I didn’t mean to start a trend with my last post about what this hobby was like thirty years ago, but the stuff that’s going on sure makes it feel like the 70s again. At least the first part of that decade.
The price of gas is dropping (except today when, of course, my tank was empty). There’s a new movie coming out about Nixon. The recession is in every newspaper and TV newscast. The Yankees are out-bidding everyone on free agents and taking heat for it.
Unions are in the news with the Big 3 auto bailout and I think their retaliatory snub of Jim Bunning smacks of stuff that went on back then. It was probably a relief to the Senator who probably figured he’d be meeting some folks who weren’t exactly fans when he signed autographs at the Gibralter Trade Center show on Sunday.
Get this…the budget crunch is hitting minor league baseball teams hard enough that many are going to use the same uniforms next season. It seems the game-worn jersey sales aren’t good enough to let them sell off last year’s model and buy new duds. And really, why would you pay $125 or $150 for the jersey of a guy who isn’t likely to make the big leagues?
We also learned that Upper Deck has dropped its Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) card set that had been scheduled for release during the fall. Some say it’s dead, but a UD spokesman would only tell me that it’s been "pushed back to February at the earliest". It was supposed to be sort of a broad appeal MMA set featuring a lot of the big names and drew some interest from dealers looking for something other than another sports set, but it’s not happening now and I wouldn’t be surprised to see some other issues either shut down or postponed until things get back on track. If unemployment reaches 8% in 2009, we’re guessing it will be a crisis situation for sports card makers and anyone who deals with retail products on just about any level.
Always like to pass along some cool web sites when I find them. AllTop.com is sort of an internet magazine rack. It lists the top 5 posts for blogs & sites on every topic imaginable. The sports site is well worth a bookmark. It’ll save you a ton of time looking up stories from one site to the next or doing Google searches that bring up retailers, etc. instead of information.
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