Kevin Durant just sold his 2006-07 NCAA Player of the Year trophy. The Brooklyn Nets star isn’t hard up for cash, just raising money as part of the Fanatics All-In Challenge to raise money for COVID-related causes. Durant donated a package that included not only the trophy but a personal experience that sounded pretty great. Per the auction listing, KD himself … [Read more...]
Notes: Wayne Otto Passes; Haren’s Bobbles Bring $14K; Mays Joins Living Set; Free Cards from Carl’s
Wayne Otto, long-time owner of Pro-Am Sports and its website, GameWornUniforms.com, , passed away earlier this week. He was 64. Nicknamed “World B,” Otto was a fixture at the annual National Sports Collectors Convention and was honored for his 30th year as a booth holder at the 2019 show in Chicago. In addition to running his business, Otto devoted much of his … [Read more...]
Carl, Mike Yastrzemski Get Topps Living Set Cards
It's not every day you can buy a card of a grandfather and grandson that are part of the same baseball card issue, but the Topps Living Set is sort of built for those sly bits of marketing. The ongoing weekly releases of fresh cards based on the classic 1953 Topps set continued during the holidays with Wednesday's release of two new players: Hall of Famer … [Read more...]
TV Story on Big Pull, Thurman Munson, Cool Baseball History, Hofstra Show; MeiGray Auction
Earlier this month, we wrote about Jimmy Mahan, the collector who pulled a 1/1 Williamson/R.J. Barrett card out of Panini Contenders. It sold for $15,000 after Mahan (@KentuckyCards) pledged to donate the proceeds to a North Carolina children’s home. The story reached mainstream media in the last several days with the story below airing on the ABC affiliate in Raleigh. Check … [Read more...]
Topps Offers Special Cards, Promotions for All-Star Festivities
MLB’s All-Star FanFest is now “Play Ball Park” but many of the attractions haven’t changed. Topps is once again producing some special cards in conjunction with this year’s event, which opens Friday at 10 AM Eastern time and runs through Tuesday at the Huntington Convention Center in Cleveland. Topps will be having a wrapper redemption program with some exclusive … [Read more...]
Topps News: Astros Manager Hinch Visits Office; New On-Demand Sets
From the time he was a kid until he left home to start his pro career, Houston Astros manager A.J. Hinch was an avid card collector. With the MLB interleague schedule putting the Astros in New York City last week, he stopped by the Topps offices for a segment that appeared on MLB Network and MLB.com. You can watch it below. Topps has released a couple of new … [Read more...]
Notes: Trout Living Set Card; Interviews, Podcasts and NHL Game-Used
The Topps Living set checklist has now reached 200 cards. The company saved card #200 for Mike Trout, who gets his first and, probably, only card in the ongoing set this week along with Martin Prado and Christian Stewart. Pretty good timing. With his grand slam and RBI single Wednesday night, Trout is now hitting .420 in 69 career at-bats with the … [Read more...]
Notes: Stan Finally Gets a ’53 Topps Card; Jimmy Fund Auction Underway; NBA All-Star Gear
Collectors have long wondered what a 1953 Topps card of Stan Musial might have looked like. Now, we have one. Well, sort of. On Wednesday, Topps revealed the three newest cards in its weekly Living Set program and Musial was one of them. Like all of the Living Set cards, the Musial was created in the style of the '53 set by artist Mayumi … [Read more...]
Topps Named Top 2018 Sports Marketer Finalist
For the second straight year, the Topps Company has been named one of NY Sports Journalism's Top Ten Sports Marketers of the Year, this time for its Living Set project. Introduced as a never-ending homage to players past and present, Living Set cards created by a an artist in the style of the 1953 Topps set and are released on a weekly basis through the company’s website. … [Read more...]
Notes: Another Ungraded Goudey Find
One good 1933 Goudey find deserves another. Just a couple of days after Heritage Auctions revealed the consignment of a huge lot of ungraded Goudeys including all four Babe Ruth cards and a Nap Lajoie comes word from Robert Edward Auctions of another "raw" set. No Lajoie here, but every other card in the set is included--and now off for grading. This one was put … [Read more...]