritage release I have seen the card posted for as much as $500, though I have never seen one sell for more than around $150. This year there has only been one sold on eBay and that was in February for $50 with just one bid but the seller mistitled it as a 2012 Heritage card and they probably missed out on some potential buyers with the year error so I don’t know if I should consider that as a reasonable price.

Now that A-Rod is back and just took over the #4 position on the All-Time Homerun list yesterday there is a resurgence in his card sales. I considered tossing it up for a $150 BIN/OBO price and go from there but considering that Rodriguez is signed through 2017 and it is reasonable to believe that if he stays healthy he can realistically hit 30 homeruns a year over the next three seasons he can overtake Bonds as the All-Time leader and I am guessing if that happens I can pretty much set any price but that means waiting.

Decisions…Decisions…

 

 

Get My Razor, We About To Cut A B!t¢h

Errors are not new to sports cards. The wrong player, wrong name, wrong stats, missing name, missing stats, printing errors, multi-prints, mis-cuts, blank cards, reversed images, vulgarity and so on. Some got media coverage like Billy Ripken’s 1989 Fleer “Fuck Face” card or 1990 Topps Frank Thomas NNOF, which if you were fortunate enough to pull and sell you could make a nice payment towards your student loan (one Thomas card sold earlier this week for $2,175 plus $30 shipping).

Really the value is based on the player/subject matter, the type or error, was the error corrected and how many cards are on the market. The 1989 Score Paul Gibson with the background player adjusting himself can be had for under $5 but if you are interested in picking up a 1977 Topps  C-3PO “Droid Junk” card you are going to be spending more in the $25 range for an un-graded version.

I enjoy error cards, they are a unique addition to a collection. I don’t have an “Error” collection but if I come across a reasonably priced Griffey error I will happily pick it up. If I had to pick a specific error type I would go with printing errors. I like cards that are missing foil or names or a nice double print image.

One error that I have never been able to get in to are the cut-out cards where the player was cut out for whatever reason. Two of the more recent cards that come to mind are the 2000 Upper Deck MVP LaVar Arrington and the 2006 Topps and 2006 Topps Heritage Alex Gordon cards.

The 2000 UD MVP LaVar Arrington was cutout because Arrington had not signed with the NFLPA thus was not eligible to appear on any NFL cards. Arrington went on to play 7 seasons with the Redskins and Giants and he had a solid career making it to 3 Pro Bowls but defensive players don’t normally draw big attention unless they are stellar (Richard Sherman) or evil (Ndamukong Suh) so while his cut-out made hobby news it didn’t normally sell for much over $25 around the time of release and is now down to around $5-10 range.

Alex Gordon’s Topps cut-outs where big time with stories showing up in various hobby news outlets, ESPN and even local news so there was a bigger rush. In 2006 the MLBPA had made changes to the “RC” requirements so only players who had appeared in a professional game prior to the season could appear in sets besides the Bowman minor league sets. Since Gordon had not been in a game Topps found themselves in a predicament so they took to cutting up Gordon’s Topps and Heritage cards.

The 2006 Topps #297 Gordon had five versions make it to the pack out process. The complete card, complete cut-out, center cut-out, Gold Foil and Silver Foil. The complete versions are the big sellers, topping $1,000 at the time and even now still topping $150 for raw copies. The cut-outs and foil versions now sell for under $50 each. One of the big national stories connected to the Topps card was when one collector in Wichita Eagle, Kansas found 5 complete versions from Walmart blasters. He bought 7 blasters total and found 2 in one pack and 3 in another pack, I guess you could say there was a bit of a collation issue.

Complete version

Complete Cut-out

Center Cut-out

Gold Foil Only

Silver Foil Only

The other is the 2006 Topps Heritage #255 Alex Gordon card. I think the reason this one is less known is because a complete version was never packed out, the only cards that made it out were the center cut-out and puzzle cut-out and from my research I found out that quite a few of them made it to PXs at U.S. military bases in Germany. The only complete version I have seen is owned by Keith Olbermann who received a paper proof directly from Topps. Because there seems to be less of the Heritage cut-outs the prices are significantly higher, hitting the $250 recently for ungraded copies. I cannot find any puzzle cut-outs for sale so I do not know any pricing.

Paper Proof owned by Olbermann

Center Cut-out

Puzzle Cut-out

I was also able to find some information that there are a number of 1997 Upper Deck Edgar Renteria #77 cut-out copies out there but I do not know why they were cut out and I do not see any for sale. One person suggested it may have just been a mis-cut during the cutting stage.

What has me baffled is why did Upper Deck and Topps allow the LaVar Arrington and Alex Gordon cards to get to the pack out stage? If there were specific rules in effect on these players appearing in cards sets I can understand why the companies cut out the player’s image and you would think this was done with the intent that the cards would be destroyed and they wanted to make sure that they didn’t go out the back door but these cards somehow made it from printing to cut-out phase to pack out and nobody questioned it.

Why were they not destroyed instead of just being cut-out? Some people have suggested that at least Topps did it to get a top prospect in to the packs and could claim innocence and ignorance by proving they attempted to destroy the cards. The “Hey, it wasn’t my fault” defense.

Outside of Arrington/Redskins and Gordon/Royals collectors would you hunt down these cards?

Will The Last Team To Leave Please Turn Out The Lights

The other day someone stumbled across something interesting while searching around the NFL’s official web site. The fan, Brian Sweeney, stumbled upon what appears to be a current page for the Los Angeles Rams. This got NFL conspiracy theorist on edge claiming this as proof positive that the Rams are moving back to Los Angeles. Once the news got out on Monday the page was deleted which added fuel to the fire.

The NFL responded with the announcement that the search actually brought the reader to a legacy page of the old Rams when they were still playing at Anaheim Stadium prior to their relocation to St. Louis. The coding for the NFL’s web site pulls up the legacy team if no current team exists. If you change the “LA” to “BOS” it pulls up the Boston Patriots or “PHO” brings up the Phoenix Cardinals.

Now that this mystery has been cleared up the question to ask is which team will be the first to move to LA? Will we see a joint Chargers-Raiders collaboration in Carson or will the Rams build their “terrorist magnet” stadium in Inglewood?

I find it interesting that all three teams considering a move to LA, which will not happen until after the 2015-16 NFL season, have spent at least one season in LA previously and moved away.

If any, which team do you want to see in Los Angeles?