Step back in time - Tuff Stuff 2000

I was going through a few things a couple of weeks ago from when I was younger. I wasn't looking for anything in particular, I was just bored. I found a few baseball scrap books that contained some baseball newspaper clippings, Giants tickets and also a Tuff Stuff price guide from April 2000.

Now I'm actually a big fan of price guides, more specifically Beckett. I enjoy the articles and reviews that accompany them, as well as the occasional interview. The price guide is also used alot but mostly as a checklist more than to see how much my cards are worth.

I have picked up two Becketts this last year. I picked up the first one just to see what had changed in the hobby and to get a good idea of what sets were released in the nine years I was away. The second one I picked up because it included all the sets from 2009 as well as a couple from 2010. I will probably pick up another one towards the end of the year or early 2011.

The point of this post is to show just how much the collecting world had changed since April 2000 til now.

Tuff Stuff is a price guide that covers all the major North American sports but I was only interested in the baseball stuff. The issue I have has Mark McGwire on the front and the issue has articles regarding McGwire's 1985 Topps RC and also a list of the hardest signatures to get from various sports.

I thought the McGwire RC article is very interesting from today's perspective. McGwires exploits on and off the field have been well documented and you either love him or hate him. Sure the guy took steroids during the bulk of his career, including the 1998 season when he hit 70 home runs. At the time it was fairly common knowledge that he was using some sort of performance enhancing substance but this was not really addressed at the time. It was not until a few years later when the fans started to turn against him and other big stars of the time. The article features a sliding scale of McGwires RC from its issue in 1985 right up to 2000. I wont list every year but here's a few below.

1985 - .50

1987 - $12

1990 - $18

1993 - $30

1995 - $8

1998 - $90

2000 - $200

How much is the card worth now? Well I can say its not $200 and will probably never be worth that much ever again, unless its a graded gem mint copy. According to COMC the cards current value is $30 but you can pick one up for $6.

That's a huge decrease in value and I'm sure the people who invested in his RC lost a lot of money and there are probably still a few people oblivious to the fact the card is not as big as it once was and are just sitting on it.

In comparison, I wonder what Strasburgs cards will look like in ten years time? The low numbered cards should hold their value for a long, long time but what about the base and base chromes? Will they still be worth $30/$50? Nope. You could probably get one for less then $10 by next year.

The other part of the guide has a piece on the top ten hardest signatures to get along with a brief write up of why their sigs are tough to get. I'm not familiar with some of the names but I'll list them anyway.

They are:

1 - Mark McGwire - Tough because he simply does not sign often.

2 - Patrick Ewing - It says he only really signs for friends and teammates.

3 - Mark Messier - Will only sign through Steiner Sports.

4 - Al Davis - It says he simply does not like signing.

5 - Kevin Garnett - It says he wont sign due to people profiting on his name. He tells fans 'Not now, dog'.

6 - Tiger Woods - It says he has a high amount of security and its tough to get to him.

7 - Eddie Murray - It says he will only sign at conventions.

8 - Scottie Pippin -It says he will pretend to be on a cell phone so he can ignore everyone.

9 - Deion Sanders - It says he doesn't have the time.

10 - Randy Moss - It says hes moody and will walk right past anyone asking for a sig.

Out of the above list I would personally only want two autos. The McGwire and the Woods but the chances of me getting any are slim. Tiger Woods will actually be half a mile from my house when the Ryder cup starts so I may get an opportunity if I happen to run into him though I doubt very much I will.

Have any of you guys gotten an auto from the above list? and I'm talking IP or TTM. I know the list is ten years out of date but I was just curious to see if anything had changed over time. That maybe the players had mellowed out and embraced the fans.

Theres a lot more in this magazine but I'll save that for another time.

One more thing. We need more people to fill out a 2010 A&G casebreak. Either get in touch with me or follow the link for more details.

New vintage Bobby Thomson for the collection

Hi Folks.

A few posts back I wrote about a new card I picked up. I was very excited to get the card and wanted to show it off immediately so I used the scan from COMC and give it a little write up. Well yesterday the package arrived and I had the card in hand.

The card on the right is a sweet looking 1949 Bowman Bobby Thomson. I'm very pleased with the overall look of the card and was very surprised to how much better it looked than the scan from COMC.

The back of the card is interesting too.

Notice the lack of stats that you would normally expect to find. It also makes mention of his military service, which is interesting to see. There's also a small bit about his minor league and rookie year. They don't mention much about his 1948 season other than he slumped to .248 average. At the bottom of the card is an offer for a baseball ring. All you needed was three wrappers and 15cents and you would have been able to get an adjustable, durable metal ring with a white plastic emblem. I wonder how many of these rings are around now? Has anyone seen one?

Enough about the ring, back to Thomson. 1949 was a great year for Thomson. He had career highs in RBI's and BA. But no-one knows that stuff! I had to look it up online, thank you wikipedia. The Flying Scot is remembered mostly for one thing and that is the 'Shot Heard 'Round the World'. I'm sure you all know the story so I wont go over it again.

The picture at the top also features two other Thomson cards. On the left is the 1953 Redman that I wrote about a while back and the middle is a 1958 Topps that I picked up a few months ago. The reason I choose this picture is to show off the different sizes of the cards. The Redman is a Giant compered to the other two. The 58 is a standard size card and the 49 is tiny. I'm glad that cards nowadays aren't as big as the Redman because its a pain to store and takes up more that its fair share of the box its in. I'm a big fan of smaller cards so I quite like it but I'm not a fan of the shape, its too square as opposed to the regular mini cards from Ginter and T206 that have a more rectangular shape.

Overall the Bowman is cool! And its also the oldest card I own.

Prize from Fuji

Hi folks.

Today has been a great day! Not only did I get cards from COMC but also my prize from Sanjosefuji arrived. Its been a long couple of weeks with nothing but bills coming through my door so seeing these two bubble mailers waiting for me when I came home from work made me very happy.

I'm not going to show you my COMC haul just yet, I'm saving that for a later post so its all about my amazing prize package.

As most of you were aware, Fuji ran an outstanding contest a few weeks back where everyone who participated had a chance to win one of many different prizes. They ranged from TTM baseball cards and 1/1 printing plate to signed hockey cards and a complete 2008 TNA set. I choose the TNA set since I have no wrestling cards and I thought that would be a good start to a collection.

TNA is not my first choice for a wrestling product as I have always been a fan of the WWE but I must say over the past few months TNA have been trying very hard to put out some good story lines and matches. If you look at the TNA roster you will find its full of guys (and gals) that have generally fallen out of favour with Mr McMahon or have failed one to many drugs test with the WWE. Just because they don't wrestle for the WWE does not mean they aren't good performers.

The set I was sent was from 2008 so some of the guys have since left, been sacked or have moved into different roles to what they were two years ago.

First up lets take a look at the wrestlers that make it hard for a wrestling fan to be taken seriously.

Shark Boy, Curry Man and Super Eric. What the hell can I say about these guys?! Anyone out there who is a wrestling fan knows that when someone takes a cheap shot at you for enjoying watching wrestling its because they have seen guys like this perform. These guys are aimed at kids and are mostly used in comedy or squash matches. I don't have anything good to say about any of these guys although Shark Boy did have his moments and Super Eric is much better as Eric Young.

Next are some WWE/WWF legends. Well they aren't all legends but they were some of my favourites from way back when.

In the top picture we have Kip James and BG James. In the WWE they were Mr Ass and Road Dogg Jesse James. Together they were the New Age Outlaws and they RULED!! Road Dogg had amazing mic skills and Mr Ass.... Well Mr Ass was his partner. Not like a life partner or anything just a tag team partner. They were part of the DX faction that 'ran' the attitude era of WWF or the Golden age as I like to call it. Also in the picture Gail Kim who is back in the WWE where she belongs. I'm going to step out on a limb and say that she is probably the best female wrestler around today (better than Awesome Kong) which is not hard to say considering the majority of female wrestlers are employed for one thing or is that two things? I tend to avoid female wrestling because its embarrassing to watch unless its a bra or panties match but that's for the pervert in me.

The bottom three are Vince Russo (Not a legend but a very hated man for various reasons) Jim Cornette, a legendary manager and promoter and Kevin Nash. Nash was one of the big guns in the mid 90's when he wrestled as Diesel. He was world champion in the WWF and from what I hear was well respected by all. He left for WCW and took over there making WCW the number one show. He came back to the WWE in 2001 as part of the invasion storyline when Shane McMahon bought WCW and brought them in to take over the WWE.

The bottom picture features Christian Cage, now back in the WWE wrestling as Christian. He has been very successful wherever he wrestled and is a big fan favourite. Next is Kurt Angle, the Olympic champion. He was one of my favourite champions when he was a heel (wrestling talk for bad guy) but when he turned face (wrestling talk for good guy) I sort of lost interest. Angle won gold for wrestling (the boring 'real' kind) back in 96 and was brought into the WWF in 98 as a clean cut all American that happened to have a superiority complex making him think he was better than everyone else. I remember going to a RAW event in Sacramento when he rode a milk truck into the arena and blasted Stone Cold and the WCW roster with a milk from a giant hosepipe. Oh its true, its true.

The other guys are referee Earl Hebner who was the official for the infamous Montreal screw-job. He was fired I believe for selling merchandise through his brothers business. Jeff Jerrett who didnt get the respect he deserved in the WWF. He later went on to establish TNA but has been plagued with injuries for a long time. Rhino, who was Rhyno in WWE was a former ECW wrestler and basically a monster in the ring. I can still hear good ol' J.R. scream "GORE, GORE, GORE" when Rhyno destroyed an opponent. Finally we have Booker T, he hit the WWF with the invasion storyline. He was basically a poor imitation of The Rock but later when he became King Booker he was very entertaining.

This post is much longer than I anticipated, unfortunately there is more so please keep reading.

Here are some of the TNA legends.

Jay Lethal who has a great gimmick going. Basically his act is Macho Man Randy Savage. Hes very entertaining because of this throw back act. Brother Devon and Brother Ray who were the Dudley Boys in the WWF. They were memorable for putting old women through tables. I'm not joking! Ray, or Bubba Ray as he was known once put Mae Young, an 80 year old through a table while jumping off the entrance ramp. This caused a little bit of controversy if I remember rightly. I just thought it was funny. Mae was fine and still make appearances.

The bottom pictures feature Scott Steiner on the left. Steroids is his middle name. The guy is massive! On the right we have AJ Styles who is has had some memorable feuds and title reigns.

The guy in the middle is the legendary Sting! This guy has been wrestling for as long as I can remember and has always been a joy to watch. He made it big in WCW and was their number one guy. He showed alot of loyalty to WCW and didnt jump ship to WWF when they bought the organisation. He doesn't appear to often due to his many injuries but when he does you can guarantee he will bring the house down. There has been some talk that the WWE are going to induct him in the WWE hall of fame. Since they own the back catalogue of WCW matches that feature him. I don't know if Sting will accept or not since he has never worked for the company. It will be interesting to see what will happen in April when the ceremony takes place. If he is inducted he will join greats such as Andre the Giant, Brett the Hitman Hart and Pete Rose. Yes Pete Rose is in the WWE hall of fame!

Nearly finished now...

Fuji also included an autograph with the prize and I'm thankful it is someone who I'm familiar with.

Eric Young is a wrestler who focuses alot on comedy. Scroll back up and you can see his alter ego 'Super Eric'. I enjoy the comedy aspect of wrestling although I'm aware that a lot of people don't. I like a good mix of story lines, wrestling and comedy in my wrestling whereas some just want to see the wrestling. Currently Young's persona is that of a mentally challenged individual caused by a bump to the head. He plays the part very well but wont get anywhere with it. There's no room at the top for a gimmick like this.

That pretty much wraps up my prize although Fuji did include a few Giants cards and also at the top of this post an autographed card of himself, which by the way is very cool! I now have two autos from the blogosphere. A Chris Harris one of one and the Fuji card.

Anyway thanks a lot Fuji, you made my day!

Group break

Hi folks.
Redsox101 over at Sportscardradio is arranging a break with some nice baseball products.
Follow this link for more details and join up!!

Ebay seller makes me laugh

Hi folks.
Just a small post to let you know I'm still kicking.
During my daily Ebay scan for new cards, which by the way has been great the past few weeks with newer cards being listed such as 2010 Ginter and Heritage, I came across one of the 'normal' listings you would expect to find on the UK bay and that's a massive lot of junk from 88-92. I almost always check these sort of listing's because there may be a hidden gem in there somewhere although I have never found one.
This auction is no different. A mountain of junk with a low start. I'm not bidding on this item but I just wanted to bring it to your attention because it gave me a chuckle.
Just click the link and read the second line. You have to love an honest seller who calls them as he sees them.

Some new pick ups

Hi Folks.

This post is a little premature since I don't actually have the following cards in hand but I don't care, I just want to show them! I mostly set out get some cards to trade so I hit the forums, Ebay, COMC and other blogs to see if there was anything out there that I would consider a good deal. I wont bore you with the trade bait that I picked up, well not until a later post when I have them in hand. I just want to show two cards that I picked up from COMC. I stole the scans.




1949 Bowman Bobby Thomson. Who doesn't like vintage? Not quite his RC but only a year removed. Sure it looks a little rough around the edges and a little faded but it will be the oldest card in my collection and will look great next to the other Thomsons. I have a few other Thomsons from the 50's but they don't feature him in a Giants uniform and in my opinion don't look as good so I doubt I'll ever post them.

Secondly a JT Snow 1994 Signature Rookies Draft Picks Signatures numbered to ONLY 7750! This card in my opinion was an absolute steal at only $2! JT snow was the Giants first baseman when I first got into baseball and at the time my favourite player. He is also the first player auto that I ever owned. An auto that I picked up from the Giants store in San Francisco. Its on an official NL MLB ball and I loved it! In fact I still have the ball and its actually displayed in my house much to the dismay of my wife. I was thinking of putting this card with the ball but my cat goes for the cards so it will have to stay in a box.
Thats it for now although I still have credit on COMC so I might pick something else up.

Fujis contest is over and there is a winner...

ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

During the past few weeks Sanjosefuji has been hosting a great contest that has gotten a lot of interest from a lot of people.
He had an amazing and diverse assortment of prizes that could be won, including TTM auto'd baseball cards, complete sets, packs, a 1/1 printing plate and also some oddball stuff like Garbage pail kids and the 4400. Fuji stated that the winner would get to pick what ever prize they wanted and the others would be randomed off between the runners up.

Since I won I could pick whatever I wanted. I choose some cards that I have been wanting to collect for a while and that's wrestling cards! I picked a set of 2008 TNA Impact wrestling cards with a random auto from the set, I'm hoping for a Nash, Jarrett or Christian Cage but to be honest I'll take anything! Just please no Shark Boy! Fuji recently busted a ton of this stuff, go check that out.

So its a big thanks to Fuji for his amazing, well thought out contest. I still cant believe I won!