by Rich Klein
Every once is a while, time is a great ally. Even Walter Alston’s detractors as a manager always said he would spend an extra day before making any decisions of an important nature. Other than the famous ninth inning of the final game of the 1962 season versus the San Francisco Giants, that strategy usually paid off for the Dodgers. Alston managed the Brooklyn Dodgers to their only World Series victory and nearly 20 years later was still leading the now Los Angeles Dodgers to the Fall Classic. What does Walter Alston have to do with baseball cards…besides being on them? Well, if you are the 2012 Goodwin Champions baseball product, quite a bit more than you think.
When I went into my local card store here in the Dallas area to discuss this product, the owner reported he had sold boxes that 
morning, several weeks after the initial release. My local store says the boxes are doing well at the $80 range and he has sold eight cases worth at this point. Of course, the sales helped when a very difficult Arnold Palmer autograph was pulled in the first day of pack busting.
Leading online retailers are currently at the $70-75 range. Each hobby box contains 20 packs with five cards per pack. Each hobby box advertises three hits per box including Autographs, Memorabilia and other relics. The recently released Civil War memorabilia “shadow boxes” are truly gorgeous. In addition, the masterpieces, numbered to 10, are drawings remarkably similar to the original Goodwin Champions design. Both of these inserts are truly original in terms of card design.
The basic cards are just that–basic cardboard. They are black bordered and many feature interesting images of both athletes as well as other famous people. Many of the portraits are from rarely seen photographs (check out Gale Sayers in his late 1960s ‘peace’ jacket). Meanwhile the backs of the cards have biographical information as well as an informational blurb.
Since we opened two boxes we’ll break down each box separately:
1st Box:
Base Cards: 77 of 150 or slightly more than 50 percent of the set
Short Prints: Steve Bloomer, Marcell Dareus, Mike Donlin, Harry Greb, Ormer Locklear, Ryan Strome
Super Short Print: Josef Straus
Horizontal Parallel: Lou Brock
Mini Parallel: Randy Couture, Carlton Fisk, Brian Leetch, Bobby Orr, Kellen Winslow Sr.
Mini Exclusive: Cody Buckel, Matt Lipka
Green Lady Luck Minis: Doug Flutie, Cesar Peullo
Military Machines: C-47 Sky Train, Willys Jeep
Oversize Box Topper: World Traveler Zurich
Animal Kingdom: Lesser Bird of Paradise
Memorabilia Card: Jonathan Huberdeau
Autograph Card: Bryan Clay
Box:#2
Base Cards: 81 of 150. I did not sort the two boxes to see if this combined for a complete set, but the two boxes either completed or brought me real close it
Short Prints; Ross Barnes, Matt Danowski, Ned Hanlon, Lucien Petit-Breton
Super Short Prints: Fergus Suter, Jonathan Wendel
Mini Parallels: Nick Faldo, Bob Gibson, Jake Hager, Jim Kelly, Warren Moon, Barry Sanders, Anderson Silva
Green Lady Luck Minis: Cody Buckel, Jake Hager
Foil Parallel (Stated Print run of 199) : Carole Lombard
Oversize Box Topper: Shanghai
Military Machines: Iroquois, Liberator
Memorabilia Cards; Hulk Hogan, Eric Lindros
Autograph Card: Trey Hardee
Goodwin Champions is just a fun product. You might actually learn something if you take time to really look at the cards and read the backs.
We talk quite a bit about a collector feeling that they receive their money’s worth out of a box. With the hits from the two boxes at the selling price point, one can see why this product not only sold well immediately upon release but has continued to have legs throughout the selling process as the secondary market has treated this product very nicely indeed.
Rich Klein can be reached at [email protected]
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