A new direction for my site...

First off, I would like to thank Chris Olds of Beckett for making me see that I really need to make this change to my site and my practices. 


I've just now finished a letter to Mr. Prusha at Panini asking him to please stop sending me hobby boxes for review.  This has nothing to do with Panini, but everything to do with Beckett.  First, to see why I did this, read this from the commentary at Beckett Blog.

This is all about Chris Olds defending the two "legitimate boxes" that Beckett recieved from Topps.  You know, no funny business.  The 1/1 Pujols, the Stras auto and the rest of the lot were just marked down as 'good luck'.

First off, let me start back up where Chris Olds is leaving off.  Tracy Hackler did contact me and when I really laid out all of my points to him, I got no response.  So that's kind of a moot point.  The last I heard from Hackler was that he'd get back to me to respond to my problems with Beckett after the 4th of July holiday.  Never happened.

And here Chris Olds takes a bit of a dig at Panini in the next paragraph.  "things that apparantly vanished or you apparantly forgave Panini about after a simple phone call."  Well, he's referring to the box I took a bit of umbrage with that Panini sent Beckett that had a Kobe auto in it.  Now, I documented very well that I did indeed place a retraction and that I had a phone call from Prusha.  No secrets.  And I'm old school.  So when Prusha tells me right off that those boxes were random, ok.  I'll take anybody at their word the first go around.  That's how I am.  Did Prusha lie to me?  How the hell would I know?  But I took him at his word either way.  For me it's a done deal.  Chris Olds is the one who brings it up again - not me.  Mr. Olds seems to imply that perhaps I shouldn't have taken him at his word if he's seeming to say that I shouldn't have forgiven Panini just because they called my home number?  Maybe Chris Olds will better explain to Panini what he meant there.

And finally, I have recieved boxes from Panini.  There's no secret there.  But Olds here is calling me out.  So here's my response to Beckett.  Take notes.

From this point on, I'll only review product that I buy for myself.  I don't need to employ practices that Beckett employs.  I dare Beckett to do the same. 

A guy who's quickly becoming my friend, Mr. Fuji, made a good point - nobody should recieve free boxes.  People spend money to try to buy what other people are recieving for nothing.  Sure, I have contests to give away my cards - so does Beckett.  But truth be told, it's still an imperfect system.  The greater buying public still is at the mercy of a contest to get cards that were meant to be purchased. 

So I respectfully asked Panini to not send me boxes in the future.  I'll still write reviews and cover this hobby that I love.  The only difference is that I won't do it like Beckett does it.  That's a huge difference, by the way.

Why can't we just order our boxes direct from Beckett?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Zqkn28Rrow&playnext=1&videos=_NniBZCmvfQ


The above link is the link to Beckett's box break of the Topps Tribute baseball.  Sports Cards Uncensored first gave their review of the break - so I won't go into too much detail here (after all it is baseball, so I don't have a horse in that race).

But after having watched the video, I had a moment of clarity.  Why doesn't Beckett just sell hobby boxes?  The stuff they pull is by far and away better than what the rest of us could pull by conventional means.

Chris Old's box had a Strasburg auto relic redemption and the other box had a Pujols 1/1 in it. 

Mix in that they pulled a Howard auto relic and a Prince Fielder auto relic.  Not too bad.  Good for them.  They really are just lucky I think.

So how cool would it be if we could get them to order a bunch of product to sell to the rest of us?  Then we could all be lucky too.

In all seriousness - watch the video, and look at Chris Olds physical reaction to the other guy pulling the Pujols 1/1.  You don't have to be a psycho-analyst to read the body language that he just knows how bad this is going to look.

Good thing they've disabled all of their comments on their youtube page.  I had a great comment for them all ready to go....

The question of the day....

Yesterday I wrote about the increasing prices of Murad hobby boxes.  In the comments section was a great question from Zach - a frequent reader on the site.  And this is what he asked me about the rising prices of the hobby boxes:

Guy, do you think that collectors are buying up some of the more popular boxes from recent years b/c of their indifference to Panini products?

I guess I'd never thought of the problem in terms of the present state of the hobby making an impact on the past releases.

And my answer?  I really don't know.  But let me work through this and we'll see if I can come to an answer by the time the post is done.

I for one, like a lot of what Panini is bringing to the table.  I like that more of the releases are coming out with on-card autos.  I like that they've done an art set like Court Kings.  I like that their flagship release brought back some novelty to the first offering of the year.

But if we're being honest, there are a lot of people who don't like what Panini has done.  And truthfully, they don't like a lot of anything at all in the hobby anymore (you've read their blogs - you know what I'm talking about).  And that's fine.  It's the internet, for goodness sake.  If you don't find both ends of the spectrum on any topic, you're not using it right.

I guess what really strikes me about this question - is that it's applying to me.  In a way.

I started this blog back in December of 2009.  And at that time, Panini had the license and had products coming out.  But when I sat down to really think about what set I wanted to chronicle on this site, I could only choose one of my favorites from a past year - Murad.  Was that from indifference on releases available to me? 

No.  I really wanted to build a set of Murad since it came out.  I like the theme and the challenge.  For a retro collector and set collector - as I, and many collectors are - Murad is the obvious choice.

But let's say I couldn't build Murad.  Is there a set in Panini's first year of releases that's inspired me to go all out and collect the entire thing?  Not quite - but it's getting close.

Classics was good.  It had a solid SP chase, on-card autos and good relics.  But I wasn't so in love with the look that I had to re-direct my funds to obtain the entire thing.  Court Kings is about as close as I've come to want to build an entire Panini set.  It would be an awesome chase to collect all of the auto'd box toppers alone.  But the price and the number of cards per box makes that out of my price range. 

But let's put it this way, if I hit the Powerball, I'm getting all of those box toppers.  Believe that.

So back to the original question, is Panini releasing such sub-par product that people are forced to buy past releases.

To that I would have to say, no.  I really would.  Panini is actually listening to the consumer.  No other brand has tried to release as much on-card autos in one year as Panini has.  And Panini has released enough themes in their product lines to appeal to a greater audience.  I look forward to what could be done in the future years if they continue to put their customers input into practice.

So the verdict is that Panini is not at fault for Murad's price hike.  I think I've really convinced everbody to try out a box or two.

Shipping update - and some musings...

So, I was really trying to get the reader participation cards out today, but I totally spaced that today was a very special day for one of my girls.  What are you going to do?  Spend the afternoon with the kid or dash off to the post office?  I'm dedicated to the site and all, but first things first, you know?

So for those of you who are local, the cards should be in your mailboxes before the week's out.  Those who aren't so local to me, I'm hoping that the postman does you a solid and can find away to get you some manila envelope love before the next postal cycle starts up.

Not promising, but hoping.

Now to what's really on my mind - Murad Hobby Boxes.  Seriously something odd going on lately.  I think perhaps I may have spawned a Murad re-awakening.  Ok.  That may be a bit bold.  A lot bold.  Well maybe I had nothing to do with it at all - but the boxes themselves are on the rise in price.  And not in a small way.  And I'm trying to figure out why.

I was regularly seeing prices for getting boxes shipped for between $45 and $50.  Now the cheapest boxes on ebay after shipping are $63-$68.

And I've only seen that mark-up recently.  Blowoutcards is out of stock on the murad boxes.  And that's the first time I've seen that happen.

DA Card World has them listed at $56 before shipping.  And this is kind of bumming me out.

I know that all cards have a limited print run - and Murad may have been shorter than most - but still, it's quite a hike that the hobby boxes have seen this summer.

Oh well, I'll take credit for it.  I've given it more hype than even Topps did. 

People, stop buying the hobby boxes.  You just make it harder for me to be able to get one.  And nobody wants that.

Murad Silk number 2

Here's the second silk card in the collection - and the only reason I got it was because it was so cheap; this one was $5.  And again, I think that when you're dealing with a new addition to the set, as I am, a good rule of thumb is going to be that $5 and below is a deal that I can't afford to pass up.  Anything more than that at this point is going to have to be passed up until I'm better prepared to focus soley on this portion of the set.  Already, if I listed it right, I could probably combine the two silk cards and make money on the initial investment.  I'm not saying that I would, but that I could if need be.  So that's always in my corner.

Oh, it's Rashad McCants.  Not really a great player, for hobby purposes anyway, but the silk set is worth more than what I got it for either way.  So it's ok.  Still, very classy looking cards.

I told myself I wouldn't do this...but new Murad "chase" has started.

My Murad chase has been simple.  I'm doing a few things that are already quite ambitious:

a) I'm building the entire base set - which is actually done already
b) I'm building the mini set - harder, but almost done
c) I'm building the relic set - harder still, but only 10 away
d) I WILL build the auto set - very difficult, but I'm motivated

And that was fine for me.  There really is only one element left of the Murad set that I hadn't tackled; the silk set.  The silk set is basically a verison of the base set, printed on silk tags, that is numbered to /25 copies.  It's about as rare of a set as I've ever batted an eye at.  The high profile players regularly sell for more money than the auto set.  I had decided I wasn't going to even attempt to build it.

Until this $4 little gem showed up on ebay:

This is a Willie Green silk card.  It's pretty sharp.  The silk feel is cool, but I'm more into the bordering on this card that anything else.  And it was only $4.  Like I said, I know how to wait out the deals on this set, and there has been an influx of silk cards offered lately for below typical values.  I've actually got one more on the way.

Now, let me say that this set is not taking any kind of importance in my collection.  I'm still going to get the relics and autos done before I ever attempt this set in earnest.  But what was I to do?  There are only 25 copies of this card, and I was sure I'd never see it offered for the deal I got it at again.  So here it is.  Another goal to try to achieve.

In fact, I've seen a couple of the 1/1 Leather cards on ebay as well, and that's a sharp looking set too.  I know that I could never, ever, ever build that - but I've got a renewed urge to bust a box or two of Murad to try to chase some of the silk and leather cards.  And it would be fun to finish off the minis that way too.  I just may try it.

One oddity about this silk set that I love - there is no writing on the back of the card.

There is nothing to tell you that this is a Willie Green card.  I actually had to pull out the base set to verify which card I had.  It's like a bonus for die-hard Murad collectors.  I hadn't pulled out the base set binder in a while, so it was good to flip through it again for a renewed sense of accomplishment.

I'm telling you all, if you're getting frustrated in the hobby, pick a set that you love (any year) and build it.  I love busting boxes of new stuff, don't get me wrong.  But building an entire set is a ton of fun.

So there you have it.  My first silk card.  I better go buy another binder.

Reader appreciation - free cards

First off, let me say that I'm going to do an official contest that actually deals with sports for the Alonzo Mourning 5X7 auto.  I'm excited to do it, and I'm still thinking about how it should be done.  So everybody has a chance at that card.

But for the other cards I busted in the Court Kings, I didn't want to do a whole big contest for the jersey relics.  Especially not when there's a great card like the Mourning that needs to be given away.

So I decided for the rest of the lot, I'd do a reader appreciation....actually a reader participation award.  As of the posting of the 300th article on the site, I went and made a tally of how many comments were left by individual readers to the site in the month of July.  And it was immensly gratifying to see how much time people spend on my site during the month.  I truly appreciate it.

So here's the tally and the prizes.  If you see your name, please send me a quick email with your address - I may have had it at one point, but it's probably buried under a ton of emails.

10 readers - tied with 1 comment
Madding - 2 comments
Zach - 2 comments
Stackhouse Guy (anonymous) - 3 comments

Walker at the Blazer Blog - 6 comments
     *Prize - Zach Randolph base card, Shane Battier relic ( You got the Z BO, my man)

TJ at All Your Base Cards - 7 comments
     *Prize - Delonte West base, Danilo Gallinari Artistry and Shaq relic

Charles at Hoopography - 12 comments
     *Prize - Rudy Gay base, Jason Richardson Masterpieces and Earl Monroe relic

And the winner with the most comments is....

Fuji at Chronicles of Fuji - 17 comments
     *Prize - Kevin Love base, Joakim Noah base and the Maynor rookie auto

I thought that the RC auto had to be the highest value prize - and I'm also thankful there were no ties.

I would like to thank everybody that spends a bit of their day on my site and leaves their thoughts for me.  There have no been several occasions where a person's contribution to the site has made me re-evaluate my thinking and have actually changed my opinion on things in the hobby and the sport of basketball.  Nobody has changed my opinions on soccer though - Everton and Team USA are about all there is to know, right?

This to me seems a good way to do a giveaway.  I like tallying comments.  It feels fair to me. 

But like I said, the Alonzo card will be done in a proper giveaway - so no worries there.  I'll be sure to announce that with plenty of time for all interested to enter.

Thanks again to all.