Like the title of a song says, "Everything old is new again." Rumors keep going around about Upper Deck being serious regarding a rebirth of Fleer Retro for baseball. The Donruss product released by Panini hit a friendly nerve with many collectors who loved the 1980s throwback. And, earlier this year we learned another late 1990's/early 2000's issue-- was in the … [Read more...]
Topps 2014 Dynasty Baseball Hitting Shelves
Baseball card ‘packs’ carrying only a random autograph or two at a $100 and up price point aren't a new concept in the hobby. Leaf and Historic Autographs are two companies who’ve created packaged products that are signature focused. 2014 Topps Dynasty puts Major League Baseball’s trading card partner into the game. Released exclusively to hobby dealers this week, Topps … [Read more...]
Give Them a Cup: 2014 Topps Rookie All-Star Team Released
Eleven players will get the ‘ Rookie Cup’ on the front of next year’s card as members of the newly announced 2014 Topps Rookie All-Star team. A tradition that began in 1959 includes eight position players, left and right-handed starting pitchers and one relief pitcher. This year’s team included: 1B Jose Abreu, White Sox (2015 card mock-up shown at right) 2B Kolten … [Read more...]
2014 Topps UFC Champions Box Break/Review
To put myself in the mood to write a review of UFC Champions I put you tube videos of old boxing matches in the background. I listened to fights of champions such as Bob Foster, Ernie Terrell and Andre Ward. Ernie Terrell is a fascinating figure in boxing history as he is best known for two things. The first is he was the older brother of Motown Legend Tammi Terrell who … [Read more...]
2014 Topps Chrome MLS Soccer Meets its Goooooaaaalllll
One of the themes we have continued to discuss in recent years is how after 50-plus years of being America's future sport, soccer's time may be coming and faster than we think. Decades ago, some of our most popular sports included horse racing, boxing and track and field. We paid attention to these sports all year round and many of them (as well as some of the off-beat events … [Read more...]
2014 Topps Football Arrives
The theme for their baseball set this year was "The Future is Now." In keeping with the perception of the NFL's breakneck pace Topps has given their 2014 Topps Football set a theme and tagline of "Unleashing the Future." And efforts to do exactly that are evident in many ways with the inclusion of some fresh inserts, forward-looking artwork (no white square borders on the base … [Read more...]
What’s Hot in the Shop: Bowman Platinum is Pure Hobby Gold
2014 Bowman Platinum baseball is about a week old and it is showing no sign of slowing down. If this trend continues, then it will be the next in a growing line of successful current year MLB releases. Yes, I know that 2014 MLB is starting to sound like 2012 NFL products, but if you own a sports card store, can there be any better music to your ears? Collectors have to be … [Read more...]
2014 Topps Baseball Series 2 Baseball Preview
Here's a preview on what collectors can expect in 2014 Topps Series Two Baseball as the second part of its annual flagship trilogy arrives this week. Series Two will offer 10 cards per pack and 36 packs per box. There will be one autograph or relic card per hobby box. If you want a guaranteed auto, you’ll have to buy the jumbo box which contains one signed card and two … [Read more...]
2014 Topps Tier One Due Out Friday
One of the biggest criticisms of recent sports card products has been the perceived poor selection of signers. A quick view of any sports card forum, Twitter feed, or Facebook post will undoubtedly reveal a number of collectors less than satisfied with their autograph 'hit'. 2014 Tier One baseball has attempted to rectify this by guaranteeing one quality 'Tier One Autograph' … [Read more...]
Gypsy Queen Box Break
Recently there was a short but interesting thread on the modern card section of the Net 54 Message Boards. One of the posters, who lives near me was bemoaning the amount of sets Topps produces and was very impressed by the 2014 Donruss set and he wondered why Panini did not have a MLB properties license. I explained in that thread that MLB Properties (Not the Players … [Read more...]