WWE Icons sticker pack break.

Fuji posted about about some soccer cards that he got of the Japanese national team and if any of his readers collect anything else other then the big three, baseball, basketball and football.

I commented that I used to collect premier league stickers back when I was in school and that I also sometimes pick up the odd pack of soccer cards from the local shop.

Well that gave me an itch that I had to scratch, so I set off in search of a pack of soccer cards. I knew I would have a few to choose from, whether it be a pack of Topps Attack or some EPL stickers and maybe some other brand too. So I picked up my dinner for the evening (Minted lamb burgers, YEAH BABY!) and made my way to the cigarette counter where they keep the cards and stickers. Anyone else think that's an odd place to keep them? Next to the sign that says smoking kills? Anyway I queued up, bought a lotto ticket and had a look at what soccer cards that they had. There were none! Not one pack. My choice was Top Gear cards, which is from a TV show about cars, some cartoon stickers like Toy Story 3 and some other cartoon show that I didnt recognise. Tucked in the corner were some WWE Icon stickers so I thought why not and picked up a single pack.

I wasn't expecting much from the pack but it was still a nice break and I was surprised at how much fun it was to open.

The picture above is the pack it came in. I should have taken the picture before opening the pack but I didnt.

Each pack contains 6 stickers. There are no autos or game used in the packs, which is the norm for any cards/sticker you buy in the UK.

The pack came with five small sticker and one larger sticker, which I thought was odd. I'll show you the smaller stickers first and leave the big one until the end, since I would consider it the 'hit' of the pack.

I got two profile pictures of Michelle McCool and the Awesome CM Punk.

Michelle McCool was the first WWE Diva to hold both the Women's Championship and the WWE Diva Championship. The women's wrestling in the WWE is terrible at best, its just a lot of hair whipping and slaps. Not there's anything wrong with that, its just not what it used to be when the WWE was aimed at an older audience. I guess since Linda McMahon (The owners wife) is running for the senate they have dumbed it all down alot. McCool recently unified both the Women's and Diva titles at the Night of Champions PPV.

Next to her is CM Punk. Now this guy can wrestle! He is currently the leader of the SES, or the straight edge society. He started making waves in the wrestling world a long time before being signed by the WWE and I was very excited to see what he would do once he was signed. In the few short years in the WWE he has been the Heavyweight champion three times, not bad considering his size. Hes six foot one and weighs 220 pounds, which is not huge when you put him next to the likes of the Undertaker (six foot ten, 300 pounds). But hes fast and very athletic. Hes currently a heel and living up to his 'straight edge' persona while trying to push that onto everyone else in the WWE.

Next are three action shots. Two come from Wrestlemania and one from Raw. For those of you that don't know Wrestlemania is the World Series, Super Bowl and FA Cup final all rolled into one! Its the most watched wrestling event of the year and its usually excellent.

We'll start at the top and go clockwise.

That's the Undertaker pinning the 'Heartbreak Kid' Shawn Micheals in a career Vs Streak match at Wrestlemania 26. What that means is that if Micheals loses he has to quit and if 'Taker loses he loses his streak of being undefeated in every Wrestlemania. It was known months before that Micheals was leaving the company to spend time with his family so it was obvious who was going to win. Did that stop them from giving it their all? Hell no! This was the best match of the entire night. Both guys have many injuries from years of abusing their bodies with crazy stunts but you would never been able to tell that night. They both looked fresh and ready to wrestle for an hour if they could. In my opinion it was the match of the year.

Below that we have MVP or Montel Vontavious Porter at a Raw event before Wrestlemania. I cant make out who he is wrestling but he seems to have the upper hand. He is memorable for having a five month losing streak which was going against his persona of the ultimate and highest paid athlete (think Rickey Henderson). Although I'm not his biggest fan I do have a lot of respect for him. In real life he joined a gang at very young age and got into a lot of trouble with the law, in fact he was sentenced to 18 years for armed robbery and kidnapping. He served half of that sentence and has since turned his life around. Due to his past life of crime he is not allowed to enter certain countries, most notably Japan, where wrestling is considered a serious sport.

Then we have another Wrestlemania 26 action shot of The Game HHH Vs The Celtic Warrior Seamus. You either love or hate HHH, I love him. He is brutal! From his entrance music (Motorhead!!) to his finishing move, the pedigree. The guy rocks! Wrestling is a very political game and HHH has played it well. Marrying the bosses daughter can do wonders to a career and he is now one of the major powers in the industry. HHH is a 13 time heavyweight champion, the most of all time and was actually tipped to play Thor in the upcoming comic book movie. Unfortunately he didnt get the role, which is a shame since he can act and he looks like Thor.

Seamus is an Irish wrestler who has risen very quickly through the ranks. Some say this due to his close friendship with HHH. He is a former two time WWE Champion. He doesn't look like most wrestlers since he doesn't tan himself before matches and looks odd with his pale skin and red hair. In the match featured in the picture HHH beat Seamus after reversing a power bomb into the pedigree. Another great match at Wrestlemania.

Now my 'hit'.

This sticker is much bigger than the other and is a shiny! This is the belt that everyone wants. The one that says your best. It is the WWE world heavyweight championship. It is currently held by the Undertakers brother, Kane.

Well not a bad pack, I wish I picked up more than one.

Whats changed? Part 2 - Nolan Ryan.

So this is part two of an ongoing series of the increase or decrease of card values over the past ten years. You can find part one here which features Bonds and Griffey Jr.

This time around I wanted to focus on two pitchers. I asked for suggestions for the pitchers to feature and the only suggestion that was made was Nolan Ryan. Thanks for getting involved Captain Canuck.

So I'm just featuring Ryan in this post and then tomorrow I'm going to take a look at Roger Clemens. I figure since I featured a clean player last time (Griffey) and a known juicer (Bonds) it would be interesting to do that again but since I'm going more in depth it will be split over two posts.

Now to remind you, my source materials are Tuff Stuff from April 2000 and Beckett from August 2010. I'm not saying that I believe that these prices are what you should be paying because we all know that 75% of the time sale value is nowhere near book value.

This is going to be longer than the last post because I'm going to feature all the base cards from Topps and if there is an auto listed in Tuff Stuff I will feature that too.

So here's Nolan Ryan's cards. The first price is Tuff Stuff and the second is Beckett.
All cards are NM.

1968 Topps RC - $900/$500
1969 Topps - $450/$200
1970 Topps - $375/$200
1971 Topps - $250/$150
1972 Topps - $200/$100
1973 Topps - $75/$50
1974 Topps - $75/$40
1975 Topps - $65/$50
1976 Topps - $70/$25
1977 Topps - $35/$20
1978 Topps - $35/$25
1979 Topps - $30/$20
1980 Topps - $20/$15
1981 Topps - $8/$8
1982 Topps - $8/$6
1983 Topps - $7/$6
1984 Topps - $4/$3
1985 Topps - $3/$3
1986 Topps - $2/$2
1987 Topps - $1/$1
1988 Topps - $.75/$1 - The first increase!
1989 Topps - $.75/$1
1990 Topps - $.75/$1
1991 Topps - $.60/$1.50
1992 Topps - $1/$1
1993 Topps - $1.50/$2
1994 Topps - $1/$2
1999 SP Signatures auto - $275/$150

I did not expect the massive drop in value for Ryan over the years and I'm very surprised that his cards from the junk era have held or have even gone up. Sure they only went up by a fraction but its still an increase.
The vast majority of his cards have gone down on average by 50% over the years. I honestly believed that like Mickey Mantle cards, Ryan would hold its value and would have been a great investment.
On a side note SP sigs from 1999 looked like an amazing product with a huge autograph list. According to the brief write up in Tuff Stuff, it was one auto per pack. No idea on how much it cost though, but judging from the card values back then I'm guessing it was expensive. I did a search on the bay to see if there were any boxes but there wasn't.
Ryan also had an auto in Topps 1999 but I can only find the prices from Beckett 2010 so I could not do a comparison.

Next I will be looking at Roger Clemens but who else would you like to see featured? You can only choose a player that had a card issued before 2000. Please try to include only the bigger player. Look forward to your comments.

April 2000 - August 2010. What's changed?

A little while a go I posted about an old issue of Tuff Stuff that I found and the differences with certain prices and autos. Well I thought I would revisit the topic again and see what else has changed.

My source materials are Tuff Stuff from April 2000 and Beckett from August 2010. Just how much has changed in the past ten years? Have cards worth nothing in 2000 now worth a couple of hundred? And are the cards that were worth a ton back then are now nothing more than a coaster for your drink?

I think I'll make this a regular piece and try to get a new post each week focusing on two different players each time.

I talked about the McGwire RC last time and how that shot way up in the late 90's only to plummet to where it is today. Obviously with a guy like big mac, steroids pretty much destroyed his card values with more and more collectors only wanting 'clean' stars.
This time around I'll focus on two popular players rookie cards and an auto. What I mean by popular is players who have a large following in the card collecting world.
First lets start off with probably the most iconic card of the modern collecting age and that is the 1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr.
All prices are NM.

Tuff Stuff 2000 - $175
Beckett 2010 - $40

Griffey also had an auto in 1999 SP Signatures. (None on eBay)

Tuff Stuff 2000 - $350
Beckett 2010 - $160

Massive drop in value for both cards. Obviously if you were investing back then you probably thought you were sitting on a gold mine. Sucks to be you.

Next the all time home run king, Barry Bonds. Here are the prices on his 1987 Fleer.

Tuff Stuff 2000 - $30
Beckett 2010 - $15

That's actually surprised me. I would have thought it would be much less then $15 today. I guess you can probably pick this up on the bay for much cheaper than that.

Bonds also has an auto in SP Sigs 1999

Tuff Stuff 2000 - $75
Beckett 2010 - $200

Our first increase! Love or hate Bonds I bet you would all want his auto in your collection. Being a Giants fan I would want his auto although I'm not going to go out of my way to get one...but if your giving one away I'll take it!

What do you guys think? Do these values surprise you? or is this something you expected?

What two players would you like me to feature next? I want to focus on pitchers so if any of you out there who had/have favourite pitchers that had a card released from 1980 to 2000 then please leave a comment. Also include why you consider them a favourite.

Group break, only a few spots left.

After a few changes to the original box break that Matt is hosting, we have finally settled on a smaller break with two boxes.

2010 Allen and Ginter
2010 T206

Here's the crack. There are three spots left (maybe four) and $15 gets you three teams, you can choose your first team and then the others will be randomised.
The price quoted is for US only, but you are welcome to participate regardless of where you are and the price will be adjusted accordingly. Payment through paypal is preferred. The break will be filmed by Matt and put onto YouTube.

The teams that have been taken are:
Cardinals
Giants
Rays
Yankees
Royals
Red Sox (This has not been confirmed)
Cubs

So there are plenty of teams left for you to choose.

You can sign up by going to SCR here or Matt's blog here or even by letting me know and I will pass on your details. Although it would be easiest to follow the SCR link.

Not all the details have been finalised but I would imagine that with the non sports in Ginter they will be randomed off. This will be decided by the participants.

For less then a price of a blaster you have a chance at some pretty good cards.

Cards from Steal Second

I got sent two Adam Lind cards in the mail yesterday from a fellow UK blogger and collector, Martyn of Steal Second.
He emailed me to say that they were on the way but he said that after checking what Lind cards I already had he realised he was sending me some dupes. That's not a problem to me when it comes to Adam Lind cards, the more the merrier!
Martyn sent me a 2009 Bowman numbered out of 150. I now have 4/150 and 17/150. Now that I have two of these cards I'm tempted to try and pick up a few more since it wont really break the bank and I think it would look cool having a bunch of these cards together.
What do you guys think? Would you have duplicates of the same numbered card in your collection or are you happy with one?
The second card he sent was a 2010 Ginter relic. Its strange how the one that he sent and the one that I already had have slight differences.
With the one that I already had the mini card inside the frame is firm and doesn't move around but the relic moves about freely.
The one Martyn sent is the complete opposite. If you shake the card you can see the mini card shift about but the relic is held in place. The relic also feels a little different as if something has been sprayed onto it. Its kind of feels like when you get super glue on your clothes. Maybe someone at Topps tried to stick the relic down.
I was going to show some pictures of the differences but someone has taken the batteries out of my camera so that's out of action until I remember to buy some.
Many thanks Martyn! Take a look at Martyn's blog and his take on fantasy leagues, baseball cards, football (hes a Rovers fan but we wont hold that against him!) and other sports.
Martyn is also one of the contributors to Sport Jambalaya so go check that out. This week we will be predicting the MLB awards. It will be interesting to see who will be right and who will be way off. Leave a comment and let us know what you think.