Given the advances in computer technology these days — smartphones, iPads, tablets have opened the Internet in ways that were not dreamed of 20 years ago — the 1997 Donruss VXP 1.0 CD-ROM set looks quaint. But it was one of the earliest attempts to bring baseball cards into the computer age. In fact, Donruss marketed the product as the “First-Ever Collectable CD ROM Trading … [Read more...]
Ramblings: Player Collectors Still Passionate
Seeing the link to the story about the Tim Wallach collector (and I have sent him cards in the past and will send more) reminded me about one of the great underrated parts of our collecting base, what we now call the “super collector”. Most aren’t looking to collect every single card of a player ever printed, but they are a dedicated lot nonetheless. I’m sure back in my … [Read more...]
Your Unwanted Sports Cards Can Help Inner City Kids
A music teacher at a South Florida elementary school is striking a positive chord with his students — using sports cards to teach life lessons. For seven years, Nate Adams has been teaching at West Riviera Elementary School, “one of the most challenging schools to teach at in Palm Beach County." Academically, since 1999 the school has had three failing grades — most recently … [Read more...]
Topps Taking Tek to Football
Topps will roll out a football version of its Tek brand late this fall. Apparently pleased enough with the reception for the return of the 1990s era product in baseball, the company announced it would produce 2015 Topps High Tek Football. Topps says the product will have a similar blend of foil patterns and technology collectors saw with the baseball product. Retail price … [Read more...]
Landmark Basketball Cards and Sets of the 1990s
The 1990s were a decade of expansion for basketball cards as the number of manufacturers and sets increased to unprecedented levels. High production numbers then can mean very low prices for some 1990s sets now. Card companies also discovered limited print runs and serial numbers which produced rare cards. A collector looking for fun and interesting 1990s … [Read more...]
Ramblings: One-Off Sets Not Always Duds
Not every Super Bowl ad is a winner. I mean, if you saw it way back in 2000, can you ever forget the sock puppet for Pets.com? It was so expensive it killed the company. Yes, we had some funky ideas at the turn of the century. Reading an article about those failed (and very expensive) TV spots on Super Sunday got me thinking about some one-off card sets we’ve seen in the … [Read more...]
Ramblings: Fun With Busted Prospects
We really enjoyed sharing the memories about the hottest players in baseball as we turned the corner into the 1990’s but that me to thinking about some of the other incredible stories of hot cards that turned cold and never warmed back up. In some ways the overproduction age was like a penny stock market in that if you could buy cards at the right time for pennies and … [Read more...]
Ramblings: When Collectors Come Back
To me, one of the greatest signs of future hobby strength occurs whenever a person walks into a card shop and says: "It's been 20 years or so since I was in a card store or attended a card show." Back in the day we used to have a saying the hobby worked on 20-year cycles in which kids collected and basically peaked at age 10 and then if they returned to collecting, they did so … [Read more...]
Ramblings: Explaining What They’re Worth Often a Futile Exercise
I don't get that many phone calls about cards although I do have my number listed for the Plano Card Shows we launched last year. When I saw the post of the Sports Collectors Daily Facebook page with a link to an earlier article about what to do with cards from the ‘overproduction era’ that don’t have much value, my mind went back to a recent conversation I had with a … [Read more...]
1990’s Football Card Brands Include Some One-Hit Wonders
The other day, when I re-read my column about the low numbered print runs that began to enter the hobby in the 1990’s, my mind went back to some of the more memorable companies which had only a short run in producing sports cards. Some of them lasted for several years and others had one brief shining moment. One aspect of this you will notice is most of these companies produced … [Read more...]