R.I.P. Gene Wilder

I was extremely saddened with the passing of Gene Wilder late Sunday night due to complications from Alzheimer’s disease. I feel like a part of my childhood died with him, something that I am guessing many Gen-Xers are feeling right about now with this news.

My first introduction to Gene Wilder’s extensive film career was Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory. Over the next 30 years he worked with some of the greatest in the comedy world like Mel Brooks and Richard Pryor. No matter what the scene he just brought his “A” game and you couldn’t help but to love the guy.

Over the years there have been the occasional Gene Wilder card but not many, oddly enough Leaf included him in their 2016 Pop Century release. A word of warning though, I do believe a family member has been signing for him at least for the past year if not longer including the autographs included in the Leaf set.

His signature has remained steady over his career and is best represented by the signature that was from one of his book signing, which we know he signed.

 

Now a look at current signatures showing up. I don't blame Leaf, they probably set up the signing with his agent or a family member and Leaf sent the stickers expecting them to be signed in good faith. These two don't even appear to be signed by the same person.

 

A comparison, I believe the two on the right to be actually signed by Wilder while the two on the left by someone else, possibly a family member or friend.

A Contest At Sports Card Collectors

There is a contest over at the Sports Card Collectors, if you dig 2016 Donruss Football you are in luck. Sign up for the chance to win a Markus Wheaton Black Press Proof #/10

A Thank You And A Slippery Slope

 

Last week I received an email from a reader, Tom, regarding a Griffey card that he had and was wondering if I was interested in the card. It is a 1995 Tombstone Pizza card, which not only did I not have but I didn’t even know about it. I have the 1994 Tombstone Pizza card but didn’t know about the 1995 version.

I want to thank Tom for helping me with a card I needed, and I hope that you enjoy the cards that I sent your way.

 

Once I got the card the other day I began to wonder what else I either didn’t know about or forgot when I worked on my Griffey Want List (GWL for short). This is where the slope began to get very slippery. The current GWL the I have posted now I believe is 492 cards long, a big undertaking, but I realized I am seriously missing many cards on the list. I have spent the last three days going through various Griffey lists, COMC and eBay and adding only the cards that interest me to my GWL, I just topped 1,000 cards and I just began working on 2009 cards right now.

I just topped 1,000 unique Griffey cards in my collection, more on that later, and with a want list of over 1,000 cards (and growing) I have a lot of collecting to do. I am happy that at least half of those cards are easily picked up for under $1 each so I am slowly adding to my COMC inventory as I am building my new GWL.

There Is Salt In His G-A-M-E

In the soap opera that is the Chargers-Joey Bosa contract talk it appears that the Chargers are done, at least for now, and have pulled the last offer yesterday. According to the Chargers the contract offer from Tuesday night included:

-A signing bonus larger than any rookie from the past two NFL drafts

- More money in 2016 that every rookie in this year’s class except the Eagles Carson Wentz

- The largest payment and highest percentage of a signing bonus in the first year since the current NFL collective bargaining agreement went in to effect in 2011

 

One of the sticking points is that the Chargers are offering to pay 85% of the offered $17 million signing bonus this year ($14.5 million) with the remainder after March 2017. Additionally, Bosa wants “offset language” removed from the contract.

I have heard the term before but didn’t know what it means but now I do.

Following the 2011 CBA all First Round rookies get four year deals with a team option for a fifth year, with the player being notified of the team’s intent following the player’s third season. If the team picks up the fifth year option, the player’s contract is guaranteed for that final year. Now here is where the offset language goes in to effect. If the team releases the player during their fourth year, if there is offset language in the contract, they will pay the player only the remaining guaranteed money but if the player signs with a new team the original team is off the hook and the new team pays the player’s remaining salary.

If there is no offset language in the contract than if the player is released during the fourth year and signs with a new team than both the original team and the new team will pay the player, essentially the player gets paid twice.

If you are a Joey Bosa fan now is the time to pick up his cards, with no contract signing in sight he will not be on the field once the season starts so prices should be low.

Failure As a Pro QB, Successful As A Drug Addict

If you were a football fan in the late 1980s or early 90s than the name Todd Marinovich may be familiar. This guy was breed, according to his father, to be a QB superstar. There was a story about him in Sports Illustrated where he talks about how following a loss in high school his father made him run home behind the car as punishment. He trained from sun up to sun down, football was his life and his father stated that he would only play for USC.

He played two seasons at USC going 9-2-1 in 1989 (ending the season ranked #8) and 8-4-1 in 1990 (ending ranked #22). He had two decent yet average years with 61.6% pass completions, 5001 years, 29 TDs-25 INTs and a 130.7 passer rating but it was enough for the Raiders to choose the hometown kid in the first round at #24 overall, 9 spots ahead of Brett Favre.

He started 8 games over two seasons going 3-5, 50.75 pass completions, 1345 yards, 8 TDs-9 INTs and a 66.4 passer rating and like that he was gone from the NFL. Oddly he was included in sets as recently as 2012 Upper Deck Football and if you are interested you can pick up his autographs for under $5.

The perfect robot QB became a has-been before Ryan Leaf, Vince Young, JaMarcus Russel and Johnny Manziel. Like the others he turned to drugs, police run-ins and arrests but I think he may have finally hit bottom when he was arrested last night in Irvine, California. He was found naked in someone’s back yard with a bag containing meth. He is now nearly unrecognizable and probably needs this arrest because at the rate he was going I would have expected to see his obituary in the paper.

Here is a comparison from his days with the Raiders versus his mug shot.  

A Back Burner Job Completed

I finally got around to updating my trade list, it only took two months since I moved to actually sit down and take a couple of days to update things.

The above links are now completely accurate, everything listed is currently sitting in a box waiting for a new home. I do have other cards but I wanted to stick to cards that would be considered a hit like rookie cards, limited cards, autographs and relics. You can also take a look at my Zistle trade list but I did not update those lists. Additionally, if you are a specific player or team collector feel free to ask, I have plenty of base and inserts for nearly every team in baseball, football and basketball.

A Ghost Adventurer Super Pull

There is a show on the Travel Channel called Ghost Adventures. It is a paranormal investigation show created by Zak Bagans and Nick Groff originally as a documentary in 2004 when they investigated the activity in Virginia City, Nevada. The documentary was shown in 2007 on Syfy Channel and the following year Travel Channel picked it up as a regular show and they are about to enter their 13^th season next month (They sometimes release more than one season in a year.).

I really enjoy the show and in 2013 I designed a Ghost Adventures set for my annual Halloween cards. Aaron Goodwin, who began as the groups cameraman before becoming an investigator, is my favorite. He just has a way about him that makes him an “every man” type of guy.

I follow him on Instagram and I know he is a Star Wars fan but I never knew he is a collector too. Two days ago he posted up this picture of his recent pickup, which appears to be about three cases of 2016 Topps Star Wars Chrome The Force Awakens.

 

He follows that up by posting this last night. He pulled what is easily the best card of the set, the Harrison Ford Superfractor #1/1 autograph. Which he immediately put up for auction and sold it within an hour.

 

He didn’t say how much he sold it for only that he plans on buying more Star Wars cards with the money, in true collector form. I checked recent sales and found his card, he sold it for $4,500. Insane.

 

Question, would you have sold this card?

 

 

 

Vintage Card Of The Month: 1950 Topps Felt Back Charles Hall

This month’s VCoM comes from the 1950 Topps Felt Back series. I have been wanting to pick up a Felt Back since I returned to collecting in 1992 but I always ended up skipped buying a Felt Back to purchase another card but with my commitment to buying only what I want to collect I made it a priority to get one this year.

The top card in the set is the Joe Paterno card, which can demand up to $2,000-2,500, but I was focused on the Charles Hall card because he is University of Arizona alumni. This is a beautiful addition to my U of A collection.

The 1950 Topps Felt Backs are quite cool, the cards are college cards and they were made in Red, Blue, Yellow and Green depending on the school’s colors. The front of the card contained a close up shot of the player and was on typical cardboard while the back of the cards was felt (hence the “Felt Backs” name) and contained the schools pendent. The player’s position also included an adjective to describe the player, players who were team captains or co-captains stated that but other players had interesting sayings. Hall’s card says “Crack Fullback”, Bill Gregus’ says “Galloping Halfback” and Bernie Kreuger’s says “Brilliant Quarterback”.

The downside with these cards are that they are very condition sensitive. Many cards were cut seriously off-center plus the backs can shed the felt. These cards are small, very small. We are talking stamp sized. Here is a picture of the Charles Hall card next to a Gypsy Queen mini for comparison.

The Art Gallery: 2010 Sadlittles Damsels & Dinosaurs Sam Elliott Type Of Dude

This month’s Art Gallery display comes from the artist Lance Sawyer, who has worked with both major and minor card companies. He sketch cards have been included on checklists from Topps, Upper Deck, Sadlittles, Cult-Stuff and 5Finity.

This card is from the 2010 Sadlittles Damsels & Dinosaurs release, a set that is made up of damsels and dinosaurs (I know, unexpected twist). This card caught my attention because the guy reminds me of Sam Elliott, who is one bad ass dude (outside of his role on Parks & Rec) and he is chill even though a Tyrannosaurus Rex is standing behind him.

A Redemption Win

 

Last Saturday (August 6th) I put in a request to replace a redemption card that had been 18 months since I submitted the code. The card was 2013 Prizm Football Jarvis Jones Rookie Autograph and when I checked Jarvis Jones has signed very few cards and they were all in 2013 sets so I felt like I was never going to see the card.

When I submitted the request I put that I was a Seahawks fan, though I have seen posts where people say not to include a favorite team so you can get the best player for equal value but I estimated the Jarvis Jones card to be at max a $5 card I wasn’t worried.

Panini responded quickly and sent me a 2016 Prestige Tyler Lockett Veteran Signature #97. I am very satisfied with what they selected for me.

R.I.P. Kenny Baker

I know this probably didn’t show up on a lot of people’s radar but last Saturday the actor Kenny Baker passed away at the age of 81-years old. He passed away in his sleep and no official reason has been announced but his nephew, who was his caretaker, did state that his lung problems were getting worse and he believed that was a contributing factor.

His most popular role has been as R2-D2, appearing in the first 6 Star Wars movies and working as a consultant on Episode VII- The Force Awakens, he had roles in some of the best movies of the 1980s (not always the best roles); Flash Gordon, The Elephant Man, Time Bandits, Amadeus, Labyrinth and Willow. Knowing that he will no longer be connected to the Star Wars franchise will be saddening but knowing that he brought so many smiles to multiple generations will always leave me with a good feeling in my heart.

Topps released an In Memoriam card through the Star Wars Trader, I wish they would have done it using the Topps Now outlet. I have the digital card but I would much rather have a card in hand.

The List Is Complete For Bader Nation

The other day when I had posted about some recent Ryan Bader pickups I brought up that I did not have a complete checklist of all of his cards. I suspected 300-400 total cards in his checklist. The last couple of days while I had free time I started to comb Topps checklists, Beckett, COMC, The Cardboard Connection, The Trading Card Database and Zistle and put together what I believe to be that complete Ryan Bader checklist and posted it here.

I was incorrect about his total cards, through the most recent Topps UFC release, he appears in 20 total sets, has a total of 248 cards (including parallels but not including Topps Vault parallels) and 70 unique cards. I have 80 Ryan Bader cards so that puts me 1/3 of the way but I don’t ever expect to have all of his cards because there are a number of #1/1 cards but I will collect what I can get my hands on.

The checklist is accessible at the top of the page.

It's Gotta Be The Shoes

The shoes Griffey wore to his Hall of Fame induction ceremony. You have to admit, the man has style from top to bottom.

 

Prince Fielder Is Calling It A Career

Another big name is being added to the “Retiring” list in baseball. Prince Fielder, who had neck surgery in July and apparently will not be cleared by doctors to play again for the rest of the season. It appears that Fielder will call it a career at the age of 32-years old.

It is interesting when you compare him to his father, he was a better hitter but they both ended with 319 homeruns and were only 20 RBIs apart.

Recent Ryan Bader Pickups

Some of the cooler Ryan Bader cards that I have picked up lately. I am currently at 80 unique Ryan Bader cards, I will soon need to go through and try to put together an all-encompassing Bader checklist so I know where I stand. His first cards appeared in 2009 so I don’t expect the checklist to be larger than 400 or 500 cards total including parallels and inserts.

 

I picked up a number of base cards through COMC and was able to get some nice deals on eBay on the more limited cards like the printing plate and the Topps Vaults. His cards are usually pretty fair in price so building a Ryan Bader pc is easy on the wallet.

 

Bader is scheduled to fight early next month at UFC Fight Night 93 in Germany against Ilir Latifi.

Ichiro, The New Mr. 3000!

Congratulations to the newest member of the 3,000 Hit Club, Ichiro Suzuki. His #3,000 hit came from a triple in the 7^th Inning off of Colorado pitcher Chris Rusin. If you factor in his stats from his time in Japan with the Orix Blue Wave and he has 4,278 total hits.

Next stop Cooperstown...

Just Waiting On A Redmeption Card

In February 2015 I submitted a redemption to Panini for a 2013 Prizm Football Jarvis Jones Rookie Autograph #/241 that I pulled from a pack I picked up to use for my Sports Cards Super Bowl V prediction. The redemption was closing in on its expiration date and I saw that there were not many Jarvis Jones autographs on the market but I figured I would submit it anyway and wait for the redemption magic to happen.

No magic has happened, just a lot of waiting. Jones has absolutely no autographs in any sets released after 2013 and I am not a big fan of the Steelers so I decided to request a replacement card. I don’t expect much from it, I am guessing the replacement value is only about $5 but I will try anyway. I will post as the process moves along.

One Cool Dude

 

I am going with a one-card post tonight. This card was inserted in to National Convention packs in 2013 by Panini. The card is of Panini employee Tracy Hackler and includes a large multi-colored relic from his t-shirt and is autographed.

Topps and Panini have both included employees but Tracy Hackler is probably one of the few employees that has shown time and again that he is a big advocate of the average collectors and has been a cool dude since his time at Beckett.

 The card has been around since the 2013 National Convention but it just hung around my Want List as a gray whale until I finally gave in when COMC had their Memorial Day special sale.

A-Rod's Time In Pinstripes Is Ticking Away

The Yankees have decided to go with a youth movement which means that 41-year old Alex Rodriguez is on his way out, which he has made clear that he is at peace with. Some have even suggested that his time with the team may be ending sooner than later though Yankees manager Joe Girardi has stated that he still plans on getting A-Rod in the lineup as often as possible and with him sitting at 696 homeruns he is closing in on what at one point seemed like an unreachable number. He has 9 homeruns in 215 at-bats this season so at a rate at knocking a homer at nearly every 25 at-bats he may hit #700 before September.

Could he follow in the steps of Griffey and sign a short contract with the Mariners and retire where it all started? Possible, probably not likely but possible.

In 2011 I pulled a 2011 Topps Heritage A-Rod Reverse Negative #490 and held on to it. I saw the card sell in the $100 range and heard of versions selling for up to $300 but I was undecided. Last year while cutting down my collection I finally gave in and sold it for $115. I wonder what it would sell for if/when he hits #700? Wondering if I made a bad decision on selling it?

The Zombie Apocalypse

When The Walking Dead started in 2010 I watched the first couple of episodes and then I kind of forgot about it. By the time the second season came around I wasn’t in a zombie mood and wrote the show off.

Earlier this year I pulled it up on Netflix and decided to binge watch and I have since been hooked. I am starting Season 4 and one night I began looking at the cards for the show and came across some very cool ones. I am a big fan of the shadowbox cards so I went for the one with the walker eating a deer leg. With the relic card I wanted one that showed some sort of staining and I wanted it to be from a specific walker, not one of the generic “Walker Horde” cards.

Just A Card

 

I bought the card out of pure enjoyment solely because I dislike the thief Clay Bennett and I am so excited that he lost his moneymaker with the #2 moneymaker, Russell Westbrook, leaving soon. I hope that his team replaces the 76ers as the league joke and the fans jump ship forcing Bennett to lose money and force him to sell the team.