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Newspaper Articles

I write a weekly column in a local newpaper called the Press Citizen and below you will find those articles. If you have any questions you would like to ask for the next article, email me and put "question for Newpaper Article" in the subject line. Also include your name, city and state you live in and we will give you credit in the article.

Beckett has a New Owner

February 2, 2005

If you have ever done anything with sports collectibles you have heard someone say, "Look it up in the Beckett." What is a Beckett? A man, Dr. James Beckett, started a baseball card price guide in 1984 and called it Beckett Baseball monthly. That small beginning turned into a multi-million dollar business that was broken up into several companies.

Beckett Publications produces sports collectible magazines and price guides for all sports. Beckett.com is a huge web site that collectors, buyers and sellers can get together and do business. Beckett Grading Service is a card grading company. Beckett Entertainment/Comics Division publishes comics.

Last week Apprise Media, LLC acquired Beckett Publications, Beckett.com and Beckett Grading Services and renamed the company Beckett Media LP. What will this mean to the average sports card collector? I fear that if you don't have a computer, you will be left out.

Why do I have that opinion? Several reasons and I will explain a few. It seams that in the last few months Beckett has alienated it's self from sports card dealers. At least two times that I know of in Beckett Publications they stated in articles that consumers should not do business with card stores and listed prices for very hot products at less than the factory cost. It seems to me that Beckett is slowly pulling away from card stores and is planning for the day when they don't exist anymore and everyone buys sports collectibles on the internet.

Also, the new CEO of Beckett Media LP is a former Jobs.com President and CEO. And his main statement after he was introduced was, "We see great opportunity to broaden Beckett's products and audience reach online as the sports and entertainment collectibles market continues to grow online through direct sales sites such as Beckett.com and auction sites such as eBay, already a strategic partner of Beckett." Nowhere in the press releases that I seen was there any mention of their original strategic partner, the Sports Card Hobby Shop.

Whoever heard of Beckett before they walked into a Hobby Shop? I contend that at least 80% of their subscribers probably purchased their first Beckett price guide at a Hobby Shop. Now, they are throwing us under the bus and going with the new big guy in town, the internet. Now I don't have a problem with the internet, we have had a web site since 1996. However, when the Hobby Shops are all gone, where will you, the collector buy things like supplies, a couple of packs, or have a conversation about sports and who is hot at the time? Do you know how much shipping costs are for a single case of top loaders? How many of you will be willing to buy 1000 top loaders at a time? I fear that is what you are going to be doing down the road if Beckett and some of the card companies don't change their current policies.

So to wrap this article up, it appears that Beckett's magazines will continue to go down hill and their internet business will continue to grow. Got to go now, have a customer waiting to pay for a Tuff Stuff Price Guide and a few packs of cards. A Hobby Store supporter to the rescue.

This is meant to be a reader participating column where I give you some news, you ask questions and hopefully I will have answers to your questions. You can send any questions you might have concerning sports collectibles to Bob's Baseball Cards, 200 Army Post Road #40, Des Moines, IA 50315 or email to Bob@bobsbaseballcards.com. You can also visit our web site at www.bobsbaseballcards.com and listen to Bob's Collector's Hour Mondays 5pm to 6pm on 1490 AM in Des Moines or via the Internet at Jock2.com.

Iowa Cubs Fan Fest was Great

January 26, 2005

Those of you that visited the Iowa Cubs Fan Fest at the Drake Knapp Center on Jan 14th or 15th had to have a great time. Jeff Lantz and all the people involved with setting up this event did a great job.

The thrill of having five baseball Hall-of-Famers there was fabulous. Even though Lou Brock’s flight was canceled and he couldn’t make it, the other signers, Kirby Puckett, Paul Molitor and Dave Winfield all signed items with Lou Brock tickets at the end of their signing sessions. They didn’t have to do that. They weren’t paid to sign those extra items. But they did it anyway. In this day and age of athletes caring only for themselves, it was nice to see these stars care for the fans that allowed them to become rich and famous.

A Few local players like Casey Blake, Joel Hanrahan, Wes Obermueller and major league umpire Tim McClelland were signing for FREE. So were Iowa Cubs Manager Mike Quade and hitting coach Pat Listach, a former American Leauge Rookie of the Year. Also a couple of former Negro League players, Ernie "Schoolboy" Johnson and Bill "Baby" Bell also were signing for FREE. It is sad to know that less than 100 former Negro League players are still alive. For history’s sake and the shear enjoyment of baseball’s past, an autographed item from a former Negro League player should be in everyone’s collection.

Bob Feller also had a booth and was selling autographs for a donation to his mueseum in Van Meter. Where else are you going to get an autograph of one of the greatest baseball players of all-time and a Great American Hero all at the same time? Answer, anywhere Bob Feller is signing his name!

I had a nice encounter with Dave Winfield at my table. He was roaming around looking at the merchandise we had for sale during a break when he saw a Willie Stargell baseball I had in my showcase. He said, "Willie was one of my heroes but I never got anything signed by him. What is the best you can do for me for that ball?"

I simply opened 3 more baseball from behind the counter and asked him to sign them and the Stargell ball was his. He smiled, and signed the three balls nicely on the sweet spot and returned them to me. I handed him the Stargell ball and one of my business cards, shook his hand, he thanked me and then went about his business. During this discussion there were cameras flashing all around us. So if anyone knows of someone that has one of those photos I would appreciate a copy. He seemed like a average person, except for his 6’ 6" height and looking as though he could still play. He was sincerely appreciative of the ball and smiled and interacted with fans as if he already knew them. Dave Winfield, my hat is off to you.

If you didn’t come to the 2005 Fan Fest, make plans to attend the 2006 event. We will post the dates on our web site as soon as we know when it will be as will the Iowa Cubs web site at Iowacubs.com.

This is meant to be a reader participating column where I give you some news, you ask questions and hopefully I will have answers to your questions. You can send any questions you might have concerning sports collectibles to Bob’s Baseball Cards, 200 Army Post Road #40, Des Moines, IA 50315 or email to Bob@bobsbaseballcards.com. You can also visit our web site at www.bobsbaseballcards.com and listen to Bob's Collector's Hour Mondays 5pm to 6pm on 1490 AM in Des Moines or via the Internet at Jock2.com.

Hall-of-Fame Autographs are GREAT!

January 19, 2005

Those of you that collect sports memorabilia know that autographs of Baseball Hall-of-Famers, HOFers, are the best. No self respecting collection is without a few of those. This week you can add FIVE HOFers to your collection.

This weekend, Friday and Saturday, January 14-15, the Iowa Cubs will once again host the Iowa Cubs Fan Fest at the Drake University Knapp Center. Kirby Puckett, Lou Brock, Dave Winfield, Paul Molitor and Bob Feller will all be there.

Puckett, Winfield and Molitor all played for the Minnesota Twins at one time during their career. Winfield and Molitor are both members of the 3000 hit club and Puckett most certainly would have if eye problems hadn't ended his career early. Puckett took part in winning two World Series Championships for the Twins.

Brock also has over 3000 hits and had every stolen base record until Ricky Henderson came along. He was also part of the worst trade the Chicago Cubs ever made. Brock, Jack Spring and Paul Toth was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals for Ernie Broglio, Bobby Shantz and Doug Clemens on June 15, 1964! Those four HOFers all played in and won World Series titles.

Iowa's own Bob Feller won 266 games in a career that was interrupted by him serving our country for nearly four years during World War II. Feller would have certanly won over 300 games had he not enlisted in the Navy. He enlisted in the Navy two days after the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor and he won 8 Battle Stars aboard the U.S.S. Alabama. I would bet Mr. Feller would agree that those four years were the most important in his career. The cool thing about Feller is that nearly every player that has played since 1920 he has either met, played with, played against, or has been able to watch play! Nearly the entire history of baseball travels with Bob Feller. Don't miss this chance to meet him.

If you are an autograph collector, this weekend is for you. Five HOFers and many other baseball players from the state of Iowa will be at the Knapp Center. There will also be many card and memorabilia dealers set-up with many amazing items for you to browse through. See you at the Knapp Center this weekend.

Casey Blake is an Iowa Treasure

January 5, 2005

For those of you that don’t know, the state of Iowa has a real treasure locally in Indianola. Casey Blake is the Third Baseman for the Cleveland Indians and he is from central Iowa! And he is a GREAT guy. He played in all 152 games for the Indians in 2004, batted .271, hit 28 home runs, drove in 88 runs and scored 93 runs! His 28 home runs led the team and his 88 RBI was third best. These are nearly all-star caliber statistics!

So with that in mind he probably is one of those big shot athletes that sign their autographs like a doctor, hides from fans and/or treats them rudely, and just spends his money on himself and uses his celebrity status to his and only his advantage! If you thought that, you would be WRONG!

When Stacey Huff from Indianola got in touch with Casey and asked him if he would like to do an autograph session for a charity that Stacey is passionate about, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, he said he would. Stacey’s next question was, how much would you need to do this event and how much should we charge? "$10 per autograph with all the money going to the Society.", is how Casey responded. In other words, Casey spent a few hours of his time and charged the Leukemia Society and Bob’s Baseball Cards nothing! Barry Bonds would charge thousands and his autograph would cost over $300, if he would do it at all. Now some would say Casey is no Bonds, but I would rather put it, Bonds is no Casey Blake! We were happy to host this event at Bob’s and look forward to doing similar events in the future.

Another autograph guest on the southside late in 2004 was wrestling star Jerry "The King" Lawler from the WWE. If you watch Raw on Monday nights you know that Jerry is one of the announcers that usually roots for the bad guys, however in a setting with wrestling fans he is fabulous. I have seen or have been involved with hundreds of sports celebrities and Jerry was by far the best. He took the time to greet each autograph collector with a hand shake and a smile. He would even strike-up a conversation while writing his very legible and free flowing autograph. Part of the event, hosted by the Iowa Wrestling Federation, was to have a Polaroid picture taken of you and Jerry that he would sign. My youngest son, Dallas, has one of those pictures proudly displayed in his room and can recite to you his conversation with "The King."

Both of these gentlemen were fabulous autograph guests and we at Bob’s look forward to more in 2005. Keep checking the Press Citizen Shopper for future events at Bob’s.

This is meant to be a reader participating column where I give you some news, you ask questions and hopefully I will have answers to your questions. You can send any questions you might have concerning sports collectibles to Bob’s Baseball Cards, 200 Army Post Road #40, Des Moines, IA 50315 or email to Bob@bobsbaseballcards.com. You can also visit our web site at www.bobsbaseballcards.com and listen to Bob's Collector's Hour Mondays 5pm to 6pm on 1490 AM in Des Moines or via the Internet at Jock2.com.

How Does a Child Start Collecting?

September 1, 2004

What is the best product to get my child interested in sports card collecting? That is a popular question at Bob’s Baseball Cards and I’m sure it is also at other shops around the country. With the four major companies that make cards, Topps, Donruss/Playoff, Upper Deck and Fleer, all making many different sets in each sport, the answer to that question often is a matter of finances. We have packs that range from $0.99 to $199.99!

To answer that question I must first find out what the child wants to collect. Baseball? Football? Basketball? A favorite team? A favorite player? Or would they just like to see what it is all about, maybe work on completing a set or just open some packs and see how they like the process of opening packs and sorting/playing with the cards?

No matter what the answer is, starting out with the lower priced packs is a good idea. With a few packs, some individual penny card sleeves, and either a storage box or a collector book with nine pocket pages any future sports card collector will be off to a good start. With the addition of a few more packs, or maybe a box of those packs, the collector can then decide what they like and how they want to proceed. Do they want to try and finish the set or only collect a certain player or team?

If they decide to collect the set they need to use the checklists and find out which cards they have and which ones they are missing. If they don’t want to mark on the checklists in the set, we have checklist forms that can be used. Once they know what is missing, they can purchase more packs and continue the process. However, once there is only a few cards left, they need to take their list to a card store and look for the missing cards. Buying packs at this point will only disappoint the collector because the chance of getting doubles instead of finding the few missing cards is a lot higher. Completing a set is a great educational experience. The collector learns organization, setting a goal and completing it, earning the money to continue the pursuit, and the overwhelming feeling of accomplishment when the set has been completed. All great lessons taught with a real experience.

Collecting a team or a player still will involve buying some packs because that will give the collector extra cards to trade with other collectors in order to help them with their collecting goals. Going to a card store or show is a great way to find lots of cards of a favorite player!

If you know of a new collector that has recently completed a set, bring the collector and their set into Bob’s and we will get a photograph of both and post it in the store and on our web site. Another way to show the collector that others would like to know about their accomplishment. Have FUN collecting.

What is a TCG or a CCG?

August 25, 2004

I ended last week’s article with the following statement: Since we starting TCG & CCG gaming tournaments at Bob’s, I have been amazed at how many parents have no clue as to what their kids are playing. TCG & CCG mean, Trading Card Game and Collectible Card Game. They basically mean the same thing but one company got the term CCG trademarked so all the other companies had to come up with another term.

These games are fairly simple once you decide that they are simple and you want to learn them. My kids tried to teach me the Magic the Gathering CCG to no avail. I must have had a problem with the kids teaching dad because when I got the starter CD, my computer taught me how to play in a few minutes. These games all start will a deck of cards that you use to play against an opponent with their deck of cards. The object to most of these games is to cause your opponent’s life points to be reduced to zero.

Each card in the deck have "powers" or "abilities" that allow them to defeat other cards. Not much different than playing war with a regular deck of playing cards. Some are stronger than others. An Ace will always crush a three in a deck of playing cards no matter if you are playing Poker or War. CCG and TCG games are pretty much the same except the text on some cards give them special abilities during certain situations that might allow a three to beat an Ace.

What most parents don’t understand is that when you buy a starter deck for a game like Yu-Gi-Oh! you have only just begun. That is because a starter deck is just that, a starter deck. A beginner’s way of getting started. After a player learns how to play a game, they then buy booster packs to boost their deck. In other words, get better cards to make their deck stronger. They also might want to buy single cards to do the same thing. The one thing these gaming companies did that was smart for their business is that the best cards are also the rarest cards. Therefore they are harder to find and when you do find one they can sometimes be expensive. Simple supply and demand.

When parents are signing their children up to play a tournament at Bob’s they quite often ask, "When my kid loses, will he lose his deck?" The answer is NO! That can happen on a school playground, in the neighborhood and on a TV show. It will never happen at an organized tournament. If you would like to find out when and what type of tournaments we have at Bob’s, call us or visit our web site at Bobsbaseballcards.com and click on the picture of the store and then click on gaming.

Let me just make one very important comment about gaming cards like Yu-Gi-Oh!, Magic, Pokemon, DragonBall Z, or any of the others that are available. This type of hobby, like sports card or comic book collecting, are good clean hobbies. Remember, there are lots of BAD things out in the world that is lurking in the shadows for the opportunity to get your child’s, or your, money. Collecting something and playing a game is good wholesome fun that the whole family can enjoy.

Collector’s Corner is Back!

August 18, 2004

It has been a while since my last article due to the expansion of our store. Now that we are all settled in I should be able to do these again. So, what has been going on since the last Collectors Corner? A lot, so I will recap below.

$500 Upper Deck Exquisite Packs sold well all over the country and 3 cards from those packs sold for $27,100, $28,000 & $62,100. Another card, a LeBron James/Michael Jordan 1 of 1 patch card should sell for over $100,000. Pretty wild huh?

Robert Gallery’s, former University of Iowa lineman, cards are impossible to keep in stock. His cards are real hot throughout the country even though he is an offensive lineman. Unless he is a perennial Pro-Bowler this year’s cards may be the only cards he has. They don’t make too many cards of offensive linemen.

All Donruss/Playoff baseball cards packs and boxes are selling like crazy since most of their products have at least one low serial numbered Ruth jersey card. Remember that Donruss/Playoff purchased one of three Yankee pinstriped home jersey once worn by the Babe for around $350,000 late in 2003. They are doing a good job of using that jersey to boost the sales of just about every baseball product they have.

The bat used by Babe Ruth to hit the first home run in Yankee Stadium will be sold via an auction by SportsCards Plus October 2-4 at the New York Marriott Marquis Hotel in Manhattan. This bat was autographed by Ruth and given to Victor Orsatti in June 1923 as a prize for winning a Los Angeles High School Home Run Hitting Contest. Experts estimate that this bat will sell for over one million dollars.

Entertainment autographs are sneaking their way into sports card products. Donruss/Playoff has a nice run of Fans of the Game autographed cards strung throughout several different sets. Autographs of stars like Jennie Finch, USA Softball pitcher, James Gandolfini, Sopranos, Regis Philbin, Good Morning America, are becoming a BIG hit. Topps will be releasing a set in November called 2004 Topps Tribute Hall of Fame Cut Signature Edition with autographs of many deceased Hall-of-Famers. Also included will be Hall of Fame caliber Musicians; Frank Sinatra & Louis Armstrong, Actors; John Wayne & Clark Gable, and Leaders; Dwight D. Eisenhower & Theodore Roosevelt. Very cool.

Next week I will discuss Trading and Collectible Card Games. Since we starting TCG & CCG gaming tournaments at Bob’s, I have been amazed at how many parents have no clue as to what their kids are playing. Don’t miss next week’s article.

Comic pricing is Crazy!

May 12, 2004

Here is a question I hear a lot, "How come the comics from the early 90’s are worth less than brand new comics that come out today?" Simple answer, supply and demand. In the late 80’s and early 90’s of the last century we were in a collector’s frenzy. We collected everything! "Superman is going to die? The I better buy FIVE of each comic leading up to and after that event and I will be able to put my kids through college with the extra ones!"

So we ALL bought FIVE of them and they ran out quickly. So the comic companies were forced to make more, and then a second edition, and sometimes a third edition. Why did they make so many? Because we bought them. The demand was HUGE, so they had to increase their supply to keep us happy.

I was shocked to find out that in the early 90’s many of the top selling comics had over a million copies a month printed. Compare that to February 2004 when the top selling comic, New X-Men, has less than 200,000 copies. Therefore, simple supply and demand causes today’s brand new comics to be worth more than the comics fifteen years ago.

This Friday, May 14th, is one of my sister’s birthday, AND Bob’s Baseball Cards GRAND REOPENING celebration. We will have 98.3 FM WOW Radio’s Jerry and The Round Guy broadcasting their afternoon sports talk show live from Bob’s. We will be serving hot dogs and pop and will be having specials all day long. Also, starting on that day our new operating hours will be 10am - 8pm Monday - Saturday, Noon - 5pm on Sunday.

There is a new product out called Donruss Timeless Treasures. One of the cards waiting to be pulled from that product is of Babe Ruth with a pieces of a game used home jersey, away jersey and bat. This card also contains a cut autograph of the Babe. Pull this baby out of a pack and you will have no problem selling it for $15,000 to $20,000.

You can send any questions you might have concerning sports collectibles to Bob’s Baseball Cards, 200 Army Post Road #40, Des Moines, IA 50315 or email to Bobplus5@aol.com. Listen to Jerry, the Round Guy and Bob on the first Wednesday of each month at 6pm on WOW radio 98.3 FM.

Should you get That Rookie Card Autographed?

April 7, 2004

By the time you read this the baseball season will have started as the boys of summer have returned home to bring the warmth and sunshine of our national past time north to thawing cities and towns that love the game. For those of you that read the past six weeks of divisional previews, they will conclude right here with my World Series preview. The Boston Red Sox versus the Houston Astros. With that said, I’ve got to go with my Astros to win there first World Series in seven games as the Curse of the Bambino will continue to haunt the fans of the Red Sox.

Now that my baseball previews are done, it is time to talk about collectibles. I get the following question a lot, "If I get a card autographed, will that increase it’s value?" That is a great question and the answer will take some explaining. But the short answer is, a signed card becomes worthless as a card. The value is reduced OR increased to the value of the autograph of the player. Example, If you had a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card, valued at $18,000, autographed, it is now worth about $500. The other side of the coin is, if you had a 1968 Topps Mickey Mantle, valued at $250, autographed, it is also worth about $500. In other words, an autographed Mickey Mantle card is an autographed Mickey Mantle card! No matter which card is autographed.

In this extreme example the autographed 1952 Topps card would demand some sort of premium due to the popularity of that particular card, but I use this example to better make my point. You have card collectors and you have autograph collectors. They don't mix well unless it is one of the newer cards that come already autographed, are serial numbered and are the player's rookie card. Other than that, cards that are written on, no matter how did the writing, are valued at about 3% of the card's NRMT value. A Mickey Mantle autograph collector wouldn't pay $18,000 for an Mantle autograph or would a Card collector pay $18,000 for a card that has been written on. So, if you are going to get a card autographed, make sure it is a card that is valued at or lower than the player’s autograph.

You can send any questions you might have concerning sports collectibles to Bob’s Baseball Cards, 200 Army Post Road #22, Des Moines, IA 50315 or email to Bobplus5@aol.com. Listen to Bob on the Autographs Collectible Road Show Tuesdays at 6pm on KXNO 1460 and also listen to Jerry, the Round Guy and Bob Wednesdays at 6pm on WOW radio 98.3.

National League Central Preview

March 31, 2004

The National League Central should be a lot of fun this year for me personally. With all the Cubs fans in the area and me being an Astros fan, this year could be more fun than last year. I believe the Astros and the Cubs will both be going to the playoffs. In fact, I’m not going to pick a winner in the division since it really doesn’t matter since they both will be playing in October.

Houston Astros: Last year’s Record: 87-75 2nd place. 2004 Projected finish 1st or the National League wild card team. I am proud to be an Astros fan this year because of their "stealing" the Yankees number 1 and 2 pitchers last year in Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens. Add them to Roy Oswalt, Wade Miller and Tim Redding the starting rotation is fabulous. Last year’s leader in wins, Jeriome Robertson and former Phillies starter Brandon Duckworth will be in the bullpen. If Octavio Dotel can succeed as the closer, after trading Billy Wagner to the Phillies, pitching should not be a problem for the Astros. Offensively the Astros stayed with last year’s team that can score a lot of runs in any ballpark with Jeff Bagwell, Jeff Kent, Lance Berkman, Craig Biggio and Richard Hidalgo. Morgan Ensberg will get the chance to play third base every day this year. He hit 25 home runs last year with only 385 at bats which is pretty good for a young part-time player. The Cubs think it has been a long time since they have been in a World Series, the Astros have NEVER been there.

Chicago Cubs: Last year’s Record: 88-74 1st place. 2004 Projected finish 1st or the National League wild card team. Could this be the year the Cubs have been waiting for since 1908? Not if they don’t learn to hit the ball with runners in scoring position. They did it just enough to win the division last year but it was their pitching staff that pulled them through. However, with the off season acquisitions of first baseman Derrick Lee, and second baseman Todd Walker, scoring runs should be easier this year. The Cubs have one of the best offensive outfields in baseball with Moises Alou, Corey Patterson and Sammy "the cork" Sosa. The pitching staff is probably the best in all of baseball with Kerry Wood, Greg Maddux, Mark Prior, Matt Clement and Carlos Zambrano. The bullpen was strengthen with the addition of LaTroy Hawkins from Minnesota as a solid set-up man. If Joe Borowski can actually become a solid closer, it will be very hard to score runs against the Cubs.

St. Louis Cardinals: Last year’s Record: 85-77 3rd place. 2004 projected finish 3rd. This team will probably score a lot of runs with the best player in the National League, first baseman Albert Pujols, along with third baseman Scott Rolen and an outfield of Ray Lankford, Jim Edmonds and Reggie Sanders. The big question with the Cardinals will be their pitching. Matt Morris was disappointing last year and the rest of the starters consist of Woody Williams, Chris Carpenter, Jeff Suppan and Jason Marquis. Who are they going to shut down? The only good thing the Cardinals have going for them this year is that other than the Astros and Cubs, the division is still very weak. Playing eighteen games against the Pirates, Reds and Brewers will help any team’s won loss record. However, when they do play the Astros and Cubs, they will consider the season a success if they win half of those games.

Cincinnati Reds: Last year’s Record: 69-93 5th place. 2004 Projected finish 4th. The biggest problem with the bottom three teams in this division is that they don’t have one pitcher that could make the Astros or the Cubs. In fact, I don’t think the Reds have a starting pitcher that could play on any other rotation. If first baseman Sean Casey, shortstop Barry Larkin, and outfielders Adam Dunn, Ken Griffey Jr., and Austin Kearns can stay healthy, they will feast on teams with inferior pitching staffs.

Milwaukee Brewers: Last year’s Record: 68-94 6th place. 2004 Projected finish 5th. I was surprised when I read that the Brewers were the team that made the most money last year. But when you look at the facts, a new stadium to attract fans and no good players to pay big payroll dollars to, I guess it all makes sense. Suddenly the Brewers are probably the best young team in the National League. With an infield of Lyle Oberbay, Junior Spivey, Craig Counsell and Wes Helms and an outfield of Geoff Jenkins, Scott Podsednik and Ben Greive, this looks like a nice young team to go watch play. Ben Sheets is the only pitcher worth getting excited about so those before mentioned youngsters better get good fast if they are going to win many games.

Pittsburgh Pirates: Last year’s Record: 75-87 4th place. 2004 Projected finish 6th. This team looks like a bad AAA team. Jason Kendall is the only position player worth mentioning. They do have a couple of decent pitchers in Kris Benson and Josh Fogg. They are both stars in the making and Benson could be in for a breakout year. It will be a long year for Pirates fans as they will be looking forward to football season in May.

The first National Trading Card Day will be this Saturday April 3rd. Visit a card store near you for a free collectible trading card set and other events. Bob’s Baseball Cards will have prizes all day long and hot dogs and pop to welcome the first weekend of regular season baseball!

National League East Preview

March 24, 2004

The National League East is the Atlanta Braves’ division. The Braves moved to the N.L. East in 1995 and have won the division EVERY year since then! Can they do it again? I don’t think so.

Philadelphia Phillies: Last year’s Record: 86-76 3rd place. 2004 Projected finish 1st. The Phillies spent the winter adding pitching. With the addition of starter Eric Milton and 100+ mph closer Billy Wagner to a staff that already includes starters Kevin Millwood, Randy Wolf, and Vincent Padilla, this team is ready to make a run at the Braves. They will be opening a new spectacular ballpark, Citizens Bank Park, and their offense should score a lot of runs for that pitching staff. If outfielder Pat Burrell can bounce back from a horrible year in 2003, and first baseman Jim Thome can stay healthy, this team looks tough to beat in the East.

Atlanta Braves: Last year’s Record: 101-61 1st place. 2004 Projected finish 2nd. The Braves have lost major big name players in each of the last three years and have continued to win. However, the loss of third baseman Vinny Castilla, catcher Javy Lopez, pitcher Greg Maddux and outfielder Gary Sheffield may prove too much to overcome. To offset those losses they added outfielders J.D. Drew, Eli Marrero and Gary Matthews Jr., catcher Eddie Perez and pitchers Anotnio Alfonseca and John Thomson. In the past General Manager John Schuerholz has always been able to bring in players to replace the losses, but as you can see above, that didn’t happen this year and I don’t think the Jones boys will be able to carry this team to the top. The Braves will battle for the title but could finish as low as third.

Florida Marlins: Last year’s Record: 91-71 2nd place, wild card qualifier and World Series Champions. 2004 Projected finish 3rd. The last time the Marlins won the World Series the owner sold just about every star they had. That didn’t happen this time but the Marlins lost a lot during the winter with outfielder Juan Encarnacion, first baseman Derrek Lee, pitchers Banden Looper and Mark Redman, and catcher Ivan Rodriguez all signing with new teams. Their only significant pick-ups were closer Armando Benitez, who doesn’t have much gas left in the tank, and first baseman Hee Seop Choi, who still has to prove that he can play at the major league level. They do have a nice core of young players with second baseman Luis Castillo, shortstop Alex Gonzalez, third baseman Mike Lowell, outfielder Miguel Cabrera and pitchers Josh Beckett and Dontrelle Willis. I have projected the Marlins to finish third, but don’t be surprised if you see them near the top of the division all year long.

Montreal Expos: Last year’s Record: 83-79 4th place. 2004 Projected finish 4th. This team lost their best two players last year in outfielder Vladimir Guerrero and pitcher Javier Vazquez. Devastating losses. However, with Frank Robinson as the Manager and the addition of Carl Everett and Nick Johnson, this should be a fun season for the Expos fans. They have a nice pitching staff with starters Livan Hernandez, Tony Armas Jr., and Zack Day. To add to the tough travel schedule that a major league baseball team endures, the Expos will again play 22 games in Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, Puerto Rico. If you play on the Expos, you need to speak English, French and Spanish. I have no idea what this team is going to do. They have the talent to win more games than they did last year, but will the volatile Everett disrupt this team? Will the Hernandez brothers pitch great now that they are together again like they were in Cuba? Will Johnson become the star the Yankees once thought he would be? It will be fun to watch and find out.

New York Mets: Last year’s Record: 66-95 5th place. 2004 Projected finish 5th. It doesn’t seem that long ago that the Mets were playing the Yankees in the World Series! In fact that World Series was in 2000! Last year they had the second worst record in the N.L.. Other than catcher Mike Piazza, outfielder Cliff Floyd and pitcher Tom Glavine, there isn’t anyone else on this team I would pick for a team, fantasy or otherwise. They did add outfielder Mike Cameron and the newest Japanese sensation, shortstop Kazuo Matsui. The only reason to go see the Mets will be so see what Matsui will do.

The first National Trading Card Day will be Saturday April 3rd. Visit a card store near you for a free collectible trading card set and other events. Bob’s Baseball Cards will have prizes all day long and hot dogs and pop to welcome the first weekend of regular season baseball!

National League West Preview

March 17, 2004

This division still appears to be the Giants division. They won the division by 15½ games last year and none of the other teams improved enough to close that gap. Here is the team by team preview of the National League West.

San Francisco Giants: Last year’s Record: 100-62 1st place. 2004 Projected finish 1st. The Giants won’t be as strong as they were last year. Bonds is showing signs of his body starting to break down due to his use of substances, and you know what I’m talking about, to increase his physical strength. I look for Bonds to miss nearly half of the season due to a pulled this and a stiff that. The only strong move the Giants made this winter was the acquisition of all-star catcher A. J. Pierzynski from the Twins. Also look for another former Twin, Dustan Mohr, to get a lot of playing while Bonds is out. The best pitching in the west will be lead by ace Jason Schmidt and closer Rob Nen. The Giants should repeat as division champions but it should be a much closer race this year.

Arizona Diamondbacks: Last year’s Record: 84-78 3rd. 2004 Projected finish 2nd. The Diamondbacks lost ace pitcher Curt Schilling and picked up first baseman Richie Sexson and second baseman Roberto Alomar during the off season. This team suddenly has a bunch of guys a little long in the tooth. With pitchers Randy Johnson and Shane Reynolds, Alomar, and outfielders Luis Gonzalez and Steve Finley getting up there in age you wonder if this team can stay healthy enough for a run at the division title. After Johnson and Reynolds the pitching staff will count on youngsters Brandon Webb, Elmer Dessens, Steve Sparks and closer Matt Mantei. If that young talent in the pitching staff can do well, the offense should score enough runs to allow the Diamondback to jump to second place.

San Diego Padres: Last year’s Record: 64-98 5th place. 2004 Projected finish 3rd. This is a team that took the off season seriously. With the addition of pitchers David Wells and Sterling Hitchcock, catcher Ramon Hernandez, and third baseman Jeff Cirillo this team has improved so much, career .299 hitter Cirillo will be coming off the bench. With a starting rotation of Wells, Brian Lawrence, Adam Eaton, Jay Peavy and Hitchcock with reliever Rod Beck and closer Trevor Hoffman, this team could go from losing 98 games last year to a .500 record or better. Plus this year they will be playing in brand new PetCo Park. I bet the Padres fans can’t wait until free goldfish night.

Los Angeles Dodgers: Last year’s Record: 85-77 2nd place. 2004 Projected finish 4th. I have always liked the Dodgers due to their storied history in Brooklyn and Ebbets Field. But what in the hell did they do in the off season? They were one of the worst offensive teams last year and they spent the winter adding Juan Encarnacion and Bubba Trammell? They both play the same position! And one of the best pitching staff in the N.L. lost Kevin Brown and Paul Quantrill and picked up New York shell shocked Jeff Weaver! I would say that new General Manager Paul DePodesta’s job is already on the line before the first pitch has been pitched. New owner Frank McCourt must be thinking, this isn’t the Dodgers I remember when I was a youngster.

Colorado Rockies: Last year’s Record: 74-88 4th place. 2004 Projected finish 5th. What can you say about the Rockies. Probably one of the best ballparks to watch a game at because of the great weather, fabulous atmosphere with the Rocky Mountains to the west, and the score will be 11-10 no matter who is pitching. The Rockies were 17 games over .500 at home and 31 games below .500 on the road, worst in the N.L.. With Vinny Castilla back at third base, and Jeromy Burnitz in left field added to already potent offense that includes Todd Helton, Larry Walker and Preston Wilson, these guys might average over ten runs a game at home. If you look at the Rockies pitching staff, only two things are for sure, (1) Jason Jennings will be the number one starter, and (2) there will be a fight the first time Turk Wendell pitches to Barry Bonds. Should be a fun season if you are a Rockies fan, but don’t expect to do much better than 4th place.

The first National Trading Card Day will be April 3rd. Visit a card store near you for a free collectible trading card set and other events. Bob’s Baseball Cards will have prizes all day long and hot dogs and pop to welcome the first weekend of regular season baseball!

American League East Preview

March 10, 2004

This is the third week of my Major League Baseball preview. This week we will look at the American League East. This division is dominated by the Evil Empire, the New York Yankees. During the winter the Yankees lost a couple of key players, the Red Sox and the Orioles picked-up a few stars and it looked like the Yankees could be dethroned. Then the Alex Rodriguez deal happened and the Yankees are the favorite again.

New York Yankees: Last year’s Record: 101-61 1st place. 2004 Projected finish 1st. The New York Yankees! Twenty Six World Series Championships! On paper the Yankees starting eight position players may be the best of all time. The new second baseman, Enrique Wilson, is the only position player that hasn’t been on an all-star team. I believe before the season starts we can name the Yankees MVP, Aaron Boone. If Boone hadn’t played basketball, destroyed his knee, ARod would still be a Ranger. The acquisition of ARod is being compared to the 1919 purchase of Babe Ruth from the Red Sox. Just like ARod, Ruth was the best player of his era and changed positions when joining the Yankees.

Yankees games should be fun to watch this year if you like offense. With Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte and David Wells moving on to other teams, the Yankee pitching is suspect. Mike Mussina will be the number one starter followed by Kevin Brown, if he is healthy, Javier Vazquez, a great young pitcher, Jose Contreras, last year’s Cuban flop, and Jon Lieber, if he is healthy. The only thing that is sure in the Yankee pitching staff is closer Mariano Rivera. Look for a lot of four hour games with a 10 - 8 score when watching the Yankees. And believe me, you will get to do that a lot because all the networks that televise baseball are scrambling to get the Yankees on their broadcasts.

Boston Red Sox: Last year’s Record: 95-67 2nd place and wild card playoff team. 2004 Projected finish 2nd and the American League wild card team. The Red Sox missed being the World Series last year by five outs. They have added Ace Curt Schilling and closer Keith Foulke to their already fine pitching staff. Add Schilling to Pedro Martinez, Derek Lowe, Tim Wakefield and Byung-Hyun Kim, pitching is the one area the Sox should be able to beat the Yankees with. The Red Sox scored more runs than any other team last year and only changed one spot, Pokey Reese at second base, in that potent line-up. Should be a fun year to be a Red Sox fan but it will end the same as it always does, looking up at the Yankees.

Toronto Blue Jays: Last year’s Record: 86-76 3rd place. 2004 Projected finish 3rd. Until the Blue Jays start playing their nineteen games each with the Red Sox and Yankees, they should hang around the top spot in the division. This is a good team in a great division. Last year’s Cy Young Award winner, Roy Halladay leads a solid pitching staff. Carlos Delgado and Vernon Wells anchors last year’s third highest scoring teams in the majors.

Baltimore Orioles: Last year’s Record: 71-91 4th place. 2004 Projected finish 4th. The Orioles finished twenty games below .500 last year and would improve to .500 this year if they weren’t in the Eastern Division. They added catcher Javy Lopez, first baseman Rafael Palmeiro and shortstop Miguel Tejada. Lots of new offense to go with Jay Gibbons and Larry Bigbie. However a pitching staff anchored by Sidney Ponson won’t scare too may offenses in the AL.

Tampa Bay Devil Rays: Last year’s Record: 63-99 5th place. 2004 Projected finish 5th. Lou Piniella has promised the Tampa Bay fans, both of them, that they won’t finish in last place this year. Lou should share whatever it is he is smoking. If the Rays were in the AL Central I would believe it, but not in the East. The nice thing about this team is that it is a team that is improving with a ton of young talent that will at least have a chance to win most games. If they can keep this talent together as their contracts run out, in other words spend some money, this could be a very good team in a couple of years.

The first National Trading Card Day will be April 3rd. Visit a card store near you for a free collectible trading card set and other events.

American League Central Preview

March 3, 2004

This is the second week of my Major League Baseball preview. This week we will look at the American League Central. This is a division that has no clean cut leader. Any team, except the Tigers, could win this division.

Kansas City Royals: Last year’s Record: 83-79 3rd place. 2004 Projected finish 1st. With the additions of Juan Gonzalez and Benito Santiago, added to a line-up that includes Mike Sweeney and AL Rookie of the Year Angel Berroa, the Royals shouldn’t have much trouble scoring runs. However, pitching hurt them last year with a 5.05 ERA and to make matters worse, one of their young hopefuls, Kyle Snyder, will miss the season due to shoulder surgery due to a tear of his labrum cartilage. If anyone can get a group of guys to play well together, it is Manager Tony Pena, last year’s feel good story of the year. Considering this is a division that no one seems to want to win, the Royals should make their way to the top of the heap.

Minnesota Twins: Last year’s Record: 90-72 1st place. 2004 Projected finish 2nd. The Twins lost closer Eddie Guardado, setup man LaTroy Hawkins, starter Eric Milton and catcher A.J. Pierzynski! The rotation will consist of Brad Radke, a Twin since 1995, Joe Mays, Rick Helling, Johan Santana and Kyle Lohse. Does this scare anyone? No. To top off their pitching problems, they haven’t even named a closer yet. The Twins do have one of the best outfields in baseball with leadoff man Shannon Stewart, Torri Hunter and Jacques Jones. They are putting a lot of pressure on rookie catcher Joe Mauer as all-star Pierzynski’s replacement. However, Joe is used to pressure as his dad told the Twins when they signed him, "you just signed the next .400 hitter." If Mauer can live up to that pressure, the Twins might win their third AL Central title in a row.

Chicago White Sox: Last year’s Record: 86-76 2nd place. 2004 Projected finish 3rd. Rookie manager Ozzie Guillen has a lot of work to do with a team that finished a surprising 10 games over .500 last year. Can Starter Esteban Loaiza have a better year than last year? Can designated hitter Frank Thomas and Guillen get along? Can outfielder Carlos Lee have another good year? My prediction is; the answer to all those questions will be no and the White Sox will be very lucky to finish with a 81 wins.

Cleveland Indians: Last year’s Record: 68-94 4th place. 2004 Projected finish 4th. The Indians have the best pitching staff of guys you never heard of in baseball. They finished fifth in the AL last year with a 4.21 ERA. Look for Outfielders Milton Bradley and Matt Lawton to have a good year along with Iowa’s own Casey Blake at third base. Omar Vizquel is the best shortstop that doesn’t hit in the league. He will average a run a game prevented during the season which you can bet is one of the reasons the pitching staff had such a good ERA last year. This is a team that if the breaks go their way during the season they could be battling for the division lead.

Detroit Tigers: Last year’s Record: 43-119 5th place. 2004 Projected finish 5th. 119 loses? That is NOT a typo. The addition of Catcher Ivan Rodriguez, Second Baseman Fernando Vina, Shortstop Carlos Guillen, and outfielder Rondell White will not allow this team to get out of last place. They finished 25 games out of fourth place last year! However, their everyday line-up looks a lot better with those additions along with some nice young talent and they should be a much more respected team this year. Pitching will continue to be a problem with a starting line-up projected to consist of Jason Johnson, Mike Maroth, Nate Cornejo, Jeremy Bonderman and Nate Robertson. Who? See what I mean? It is hard to imagine how bad last year was but when you say they would have to win 39 more games this year just to finish with a .500 record, that says it all.

We all have heard a lot about how the Yankee signing of Alex Rodriguez is bad for baseball. I have the opposite opinion. I think any sport is most popular when there is a team that everyone hates. The Evil Empire, New York Yankees fit that bill to the tee. So pull for your team and cheer on anyone playing the Yankees and you will have a great season. Unless of course, you are a Red Sox fan.

American League West Preview

February 25, 2004

Starting this week I will be doing a Preview a week of the six divisions in Major League Baseball. This should be fun and will bring us right to the start of the season with the last issue running on March 31st. This week we will look at the American League West.

Anaheim Angels: Last year’s Record: 77-85 3rd place. 2004 Projected finish 1st. Until the Yankees made their deal for Alex Rodriguez, the biggest off season signing had been the Angels’ acquisition of Vladimir Guerrero. Add Jose Guillen to go along with All-Star MVP Garret Anderson, Troy Glaus, Darin Erstad and David Eckstein you have a pretty exciting offensive team. New owner Arte Moreno is obviously not looking at the bottom line and is looking to get back to the World Series. Don’t forget this team won the World Series in 2002. The starting rotation will be excellent as the Angels have six top quality starters in Bartolo Colon, Kelvim Escobar, Jarrod Washburn, Ramon Ortiz, John Lackey and Aaron Sele. With those starters and one of the best closers in the game in Troy Percival this is going to be a 90+ win team.

Oakland Athletics: Last year’s Record: 96-66 1st place. 2004 Projected finish 2nd. A lot of new faces in this year’s A’s. However, none of them can hit. The best new additions are Cubs retreads Eric Karros and Damian Miller. Karros’ back will only allow him to play half the season and Miller is a disaster at the plate. However, Miller is a great catcher and has been the catcher of the last two best pitching staffs in the majors. The Diamondback in 2002 and the Cubs in 2003. We will find out by watching the Cubs this year if that was just a coincidence or if Miller is just that good with the pictures. If the latter is true then no one should score on the A’s with Tim Hudson, Barry Zito, Mark Mulder, Mark Redman and Rich Harden on the mound. With addition of Arthur Rhodes as their closer, this staff ranks right up their with the best in the game. However, it is a fact that you cannot win a baseball game unless you score a run. Scoring runs will be this team’s challenge as they hang their offensive hopes on Eric Chavez and Jermaine Dye.

Seattle Mariners: Last year’s Record: 93-69 2nd place. 2004 Projected finish 3rd. Last year the starting rotation for the Mariners didn’t miss one start. All five will be back along with new addition Eddie Guardado as their closer. The offense should be fine but the defense may suffer. With Rich Aurilia at Shortstop, Scott Speizio at third base and Raul Ibanez in left field any ball hit to the left side of the field could be exciting. The best designated hitter ever, Edgar Martinez will be back for one more year if his hamstrings hold up. With Ichiro Suzuki in right field, John Olerud at first and Bret Boone at second the right side of the field looks terrific. Suddenly this team looks old and injuries could be a big problem.

Texas Rangers: Last year’s Record: 71-91 4th place. 2004 Projected finish 4th. This team was horrible with Alex Rodriguez, Rafael Palmeiro and Juan Gonzalez. Now that they are gone and they have added Alfonso Soriano and Brian Jordan this looks like an even worse team than last year! Their anemic pitching staff didn’t get much better with the additions of ageless Kenny Rogers and reliever Jeff Nelson. Not much to say about this team except that they are a lot younger this year and are obviously looking toward the future with young stars like Hank Blalock and Mark Teixeira.

A note on the recent addition of Alex Rodriguez on the Yankees and how that will affect his collectibles. Now that there are 19 million more ARod fans, look for his stuff to increase immediately!

You can send any questions you might have concerning sports collectibles to Bob’s Baseball Cards, 200 Army Post Road #22, Des Moines, IA 50315 or email to Bobplus5@aol.com. Listen to Bob on the Autographs Collectible Road Show Tuesdays at 6pm on KXNO 1460 and listen to Jerry, the Round Guy and Bob Wednesdays at 6pm on WOW radio 98.3.

What is a High Numbered Common?

February 4, 2004

Last week I talked about double and short printed vintage sports cards. This week I will answer the questions, "Why do vintage Topps commons have different prices? A common is a common isn’t it?" Great questions that are easy to answer but I’m first going to start at the beginning for those new collectors.

When you look at a sports card price guide you will immediately notice that not all the cards are listed. The 2001 Topps Baseball set has 790 cards in it. The first card listed is card #1 Cal Ripken and the second card listed is #50 Mark McGwire. What about card numbers 2 - 49? They are not listed because they are either an Unlisted Star, Semi-star, or a Common. There is a price for each of those categories and the Unlisted Stars and Semi-stars are listed by name in the back of the price guide. The price for the commons are the same in the whole set. ALL the commons in the 2001 Topps Baseball set have a value of $0.20.

So why do vintage commons have different prices based on their card numbers? Cards used to be printed in series. Some vintage sets have as many as seven different series. Each series has their own checklist and packs. The first series came out at the beginning of the season, the second series a month or so later, and so on and so on.

Let’s say you lived in Chicago in 1952 and you were a baseball fan and your favorite team was the Cubs. Towards the end of the season the Cubs are way out of first place, are you that interested in baseball? Probably not. You probably can’t wait for the Bears to start playing and are ready to start buying football cards.

Knowing this, Topps simply printed less cards in the later series. Therefore, when you hear someone say, "that card is a 1952 Topps high numbered card," you know you have really got something. Commons in the 1952 Topps set list for $40 in NRMT condition and the high numbers are $250, or 6.25 times the earlier series. That is a BIG difference! One of the reasons the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle Rookie Card is such a high priced and sought after card is because it is in the high number series of the set.

1973 is the last year Topps printed their sets in series with different print runs in the later series. Some of the Topps products now are printed in two series but that is just to stretch out a large set for a longer period of time. So if you are trying to put together a set prior to 1974, I hope you are a person with patience because the high numbers are not only expensive, they are also very hard to find.

You can send any questions you might have concerning sports collectibles to Bob’s Baseball Cards, 200 Army Post Road #22, Des Moines, IA 50315 or email to Bobplus5@aol.com. Listen to Bob on the Autographs Collectible Road Show Tuesdays at 6pm on KXNO 1460 and listen to Jerry, the Round Guy and Bob Wednesdays at 6pm on WOW radio 98.3.

What are Double Printed Vintage Cards?

January 28, 2004

A Mr. Norman emailed me the other day and asked "what was a double print and how can you tell the difference between a double printed card and a regular card?" If you look up vintage cards in any sports card price guide you will notice a DP or SP next to some of the listings. The DP means Double Print and the SP means Short Print. Mr. Norman was looking up some 1953 Topps baseball cards in a Beckett price guide and didn’t understand what the DP and SP meant. What caused DP and SP’s in these vintage sets? I will try to explain why this happened using simple round numbers instead of actual numbers.

Cards are printed in large sheets. Let’s say the sheet holds 100 cards and the series of cards that are being printed only has 95 cards. A good printer would fill up the 100 card sheet by putting 5 of the cards on the sheet twice. The card manufacturer would now have 5 double printed cards.

Short printed cards are due to the opposite situation. Let’s say the series of cards to be printed has 105 cards. The printer would print half the amount with 100 cards and then would replace 5 cards with the 5 he didn’t print in the first print run and print the remaining quantity of cards. Therefore the card manufacturer would now have 10 short printed cards.

The second part of Mr. Norman’s question was how do you tell the difference between the double printed cards and the normal cards. The answer is, you don’t. You can’t tell the difference just by looking at them because there isn’t anything different about them. The only way you can tell is to look at your price guide and note the DP or SP indications. The only way this was confirmed is when Topps released information regarding their print sheets. Before that happened the veteran collectors of the day could only tell by the quantity of a particular card that was available.

Of course having a card double printed would negatively affect it’s value since there are more of them. Also the opposite happens with short printed cards. In the 1953 Topps set quite a few commons were double printed and list for $15 versus the $25 and $30 of the regular commons. Some cards like the 1958 Topps Mickey Mantle and Stan Musial All Star cards numbers 487 and 476 were triple printed. These cards list for $175 and $50 and would be much higher if they weren’t triple printed.

Next week we will discuss why in vintage sets some commons are priced higher than other commons just because they are a certain card number.

You can send any questions you might have concerning sports collectibles to Bob’s Baseball Cards, 200 Army Post Road #22, Des Moines, IA 50315 or email to Bobplus5@aol.com. Listen to Bob on the Autographs Collectible Road Show Tuesdays at 6pm on KXNO 1460 and listen to Jerry, the Round Guy and Bob Wednesdays at 6pm on WOW radio 98.3.

Pete Rose

January 21, 2004

Being in the business that I am and the fact that I am on the radio for a couple of hours a week, I am constantly being asked about my opinion on the Pete Rose situation. Well it is this: NO WAY! Major League Baseball’s Rule 21d states, "Any player, umpire, or club or league official or employee, who shall bet any sum whatsoever upon any baseball game in connection with which the bettor has a duty to perform shall be declared permanently ineligible." What part of "permanently ineligible" don’t people understand?

If Pete Rose is allowed back into baseball they might as well throw Rule 21d in the trash and Major League Baseball will turn into something similar to the WWE. Would you spend your money or time on watching a MLB game if you knew the players might be betting on the game and performing accordingly? Me, either.

Pete says that he was stricken with a gambling illness and couldn’t help himself. That may be true. However, the very first time he bet on a baseball game he broke rule 21d and I don’t think you have an illness yet when it is your first time. You are not an alcoholic when you drink your very first beer are you?

If you now listen to Pete talk about this situation he isn’t sorry at all. He is sorry IT happened, and IT had a bad influence on the game, and that he got caught doing IT. He has yet to say that HE is sorry that HE was doing something that could cause the destruction of the very game he claims to love!

I loved Pete Rose as a player. His picture should be next to the word hustle in the dictionary and his on field accomplishments were tremendous and they are equal to and better than many of the all-time immortals of the game. However, he cannot be put into baseball’s hall-of-fame because that would be allowing him back into baseball and weaken the antigambling deterrent that rule 21d has been for over 80 years.

So where do you stand? Are you a WWE fan and think Pete should be back into baseball and who cares if the players gamble on the game? Or do you think a person that deliberately breaks a rule that for over 80 years has kept the game free from destruction due to gambling influences should be allowed back in the game?

What about Pete Rose collectibles? They are starting to increase in price due to the fact that Pete Rose is on the news every day. I don’t usually make predictions about prices of memorabilia, but I would suggest you buy Pete Rose stuff now. If he does get reinstated into baseball, his stuff should nearly double in price.

You can send any questions you might have concerning sports collectibles to Bob’s Baseball Cards, 200 Army Post Road #22, Des Moines, IA 50315 or email to Bobplus5@aol.com. Listen to Bob on the Autographs Collectible Road Show Tuesdays at 6pm on KXNO 1460 and listen to Jerry, the Round Guy and Bob Wednesdays at 6pm on WOW radio 98.3.

Also see our Pete Rose related articles below on November 6, 2002 and January 8, 2003.

Comics at Bob’s?

January 14, 2004

Yea, Bob’s Baseball Cards has comics too! This has been an interesting venture that caused a lot of headaches and a lot of learning. For example, did you know that there are comic book graders just like there are card graders? Did you know that most early 1990’s comics are worth less than brand new comics printed today? Did you know that comics in book form, trade paperbacks or TP’s, are some of the hottest sellers at comic AND regular book stores? Well, don’t feel bad, I didn’t either. Let’s look at each one of these questions.

When you get a sports card graded it returns in a sealed "slab." The card cannot be taken out of the slab without destroying it and possibly the card. Even in the slab you can view both sides of the card and still enjoy the entire card. However, when a comic is graded, it returns in a similar case, called protective wells, which only allows you to see the front and back covers of the comic. What the hell is the point of that? Isn’t a comic for reading? What is the point of having a comic if you can’t see the pages? This was the first oddity I found after getting into the comic business. Oh, and just like sports cards, high grade comics can cost you a lot of money, especially older ones. Recently a collector announced that he would pay a million dollars for a graded "MINT" copy of Action Comics #1 from June 1938 which introduced Superman to the world.

Some of the top selling comics in the 1980’s and 90’s had print runs over a million per month. Today’s top selling comics barely top 250,000 copies per month. In fact the X-Men #1 published in 1991 with five different covers was printed 7.5 million times. It seems that the comic book business had a similar boom in the early 1990’s just like the sports card industry. As a result some issues, like Superman, that sell for $2.25 to $3.99 a copy today the early 1990 versions sell for the same or less.

One of the hottest trends in comics these days are the trade paperbacks or TP’s. TP’s can be found in regular bookstores in your local mall! And they are becoming a big hit. TP’s are simply several monthly comics, four to maybe seven consecutive issues, put together into a comic size paperback book. Since most of us now days have the attention span of a five year old, a lot of us can’t wait for six months to get to the end of a store line with the monthly comics. So, we wait until it is done and purchase it all at once in a TP and read the whole story in one sitting. So if you like getting your comic news late but all at once, I guess TP’s are the way to go.

Stop on in at Bob’s and subscribe to a few comics and save 10% AND get each comic put into a protective case with a backer board for FREE.

Just a couple of notes on some items mentioned in previous articles. The 04 Topps James Garfield cut autographed card sold for $4,450. Also, the Steve Bartman foul was purchased for over $100,000 by one of the co-managers of the Harry Carey restaurant chain in Chicago. He plans on performing an exorcism on the ball sometime this spring.

You can send any questions you might have concerning sports collectibles to Bob’s Baseball Cards, 200 Army Post Road #22, Des Moines, IA 50315 or email to Bobplus5@aol.com. Listen to Bob on the Autographs Collectible Road Show Tuesdays at 6pm on KXNO 1460 and listen to Jerry, the Round Guy and Bob Wednesdays at 6pm on WOW radio 98.3.

Joe Montana Autographs for $50?

December 10, 2003

An interesting conversation just recently happened concerning autographed memorabilia. I am helping a friend get autographed jerseys to display in a new restaurant he is building. One of the items I got for him is a Notre Dame jersey autographed by football hall-of-famer Joe Montana and it is authenticated by Mounted Memories. A very cool item that retails for around $500 with this level of authentication. Upon showing this item to another business associate of ours and telling him what an item like that retails for he said, "No way! I could find one online for less than $50."

I almost blew a gasket! However, we were fifteen seconds from going on the air and doing one of the radio show I participate in every week so I had to keep my cool. This is the exact attitude that allows the thieves online to thrive. He is right though, he probably could find one for less than $50 but it wouldn’t be an authentic jersey and it would be signed by Joe the plumber down the street from the seller, not Joe Montana! With all due respect to plumbers.

Autographed memorabilia is not a item you want to necessarily buy from the guy with the lowest price. The forgers that have served their prison terms from the FBI’s Operation Bullpen in 2000 say that 90 plus percent of the autographed memorabilia that is sold via online auctions are fake! I know there is a big difference between $50 and $500 but wouldn’t you want the item to be authentic? What would be the big thrill in buying something at a "great" price only to find out that it isn’t the real thing?

A GOOD certificate of authenticity, COA, is more important than the item itself. And a good COA will cause the item to cost more due to licensing, paying the athlete and other normal expenses any business incurs. A few of the established businesses that are rock solid, no doubt the item is real are: Steiner Sports, Mounted Memories, Richard Simon Authenticators, Upper Deck Authenticated, Tri-Star, and PSA/DNA.

However, just because an item has a COA, doesn’t make it real. Here is a perfect example. The company named J. DiMaggio Authenticated was started for the sole purpose of authenticating FAKE Joe DiMaggio autographed items. In the middle of Iowa I have seen many examples with this COA and it nearly breaks my heart to show the owner of the item the article from the Sports Collector’s Digest that explains that fact. These people spent hard earned money on basically, nothing. But hey, they probably got a good deal!

So, when you get the urge to spend a lot less money on a collectible autographed by your favorite athlete, remember that you may be just throwing your money away. Like I said in the last two articles, an educated collector is one that doesn’t get ripped off.

You can send any questions you might have concerning sports collectibles to Bob’s Baseball Cards, 200 Army Post Road #22, Des Moines, IA 50315 or email to Bobplus5@aol.com. Listen to the Autographs Collectible Road Show Tuesdays at 6pm on KXNO 1460 and listen to Jerry, the Round Guy and Bob Wednesdays at 6pm on WOW radio 98.3.

It Just Never Ends!

November 26, 2003

Last week’s article talked about the AAA Grading Company claiming to have graded many 1954 Sports Illustrated cards from the first issue of that magazine. In this month’s Sports Collectibles Beckett another sad tale concerning this company.

A reader asks about a "rare" 1911 card graded by the AAA Grading from the Reach card company. As it turns out the "rare card" is actually a picture cut out from a 1911 Reach Baseball Guide. These were yearly books about baseball, kind of like a yearbook or something along those lines. The books have some value but these guys are cutting them up, grading them, putting them into a four screw screwdown and passing them off as a graded card. AND PEOPLE ARE FALLING FOR IT!

The next time you have some money you don’t know what to do with, give me a call and I will cut out a GREAT "collectible" picture of the athlete of your choice from either Sports Illustrated, ESPN the Magazine, or the Beckett Price Guide, put it into a screwdown, grade it GEM MINT 10, put a label on it, and sell it to you for only $100. Just kidding.

Are you just starting with eBay and need to get some positive feedback quick? Then just put up a bunch of auctions that say, feedback for sale with a "buy it now" price of $0.99. Then have all your friends "buy it now" and give each other positive feedback without any money changing hands. Or for $1 you can buy feedback from other users. See item #2964627765. This is happening more and more. Looks like the crooks have found a way to make good feedback rating meaningless.

So like I said last week, a smart shopper is one that won’t get ripped off. Buy the large yearly price guides, buy a good collectible magazine like the Sports Collectors Digest and become a confident buyer. Collecting is supposed to be fun, not an activity where you should have to worry about every dollar you spend.

The 2004 Topps Baseball product is out! Let me know if you get one of those 1 of 1 cut presidential autographs. With those autographs out there, this could be one of the hottest baseball products this year.

This is meant to be a reader participating column where I give you some news, you ask questions and hopefully I will have answers to your questions. You can send any questions you might have concerning sports collectibles to Bob’s Baseball Cards, 200 Army Post Road #22, Des Moines, IA 50315 or email to Bobplus5@aol.com. If we use your specific question for an article you will win a $5 gift certificate to Bob’s Baseball Cards. Listen to the Autographs Collectible Road Show every Tuesday at 6 pm on KXNO 1460.

Do your Homework Before you Buy

November 19, 2003

Every week I get dozens of emails from collectors from all parts of the Earth concerning their concern about being ripped off on an eBay auction. I say to most of those collectors, "Do your homework before you go spending a lot of cash on a collectible." For about a $100 a year, you can purchase the large yearly price guides that list just about everything for each sport and subscribe to the Sports Collectors Digest. Armed with this information, you should be able to prevent being a victim of a collectible scam.

I received an email from a Mr. Goddard from France this week concerning a 1954 Sports Illustrated Ted Williams card from the first Sports Illustrated dated August 16, 1954. In that issue there was a 27 card fold out that were exact replicas of the 1954 Topps cards. The whole 27 card fold out sheet lists for $175 in NRMT condition. He had purchased this card graded a Mint 9 in an eBay auction for $101 plus shipping. The problems with this transaction are too numerous to mention in this article but I will list a few of the red flags.

1. The grading company is a company called AAA Grading and they put "graded" cards into a four screw screwdown! Obviously not a company that would have someone on their staff that can not only grade a card but also authenticate it.

2. These cards are VERY RARE in high grade. This guy had and has had several of them for sale all graded MINT 9.

3. All of the auctions this guy had for this card used the same photo. You can tell by looking at the label on the card’s holder, they all had the same AAA Grading company serial number.

4. And the biggest red flag of them all? In 2001 Sports Illustrated reprinted these cards 50,000 times for a subscription premium.

So, in my humble opinion, Mr. Goddard got ripped off. In this case, probably intentionally. Mr. Goddard is very mad at the seller, AAA Grading and eBay. My advice to him was to got after the seller by reporting him to eBay. I also told him that being upset at eBay is a little silly. If you got a bad deal at a store in Southridge Mall, would you be mad at the store or the mall? The store of course. EBay is just the place where the buyers and sellers get together. Buyers that do their homework will be less likely to be ripped off!

This is meant to be a reader participating column where I give you some news, you ask questions and hopefully I will have answers to your questions. You can send any questions you might have concerning sports collectibles to Bob’s Baseball Cards, 200 Army Post Road #22, Des Moines, IA 50315 or email to Bobplus5@aol.com. If we use your specific question for an article you will win a $5 gift certificate to Bob’s Baseball Cards. Listen to the Autographs Collectible Road Show every Tuesday at 6 pm on KXNO 1460.

Are You Ready for the Next Big Thing?

October 15th, 2003

I bet you wouldn’t guess what the top selling autograph ticket this past August at the Sports Collectors National convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey, was. The autographs cost $500 each and five hundred tickets were sold for KISS! That’s right, KISS the rock-n-roll band from the 1970 and 80’s. As a result, start looking for more music, movie and television stars at large sports collectors shows.

Also, as a result of this, I see a new trend beginning. I also believe that The Topps Company helped start this new trend when they put entertainers in the American Pie baseball cards in 2001. In that product you could get memorabilia cards of baseball stars and of Elvis, Janis Joplin, Frank Sinatra & pieces of the Berlin Wall in John F. Kennedy cards. In the 2002 Topps American Pie product they offered memorabilia cards of Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland, George Burns, Gary Cooper, Elvis, Humphrey Bogart and others. They also had cards of United States Presidents from clear back to William Taft with pieces of stadium seats from the stadium that the pictured President was in when he threw out the first pitch.

Just look at any Sports Collector’s Digest and look at ads that the large autograph dealers have and at least 25% of the ads are of entertainment autographed items. We have a growing section of autographed items at Bob’s Baseball Cards of J. Lo, Dean Martin, Lavern & Shirley, Patrick Swayze, Goldberg, Cher, Ronald Reagan, and others.

Topps has announced that they will include in the 2004 Topps Baseball product autographed cards from EVERY President! That’s right, you could open a $1.60 pack of 2004 Topps baseball cards and get a "cut" autograph of George Washington. A "cut" autograph is an autograph that has been cut from another document. Washington cut signatures are listed in a price guide at $4,500 and Lincoln’s at $3,000.

I see the entertainment autograph industry becoming the next big collector explosion. It is a natural progression as most collectors already have autographed or jersey cards of the players on their favorite teams. What are they going to do with another one? So why not go after autographs of movie stars, rock stars, television stars, Presidents, war heroes, astronauts, etc.? Sounds like fun to me. Just a note about entertainment autographed items. Certificates of Authenticity don’t exist for 95% of them. So be careful where you buy entertainment autographs.

Don’t forget to play the NFL Player of the Day contest at Bob’s and win a day with an NFL player! See our web site at www.bobsbaseballcards.com or come to the store for all the details.

This is meant to be a reader participating column where I give you some news, you ask questions and hopefully I will have answers to your questions. You can send any questions you might have concerning sports collectibles to Bob’s Baseball Cards, 200 Army Post Road #22, Des Moines, IA 50315 or email to Bobplus5@aol.com. If we use your specific question for an article you will win a $5 gift certificate to Bob’s Baseball Cards.

Have you Been an eBay Customer?

October 1, 2003

I ran across a couple of very interesting items this week and I want to share them with you. Most collectors know that sports cards are very prevalent on eBay, the online auction site. So even though this subject isn’t about collecting, it affects all collectors that use eBay. A recent survey by AuctionBytes.com asked if fraud was a problem on eBay. 65.8% of the respondents said it is a minor problem while 32.5% said it is a major problem. That is 98.3% that responded said that fraud is a problem on eBay.

Did those same 98.3% of the respondents that said fraud was a problem because they heard it was a problem or does it mean that 98.3% of those surveyed have been ripped off? The survey also asked "Is eBay the only site where online fraud takes place?" 95.7% say No. WOW!

I also ran across a MSNBC story about an "eBay thief" that claims that he and friends have stolen close to $2 million from net users. He calls his victims "my customers." Have you been one of his "customers?"

Have you ever received an email from eBay saying that there is something wrong with the credit card information on your account and you need to sign into your account and fix it? If so, you are probably an eBay user with a good feedback rating and have just received an email from this scammer. There is a link on the email that takes you to what looks like an eBay sponsored page asking you to log into your eBay account. When you do and click on the enter button you go to a "server is busy" page. Guess what, you just given the scammer your eBay username and password. With that information you credit card is vulnerable since that information is on your account. Also with your good feedback your account can be used to scam other eBay users into buying merchandise that doesn’t exist and the poor guy thinks you scammed them.

NEVER respond to an eBay email by clicking on a link. Ebay will ALWAYS ask you to log onto you eBay account without a link. Also, be very careful about bidding on items that the seller will only take escrow, cashier’s checks or money orders. Especially if they want to use an escrow account out of the eBay system. You might as well just throw cash out your window. And don’t forget the most important shopping guideline, "If it looks to go to be true, it probably isn’t true."

Don’t forget to play in the NFL Player of the Day contest at Bob’s and win a day with an NFL player! See our web site or come to the store for all the details.

This is meant to be a reader participating column where I give you some news, you ask questions and hopefully I will have answers to your questions. You can send any questions you might have concerning sports collectibles to Bob’s Baseball Cards, 200 Army Post Road #22, Des Moines, IA 50315 or email to Bobplus5@aol.com. If we use your specific question for an article you will win a $5 gift certificate to Bob’s Baseball Cards.

What is a Trimmed Card and Why are There Such Things?

September 24, 2003

What is a trimmed card and why are there such things? This was the question a couple of days ago at Bob’s Baseball Cards as a regular customer presented me with a fine looking 1982 Donruss Cal Ripken Jr. Rookie Card. This was a very nice looking card but my spider senses were tingling as I took a closer look at the card. Something wasn’t right. So I went to my files and pulled out the information I had about this card and the millions of counterfeits that are out there.

As I compared the card to the photos on the information that I have it was obvious that the card was an original. It was NOT a counterfeit. However, there was still something wrong with this card. The top border was a lot smaller than the bottom border but cards prior to the nineties were routinely off centered due to the lack of quality control at the factories so that really didn’t seem like a big deal. So I went back to the commons area and pulled out a 1982 Donruss common and held it up with the Ripken card. Guess what? The Ripken card was about a quarter of an inch shorter than the common. This card had been trimmed on the top! That is why it was so off centered and why something just didn’t seem right with the card.

Cards get trimmed to sharpen the corners again or get rid of damage along the border. Say a card has some slight wear on a corner or a border, a person could simply shave off some of the card and suddenly the corners are sharp again and the border is straight and without flaws. However, a trimmed card is WORTHLESS, ZERO, ZIP! AND anyone that is caught trimming cards usually will get blackballed right out of the hobby. I usually see trimmed cards in sets that show wear easily due to the edges that are not white. The 1962, 1963, 1971, 1975 Topps and 1955 Bowman baseball sets are perfect examples because the edges are colored.

Just a note about the origin of the card. The customer had just recently purchased the card at another local card store. However, that doesn’t mean that the owner of that store trimmed the card. Not everyone looks at cards as closely as I do. This card was probably trimmed a few years ago when Ripken was a hot commodity and has changed hands several times since then. I learned to look at cards very closely when I tried to sell a 1971 Topps Hank Aaron card that had been trimmed prior to it becoming part of my inventory. I had no clue that it was trimmed. Now I can usually spot a trimmed vintage card from across the room. So it can happen to the best of us.

Don’t miss our Pack Wars this Saturday September 20th. We will have a case full of terrific prizes including a 20% off any one item discount coupon that will be part of the Pack Wars Grand Prize!

This is meant to be a reader participating column where I give you some news, you ask questions and hopefully I will have answers to your questions. You can send any questions you might have concerning sports collectibles to Bob’s Baseball Cards, 200 Army Post Road #22, Des Moines, IA 50315 or email to Bobplus5@aol.com. If we use your specific question for an article you will win a $5 gift certificate to Bob’s Baseball Cards.

What is a Pack Wars?

August 20, 2003

Good question. I get asked this question all the time since the best sports collectibles stores in the Des Moines area have Pack Wars at their store at least once every couple of months. I’m going to start answering this question by first telling you what it isn’t.

You will NOT buy packs of cards and loose them to someone else. This is a common misinterpretation of Pack Wars because that is how a bunch of buddies would play Pack Wars. They all go to a store together, they each buy a pack, open them, and the guy with the best card in the pack wins all the cards. Fun but costly if you don’t ever win. Sounds like the last time I went to a casino.

I’m next going to tell you how we play Pack Wars at Bob’s Baseball Cards. Each collectible store in the area have their own rules but are all basically the same. The first thing you need to do is to register for $1. This $1 will get you the following; your player number; your first pack of cards; a 660 ct. box; a ticket with your player number on it put into the drawing box; pizza and pop! That is a lot for $1!

When we start playing Pack Wars we will sell packs for $1, 3 for $2, and you will be asked to look for certain things in the packs. For example, if we do a round with 2001 football cards we may ask for the following; card number 1, the card with the most career touchdowns, and Michael Vick’s RC. So as you are opening your packs you look for those items and when you get them you will get tickets with your player number put into the drawing box, AND you get to keep your cards. Every 30 minutes or so we will pull out tickets from the drawing box and the person that has that player number will win something out of the Pack Wars Showcase. That ticket will then goes into the Grand Prize drawing. At the end of the evening we will pull one ticket out of the Grand Prize drawing and someone will win the Grand Prize which is EVERYTHING on the top shelf of the Pack Wars Showcase!

We also play trivia contests for tickets into the drawings, guess that price which will allow you to try to win vintage sports cards, and sometimes we give away other products like bobble head dolls or other sports memorabilia. The next Pack Wars at Bob’s Baseball Cards is Saturday August 30th from 5pm to 8pm.

Whether you play Pack Wars at Bob’s or another sports collectibles store, it is a fun event that will allow you to meet other collectors, win prizes, eat supper, and have a great amount of FUN! Now of course if you are allergic to having fun, this type of event would not be for you.

This is meant to be a reader participating column where I give you some news, you ask questions and hopefully I will have answers to your questions. You can send any questions you might have concerning sports collectibles to Bob’s Baseball Cards, 200 Army Post Road #22, Des Moines, IA 50315 or email to Bobplus5@aol.com. If we use your specific question for an article you will win a $5 gift certificate to Bob’s Baseball Cards.

What about Kobe’s Collectibles?

August 13, 2003

I have been asked many times in the last couple of weeks about weather the Kobe Bryant "situation" will affect the value of his collectibles. The answer to that question is not an easy answer. A lot of athletes have gotten into trouble with the law and their collectibles have either taken a negative hit while others have not. Let’s take a look at a few examples.

O.J. Simpson was declared innocent by a jury of his peers and his collectibles dropped considerably and have yet to rebound. Daryl Strawberry, Jose Canceco and Dwight Gooden’s drug and other problems with the law caused all the prices of their baseball cards, except the rookies, to drop near the lowly common level. Even their rookie cards dropped to the level of just another rookie. Allen Iverson’s collectibles actually went up after last year’s tangle with the law in which he was charged with waving a gun at a couple of guys. Brian Greise’s stuff dropped when he was charged with driving under the influence and the same thing happened to Micheal Irvin when he got into trouble with drugs.

So, what will happen to Kobe’s collectibles? This is what I think will happen. If Kobe is not convicted of the crime, there should be no long term effect. The prices of his collectibles are dropping right now due to the fact that collectors are in a wait and see mode but, they will go back up without a conviction. However, if he is convicted watch out, as his stuff will come crashing down. However, he is young enough that he will be able to play again in the NBA and if his talents don’t decrease during his absence, his stuff will then rebound if he can win more championships.

Football season is getting closer and closer. You can almost smell the football season in the air. If you like to play Fantasy Football, Bob’s is the place to be. We have plenty of Fantasy Football Magazines and we will be having our own league. A Jerry Rice rookie card will go to the champion.

This is meant to be a reader participating column where I give you some news, you ask questions and hopefully I will have answers to your questions. You can send any questions you might have concerning sports collectibles to Bob’s Baseball Cards, 200 Army Post Road #22, Des Moines, IA 50315 or email to Bobplus5@aol.com. If we use your specific question for an article you will win a $5 gift certificate to Bob’s Baseball Cards.

Hidden Sports Treasures in Iowa

August 6, 2003

There are hidden sports treasures all over the state of Iowa. This is more apparent when you loose one. The recent closing of Des Moines’ first all sports radio station is one of those treasures. The Jock 107.1/96.1 has been a sports constant for several years. At midnight Thursday July 31, 2003, 107.1/96.1 went dark. Nothing but a quite hiss. As football season approaches, the sounds of Friday Night Lights with scores and highlights from high school football fields all over central Iowa will be missing. An Iowa sports treasure will be missed by many.

Three other Iowa sports treasures will be attempting to sparkle outside of Iowa. This is nothing new to them as they sparkled very brightly in other states during their college careers. I am talking about Iowa’s own Kirk Hinrich, Nick Collison and Kyle Korver. Hinrich and Collison played for Kansas in college and Korver studied at Creighton. Hinrich was taken by the Chicago Bulls as the seventh pick in the NBA draft. Collison was picked twelfth by the Seattle Sonics and Korver was drafted fifty first in the second round by the New Jersey Nets and immediately traded to the Philadelphia 76ers. Good luck to these three as they try to follow Raef LaFrentz’s success in the NBA. Why is it Iowa’s best basketball talent attend universities outside the state? That sounds like another article at another time.

Another hidden sports treasure in Iowa is Thomas S. Owens of Marshalltown. Tom has written several sports related books. A few of them are "Collecting Baseball Cards" which is a history of the baseball card collecting hobby and is packed with a lot of photos of rare cards; "Baseball Parks" is a history of baseball parks with pictures of parks new and old; and "Football Stadiums" is the same but only about football stadiums. All three books are very well done and can be picked up at bookstores all across the country. We have autographed copies at Bob’s Baseball Cards.

As we go forward, some of the young Iowa sports treasures, Hinrich, Collison and Korver, will be trying to make it big, a constant treasure, Mr. Owens, will keep writing great sports books and an old treasure, The Jock, will be gone forever. Let’s hope that someone fills in the large void left by The Jock as there are many sports to be covered and more treasures to be uncovered and one station can’t do it all.

This is meant to be a reader participating column where I give you some news, you ask questions and hopefully I will have answers to your questions. You can send any questions you might have concerning sports collectibles to Bob’s Baseball Cards, 200 Army Post Road #22, Des Moines, IA 50315 or email to Bobplus5@aol.com. If we use your specific question for an article you will win a $5 gift certificate to Bob’s Baseball Cards.

Michael Jordan Counterfeits Have Arrived in Des Moines

July 23, 2003,

Look out! There is a store in the Des Moines area selling counterfeit Michael Jordan Rookie Cards, MJ RC’s. I won’t name the store but it is a vendor in an Antique Mall type of establishment and not a card store. They must be selling a lot of them because they are starting to show up in the hands of individuals trying to sell them as the real thing. Below I state a couple of examples that I have been involved in the last week.

Two individuals came into the store and asked if I was interested in buying a MJ RC after they looked it up in the Beckett Basketball price guide. It was a very nice looking card with the proper thickness and gloss of a 1986-87 Fleer card. I told them that I rarely buy MJ RC’s unless they have been graded by PSA or BGS because in my opinion there are four to five counterfeits on the market for every authentic one. We have a BGS graded MJ RC and when I put the two cards side by side, it was obvious that the one that just walked into the store was NOT an authentic MJ RC. When compared to the original, the printing wasn’t nearly as sharp. They told me where they bought it and said they spent $20. I advised them against trying to sell the card as an original because they could be charged with fraud.

The next day I received a call from an individual that wanted to know if I would buy a MJ RC and as I was telling them my policy on buying that card they hung up about half way through my sentence. Did they also have a counterfeit MJ RC?

I also received an email from Paul in WDM about the same subject. It seems that he purchased a counterfeit MJ RC on eBay. He did this on purpose because he wanted one and can’t afford the real thing. He wondered in the email why the FBI doesn’t get involved with this and go after eBay. Actually that would never happen because eBay isn’t selling the cards, the owners of the cards are. However, in similar cases eBay has passed on any information about an eBay user that the FBI has requested. And unless Fleer complains about the forgeries nothing will ever happen.

So, if you are in the market for an MJ RC, be careful, the counterfeits have arrived in the Des Moines market in a big way. If you are not careful and use common sense, $20 for a $900 card, you could end up with a totally worthless piece of colorful cardboard.

This is meant to be a reader participating column where I give you some news, you ask questions and hopefully I will have answers to your questions. You can send any questions you might have concerning sports collectibles to Bob’s Baseball Cards, 200 Army Post Road #22, Des Moines, IA 50315 or email to Bobplus5@aol.com. If we use your specific question for an article you will win a $5 gift certificate to Bob’s Baseball Cards. And don’t forget to listen to Bob’s Collectors Hour on Wednesday nights at 6:00pm on The All New ESPN Radio 107.1/96.1.

How do you say, Schortsanitis?

July 2, 2003,

I watch some of the National Hockey League playoffs every year and I always wonder, how do the broadcasters learn to say all those strange foreign names? The first time I saw the name Patrick Roy I thought Roy was a funny name to have as a last name. I was really surprised when I found out that Roy was pronounced as Waa. How is that possible?

The National Basketball Association just had their draft and there are at least seven guys that were drafted in the FIRST round that I have no idea who they are, where they come from, or how to say their name. Pick #11 was Mickael Pietrus, #17 Zarko Cabarkapa, #19 Aleksandar Pavlovic, #21 Boris Diaw-Riffiod, #22 Zoran Planinic, #26 Ndudi Ebi, #28 Leandrinho Barbosa. In the second round there is Xue Yuyang and Andreas Gliniadakis! I would give you some more examples but my computer just told me that the spell check is about to explode so I better limit the number of names I type. If I was covering the NBA in any way, I would be in big trouble because my lips and tongue just can’t do what they need to do to say those words.

The NBA should change to the WBL, World Basketball League. Put some teams in Europe, Asia and South America. Have the continents crown a champion and have the four champions play in a HUGE playoff for the WBL Championship. You could charge advertisers Super Bowl type money for their ads considering the entire planet would be tuned in. With the current format I think it is bad for basketball in general. Last month’s NBA finals had terrible television ratings. Some of the decline in ratings could be attributed to unfamiliar players on both teams. The same will happen in Europe as the spots left vacant by the new NBA players will be filled by Americans that now get bumped from the NBA. Who in Barcelona will watch their team if it is full of Americans?

With the entire world putting all their best players into a 29 team league the one in a million shot at making it to the NBA just became a one in a billion shot. It is just amazing that with the best players from the entire planet being up for grabs, two of the first eleven picks are from Iowa. Kirk Hinrich was picked 7th and he is from Sioux City and Nick Collison was picked 11th and he is from Iowa Falls. Just goes to show you that corn fed stock is still pretty good even compared to the rest of the world.

Ouch, I just sprang my tongue trying to say Sofoklis Schortsanitis and there is smoke coming out of the back of my computer.

This is meant to be a reader participating column where I give you some news, you ask questions and hopefully I will have answers to your questions. You can send any questions you might have concerning sports collectibles to Bob’s Baseball Cards, 200 Army Post Road #22, Des Moines, IA 50315 or email to Bobplus5@aol.com. If we use your specific question for an article you will win a $5 gift certificate to Bob’s Baseball Cards. And don’t forget to listen to Bob’s Collectors Hour on Wednesday nights at 6:00pm on The All New ESPN Radio 107.1/96.1.

Wrigley Seats and Cork

June 25, 2003,

On Thursday June 19th I was watching the Cubs and Reds game from my Wrigley Field seat number 108 from Aisle 101 Row 13 down the left field line. It was a great day out as the temperature was in the mid 80’s with a light breeze. It was an exciting game and there was a big brawl when Cincinnati’s Paul Wilson charged the mound after being brushed back by a Kyle Farnsworth pitch. Wilson ended up with a bloody nose and both he and Farnsworth were ejected from the game. The Reds won the game 3 -1 and the Cincinnati fans went home happy that they split the series with the visiting first place Cubs.

This was the first game I have ever watched from a Wrigley Field seat. In fact it seemed real weird sitting in a Wrigley Field seat considering the game was played in Cincinnati. WHAT!?

That’s right, we have Wrigley Field seats at Bob’s Baseball Cards and I was watching the game on television. These seats were replaced in November 2001 during some remodeling at Wrigley. Come try the seat out and see what it is like to sit in a Wrigley Field seat and if you like we can order one for you. We are the ONLY distributor in Des Moines of these great collectible items.

Now that the Sammy Sosa cork incident is behind us, it will be interesting to see what it does to the value of Sosa collectibles. I don’t think it will have any long term affect, but his stuff might get cold for a while. If the Cubs make the playoffs this year, that will help warm-up Sosa collectibles.

This is meant to be a reader participating column where I give you some news, you ask questions and hopefully I will have answers to your questions. You can send any questions you might have concerning sports collectibles to Bob’s Baseball Cards, 200 Army Post Road #22, Des Moines, IA 50315 or email to Bobplus5@aol.com. If we use your specific question for an article you will win a $5 gift certificate to Bob’s Baseball Cards. And don’t forget to listen to Bob’s Collectors Hour on Wednesday nights at 6:00pm on The All New ESPN Radio 107.1/96.1.

LeBron James signs with Upper Deck

June 18, 2003

High Basketball sensation and projected number one pick the in NBA draft, LeBron James has signed a multi-year exclusive contract with Upper Deck. This will entitle Upper Deck to be the only card company to have autographed and memorabilia cards of this budding superstar! This agreement also locks out SA·GE and Press Pass who normally produces a nice product of the new rookies in their college or high school uniforms with a lot of autographs. Upper Deck has not released the terms of the agreement but it is reported that James received a one million dollar signing bonus.

Good for LeBron James, bad for the collecting public. When one company locks up a player with an exclusive contract, the amount of autographed and other memorabilia products that will be produced will be a small number relative to other players. This will cause the values to rise rapidly. This is good for the lucky individual that pulls one from a pack, not so good for the collector that just needs the card to complete a set.

On the other hand, the projected number three pick in the draft, Carmelo Anthony, has signed a contract with all three card companies with NBA licenses, Topps, Upper Deck and Fleer. This will allow the average collector a better chance at getting a Carmelo Anthony autographed or memorabilia card.

Next week Topps Finest basketball will arrive on dealer’s shelves and the official start of LeBron James-a-mania will start. The Finest product will have redemption cards for the first ten draft picks. Have fun collecting.

This is meant to be a reader participating column where I give you some news, you ask questions and hopefully I will have answers to your questions. You can send any questions you might have concerning sports collectibles to Bob’s Baseball Cards, 200 Army Post Road #22, Des Moines, IA 50315 or email to Bobplus5@aol.com. If we use your specific question for an article you will win a $5 gift certificate to Bob’s Baseball Cards. And don’t forget to listen to Bob’s Collectors Hour on Wednesday nights at 6:00pm on The New ESPN Radio 107.1/96.1.

What is a Rookie Card?

June 4, 2003

What is a Rookie Card? How can you tell if a card is a RC? Are RC’s the most valuable cards of a player? Lets take these questions one at a time.

What is a RC? A RC is defined as "a player’s first card in a major set." In other words, high school cards, Sports Illustrated for Kids cards, college cards, unlicensed cards are NOT RC’s. Major sets are defined as the regular card sets made by the major card manufacturers like Topps, Donruss/Playoff, Upper Deck, Fleer, Pacific, Score and Be A Player. These would not include small boxed sets made by Topps for Kmart, KB Toys and other companies.

How can you tell if a card is a RC? There is really no way of telling just by looking at a card. A good example of this are the 1987 cards of Mark McGwire. The Donruss card says "Rated Rookie" on the front of the card. The statistics on the back of all the 1987 cards show that McGwire played in 18 games in 1986. Therefore the 1987 cards of Mark McGwire must be his RC’s right? Wrong! Part of the 1985 Topps set has cards of the USA team which included Mark McGwire. Card #401 in the 1985 Topps set is Mark McGwire’s ONLY RC! So, how can you tell if a card is a RC? The easiest and best way is to simply look in your Beckett price guide and if there is a RC next to the card’s listing, then it is a RC.

Are RC’s the most valuable cards of a player? No. With autographed, jersey and short printed cards available, a player’s RC usually won’t be their most valuable card. Unless their RC is a short printed autographed jersey card like an SP Authentic, SPx or Playoff Contenders.

Remember to do your homework if you are shopping for RC’s. Just because a card is in a top loader that says Rookie Card, doesn’t mean that it is a RC.

This is meant to be a reader participating column where I give you some news, you ask questions and hopefully I will have answers to your questions. You can send any questions you might have concerning sports collectibles to Bob’s Baseball Cards, 200 Army Post Road #22, Des Moines, IA 50315 or email to Bobplus5@aol.com. If we use your specific question for an article you will win a $5 gift certificate to Bob’s Baseball Cards. And don’t forget to listen to Bob’s Collectors Hour on Wednesday nights at 6:00pm on The New ESPN Radio 107.1/96.1.

Manufacturers are cutting back

May 21, 2003

Collectors have been saying for several years that they wanted less products to choose from. It appears that they are going to soon be getting what they want. Earlier this year Fleer announced that they were going to make 50% less basketball product this year and actually canceled a couple of products that had already been offered to dealers. Topps announced that they would reduce the number of sports card products it releases in the coming months by as much as 25%. Pacific is now out of the Football card business as their license was not renewed. Also, it is rumored that the NFL Properties and Players Inc. have taken steps to reduce the number of football cards hitting the market later this year, although no formal announcement has been made.

What would happen if the manufacturers produced less products? It should promote set building and allow cards to keep their values for a longer period of time. If a collector doesn’t feel like they have to hurry up and buy the new stuff today because a newer product will be out tomorrow, they might spend the time necessary to complete a set. It also would add to a product’s shelf life which would keep dealers from "dumping" products, which in turn would help a product keep it’s value.

Topps announcing that they will cut their sports card products by 25% due to the fact that they said they would make more money if they were not in the sports card business. This is the most alarming statement in the sports card industry in years. I look for Upper Deck to make a similar announcement with the huge success of the Yu-Gi-Oh products and they will be making Hulk movie cards which will be a big hit. The characters on Yu-Gi-Oh and Hulk cards don’t demand enormous amounts of money for autographed and other memorabilia cards. So don’t be surprised if Upper Deck follows the lead of Topps and Fleer.

I believe we could be beginning a new era in card collecting and I’m not really sure where we are going. I do know this, manufacturers making less product choices will be a plus to the hobby.

This is meant to be a reader participating column where I give you some news, you ask questions and hopefully I will have answers to your questions. You can send any questions you might have concerning sports collectibles to Bob’s Baseball Cards, 200 Army Post Road #22, Des Moines, IA 50315 or email to Bobplus5@aol.com. If we use your specific question for an article you will win a $5 gift certificate to Bob’s Baseball Cards. And don’t forget to listen to Bob’s Collectors Hour on Wednesday nights at 6:00pm on The New ESPN Radio 107.1/96.1.

LeBron James Mania has Started!

May 7, 2003

LeBron-a-mania is coming! I have never seen so much hype over a high school athlete in my lifetime. LeBron James has a fabulous career at Akron St. Vincent/St. Mary High School behind him and he has made himself eligible for the NBA Draft. He is a man among boys when he is playing against, uh, boys. With 25.2 ppg, 8.0 rpg, & 5.0 apg he is being compared to a Magic Johnson type of player even though he will probably be a small forward at 6’8" and 240 lbs.

With so much hype and nothing to collect yet, the ridiculous is starting to be common place when it comes to LeBron-a-mania. The Sports Illustrated For Kids cards are starting to sell for enormous prices. Buyer beware of this card, just look at what happen to the PSA GEM MINT 10 Tiger Woods SI for Kids cards that at one time sold for over $100,000 and now a PSA9 lists for $1,000.

Some dealers are now starting to auction upcoming rookie cards for products that won’t even be available for another couple of months. Yea, you read that right. Cards that DON’T EXIST YET are selling for big bucks. The 02-03 Topps Finest and the 02-03 Upper Deck Inspirations products will have redemption cards for the top draft picks in this year’s draft.

And now for $9.95, plus shipping, Beckett Publications will send you a new Beckett Tribute magazine. WHAT? A tribute magazine for a high school basketball player? Are you kidding me? Those Beckett Tribute magazines are for Michael Jordan and Nolan Ryan, not a high school basketball player!

One thing is for sure. Whoever ends up with the first pick in the draft will have to pick LeBron James. That is because they can raise their ticket prices and immediately sell out all 41 home games and all 41 away games. The number 23 jersey of that team will be the top NBA licensed product sold next year. Even if he flops, the positive financial impact will be immediate.

Can you hear it? Can you smell it? Can you feel it? I bet you can if you try hard enough. Soon you will be able to see it. LeBron-a-mania is coming!

This is meant to be a reader participating column where I give you some news, you ask questions and hopefully I will have answers to your questions. You can send any questions you might have concerning sports collectibles to Bob’s Baseball Cards, 200 Army Post Road #22, Des Moines, IA 50315 or email to Bobplus5@aol.com. If we use your specific question for an article you will win a $5 gift certificate to Bob’s Baseball Cards. And don’t forget to listen to Bob’s Collectors Hour on Wednesday nights at 6:00pm on The New ESPN Radio 107.1/96.1.

Are you a Satisfied Collector?

April 30, 2003

I recently received an email from a reader of this column and it really made me feel good. However, the more I thought about it, the more it upset me. Below is some of the email:

"I just read your article on counterfeit cards. I was particularly interested in the section about the 1988 Burger King Emmitt Smith for I am planning on acquiring one soon. I wanted to thank you for distributing your knowledge about this subject, now I know what to look for and what to watch out for. It’s good to find a dealer that is willing to inform the public on the issues. I know many dealers that would be more interested in ripping off a customer than taking the time to inform them."

I felt real good when I received this for obvious reasons. When you take the time to write articles such as this you sometimes wonder if anyone is reading them or am I wasting my time. I now know that I’m definitely not wasting my time. What really upset me is the last sentence. "I know many dealers that would be more interested in ripping off a customer than taking the time to inform them."

The sports card industry is looking for ways to get young collectors back into the hobby. The industry is worried that collectors have started to do other things with their time and money. After all there is the Internet, video games, movies and Yu-Gi-Oh out there to capture their attention not to mention their cash. Then there is the fact that there are so many different products in the market that some customers, especially the young ones, are confused and are leaving the hobby. However, If that last sentence is true, then I believe that that could be another reason youngsters are doing other things with their money. If a young collector’s dad has had a bad experience with a dealer, I’m sure that dad and the youngster will no longer do business with that dealer. But how many of them just decide that they have had enough and stop trusting all dealers and as a result disappear from the hobby?

This is to ALL sports collectible dealers out there, store owners, mail order dealers, eBay dealers and show dealers alike. If every customer you deal with doesn’t feel satisfied when the transaction is finished, then you have got work to do. We all could improve in some way and we all need to be doing whatever it takes to make this hobby a fun hobby to be associated with.

My thanks to the reader who sent me the email and a $5 gift certificate will be held at Bob’s Baseball Cards in his name for contributing to this article. And one more thing, the reader is from Des Moines so he is obviously talking about Des Moines dealers. I know most of the dealers in the Des Moines area and they all seem like pretty good guys. The Des Moines area has lost a few stores in the last year. I just hope the many he was talking about are the ones that have closed.

This is meant to be a reader participating column where I give you some news, you ask questions and hopefully I will have answers to your questions. You can send any questions you might have concerning sports collectibles to Bob’s Baseball Cards, 200 Army Post Road #22, Des Moines, IA 50315 or email to Bobplus5@aol.com. If we use your specific question for an article you will win a $5 gift certificate to Bob’s Baseball Cards. And don’t forget to listen to Bob’s Collectors Hour on Wednesday nights at 5:00pm on The New ESPN Radio 107.1/96.1.

Are Variations the New Thing?

April 16, 2003

It seems that the new cool thing for card manufactures to do is to have unannounced variations in their card sets. For example; in the 2003 Topps Heritage set, a set that has the same look as the 1954 Topps set, there are several cards that have the backgrounds different than the regular card. In most cases the variations are short printed. Card #1 in the Heritage set is of Alex Rodriguez and has a red background and is valued at $5. However, there is a variation card with a black background that is short printed and is valued at $15. The Sammy Sosa card, #30, in that set also has a variation. On the front of the card is a Cubs logo but a short printed variation has an old Cubs logo that was used in 1954.

Topps has taken variations to a new level with the new 2003 Topps Gallery Hall-of-Fame Edition as there is a variation for every card in the 74 card set and they are seeded one per hobby pack. These cards were created from 9"x12" paintings so Topps was able to get quite creative in making the variations. For example; The Roberto Clemente card shows him with a white Pirates uniform. The variation shows him with a yellow Pirates uniform. Variations show different color gloves, bats, sleeves, socks, numbers, sky and backgrounds. Other variations might have a different patch on the uniform, missing fans in the seats, missing players in the background or missing and different ads on the fences in the background. This is a beautiful set and is enjoyed even more since you really have to look the cards over to discover if you have any variations.

Also in the Topps Gallery Hall-of-Fame Edition there is a Chrome parallel card in every pack. There are short printed variations on these parallels that are seeded at only one per box. These will be the tough ones to track down for the accomplished collector. To complete that set you will need to travel to a lot of stores and shows and be willing to spend some serious cash.

Donruss also made a "painted" set with their Donruss Diamond Kings and Upper Deck followed suit with Play Ball. To my knowledge they didn’t take liberties with their paintings and make variations like Topps did. However, in the Diamond Kings set the best cards I have seen all year are the DK Evolutions. The one I have seen is of Lou Gehrig and is a black and white photo of him. However, when you move the card a certain way the card changes to the color painting that was used in the set. Very cool.

So it looks like variations, short printed variations and variations of parallel sets are one of the new trends in sports cards in 2003. Have fun collecting.

This is meant to be a reader participating column where I give you some news, you ask questions and hopefully I will have answers to your questions. You can send any questions you might have concerning sports collectibles to Bob’s Baseball Cards, 200 Army Post Road #22, Des Moines, IA 50315 or email to Bobplus5@aol.com. If we use your specific question for an article you will win a $5 gift certificate to Bob’s Baseball Cards. And don’t forget to listen to Bob’s Collectors Hour on Wednesday nights at 5:00pm on The New ESPN Radio 107.1/96.1.

Bob Uecker and Tennis cards are HOT!

April 9, 2003

You read it right, Tennis cards are HOT! A company called The NetPro Trading Card Company has produced a set of tennis cards. There are 100 cards in the set with 10 short prints that are the most sought after rookie cards. Since this is the first tennis set, every card is a rookie card but the short printed rookie cards are creating quite a stir in the marketplace. The Anna Kournikova’s rookie card #91 is selling for $45 - $50. Serena Williams $15 - $20, Venus Williams $10 - $15, and Lleyton Hewitt, Andy Roddick and Daniela Hantuchava around $10.

This just in, the Baseball Hall-of-Fame has created a huge problem in the galaxy and religious world. They have created the proverbial snow ball in hell affect. Bob Uecker, the clown prince of baseball, a 6 year major leaguer with a batting average of .200 with 14 homers and 74 RBI has been voted into the hallowed ground of the Baseball Hall-of-Fame. You know the guy, from the Mr. Belvedere sitcom. The guy "in the front row" on those old beer commercials. The announcer in "Major League" and "Major League II" movies. Yea, him in the Baseball Hall-of-Fame.

Actually, announcer is what Uecker is good at. He has been the Voice of the Milwaukee Brewers for the last 33 years. Now he will be enshrined into the broadcaster wing of the Hall-of-Fame on Sunday, July 27. The same day that Eddie Murray and Gary Carter will be inducted. At least with Uecker at the ceremony, it will be funny.

All I’ve got to say is that the earth must be upside down. A player that batted .200 in his career has been elected to the Baseball Hall-of-Fame, the best rapper is white, the best golfer is black, France is accusing the United States of being arrogant, Switzerland just won the Americas Cup and they don’t even have a shore to dock their boat at, and Tennis cards are HOT! Go figure.

This is meant to be a reader participating column where I give you some news, you ask questions and hopefully I will have answers to your questions. You can send any questions you might have concerning sports collectibles to Bob’s Baseball Cards, 200 Army Post Road #22, Des Moines, IA 50315 or email to Bobplus5@aol.com. If we use your specific question for an article you will win a $5 gift certificate to Bob’s Baseball Cards. And don’t forget to listen to Bob’s Collectors Hour on Wednesday nights at 5:00pm on The New ESPN Radio 107.1/96.1.

Can’t We All Work Together?

March 26, 2003

As I write this article there are buildings burning in Baghdad, Iraq and the Marines have just crossed the Iraq/Kuwait border into Iraq. By the time you read this article the fighting might be over and the nation building begun. The NCAA National Basketball Tournament is not on CBS, as advertised, but it is on ESPN, a company that is owned by Disney who also owns ABC. So in order to watch the CBS coverage of the tournament you have to watch ESPN/ABC?

Isn’t that interesting? Two companies that spend their entire workdays looking for ways to beat each other into submission are working together for a common good due to a war that forty plus countries are working together for a common good. Of course counties like France can’t seem to see that common good. However, the point is, that even enemies find a way to work together if they both can benefit from it.

Wouldn’t it be nice if the sports card producing companies could find a way to work together and figure out how to make a new product keep it’s value more than a week? So often new products start out at a dollar figure but within a month they are valued at something less than that. Every so often products like Topps Pristine Football, Upper Deck SP Authentic Football, Topps Chrome Basketball, Topps Heritage Baseball, Playoff Signature Edition Football, starts out hot and the values increase. This is what we would all like to see in every product.

So, what do you think should happen? Produce less products and produce more of the hot products? More autographed cards and less jersey cards? Stop making jersey cards of average players? How do you explain why a product like Topps Heritage is so hot in Baseball and is a dud in the other sports? It seems that there is no formula for a popular product in this business.

However, with all that said, I urge the sports card manufacturers to get together and figure it out. If CBS and ESPN/ABC can work together, if Great Britain and Turkey can work together, then I would think Topps, Upper Deck, Donruss/Playoff, and Fleer could figure out a way to take this business/hobby up to new levels of excitement. What do you think? Do you have any ideas that could help this hobby? Send in your responses to the postal or email address below. I will be going to a Topps conference in early June and they would love to hear from the final customers.

This is meant to be a reader participating column where I give you some news, you ask questions and hopefully I will have answers to your questions. You can send any questions you might have concerning sports collectibles to Bob’s Baseball Cards, 200 Army Post Road #22, Des Moines, IA 50315 or email to Bobplus5@aol.com. If we use your specific question for an article you will win a $5 gift certificate to Bob’s Baseball Cards. And don’t forget to listen to Bob’s Collectors Hour on Wednesday nights at 5:00pm on The New ESPN Radio 107.1/96.1.

Fantasy Baseball Season is Upon Us!

March 19, 2003

Baseball’s regular season starts on Tuesday, March 25th with Seattle and Oakland playing in Japan. Most of the other teams start their regular season on Monday, March 31st. With the regular season starting, most baseball fantasy leagues will begin on the 31st. Are you signed up yet?

With the Internet, fantasy sports is much more accurate and easier than it used to be. No more hunting for the statistics in the morning newspaper to see how you did. With the Internet you can watch you team’s performance live as it is happening, make changes in your line-up at any time, talk smack to your opponents, and brag to the whole world if you win the league. Sounds like fun doesn’t it?

Bob’s Baseball Cards is hosting a league on the CBSsportsline.com web site. Click on Fantasy, then click on Fantasy Baseball 2003, and then click on Sign Up Now under the Basic League that costs $9.95 for the season. Once you sign-up you need to look for the Bob’s Baseball Cards League and join it. It is a National League only league with head to head scoring.

Fantasy Baseball and Sports Card collecting have a lot in common. In both you are looking to get the players that are hot either to make your team better or make your collection more valuable. Also, when you are either collecting or playing fantasy sports you end up rooting for players that are not on your favorite team. Say you are a Cardinal fan and they are playing the Cubs. You have Sammy Sosa on your fantasy team. He comes to bat in the bottom of the ninth with two runners on base with the Cardinals leading by two. If Sammy homers, you get ten points for your fantasy team, which is a lot, but your Cardinals loose. The same with collecting. Say you own a few Sammy Sosa rookie cards and as he gets over 500 home runs, the value of those cards will go up as Sammy hits more home runs. Oh boy, what to do?

So whether you are collecting or playing fantasy baseball, they both make for strange bed fellows. Also, don’t forget that the goal of both is to have fun and do it for the love of the game.

This is meant to be a reader participating column where I give you some news, you ask questions and hopefully I will have answers to your questions. You can send any questions you might have concerning sports collectibles to Bob’s Baseball Cards, 200 Army Post Road #22, Des Moines, IA 50315 or email to Bobplus5@aol.com. If we use your specific question for an article you will win a $5 gift certificate to Bob’s Baseball Cards. And don’t forget to listen to Bob’s Collectors Hour on Wednesday nights at 5:00pm on The New ESPN Radio 107.1/96.1.

Vintage Card Grading is Not Easy

March 12, 2003

When new sports cards are changing hands, the condition of the card is usually not an issue because the item is new. Unless someone has sat on the card and creased it or bent a corner, it can be looked at for about a second and deemed to be a card worthy enough to buy. However, when you are looking to purchase a vintage card, make sure you do your homework first.

I see collector’s MINT vintage cards just about everyday. When you own something, it is always nicer to you than to someone looking to buy it. However, if you look at your collection like you were going to buy it instead of selling it, you and the buyer will have a better chance of agreeing on the condition of a card. Of course that is only if you are willing to be fair when you are looking at your items. When grading a card you should always try to find problems with the card instead of looking at the card’s good points.

There are many different areas to look at when grading a card. If you use the Beckett price guides they print a "How to Use and Condition Guide" that appears right before the price guide listings. Under "grades" are listed the various grades a card can be. They range from Pristine to Poor with nine variations in between.

In order to grade a card you must look at the card’s corners, edges, centering of the picture, centering of the information on the back of the card, gloss of the picture, print dots or blotches on the front of the card, clarity of the picture, gum or wax stains, and creases. If any one of these exists the card cannot be pristine or mint. The "How to Use and Condition Guide" in Beckett takes you through each condition and tells you what can and cannot exist in a card’s condition in order for it to make the grade discussed. Using this guide and being very tough will usually result in an accurate grade of the card in question.

What you really have to look out for when purchasing a vintage card is the price that is marked on the card. Some dealers simply mark the card at the near-mint price hoping someone that doesn’t know about card grading will come along and buy it at that price. The best dealers will price their vintage cards based on the grade of the card. So watch out when shopping for vintage cards and don’t pay a near-mint price for a very good card.

Have fun collecting and don’t forget to join us at Bob’s Baseball Cards for Pack Wars on Saturday March 22nd from 5 - 8 p.m. Pizza and pop will be served and a lot of prizes will be awarded to lucky winners.

This is meant to be a reader participating column where I give you some news, you ask questions and hopefully I will have answers to your questions. You can send any questions you might have concerning sports collectibles to Bob’s Baseball Cards, 200 Army Post Road #22, Des Moines, IA 50315 or email to Bobplus5@aol.com. If we use your specific question for an article you will win a $5 gift certificate to Bob’s Baseball Cards. And don’t forget to listen to Bob’s Collectors Hour on Wednesday nights at 5:00pm on 107.1/96.1 The Jock.

Emmitt Smith is no Longer a Cowboy!

March 5, 2003

Emmitt Smith is no longer a Cowboy. That became official last Thursday as Jerry Jones released Smith so Bill Parcells can have a clean start with his version of America’s Team. Smith rushed for 17,162 yards as a Cowboy, the all-time NFL leader, and will add to that total as either a Washington Redskin or Tampa Bay Buccaneer in 2003. If he becomes a Redskin look for this Cowboys fan to look for the nearest tall building to jump off of. If anyone reading this column cares I would appreciate it if you came to my rescue and locked me in my store if Smith signs with the Redskins.

The NFL’s salary cap rules have created two situations in the league. One of them is a good situation, one is a bad situation. The good one is parity. This has created playoff races where half the league is still eligible for the playoffs with only a couple of weeks left in the season. It drives gamblers nuts, but as a fan it is a lot of fun when you have no idea which team is going to win week to week. I’m sure it helps television ratings too as you are more likely to watch a game if your really not sure who will win.

The bad situation is the fact that when a player signs a big contract and nears the end of his career, a team is forced to cut him in order to afford a younger, or better player to compete. The 49er’s cut the all-time leading receiver in Jerry Rice after the 2000 season and Rice has had two more productive years as a Raider. Now the Cowboys have cut Smith and he will end his career, like Rice as a member of another team which just doesn’t seem right.

What will this do for Smith collectibles? Good things. Let’s take Rice as an example. When Rice signed with the Raiders there were suddenly a whole new fan base that wanted Rice collectibles in their collections. It didn’t affect his stuff as much as it would if he had signed with a team outside of the San Francisco area, but some Rice collectibles are the hottest in the sport. If Smith signs with a team in another part of the country, look out, Smith stuff will be HOT again. And if he can get to 20,000 yards, like he says he will, in 2004 or 2005? He will truly be looked at as the best there ever was.

This is meant to be a reader participating column where I give you some news, you ask questions and hopefully I will have answers to your questions. You can send any questions you might have concerning sports collectibles to Bob’s Baseball Cards, 200 Army Post Road #22, Des Moines, IA 50315 or email to Bobplus5@aol.com. If we use your specific question for an article you will win a $5 gift certificate to Bob’s Baseball Cards. And don’t forget to listen to Bob’s Collectors Hour on Wednesday nights at 5:00pm on 107.1/96.1 The Jock.

Graded Card Fraud Update

February 26, 2003

The graded card business just got real sticky. When It Was A Game, Inc., "WIWAG" a very large sports card dealer, has pled guilty to a federal mail fraud charge involving inserting inferior sports cards into PSA-sealed holders, or slabs, for higher rated cards. What this means is that WIWAG was sending high quality cards to PSA to get graded and they would come back with a grade of PSA9 or 10. WIWAG would then open the PSA slab, put an inferior card into the slab and then somehow reseal it. Holy Moly. Just when you think you seen the worst low down trick in this industry, some dirtier, lower, scum comes along! I am so glad the FBI has gotten involved with the collectible industry.

The problem with this situation is that WIWAG is a large dealer. They attended The National and most other large sports card shows. They have sold nearly 12,000 items via eBay. Did I mention they are a BIG dealer. How many bogus PSA graded cards are out there?

What this does is raise a few of questions: 1. Are there companies other than WIWAG doing this? 2. Will PSA recover, as it is their product being violated? 3. Will PSA come up with another form of sealing their slabs? 4. Is this being done with other grading companies’ products?

The answers are: 1. Where there is a rat, you can find other rats. 2. Overall, PSA is the best grading company out there, so yes they will survive. 3. PSA is working on another form of sealing their slabs. I’m told that the BGS and PRO slabs are nearly impossible to open without totally destroying them so maybe they will adopt their methods. 4. See the answer to number one.

The following is reprinted from an email from WIWAG concerning this situation: WIWAG has agreed that PSA will determine the true grade of your card or cards if you so desire. If your card or cards are determined to be fraudulently inserted cards, WIWAG will replace your card with a card that has been properly graded by PSA in exchange for the card you actually purchased or refund your purchase price. If you would like to have your cards so assessed, please contact San Diego FBI Victim/Witness Coordinator Liz Bollig at 858-499-7952, or write her at 9797 Aero Drive, San Diego, CA 92123.

This is meant to be a reader participating column where I give you some news, you ask questions and hopefully I will have answers to your questions. You can send any questions you might have concerning sports collectibles to Bob’s Baseball Cards, 200 Army Post Road #22, Des Moines, IA 50315 or email to Bobplus5@aol.com. If we use your specific question for an article you will win a $5 gift certificate to Bob’s Baseball Cards. And don’t forget to listen to Bob’s Collectors Hour on Wednesday nights at 5:00pm on 107.1/96.1 The Jock.

Big Mac Makes a Comeback!

February 19, 2003

That’s right, Mark McGwire is making a comeback! To the collecting world that is. Ever since Big Mac retired after the 2001 season, he has disappeared off the face of the Earth. Well it appears that he will be making a comeback this spring.

Big Mac has taken that retirement thing to heart and has done nothing for his adoring fans since his retirement. He has not participated in autograph or card shows, including last year’s National in Chicago. He has turned down many opportunities for commercial autograph contracts over the past 10 years. In fact Tony LaRussa, manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, has twice asked him to come to spring training to help with the team and both times he has declined. The last time just a couple of weeks ago. He did get married a few months ago and has made himself even scarcer since his marriage. Well, who could blame him for wanting to get away from it all and have some fun and good quality time with his son and new wife?

He did sign a contract with the Upper Deck card company to autograph a few, and I mean a few, items for their card sets. These items have been selling for very high prices since the quantity of Big Mac autographed memorabilia is so low. He also supplied Upper Deck with a bat and jersey to use for bat and jersey cards. But the Big Mac fans are as plentiful as sand on a beach, and the supply of Big Mac memorabilia is as scarce as finding a Cyclone fan that would root for the Hawkeyes.

Good news Big Mac fans, Mark McGwire has signed an exclusive agreement with Steiner Sports Marketing, the nation’s leading marketer of authentic sports memorabilia. This is great news for Big Mac fans and the hobby in general. Although don’t look for the price of McGwire memorabilia to drop any time soon as Jared Weiss, Executive Vice President of Steiner Sports said, "We expect that the demand will exceed the supply." In other words, the prices will stay high.

His first signing will be on February 21st and is already sold out. He will be doing a second signing at a later date and that signing will allow customers to send in items to get autographed. I wonder if he will sign baseballs on the sweet spot? He has not done so in that last ten years or so. I think it was his own personal tribute to Roger Maris, whose record he broke in 1998 when he hit his 62nd home run of the season. Maris rarely signed a baseball on the sweet spot.

We will be trying to get our hands on some of this new merchandise as it becomes available, so check in with us at Bob’s Baseball Cards. I will definitely announce on my radio show when the first items arrive. In the meantime, this is great news for the hobby as one of the most sought after athletes makes himself more available to us collectors.

This is meant to be a reader participating column where I give you some news, you ask questions and hopefully I will have answers to your questions. You can send any questions you might have concerning sports collectibles to Bob’s Baseball Cards, 200 Army Post Road #22, Des Moines, IA 50315 or email to Bobplus5@aol.com. If we use your specific question for an article you will win a $5 gift certificate to Bob’s Baseball Cards. And don’t forget to listen to Bob’s Collectors Hour on Wednesday nights at 5:00pm on 107.1/96.1 The Jock.

Baseball is Coming!

February 12, 2003

Baseball is Coming! It has been frozen in the winter cold since the last out late on that fall evening of October 27, 2002. The Anaheim Angels had just defeated the San Francisco Giants 4 - 1 in Game 7 of the World Series. It has laid in hibernation since that time. Now it begins to wake, as the warmer temperatures of the late winter in the south starts to thaw the grand old game. Pitchers and catchers started reporting for duty on February 9th. In a few weeks on February 23rd the ball fields of Florida and Arizona will be alive with the sounds of Major League Baseball players on the field while being watched by the fans that adore them. The smell of peanuts, hot dogs, pop and beer will fill the air along with sounds of the vendors, "Get your hot dogs here." The crack of the bat contacting the ball will ring an instant before the roar of the crowd erupts as some unknown rookie races to the warning track to catch what was thought to be a double. Yes sports fans, Baseball is Coming!

This looks to be an exciting year in 2003 with many major questions that need to be answered. Will the low salary Angels, Oakland Athletics and Minnesota Twins make the playoffs again? Or will the high payroll New York Yankees, $164 million, return to the spot they think belongs to them, World Series Champions? The New York Mets have the second highest payroll, will they return to the playoffs, or will they continue being just the Mets? Will Barry Bonds catch his godfather Willie Mays at 660 home runs? Sammy Sosa’s first home run will be his 500th, will he be able to keep hitting home runs at the same dizzying pace that he has the last four years? Will Roger Clemens get his 300th win? Will Rafael Palmeiro hit his 500th home run. Will Ken Griffey Jr. stay healthy and return to his pre 2000 performance levels and hit his 500th home run? Will Kerry Wood and Mark Prior pitch the Cubs to the playoffs? With Dusty Baker’s leadership will the Cubs be able to reach the World Series? Will Fred McGriff hit 22 home runs to reach 500? Will Rickey Henderson play and add to his all-time records in stolen bases, runs scored and walks? Will Barry Bonds steal 7 bases to become the first and only player to be in the 500 Home Run and 500 Stolen Base Clubs? Finally, who will be the unknown rookie that becomes a star in 2003?

So many questions and only 6 weeks of spring training, 162 regular season games, 2 playoff rounds and 1 World Series to answer them! Baseball collectibles and fans everywhere eagerly await the answers to these questions. If these questions don’t make you wish tomorrow was March 25th, opening day, then you are not a baseball fan!

This is meant to be a reader participating column where I give you some news, you ask questions and hopefully I will have answers to your questions. You can send any questions you might have concerning sports collectibles to Bob’s Baseball Cards, 200 Army Post Road #22, Des Moines, IA 50315 or email to Bobplus5@aol.com. If we use your specific question for an article you will win a $5 gift certificate to Bob’s Baseball Cards. And don’t forget to listen to Bob’s Collectors Hour on Wednesday nights at 5:00pm on 107.1/96.1 The Jock. Note the new time!

Caution When You Buy Vintage Autographs

February 5, 2003

It is amazing the things you can learn when you have a conversation with someone that has been collecting or dealing in a specific area of the hobby for many years. Take Richard Simon for example. Mr. Simon was kind enough to join me on Bob’s Collectors Hour on ESPN Radio 107.1/96.1 The Jock last Wednesday and blew me away with his knowledge of vintage autograph collectibles. After the show I felt as though I was a beginner again in the hobby.

Mr. Simon is a vintage autograph collector, dealer and authenticator from New York City and gave us a number of cautions on buying vintage autographs. 1. 90% of the autographs on Internet auction sites are questionable. 2. Signed vintage photos with white out on the back were probably stolen from the Baseball Hall of Fame. That is the case if under the white out is a stamp that says "Property of Baseball Hall of Fame." 3. New York Yankees team signed baseballs from 1938 and 1939 probably had a clubhouse signature of Lou Gehrig due to his failing health. 4. Most 1948 signatures of Babe Ruth were probably signed by either Ruth’s wife or sister, again due to his health. 5. Single signed baseballs from the 1930’s should be rare during the depths of the depression since most people didn’t have the money to "waste" to only have one signature on the ball. If they were going to purchase a ball for autographs, they would get as many autographs on the ball as possible. 6. Joe DiMaggio’s sister signed many of his mail-in autograph requests in the 1970’s.

Item number five above also helps to answer a question I have always had concerning the pricing of autographed baseballs. It always seemed weird to me that a ball with only one signature on it was worth more than a ball with multiple signatures. Now we know why, there are just simply less of them not to mention multiple signed balls are hard to display. Above I mentioned only six of the thirteen items Mr. Simon mentions in his article in the current issue of the Beckett Sports Collectibles Vintage price guide and magazine that can be picked up at any sports collectibles store. You can also learn more from Mr. Simon’s experience at his web site at www.richardsimonsports.com.

Last week’s article about the Yu-Gi-Oh Phenomenon has created a lot of positive comments from parents. It seems that most of them had wondered about all the things mentioned in that article and feel better about buying Yu-Gi-Oh products for their children. Thanks for reading.

This is meant to be a reader participating column where I give you some news, you ask questions and hopefully I will have answers to your questions. You can send any questions you might have concerning sports collectibles to Bob’s Baseball Cards, 200 Army Post Road #22, Des Moines, IA 50315 or email to Bobplus5@aol.com. If we use your specific question for an article you will win a $5 gift certificate to Bob’s Baseball Cards. And don’t forget to listen to Bob’s Collectors Hour on Wednesday nights at 5:00pm on 107.1/96.1 The Jock. Note the new time!

What is this Yu-Gi-Oh Stuff Anyway?

January 29, 2003

Yu-Gi-Oh! A Japanese word that means ................ I don’t know what it means. However, I do know a limited amount, keyword here is limited, about the game. First of all, the company that is producing this phenomenon is the Konami Corporation from Japan and it is being distributed in the United States by Upper Deck. The Konami Corp. has done a terrific job of tying the television program, the video game and the card game all together.

The television show which is a cartoon and is on one channel or another at least everyday is based on the card game. Characters such as Yugi, Kaiba, Joey or Pegasus play the game against each other on the show. When one of the characters play a card like the Blue Eyes White Dragon against the Dark Magician, the cartoon then shows the battle with the creature on the best card winning. As a result, kids that have never played the game have a pretty good idea of how to play the game before they get their first pack of cards.

The video game also has a tie-in with the cards as there are only a certain amount of creatures in the video game when you play it for the first time. However, when you purchase a pack of Yu-Gi-Oh cards, there is a number on the bottom left of every card that can be keyed into the video game and that creature, spell or whatever is on the card is now in the game. Pretty cool huh?

A lot of parents come into Bob’s Baseball Cards with an "I’m totally lost" look on their face. I look at them and ask, "Yu-Gi-Oh?" They smile and simply say "yea, what do you have?" As I start to explain what we have the "I’m totally lost" look returns. I think most parents are confused because when they were kids, if they got a game it came in a box with a board, game pieces and either dice or a spinner. AND that was it. You didn’t have to buy anything else to continue to play.

Basically it works like this, a starter deck is for the beginner. There are two available now, Yugi and Kaiba. In March the Joey and Pegasus starter decks will be out and will be HOT! Once someone starts playing the game they will want to "boost" their deck by acquiring additional cards or stronger cards. This can be done by buying booster packs or buying cards individually. Parents, if you are still confused, buy a starter deck and sit down with your children and say, "lets duel."

Let me just make one comment about gaming cards like Yu-Gi-Oh, Magic, Pokemon, DragonBall Z, or any of the others that are available. This type of hobby, like sports card or comic book collecting, are good clean hobbies. Remember, there are lots of BAD things out in the world that is lurking in the shadows for the opportunity to get your child’s, or your, money. Collecting something and playing a game is good wholesome fun that the whole family can enjoy.

This is meant to be a reader participating column where I give you some news, you ask questions and hopefully I will have answers to your questions. You can send any questions you might have concerning sports collectibles to Bob’s Baseball Cards, 200 Army Post Road #22, Des Moines, IA 50315 or email to Bobplus5@aol.com. If we use your specific question for an article you will win a $5 gift certificate to Bob’s Baseball Cards. And don’t forget to listen to Bob’s Collectors Hour on Wednesday nights at 6:00pm on 107.1/96.1 The Jock.

How Much to Spend on a Pack of Cards

January 22, 2003

I hear this a lot, "I don’t want to spend a lot of money. So what can I buy that will guarantee me a great card like a jersey or autographed card in the pack I buy!" What? Those two sentences can’t be said together and make sense. The price of a pack of cards is directly related to the insertion rate of the "great cards." I once asked Ed Camp, the President of The Topps Company’s Hobby Division, "What do you pay players for autographing cards?" His response was, "The player looks in a price guide, if it says his autograph is worth $50, then he wants $50 for every card he autographs." This is why the guaranteed packs costs so much.

Speaking of a lot of money and great cards, three products have recently arrived that are expensive but the opportunity to get great cards are in every pack. The first one is the Topps Pristine Basketball that is $30 per pack. In each pack you will receive a Refractor card already in a one screw screwdown, a memorabilia card, and two rookie cards and four veteran cards. One out of five packs will contain an autographed card. The second one is the Playoff Prime Signatures Football for $40 plus per pack. Each pack contains one autographed card and one rookie card serial numbered to 250 or less. There are also autographed cards serial numbered to five or less.

The third new expensive product is the Upper Deck Ultimate Collection Baseball at $100 per pack! The basic cards in this set are serial numbered to 799. Rookies are serial numbered to 550 and are one per pack. Autographed and jersey cards are also in each pack. Half of the packs have an autographed card of either Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa or Ichiro Suzuki. All very tough autographs! If you get one of those autographs you have spent $100 very well. Look at the price guides and see the high prices for the autographed and memorabilia cards for last year’s Ultimate Collection.

Don’t have that kind of money to spend on sports cards? No problem. The basic products from Topps, Upper Deck, Donruss and Fleer are also available in all sports and the odds of pulling a memorabilia card are increasing in these products also. These products range from $1.59 to $2.99 per pack and are great sets to try to complete. This activity will teach children how to start and work to completion a project that includes learning how to organize, protect, budget for and display the card set. Where else can you learn these skills and have fun doing it?

Have you heard about the comic book promotion that is going on right now? You can buy a full sized Superman comic for $0.10. Also, with the Daredevil movie set to open on Valentine’s Day the current issue of the Daredevil comic is only $0.25! This article normally speaks to the sports fan but comic book collecting is another wholesome fun hobby that the whole family can enjoy.

This is meant to be a reader participating column where I give you some news, you ask questions and hopefully I will have answers to your questions. You can send any questions you might have concerning sports collectibles to Bob’s Baseball Cards, 200 Army Post Road #22, Des Moines, IA 50315 or email to Bobplus5@aol.com. If we use your specific question for an article you will win a $5 gift certificate to Bob’s Baseball Cards. And don’t forget to listen to Bob’s Collectors Hour on Wednesday nights at 6:00pm on 107.1/96.1 The Jock.

Player Performances Causes Values to Change

January 15, 2003

The end of this football season is a perfect example of how a player’s performance on the field can quickly influence the value of his cards and memorabilia. Take Brett Favre for example. I couldn’t keep his rookie cards in stock. Customers were coming in daily and asking to look at the Favre stuff. Some of his cards started moving up in the Beckett price guides. Then he started talking about the possibility of retirement and followed that up with several awful games to end the season capped off with the first ever loss in Lambeau Field in the playoffs. Suddenly the Favre cards are getting lonely in the showcase. No one even wants to look at them. Look for the Beckett prices on his cards and memorabilia to start sliding back to were they were.

How about Mike Vick? Ever since he was drafted number one by the Falcons his cards and memorabilia have been pretty hot. Even though he has one of the worst autographs you have ever seen, his stuff has been selling well. However, take a tremendous first year as the starting quarterback, a Pro Bowl selection, beating the Packers at Lambeau Field in January, a great personality and what have you got? The Michael Jordan of Football. Now it is impossible to keep Vick rookie cards in stock. Watch out price guides. Vick’s stuff is going to be so hot it might set the pages on fire.

Who is this Chad Pennington guy that is playing quarterback for the New York Jets? His rookie cards were pretty hot when they came out in 2000. But when Vinny Testaverde was named the starting quarterback for 2000 and was injured and replaced by Ray Lucas, well winter cold set in on Pennington cards. Then Testaverde was the quarterback during 2001 and started the 2002 season as the starter. More ice on Pennington’s stuff. Then after the third game of the season Pennington was named the starter and has been terrific. You couldn’t give his stuff away at the start of 2002. Now he is a close second to Vick in hot football cards.

With baseball only three months away, who’s cards and memorabilia will go up? Will Ken Griffey Jr. Stay healthy and return to his pre 2000 performance levels? Will Kerry Wood and Mark Prior pitch the Cubs to the playoffs? Will Barry Bonds catch his god father Willie Mays at 660 home runs? Sammy Sosa’s first home run will be his 500th, will he be able to keep hitting home runs at the same dizzying pace that he has the last four years? Will Roger Clemens get his 300th win? Will Rafael Palmeiro hit his 500th home run. All of these events should cause the values of their collectibles to increase. Who will be the surprise in 2003?

I sure did receive a lot of feedback about last week’s article about Pete Rose. Most of the respondents thought I was being awful hard on my stance of continuing to keep him out of baseball. I guess that I just can’t forgive someone that tried to destroy the game that I love. If a sport allows it’s participants to gamble on that sport, then it will no longer be a sport.

This is meant to be a reader participating column where I give you some news, you ask questions and hopefully I will have answers to your questions. You can send any questions you might have concerning sports collectibles to Bob’s Baseball Cards, 200 Army Post Road #22, Des Moines, IA 50315 or email to Bobplus5@aol.com. If we use your specific question for an article you will win a $5 gift certificate to Bob’s Baseball Cards. And don’t forget to listen to Bob’s Collectors Hour on Wednesday nights at 6:00pm on 107.1/96.1 The Jock.

Rose back in Baseball?

January 8, 2003

Pete Rose is big news again now that Bud Selig is entertaining the possibility of ending his suspension. I have been receiving a lot of questions regarding Pete Rose’s exclusion from the Baseball Hall-of-Fame and whether or not I think he should be allowed back into baseball. I say no!

Of course Mr. Rose’s baseball talents and the records he set while he was a player are Hall-of-Fame worthy. When he retired he was first all-time in Games Played, At Bats, and Hits. He was also second in Doubles, fourth in Runs and tenth in Walks. To finish your career in the top ten in SIX offensive categories is definitely a career worthy of inclusion into the Baseball Hall-of-Fame.

However, betting on the game while you are involved in the game can only be described as an attempt to destroy the integrity of the game. That is why there is very tough rules against gambling and associating with gamblers in all professional sports. If you knew that players, coaches, and managers were betting on a game, would you watch it? If you knew that due to gambling there might be a player that doesn’t perform at 100%, would you watch it? I’m sure the answer to both of those questions is NO.

Two of football’s biggest stars in the sixties, Paul Hornung and Iowa’s own Alex Karras, were both suspended for one year by the National Football League for simply betting with each other on which teams would win each week. Bowie Kuhn suspended Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle in the seventies for working at an Atlantic City casino as greeters. The suspension continued until they stopped their employment with the casino.

Of course the biggest gambling scandal in any sports was the 1919 Black Sox scandal. In 1920 the new baseball commissioner Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis permanently barred "Shoeless" Joe Jackson, Lefty Williams, Eddie Cicotte, and five other Chicago White players from organized baseball for their part in throwing the 1919 World Series. Those three players were all Hall-of-Fame candidates in their career.

Gambling is a very serious subject in sports. NO one associated with a sport can be allowed to gamble in any way with the sport they are participating in. If they do, they should be banned from anything to do with the sport forever. Period. It is just sad that someone with the statistics and love of the game like Pete Rose and Joe Jackson couldn’t overcome the seduction of easy money that gambling promises.

This is meant to be a reader participating column where I give you some news, you ask questions and hopefully I will have answers to your questions. You can send any questions you might have concerning sports collectibles to Bob’s Baseball Cards, 200 Army Post Road #22, Des Moines, IA 50315 or email to Bobplus5@aol.com. If we use your specific question for an article you will win a $5 gift certificate to Bob’s Baseball Cards. And don’t forget to listen to Bob’s Collectors Hour on Wednesday nights at 6:00pm on 107.1/96.1 The Jock.

What Are You Going to Collect in 2003?

January 1, 2003

I hope this article finds all of you well with another Christmas behind you and a brand new year ahead of you. What will you collect in 2003? There is so much to choose from it is sometimes mind boggling with what is available. As I am writing this article we have 43 different 2002 Football products on the shelf at Bob’s Baseball Cards with more to come.

Some former collectors say, "I quit collecting in the mid-nineties when there started to be too many products." I always say, "Having a lot of different products to choose from is a good thing because there is less of each individual card. In the early nineties, there were only a few brands to choose from but nearly all the cards from that time period are worthless because there are simply too many of them. With the card companies making so many different products, the production time required for each product causes them to produce less of each individual card."

I hear this question a lot, "What should I collect?" Of course that would depend on you. What do you like? Do you like a certain player or team? Do you want to complete a set or just collect the inserts? Are you looking for only the memorabilia and autographed cards? Do you like a certain brand of cards? Can you afford the expensive collectibles or must you limit yourself to the less expensive items? Would you rather just collect rookie cards because they are usually the highest priced cards of a player once he becomes a star? Are you more of a fan of the old timers or would you rather collect the stars of today? These are some of the questions you must answer before you can decide what you are going to collect.

Setting a budget is also real important. It seems like a silly thing to say but I have seen relationships ruined and credit cards run up beyond the customer’s ability to stay afloat. That is why we don’t use hard sell techniques and it is why we have a FREE layaway program at Bob’s Baseball Cards. It is up to you to spend what you can afford. This is probably more important than what you want to collect.

I end each of my radio shows on Wednesday nights on The Jock, 107.1/96.1 with the following message, "My best advice to someone that would like to participate in this great hobby is to find something you like, be it a player, a team, sets, award winners, rookies, autographs or whatever. Then set a budget and go after what you are collecting with a passion. If you need help starting your collection, stop in at Bob's Baseball Cards and we will help you get started."

Have a great New Years and we will look forward to seeing you at Bob’s Baseball Cards in 2003. This is meant to be a reader participating column where I give you some news, you ask questions and hopefully I will have answers to your questions. You can send any questions you might have concerning sports collectibles to Bob’s Baseball Cards, 200 Army Post Road #22, Des Moines, IA 50315 or email to Bobplus5@aol.com. If we use your specific question for an article you will win a $5 gift certificate to Bob’s Baseball Cards. And don’t forget to listen to Bob’s Collectors Hour on Wednesday nights at 6:00pm on 107.1/96.1 The Jock.

Emmitt Smith’s Record Breaking Memorabilia

December 25, 2002

Last week I listed the items that had the highest bids in MastroNet’s latest sports memorabilia auction. This week I will take you through some of the Emmitt Smith items that were sold in this auction. First I will correct an item from last week, as there were a couple of last minute bids on the Joe Jackson rookie era game used bat. This item sold for $179,591 which beats the $150,000 previously paid for a Black Beauty Joe Jackson bat a couple of years ago. This record will be broken when the bat that Babe Ruth used to hit the first home run in Yankee Stadium is auctioned next year. It is estimated that it will bring more that one million dollars!

On to the Emmitt Smith items. If you have ever seen Emmitt score a touchdown on television, you know that he keeps every ball. He has done that his entire career. When he was in high school, his goal was to retire with the most career rushing yards in the NFL. He also was memorabilia smart in that he kept footballs and other equipment throughout his career. To raise money for one of his charities, he auctioned some of his memorabilia.

The item that sold for the most was a Game Used Equipment Ensemble from Record Breaking Game. This lot included the jersey, helmet, cleats, mouthpiece and ankle/hand tape worn during the game on October 27, 2002 against the Seattle Seahawks. This was the game that he surpassed Walter Payton as the NFL’s all-time leading rusher. The jersey, helmet and cleats were also autographed by Emmitt and as all items in this auction came with a Letter of Authenticity from Emmitt Smith himself. This lot sold for $54,207.

The football that he used to score his first NFL touchdown on September 23, 1990 sold for $26,228. A lot of fourteen college football awards sold for $18,293. A couple of game used helmets had high bids of $14,317 and $9,777. The item with the lowest bid was a lot of game used gloves and cleats for $2,040.

And my favorite item was a football used in Emmitt Smith’s Most Memorable Game that sold for $14,317. This was from the January 2, 1994 game in which Emmitt secured his third consecutive rushing title with a 168 yard performance. However, the game will always be remembered for the way Emmitt got the yards. This game was against the New York Giants and the winner would win the Eastern Division Title and the loser would slip into the playoff as a wild card team and have to play all their playoff games on the road. Late in the second quarter Emmitt was tackled after a 46 yard run and suffered a grade-two separation of his right shoulder. This injury would keep any other running back out for the next month. With the game tied at the end of regulation, Emmitt carried the ball nine of eleven plays in overtime to position the ball for a game winning field goal. After the game, the CBS broadcaster John Madden approached Emmitt in the locker room and said, "My entire career I've never come down to a locker room. I came down to shake your hand. I've never seen a better performance than that." Wow!

If you get any cool memorabilia such as this for Christmas, email me or bring it to the shop and show it to me and I will talk about it in an upcoming article. Of course if I do that, for security purposes, your name will be left out of the article and I will just talk about the item.

This is meant to be a reader participating column where I give you some news, you ask questions and hopefully I will have answers to your questions. You can send any questions you might have concerning sports collectibles to Bob’s Baseball Cards, 200 Army Post Road #22, Des Moines, IA 50315 or email to Bobplus5@aol.com. If we use your specific question for an article you will win a $5 gift certificate to Bob’s Baseball Cards. And don’t forget to listen to Bob’s Collectors Hour on Wednesday nights at 6:00pm on 107.1/96.1 The Jock.

High End Collectibles are Mind Boggling

December 18, 2002

It is amazing the money the serious collectors spend on sports collectibles. As I write this article MastroNet’s latest auction is ending. The high bids on the top five items totaled $631,355! Holy Moly.

The top item is a 1952 Topps set with every card graded a PSA NM-MT 8. That’s right, every card a PSA NM-MT 8 with no qualifiers on any of the cards. Try to find one 1952 Topps card nice enough to be graded an 8 and you have found something. How about 407 of them. The person that put this set together spent 15 years hunting down all the cards of this set. The bizarre thing about this set is that it is said to only be the third best 1952 Topps set ever assembled. There is another set with all 8’s and two that are even better. The winning bid on this set was $240,671!

The second highest item is a "Shoeless" Joe Jackson 42oz, 35.5" rookie era game used bat. The high bid on this item was $140,713 which I believe would set a record for a bat that was held by a "Black Beauty" bat also used by Mr. Jackson. Mr. Jackson was and is such a legendary figure that memorabilia items once owned by him usually command very high prices. It is said that Babe Ruth copied his swing. He has the third highest career batting average, .357, and played the outfield so well that it is said that when Joe Jackson was in the outfield it turned into a place where triples go to die.

The third highest item in this auction was a 1933 Goudey Sports Kings complete set graded by PSA. This is a 48 card set that features sports legends of the time. The PSA graded cards consist of 9 PSA MINT 9’s, 37 PSA NM-MT 8’s, and 7 PSA NRMT 7’s. Remember this set was made in 1933!! This set includes cards of Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Babe Didrikson, Johnny Weissmuller, Knute Rockne, Red Grange, Jack Dempsey, Gene Sarazen and other sports legends. The high bid on this set was $96,256 with thirteen hours to go.

Another item that closed with a very high winning bid of $91,672 was a collection of 383 Old Judge baseball cards. These cards were issued from 1887 to 1890. There are 2000 cards in this set with 500 different players. There has never been a complete set assembled and it is a fact that no collector has even been able to acquire one card of each of the 500 players. That is how rare these cards are.

Emmitt Smith also had a lot of his memorabilia available in this auction, I will discuss those items next week. Each person that collects sports memorabilia looks at their collection and thinks the world of it. However, when we find out about the items in this article, suddenly our stuff seems insignificant. That’s okay though. We each collect what we can "afford" to collect and maybe someday we will be the ones buying collectibles such as the ones mentioned here.

This is meant to be a reader participating column where I give you some news, you ask questions and hopefully I will have answers to your questions. You can send any questions you might have concerning sports collectibles to Bob’s Baseball Cards, 200 Army Post Road #22, Des Moines, IA 50315 or email to Bobplus5@aol.com. If we use your specific question for an article you will win a $5 gift certificate to Bob’s Baseball Cards. And don’t forget to listen to Bob’s Collectors Hour on Wednesday nights at 6:00pm on 107.1/96.1 The Jock.

The Complicated Grading Game

December 11, 2002

If you buy a sports card that is graded a 10, that is good right? Not so fast sports fans. In the January 2003 Baseball Monthly Beckett, some poor guy named Clint was asking what was up with Beckett Grading. He had purchased two Beckett Graded, BCCG10, cards and was wondering what the difference between a BCCG graded card and one graded BGS. Beckett gave their usual canned response, so I will set the record strait right now. If a card was valued at $100 as a BGS10, a BCCG10 would be valued at about $10.

How can that be, you might ask. Well, I’m glad you asked. BGS, Beckett Grading Service, is a very fine grading service. In fact they are the toughest graders in the industry and BGS10’s are nearly impossible to get. A BGS10 is called "Pristine" and a BGS9.5 is Gem Mint.

BCCG, I don’t know what those letters stand for, was started by Beckett as a "bulk service in which the card receives more of an overall look with not as scrupulous inspection," to quote the article. What that bunch of bull means is this; BCCG was started for one of the Home Shopping Networks. They send thousands of cards to Beckett and they look at them and if they are not creased, they get a BCCG10. I’m exaggerating a bit with that last comment, but not by much. I have seen BCCG10’s with massive corner damage!

The worst part about all of this is that the Shopping Network that uses the BCCG grading service will give you this sales pitch; we will send you ten Beckett graded tens Michael Jordan cards for only $500! Sounds like a pretty good deal if you assume the Beckett graded tens are BGS10’s. What you will receive is ten BCCG10’s of cards that are only $0.50 to $10.00 to start with. A BCCG10 does NOT add any value to the cards so you get $50 to $100 worth of cards for only $500! Doesn’t sound like such a great deal now does it?

The moral to this story, don’t buy a "Beckett Graded Ten" unless you are sure it isn’t a BCCG10! I think Beckett has done the hobby a huge disservice with their BCCG bulk grading service. And if you have $500 to spend on sports cards, come to Bob’s Baseball Cards and we will make sure you get $500 to $1,000 worth of cards!

This is meant to be a reader participating column where I give you some news, you ask questions and hopefully I will have answers to your questions. You can send any questions you might have concerning sports collectibles to Bob’s Baseball Cards, 200 Army Post Road #22, Des Moines, IA 50315 or email to Bobplus5@aol.com. If we use your specific question for an article you will win a $5 gift certificate to Bob’s Baseball Cards. And don’t forget to listen to Bob’s Collectors Hour on Wednesday nights at 6:00pm on 107.1/96.1 The Jock.

Why are Autographs so Sloppy?

November 27, 2002

Have you tried to read an autograph written by today’s athletes? Try is about all you can do. Wait a minute, to quote Yoda, "there is no try, either you do or you don’t do." I guess you don’t try to read an autograph written by today’s athletes, you don’t because you can’t!

There are some autographs where the athlete doesn’t even attempt to make anything that looks like there name. Joe Montana, Michael Vick, Ladanian Tomlinson, and Cliff Floyd. Just a scribble that always looks the same. I guess it is that player’s "mark" since it obviously is no attempt to write their name.

In a recent edition of the Sports Collectors Digest, SCD, Stan Musial is quoted as saying, "It’s amazing that today’s younger players don’t have a good, legible autograph. Why sign an item if you can’t tell who it is? Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle, Red Schoendienst and I, and others, each have good, legible signatures. I think that’s very important." I couldn’t agree more.

I received an email from Gary B., he is a reader of this column, and he said he had an old baseball and he gave me the following details about the ball: "Names on the ball include Johnny Pesky, Jack Conway, Ken Sears, Dick Wakefield, Ted Williams, Schoolboy Rowe, Packy Rogers, Rollie Hemsley,. Mickey McGowen, Bob Kennedy, Ed Weland, Bob Lemon, Ned Harris and a number of others, some of which are blurred but could likely be deciphered by someone knowledgeable."

What was amazing about his account of the signatures on the ball is that he was able to read thirteen names on the ball most of which he had no idea of who they were! Could you do that with a ball signed by today’s athletes? Most of the signatures, or marks, would have to be "deciphered by someone knowledgeable."

Barry Bonds’ signature used to be a capital B, a capital B and a capital S. Last year when he was assaulting Mark McGwire’s home run record, he was advised by some to sign his name since we was charging $300+ for his signature. To his credit he now has a nice legible signature.

Muhammad Ali, whose health problems have limited his ability to sign his name, is one of the few athletes that understand that it is the FANS that have made him wealthy. Ali will sign until the last person in line got their item signed. And guess what, he will write even letter of that long first name. Today’s athletes could learn a lot from the greatest of all time and sign there name instead of their "mark."

This is meant to be a reader participating column where I give you some news, you ask questions and hopefully I will have answers to your questions. You can send any questions you might have concerning sports collectibles to Bob’s Baseball Cards, 200 Army Post Road #22, Des Moines, IA 50315 or email to Bobplus5@aol.com. If we use your specific question for an article you will win a $5 gift certificate to Bob’s Baseball Cards. And don’t forget to listen to Bob’s Collectors Hour on Wednesday nights at 6:00pm on 107.1/96.1 The Jock.

What is an MVP?

November 20, 2002

The Major League Baseball award season has just ended. Usually I feel everyone that receives an award is deserving of that award. Sometimes there is a close one that could go either way and the guy I think should have won the award doesn’t, but that is the way it goes sometimes. But this year’s American League Most Valuable Player award is an outrage!

Migel Tejada won the award due to his leading the Oakland Athletics on a twenty game winning streak and to the American League playoffs. Tejada batted .308, hit 35 home runs, had 131 RBI and had a .354 on base percentage. Alex Rodriguez who plays for the Texas Rangers finished in last place in the A.L. Western Division and finished 31 games behind Oakland. ARod batted .300, hit 57 home runs, had 142 RBI and had a .392 on base percentage on a bad team. Both players are shortstops and ARod won the Gold Glove for that position. So he had a better offensive year, was voted the best defensive shortstop, how can Tejada even be the Most Valuable Shortstop much less the MVP for the entire league?

I am getting real disgusted with the people who try to decide what the inventors of an award had in mind when they started the award. I have heard the following, "the MVP has always meant to be the player that helped their team get to the playoffs." So unless your team is in the playoffs, you can’t be an MVP? So if you are the best player in the league, and your team doesn’t make the playoffs, you don’t get to be the MVP? What if the Giants had not made the playoffs? Bonds would not have been the MVP? If I’m not mistaken, when the MVP award was invented, there wasn’t any playoffs. The two regular season league champions went to the World Series. So to use that definition, all the MVP’s before 1968 played in the World Series? I won’t even look that up because I know that isn’t true. In 1958 and 59 Ernie Banks won the N.L. MVP award as a shortstop with terrible Cubs teams. ARod’s statistics this year made Banks’ look like, well, a shortstop.

As far as collectibles go, I see Tejada’s rookie cards increasing in the near future. ARod’s cards might take a slight dip in price but they will bounce back. ARod may be the second best player in baseball right now, right behind Barry Bonds, so his collectibles won’t stay down for long. Speaking of Barry Bonds, if he would just keep his mouth shut and play baseball, his collectibles might have a chance to reach the heights his statistics have reached. Don’t look for Bonds collectibles to do anything, except maybe drop a little, during the off season.

In a few years from now when ARod hits his 500th, 600th, 700th and only God knows how many home runs, we will look back on 2002 and say, who were the idiots that voted for the MVP because ARod should have won it?

This is meant to be a reader participating column where I give you some news, you ask questions and hopefully I will have answers to your questions. You can send any questions you might have concerning sports collectibles to Bob’s Baseball Cards, 200 Army Post Road #22, Des Moines, IA 50315 or email to Bobplus5@aol.com. If we use your specific question for an article you will win a $5 gift certificate to Bob’s Baseball Cards. And don’t forget to listen to Bob’s Collectors Hour on Wednesday nights at 6:00pm on 107.1/96.1 The Jock.

Counterfeit Cards are Everywhere!

November 13, 2002

This article will not shine a favorable light on the business of card collecting; however, it is a story that needs to be told. High dollar cards that were produced in the 1980’s are easy targets for counterfeiters. The technology to reproduce an identical copy of the original card is there for the using by anyone with the money to get it started. You can find many of these illegally counterfeited cards on eBay. I discussed this subject on my radio show on The Jock, 107.1/96.1 a couple of months ago. I didn’t write an article about it then because other things were going on at the time. However, just recently, I was shown a counterfeit 1988 Emmitt Smith Florida Gator Burger King card. You can tell it is a counterfeit because every counterfeit known to exist of that card is missing the Burger King logo on the top right of the front of the card.

As soon as I determined the card was a counterfeit, I logged onto eBay and did a search for that card. There were five of them listed and two of them were counterfeits. That is 40% counterfeits! So I checked the ones that have sold in the last couple of months and guess what? Forty percent of the cards that have been sold were counterfeits! Holy Cow!

This Emmitt Smith card along with the hundreds of 1995 Taco Bell Kurt Warner Barnstormer counterfeit cards in the Des Moines area are pretty easy to recognize. However if you were to do an eBay search for the 1986-87 Fleer Michael Jordan Rookie Card, you will find many counterfeit cards being sold as counterfeits. Some of the sellers of those cards say, "you can’t tell the difference between this card and the original." Some are sold in lots of five or ten cards. The last time I checked 60% of the Jordan Rookie Cards on eBay were advertised as counterfeits. That doesn’t include the ones that are not advertised as counterfeits.

There are some cards that you should never purchase unless it has already been graded and authenticated by either PSA, BGS or SGC. These cards are the Jordan Rookie, 1984 Fleer update Kirby Puckett and Roger Clemens. There are others but that is all I can discuss in this article. The first person that comes into the store and correctly tells me how you can tell the difference between a counterfeit 1995 Taco Bell Kurt Warner and an original one will win a $5 Gift Certificate to Bob’s Baseball Cards. I will also mention you in next week’s article and then everyone will know how to tell the difference.

This is meant to be a reader participating column where I give you some news, you ask questions and hopefully I will have answers to your questions. You can send any questions you might have concerning sports collectibles to Bob’s Baseball Cards, 200 Army Post Road #22, Des Moines, IA 50315 or email to Bobplus5@aol.com. If we use your specific question for an article you will win a $5 gift certificate to Bob’s Baseball Cards. And don’t forget to listen to Bob’s Collectors Hour on Wednesday nights at 6:00pm on 107.1/96.1 The Jock.

Selig VS Rose is Dollars VS Sense.

November 6, 2002

Riverfront Stadium AKA Cinergy Field, in Cincinnati, Ohio recently had it’s last Major League baseball game played in it due to the fact that it will be tore down during the off season. A new ball park has been built and the Reds will play there starting in 2003. Of course the Reds had a ceremony in the last game there with all the stars from the past Reds teams in attendance. Baseball Hall-of-Fame members Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, and Tony Perez were there. Dave Concepcion, Rob Dibble, Jack Billingham, Ken Griffey, Sr., Paul O’Neill, Cesar Geronimo, George Foster, Eric Davis, Chris Sabo and other members of World Champion Reds teams from the past were there.

What? No Pete Rose? Baseball’s All-time Hit King wasn’t there? Nope. Bud Selig wouldn’t allow it since Rose is banned from Major League Baseball due to his gambling problems while he was a manager for the Reds. So Pete Rose had to throw a softball game the next night to officially close Cinergy Field. That’s right, a softball game. 40,000 fans showed up to cheer Charlie Hustle and the stars mentioned above in his last appearance in the stadium where the Big Red Machine once dominated opposing teams.

So, if Pete Rose is not allowed to participate in Major League Baseball functions, what was he doing in Pacific Bell Park during the pre-game festivities of game 3 of the World Series? Answer; Money. The company that was sponsoring, read paying a lot of money, the Baseball’s Most Memorable Moments promotion was Master Card. They apparently told Mr. Selig, if you want our money, Pete Rose will be at the ceremony if he is in the top ten. Of course when it comes to dollars, Mr. Selig is not as dumb as he looks. So there was Pete Rose, tipping his cap to a sold out Major League Baseball crowd even though he is banned from such events. The same thing happened at the 1998 All Star game at Fenway Park when the nominees for the All Century Team were announced. Again, it was Master Card pulling the purse strings.

Maybe Master Card should start sponsoring the Baseball Hall-of-fame and maybe Rose will have a chance to be voted into that exclusive club. Pete Rose’s Rookie Card is 1963 card number 537 and lists for $800. At one time it was valued at $1,600. Being banned from the Hall-of-Fame caused that price drop. Rose cards are good investments if you believe that the ban will be lifted some day. The huge ovations that Rose receives when he is at those events shows what the fans think of Charlie Hustle. I believe that some day, a Pete Rose plaque will reside in Cooperstown.

This is meant to be a reader participating column where I give you some news, you ask questions and hopefully I will have answers to your questions. You can send any questions you might have concerning sports collectibles to Bob’s Baseball Cards, 200 Army Post Road #22, Des Moines, IA 50315 or email to Bobplus5@aol.com. If we use your specific question for an article you will win a $5 gift certificate to Bob’s Baseball Cards. And don’t forget to listen to Bob’s Collectors Hour on Wednesday nights at 6:00pm on 107.1/96.1 The Jock.

Is Your Autographed Memorabilia Authentic?

October 30, 2002

One of the things we preach at Bob’s Baseball Cards is making sure you purchase your autographed memorabilia from reputable companies. With that in mind a recent story in the Sports Collectors Digest really drives home that point.

Some of the guys that went to prison a few years ago in the FBI’s Operation Bullpen are now completing their sentences and are speaking up about the autographed memorabilia business. The article quotes a couple of the convicted forgers and what they have to say about the 500 Home Run Club autographed memorabilia is shocking! They say that 90 to 98 percent of the autographed memorabilia of the 500 Home Run club members is fake.

Even a PSA/DNA spokesperson was quoted as saying that they have received many baseballs with 500 Home Run Club members and the only autograph on the ball that is authentic is Eddie Murray’s. Which means that that person must have purchased a 500 Home Run Club ball before Murray hit his 500th home run, and then had Murray autograph the ball at a show.

In the early ninety’s there was a couple of 500 Home Run Club shows where you could attend the show and for around $170 get every living member of this exclusive club to sign your item. These members included Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Frank Robinson, Harmon Killebrew, Reggie Jackson, Mike Schmidt, Mickey Mantle, Willie McCovey, Ted Williams, Ernie Banks, Eddie Mathews and Eddie Murray. This included all the members of this club at that time except Babe Ruth, Mel Ott, and Jimmie Foxx. Since then Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and Eddie Murray have been added to the club. Soon after the shows the demand for items autographed by these players was way higher than the supply. Forgers took this huge demand and started forging items including the beautiful Ron Lewis print. They all said in the article that it was so easy that they couldn’t help themselves. Greed must have taken over and they couldn’t stop until they were caught.

The PSA/DNA people say that the Mantle and Williams autographs on the balls are pretty good but that some of the others are awful. But since the Mantle and Williams are on the sweet spot, that is where the forgers did their best work. They also said there are probably thousands of items out there that people own and just don’t want to send in to get authenticated because of the fear that it might come back as a fake.

It is my opinion that this particular issue will keep being an issue for the next fifty to hundred years. If you would like to see the whole article, stop on in, as I will keep it on hand. It is an important reference piece for the hobby. My thanks go to Rocky Landsverk of the Sports Collectors Digest for doing the research and writing the article.

This is meant to be a reader participating column where I give you some news, you ask questions and hopefully I will have answers to your questions. You can send any questions you might have concerning sports collectibles to Bob’s Baseball Cards, 200 Army Post Road #22, Des Moines, IA 50315 or email to Bobplus5@aol.com. If we use your specific question for an article you will win a $5 gift certificate to Bob’s Baseball Cards. And don’t forget to listen to Bob’s Collectors Hour on Wednesday nights at 6:00pm on 107.1/96.1 The Jock.

Current Events Can Change Sports Card Values

October 23, 2002

What causes the values of Sports Cards to go up and down when a player is in the news on the front page instead of the sports page? The answer to that question is the same answer I give to any question about changing sports card values, supply and demand. Supply and demand determines the retail price of any item. In order for the supply or demand to change something must happen to cause the change. So when the news about a player is positive, values tend to increase because the demand increases and vise versa.

Let’s take my favorite sports character, Randy Moss, the alleged wide receiver for the Minnesota Vikings. Mr. Moss is NOT one of my favorite athletes every since last season when he said that "he will only play hard when he wants to and no one can make him." Every since that day I have been selling Randy Moss items for 50% off. And guess what, I still have most of the Randy Moss items I had since that statement was made. Why is that? Mr. Moss was one of my biggest sellers before that statement, and now I can’t give the stuff away.

His statement has angered fans, especially Vikings fans, to the point that some of them are embarrassed to even acknowledge that he is a Viking. This season he has gotten himself into even more trouble by knocking down a traffic officer with his vehicle and having marijuana found in the same vehicle. Not to mention that through 5 games this season he has caught 36 passes, 2 for touchdowns, and only 8.8 yards per catch. These numbers are all way down from his previous years and the Vikings are 1 - 4.

In the Beckett Football price guide some of his stuff has started to go down. I look for Mr. Moss’ collectibles to start to drop any time now. There are a lot of Vikings fans in the Des Moines area but very few of them are interested in purchasing Randy Moss collectibles even at 50% off.

When Pete Rose got into trouble and was banished from baseball, his cards decreased by 50%! Kirby Puckett has had domestic troubles and just recently completed a divorce that was a result of those troubles, his cards have decreased. So when you are collecting cards and memorabilia and are hoping for price increases, you also need to hope that those players not only play well, but that they keep their headlines on the sports page and not on the front page.

This is meant to be a reader participating column where I give you some news, you ask questions and hopefully I will have answers to your questions. You can send any questions you might have concerning sports collectibles to Bob’s Baseball Cards, 200 Army Post Road #22, Des Moines, IA 50315 or email to Bobplus5@aol.com. If we use your specific question for an article you will win a $5 gift certificate to Bob’s Baseball Cards. And don’t forget to listen to Bob’s Collectors Hour on Wednesday nights at 6:00pm on 107.1/96.1 The Jock.

Vintage Collecting is an Old Ball Game

October 16, 2002

Collecting new cards and vintage cards are almost two different hobbies. You very seldom see them mixed. Oh yea just about every collector that collects new cards has a beat up 1968 Topps Curt Flood card or something along those lines but that doesn’t mean they are a vintage collector.

The first mistake a "new" vintage collector makes is not adjusting the Beckett price due to condition. I have always contended that condition is 90% of the Beckett value in the price guide. The first thing you should do if you are considering purchasing vintage cards is to pick up a Beckett Sports Collectibles Vintage price guide and magazine at your local card store. This publication deals only in vintage Baseball and Football cards and memorabilia. It’s price guide starts with the world famous T206 tobacco set from 1909 - 1911. The articles alone in this publication are full of interesting information. Not a month has gone by that I haven’t learned something from that publication. What is the definition of a vintage card? Beckett defines it as a card from 1980 and older.

Once you have purchased the Beckett Vintage price guide the first thing you should do is to read the page that is titled Vintage Sports Cards and is sub-titled How to Use and Condition Guide. That page can be found right before the price guide section of the guide. Once this page is read, reread and understood, you will then be ready to use the price guide. When trying to figure out the condition of your card it is important to look at it like you were going to purchase it and are very picky. Look for defects in the card included manufacturing defects like centering, wax and gum stains. Look for reasons NOT to purchase the card. With that attitude, you will usually come to a pretty accurate grade. Once you decide on a grade, look at the chart on the How to Use and Condition Guide to see what percent of the "book" price the is.

Lets say you have 1963 Topps card #200 of Mickey Mantle that is listed in the price guide at $450. It is centered 75/25 and the corners and edges are razor sharp and there are no stains of any kind. The borders are snow white and the back is also nice. Sounds like a MINT card doesn’t it? Not so fast baseball card breath! What about the centering? A card centered 75/25 can be no better than a Excellent grade which means the card is valued at 20 to 40% of the listed price. It would probably command a little higher price since the rest of the card is so nice but the centering will keep the card from coming anywhere near $250.

Collecting vintage cards is a real fun part of this hobby. It takes more work and a lot more hunting to find nice cards but the rewards are great when you complete a vintage set and are able to sit back and look at the heroes of the past and read about them on the card backs. Real nice looking cards in Excellent condition can be easily found and lesser grades are even more plentiful. It is the high grade, Near Mint and higher when the cards become much more expensive. A MINT example of the card discussed above would be valued at 250% of the guide.

This is meant to be a reader participating column where I give you some news, you ask questions and hopefully I will have answers to your questions. You can send any questions you might have concerning sports collectibles to Bob’s Baseball Cards, 200 Army Post Road #22, Des Moines, IA 50315 or email to Bobplus5@aol.com. If we use your specific question for an article you will win a $5 gift certificate to Bob’s Baseball Cards. And don’t forget to listen to Bob’s Collectors Hour on Wednesday nights at 6:00pm on 107.1/96.1 The Jock.

New Card’s Values Change Quickly

October 9, 2002

Why do the price guide values of new cards fluctuate so much when the vintage cards stay the same? The answer to that question can be answered in two ways; performances & production levels. I will explain both below.

New cards go up and down with the performances of the athletes themselves. Kind of like the stock market. When a player is going good, Tom Brady, up goes their card prices! When they are performing badly or get hurt, Kurt Warner, down they go. Supply and demand is the biggest factor that decides the price on any item that you buy. The demand is fueled by a player’s performance on and off, Randy Moss, the field.

Production levels and the fact that another product fighting for your dollar will show up next week also is a big factor. The demand is high when a new product arrives. That demand moves quickly to another product when it arrives. This will cause the price of a card to be high and then drop as the demand moves on to other products.

The 2001 Playoff Contenders football product is a perfect example of supply causing huge fluctuations in a product’s pricing but in a positive manner. When that product was released late last year everyone was after the high profile rookies like Michael Vick. Then in April of this year Donruss Playoff announced that most of the rookie cards of lesser sought after rookies had print runs of less than two-hundred each! Cards that were $25 are now over $300! The price guide values of those cards have increased in every price guide since that announcement. The lack of supply caused a huge increase in the demand so the prices have soared.

With vintage cards, the supply actually goes down slightly as cards get lost in house fires, thrown away, or whatever while the demand is always going up slightly as more and more collectors decide to go back and collect some of the members of the hall-of-fame. This is why if a vintage card has a change in price, it is usually going up. Since these players don’t play anymore the demand side of the equation due to performance usually will stay somewhat constant. However, off field situations like death, Ted Williams, or family problems, Ted Williams’ family fighting over his remains, domestic problems, Kirby Puckett, or other situations like Pete Rose’s gambling that lead to his being kicked out of baseball.

In a simplified version, that is why new cards jump up and down and vintage cards remain pretty steady. Next week I will discuss the importance of condition in vintage cards. Condition usually is not an issue with new cards because they are immediately put into protective sleeves. You can tell an expert collector that checks the condition of even new cards before purchasing.

This is meant to be a reader participating column where I give you some news, you ask questions and hopefully I will have answers to your questions. You can send any questions you might have concerning sports collectibles to Bob’s Baseball Cards, 200 Army Post Road #22, Des Moines, IA 50315 or email to Bobplus5@aol.com. If we use your specific question for an article you will win a $5 gift certificate to Bob’s Baseball Cards. And don’t forget to listen to Bob’s Collectors hour on Wednesday nights at 6:00pm on 107.1/96.1 The Jock.

Local Card Shops VS Internet

October 2, 2002

Go to eBay.com and you will find that sports cards are one of the largest categories. You can get some good deals on eBay, however, the following must happen before you receive your merchandise. The seller will require you to pay for the shipping that can be as much as $5 for a single card. You will either have to write a check, get a money order or a cashier’s check; address and put a stamp on an envelope and mail it to the person selling the item. Or you can give your credit card number to someone you don’t know and hope that when you receive your statement that the charge is for the correct amount and that additional charges do not show up at a later date. The Internet has become the number one place that credit card fraud happens.

Then you will keep checking your mailbox and hope the item arrives. When the item does arrive the fun begins. Is the item what you ordered? Is it in the condition that it was advertised? Was it packaged professionally and did the packaging prevent the item from being damaged? If the answer to any of those questions is no, will you be able to get your money back?

At a card store the shopping experience is much different. You get to see what you are purchasing. In many cases you will have several of the same items to choose from. You do not have to pay shipping and handling charges AND you get to take the item home right after you pay for it! Usually there are some drawings or contests going on at most shops that will allow you the chance to win something.

I know this article sounds like a bunch of whining about the Internet from a Hobby Shop owner. Not so! Bob’s Baseball Cards has a web site and has had one for six years. Actually, I’m just pointing out the facts. The Internet is a great place to find that tough item that you have not been able to find locally. However, if everyone decides to do all their shopping on the Internet, there will be no reason for local shops to survive. If that happens, do you know how much shipping charges are when you buy twenty-five monster boxes for your collection? That’s right, twenty-five is the minimum order along with a case of forty packs of top loaders or one hundred packs of soft sleeves.

Two card shops in the Des Moines area are in the process of closing which makes four this year. The ones that are left are mostly strong shops with good customer bases. However, they will continue to need your support and most will show their appreciation by having contests, thank you boxes, fantasy sports games, pack war nights, bid boards, trading nights, good report card programs and other ways of having a great time. Visiting a card shop is fun. Visit your friendly neighborhood card store often and have a great time enjoying this great hobby!

This is meant to be a reader participating column where I give you some news, you ask questions and hopefully I will have answers to your questions. You can send any questions you might have concerning sports collectibles to Bob’s Baseball Cards, 200 Army Post Road #22, Des Moines, IA 50315 or email to Bobplus5@aol.com. If we use your specific question for an article you will win a $5 gift certificate to Bob’s Baseball Cards. And don’t forget to listen to Bob’s Collectors hour on Wednesday nights at 6:00pm on 107.1/96.1 The Jock.

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