Brand Name Cards

On occasion, I like to dip into the "Bag that it all", otherwise known as the bag that my wife brought home from work one day that a coworker had dumped off that was filled with junk wax. Stacy knew that I wanted to start a collection for Jacoby and figured the bag would be a good start.

Fast forward almost a year and now every time I break out that bag, he eyes roll into the back of her head, for she knows that she is responsible for opening Pandora's box. Now our house is littered with hobby boxes of various products, base cards, packing supplies, envelopes with addresses that I need to enter into a database, blue tape and...well, you no doubt know exactly what I am talking about.

The other night I dipped into the junk wax for a special reason...not to be revealed in this post...but I did find something that I had not originally noticed...A 1992 Ziploc Carl Yastrzemski!

I have been studying this card over the last couple days and also comparing it with the other various current day product I have laying around, and you know what? This card ain't half bad! In fact, I would say that Ziploc put a lot of effort into the design, the image, as well as the research on the back of the card. I would dare say that had I been a collector back in 1992, I would have been all over these. The Yaz made me start to think about these special "brand name sets". To my knowledge I don't think that many, if any companies still offer baseball card inserts today. Don't quote me on that, but my research did not turn up anything more recent than the early 90's. I decided to scour around a little bit and find some more classy examples of brand name cards...

Kmart - This is a 25th anniversary Kmart brand card. Whether that means that Kmart made cards for 25 years, or whether Kmart had been open for 25 years, I have no idea. Here is a stellar Bob Clemente.

While no logo is on the front of this card, this is a 1975 Hostess Oscar Gamble. I saw a few other examples of Hostess cards and they all seem a bit blurry, but you gotta give some style points for the fro and stache.

McDonalds jumped into the fray as well. this card is from a 1992 insert set.

1988 Nestle Dave Winfield...

1986 Kitty Clover disc cards...Apparently Kitty closer was (is?) a potato chip company that offered round disc baseball cards for several years.

1991 Bazooka Dave!

Drakes Kirby Puckett. I did not catch the year on this set, but I can tell you that Drakes is the Northeasts equivalent of Hostess, offering a lovely selection of coffee cake, yodels, and funny bones. The Drake Duck is not to be confused with the Hostess Heart, which is certainly not to be confused with Pan Bimbo Bear.

Burger King and its set. Again, I did not catch the year on this release, but I know at the very least the they make a helluva burger.

These are but a few of the many brand name cards that are floating around out there. I would love to learn more about these and see some examples if you could point me in the right direction. Who knows, maybe I will fill up a few binder pages down the road. Good stuff!

Jacoby's Treasure Chest

Hi folks. Not much time to blog today, but being Friday, it is time for another (exciting?) episode of "Jacoby's Treasure Chest". Here are this weeks random three. enjoy!

Jay Leno Sucks!

That oughta get me a few accidental web hits!

But obviously I am not hear to talk about Jay Leno...this is a baseball card blog for Pete's sake! So lets talk about baseball.....well, since I feel bad about luring unsuspecting victims to my blog, I guess we can talk about Leno for just a little bit. It kinda leads into my actually blog topic...somewhat.

So I will just come right out and say that I am on team Conan. I have followed Conan ever since he and Andy first entertained audiences AFTER Leno. Helped get me through college...that and Madden football...and my hacky sack.

Anyways, Conan was spot-on with his statement he issued the other day. Moving the tonight show back 30 minutes would destroy the legacy of the show, and also would disrupt the Jimmy Kimmel show as well as Carson Daly. Conan stuck up for himself and his peers, and that was a totally classy move.

Now there are plenty of people out there that will argue that Leno is just doing what the network wishes to do, its not his fault, right? Well, WRONG because, unlike Conan, who has gone out of his way to defend the integrity of the show and his peers, Leno has not even come close to saying "you know what? I had my run on this show, it's Conan's now and I don't want to ruin the experience for him". Leno could have taken the high road, but absolutely did not.

Go Conan.

Anyways, the segway is that during my daily multiple-periodical scan for industry stories, I have read a lot of stories on the late-night drama. The other day, while reading these multiple-periodicals, I stumbled on a nice little gem in the sports section of the Wall Street Journal regarding "Blue Chip Cards" or more specifically a 30 sports card industrial average consisting of 15 baseball cards, and five football, basketball, and hockey cards that Beckett (WHOA, take it easy there) designates as the most influential cards in each sport.

WSJ listed seven of the 30 cards and illustrated the value of the card over the last five years. Since WSJ only included a photo of one card, I decided to jump in and find the other six and share them with you. Here is the sampling...


Topps 1952 Mickey Mantle - This card made the comment list of Most Elusive Treasure yesterday. The values (now remember folks, this is according to Beckett, so take it with a grain of salt) is as follows: in 2004 the value was $20,000. As of 12/31/09, the value is $30,000, an increase of 50% over 2004.

1933 Goudey Babe Ruth - Note: WSJ list the product as "Gaudey", so this might be the wrong card, but more likely it is just a typo. In 2004, this card was valued at $6000, today it is $8000, or and increase of 33%.

Topps 1966-67 Bobby Orr - 2004: $2500. 2009: $3000, an increase of 20%.

Topps 1965 Joe "I wanna kiss you, Suzy" Namath - 2004: $1600, 2009: $1800, and increase of 13%

Topps 1957 Bill Russell - 2004: $1000. 2009: $1100, and increase of 10%.

Bowman 1948 George Mikan - Heads the other way. 2004: $2500. 2009: $2250, a DECREASE of 10% value.

Finally, a T206 1909-1911 Honus Wagner. Obviously this is a reprint and you would be hard-pressed to find an original on Ebay. The original was valued at a smooth $500,000 just five years ago. Today? $350,000, a DECREASE of a whopping 30%.

The article does not speculate WHY some cards increased so much in value or why poor Honus decreased so steeply, but at the very least you are able to see some of the hottest movers and shakers over the last five years (according to Beckett).

What Is Your Elusive Treasure?

Being a hump day, and seeking a little audience participation, I thought today that I would throw out a little group exercise.

We all have cards that we will eternally seek out and most likely never get a hold of (at least for a reasonable price). These cards occasionally pop on eBay in all of their glory, and tease you that "maybe THIS time, it will be mine" only to watch in sad horror as the bids pile up and ultimately your card goes to the highest (and apparently more financially sound) bidder.

So I propose the question to you. What one card do you covet the most that has (to this day) eluded your grasp? Tell your story. Whether it be an original T206 or a 2009 Allen and Ginter Phelps Auto...which one card have you continually sought out, only to have all opportunities go up in flames?

For me, being a new(ish) collector, I wish that I had started collecting just a couple years earlier in order to give me the opportunity to snag a Tim Lincecum Autograph. That "TL" swoosh is a great looking auto, and to my dismay is even more valuable now that he has won a second consecutive Cy Young. I have mostly resigned to the fact that he will never be in my collection unless his stock takes a total dive some day.

While any ol Lincecum auto would be a nice add, there has always been one that has haunted me the most, that has now appeared on eBay FIVE times to try to tempt me (I swear it is the same card that is being continually sold, but I have no proof of those claims). Anyways, below is MY elusive card:
Ah! Two of my favorite phenom pitchers packaged on one beautiful card. Again, I have seen this card (there is also a variety #/25) listed at least five times and each time just gets away from me. The last night I made a pretty formidable max bid, only to lose in the final seconds. DOH!

So what card is you elusive treasure?

Trading Post: A Load of Thanks!

Winters in Portland, OR can be a bear. They are dark and grey, and wet, and sometimes snowy, which can shut down the entire city. I wake up to the darkness and drive to work in the rain, and pretty much come home in the same conditions. They say that the days are getting longer, but I suspect that the clouds are getting thicker to block out those extra few minutes of daylight.

However, nothing beats the winter blues in Portland better then receiving some bright, yellow envelopes in the mailbox. Of course this time of year I am pretty much feeling around a dark box and stumbling on the familiar fluffy packages. Seriously, you could put a mousetrap in the mailbox and I would find out the hard way.

I was very fortunate to receive several packages in the last couple of days and would love to share the highlights with you!

The first package comes from Ed at Roll out the Barrel. I have a particular fondness for Ed as he was the one who sent me one of my first packages ever since beginning collecting last May, and those cards helped me complete my first set, Topps 2009. I always love checking in on Ed and his blog, which is dedicated to everything Milwaukee Brewers. I think that the Brewers are a pretty kick-ass team to cheer for, they have a mighty vegan, an all-star outfielder, phenom favorite Yovani Gallardo, and Bob Uecker. Nothing beats watching the sausage races or the Brewer mascot go down the slide after a home run. Its just good fun, and Ed displays a lot of that in his writing. Definitely worth checking out. Here are the highlights.
Three Red Sox and King Felix. I love the Pedroia Propaganda card and the three pitching greats.

Keeping with the pitching phenom theme, Ed sent over Dice-K, a tri-card, and probably phenom fave #2 behind Tommy Hanson, Mr Tim Lincecum. I am looking forward to seeing if Tim Lincecum can win a third straight Cy Young award (can you tell I am ready for some baseball)?

Ed also kindly heeded my call for Topps Heritage 2009, and sent over a healthy number to subtract from my quest to reach 1-720. THANK YOU. I want to knock that baby out and be done with it. It's 2010 for Pete's sake! Again, please send some Brewer love to Roll out the Barrel!

Package number two comes from Dan in Arizona. Dan participated recently in my "pick a team" promotion and I gladly sent some Diamondbacks down Arizona way. Dan graciously contributed six great Heritage high numbers to the cause, one of those being a short print of Aaron Hill. Those SP's are a bear, so I thank you a ton for getting me a step closer! Let me know if you ever need more DBacks.

This beauty is courtesy of the notorious PAB from A player to be named later. Also a participant in the "pick any team" promo, Rangers were the order of the day. I sent out Rangers, and magically it came back as Red Sox! I mentioned in previous posts how I thought that the relics in SP Legendary Cuts were some of the nicest I have seen all year. This one is fantastic as it is of one of my favorite players and it is pair with the historic Yaz. Thanks so much for this sweet addition to both my Red Sox and historic players wing (hmm, which do I file it under). There was another great card in this set, a dual relic of Varitek and Fisk. It has thus far eluded me but hopefully it pops up on the Bay again at some point.

Last, but certainly not least I received a great package from Mr Scott at Mr Scotts Baseball Cards. I learned of Mr Scott through his contributions at Wax Heaven. Mr Scott busts a lot of product, and always does some fine review posts. Without a doubt Mr Scott puts a lot of effort and thought into his posts and it is definitely worth looking into. The contents of this package were three-fold. Mr Scott sent me a healthy bunch of Topps Heritage, and also chipped in several of my beloved, but impossible to complete, Goodwin Champions. Also included in the package was a nice little surprise nugget shown above, a very classy and fantastic Captured On Canvas King Felix relic from Masterpieces 2008. Seriously, was their any cooler product out their in 2007 and 2008? I really hope this product makes a comeback on of these days.

Mr. Scott, you went above and beyond and I owe you some Yankees. Though a bit thin on them at the moment, I am a bit of a Yankee magnet, and I promise to send you something soon. Thanks again.

And thank you to everybody for helping me knock out my Heritage and Goodwin sets. Every card helps!

Trading Post: Beardy's Baseball Blog

After a weekend filled with Cartoons and Jedi, it is time to get back to some good ol' fashioned baseball blogging. We start off the week with a trade received from East Coast, Everything Baltimore guru Beardy from Beardy's Baseball Blog. The Bearded One answered my call to scratch my old timer itch and sent me several beauties from the T206 series.


I feel like the Honus Wagner and I are old friends since I have seen this image at Dinged Corners
throughout last year. It is easily one of my favorite of the batch. I have no particular plans or ideas for my old timers collection yet. I don't really know how I want to store them, or display them, or organize them...all I know is that I want them...ALL of them. Some people hoard rabbits, or cats, or copies of "Catcher in the Rye", I hoard old-timers.

The next two cards are courtesy of the upcoming Topps Chicle set. Pictured above is David Wright and Albert Pujols.

Beardy then kicked it up a notch by jettisoning an autograph of Jonathan Papelbon out of Oriole Land to Red Sox Nation Left Coast.

I am not one to bag on my team's closer...I would much rather have him on my side than have to go against him...and I think that many would agree. But I have to say that Papelbon is one STRANGE CAT, with some strange little quirks. That's why I love this card so much, as this autograph fits his personality to a tee. I have no idea what this signature says, and I am betting that neither does he.


The stunner of the package lay at the bottom of the stack:

Oh yeah...A Topps Finest Rookie Redemption Tommy Hanson! I have way too much of a fascination with the Tommy Gun, but I do love a great prospect and Tommy completely lived up to his hype last season. This card was courtesy of part of the Obama SP for Clayton Kershaw (Matt Damon) auto exchange last spring. I never thought Topps would get the redemptions in the mail, but they finally got their act together and Tommy found his way out to Oregon.

Topps finest is an excellent card. I had to remove the card from the protective sleeve and take a good, long look at it to admire the levels of 3D dimension that jump off of the card. The pose is nothing unique, in fact I would wager that 90% of all Tommy Hanson rookie cards look just like this, including the less-than-attractive T206 of Tommy blowing a bubble (as is the case in this card.

For those of you not already in the know, Beardy has a pretty excellent blog that you must check out. He bringin' it daily, and is the recent recipient of a Drewbie and a Gummy for blogging awards and I am fairly certain that he is next in line for the Noble Peace Prize as well. Thanks again Beardy!