Odds and ends from in and around the hobby….
There is an outstanding piece in today’s edition of Newsday. Wallace Matthews talks with Joe Frazier, who’s struggling physically –and apparently financially too despite making over $100,000 per year from autograph signings and other endorsements.
His one claim to fame–the defeat of Ali in New York–is what he clings to over 30 years after the fact.
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Look for a bunch of Michael Jordan autographs in Upper Deck’s Premier basketball set. The company is hoping Jordan and his white horse can resuscitate this year’s basketball card market. MJ signed a ton of cards according to UD.
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Randomly inserted into this year’s release of 2008 Upper Deck Premier baseball will be 2007 Premier rookie autograph cards of Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka. These cards were set to be inserted in last year’s set, but they were pulled in an effort to reduce redemption content. According to UD, "These limited cards will be making their way into this year’s product along with additional autograph content from players like Derek Jeter, Don Mattingly, David Ortiz, Ken Griffey Jr., Cal Ripken Jr., Ian Kennedy, Mike Schmidt, Rod Carew and many more."
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The Babe Ruth autographed baseball story we’re bringing you exclusively today is a great reminder of why we still think this is a cool hobby. How much fun must it have been for the PSA/DNA group to open the box and see that pristine ball with the Babe’s handwriting looking almost as sharp as it did over 60 years ago. Memory Lane anticipates it could be a $100,000 item–or more.
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As a Favre groupie–and Packers’ stockholder–I was really sad to see the (apparently) official end of the line today. He really struggled with his emotions, almost from the time he sat down at the news conference. He still came up with a classic line when he recounted watching his career highlights on news broadcasts over the preceeding 48 hours.
"This is what it’s like when you die," he said.
One Milwaukee area dealer who sells official Favre autographs told a local reporter that even though Favre was always great to deal with, he "hated" signing autographs and wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t do much of that anymore.
We’ll see.
What else does he have to do on Sundays now? That is, unless……….
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