Road Trip: No Card Shops, No Problems

I spent the last few wandering around a small town in Northern Michigan with my in-laws.  The trip gets me out of my warm weather and away from some of my usual trappings I have here in North Carolina.   I still managed to do some blogging, writing, and planning for some future posts, but shopping for new cards?   While they are never short on snow in Michigan, the opportunity to find new cards can be somewhat limited.  I spend time relaxing and running around with the wife and little guy on every trip, but I challenged myself to find some cards to add while I was out. 

By adding new cards, I mean not going on Ebay or COMC and buying a bunch that I am happy to find in my held mail.  No, no.  Cards in hand, or cards from contacts were my goal.  So, I actually ended up with a few nice cards and I do not even have them all in hand yet.  So, here's a break down on my newest additions:

2008 Topps Triple Threads Ozzie Smith Jersey/Bat

It's been awhile since I did anything with any of the Facebook groups, but I saw this and decided it would make a good addition.  I managed to negotiate a good price for the card with the owner and sent over a few bucks on Paypal.  I am not sure the last time I made any sort of Facebook trade or purchase, but I was beyond happy to add a cool new Ozzie card with the powder blue 1980s Cardinals pieces.  More on Facebook trading later in the week. 

I also picked up three cards in an in-person trade with my brother in-law who has gotten into card collecting during the past year.  Here's three cards I picked up from him:

2013 Topps Museum Collection Jurickson Profar Autograph 

 
Profar autograph is pretty self-explanatory.  One of the better prospects in the game and an on-card autograph from a nice set to boot.  I am a little short in the Profar department, so I decided to go for it on this card.  Really happy to add this to my collection. 

2013 Topps Tribute Adam Wainwright Dual Jersey

Cool looking Wainwright piece numbered to 99.  I love Wainwright, but I do not pick up enough of his cards.  He's pretty much just a relic card guy now, I cannot remember when he had his last certified autograph, but they're always nice like this one.  The high socks are cool in the picture.  The Cardinals players often wear them up on Sundays.  A little fade started by Daniel Descalso and Jon Jay.  Go on Twitter and search #highsocksundays for more info. 

2013 Panini USA Baseball Randal Grichuk Jersey

I am still working on adding some more Grichuk cards to my collection since his inclusion in the Peter Bourjos-David Freese trade.  Grichuk will likely start the year at Memphis in Triple-A, but I am excited by what I have heard about the the outfielder.  Cool card and welcome addition. 

I have a few other cards I added and worked on with my local card shop, but have not had a chance to swing by and pick up my new cards.  Later in the week I will have a few more. 

My Top 50 On Cardboard- #4 Nolan Ryan

My Top 50 On Cardboard 

#4

Nolan Ryan 

1971 Topps Nolan Ryan

Hobby Impact-

I own the rookie card of every player on the Top 50 On Cardboard countdown except Nolan Ryan.  I have waited and waited to find one at the right price, but have not really ever come close to finding one.  I credit Ryan's terrific popularity and outstanding value.  Ryan's career intersected the first decade of my collecting career, his baseball career was already seventeen years old.  Ryan played a total of twenty-seven years and had a pretty big impact on the game on the field and also on cardboard.   By the time I started collecting cards Ryan was already chasing the strikeout record and spent the 1983 season flip-flopping the all-time record with Phillies left-hander Steve Carlton.  He would later pass the magical 5,000 marker which no one else has crossed.  Along the way, Ryan's popularity grew and grew.  He's pretty much a hobby legend and his popularity has remained sky-high since his retirement. 

Nolan Ryan has been retired from baseball for 20 years now and is still a dominating figure in the hobby.  I do not seek out Nolan Ryan cards, but I will trade or buy cards that are under listed in terms of value and flip them around for cards that fit my collection.  Nolan Ryan cards hold great value and always have a market and collectors actively seeking out his cards.  I don't flip all of my good Nolan's though.  He's a player worth having a few good of in your collection.  

I have several nice Nolan Ryan pieces in my collection, but focus on two different types of items.  I started my collection and love for baseball during the second half of Ryan's career, so one simple rule I have created is to sell or trade all the Angels and Mets autographs or relics I pull or land.  I never say Ryan with either of those teams and that's not how I remember him.  Astros and Rangers stuff I am fond of and always consider for addition to my collection.  Specifically, I try to find Astros relics with multiple colors.  Here's one:

2005 Prime Patches Nolan Ryan Jersey

Autographs can be from either the Astros or Rangers, but I prefer them to be one card.  If you are looking for an inexpensive Nolan Ryan autograph I would look at some of the late 90s cards.  I have found several copies of his Donruss Signature autograph for less than $50.  There are some other nice products with Nolan Ryan items that can also go a little lower than expected.  One of my favorite Nolan Ryan autographs is this Bowman's Best:

2001 Bowman's Best Nolan Ryan Autograph 

On The Field-
Nolan Ryan is best known as the strikeout king of Major League Baseball and had some pretty amazing totals some of the years he played.  He had six seasons with more than 300 strikeouts, eight with more than 250, and fifteen with more than 200.  His career total stands at 5,714 which amazing considering that there is nobody with more than 5,000.  The strikeout record is kind of like wins and stolen bases.  Records with big numbers that are going to be really hard to beat.  Ryan played a total of 27 seasons and lead the league in Ks four times after he turned 40 including a 300.

Ryan was a Hall of Fame pitcher, but I think the strikeout totals and benchmark 300 wins gets him a lot higher place at times then what he actually deserves.  Can a Hall of Famer be overrated?  In Ryan's case I vote yes, at times.  Again, the strikeout totals were incredible and I understand the some of the people who argue Ryan would have won more games if he hadn't spent his career playing for the Angels, Astros, and Rangers.  Still there are other ways to measure players beyond just wins and strikeouts.

For example, JAWS rates Nolan Ryan as the 31st best starting pitchers in Major League Baseball history.  That's right behind Tom Glavine in their rankings which would seem to be a good neighborhood and certainly worthy of a plaque in Cooperstown.  Again, I am not arguing that Ryan should not be in the Hall, but here's his standing in comparison with players whose career also intersected some portion of his playing career.

Let's look at the JAWS ratings first:

 I count: Clemens, Seaver, Johnson, Maddux, Gibson, Niekro, Blyleven, Carlton, Perry, Pedro, Fergie, Schilling, and Moose.  I did not count Robin Roberts because their careers intersected by one month.  That places Ryan thirteenth amongst modern pitchers which is probably a lot lower than most people would have in on their lists.  When ranking modern pitchers by WAR, Ryan actually fairs slightly better passing by Curt Schilling on the list, but still ranking behind the other eleven players.

Ryan also has a lot of trouble stacking up against his peers in terms of ERA+.  Remember that an ERA+ of 100 represents an average pitcher.  Ryan's career mark of 112 represents the fact that he was an above average pitcher.  However, it ranks as the lowest amongst his modern peers by a pretty healthy margin.  Glavine is the next lowest on the list with a career mark of 118.  Breaking that number a part a little differently: Ryan had three years where he posted an ERA+ over 130.  Roger Clemens had 16, Randy Johnson 12, Maddux 11, Pedro 11, Schilling 11, Mussina 10, Seaver 10, Bob Gibson 8, Blyleven 8, Carlton 5, and with Niekro 4.

In fact, if you stack up Ryan's career ERA+ up against all starting pitchers all-time Ryan ranks just inside the top 200 right beside Ben Sheets and Orel Hershiser.  Nothing wrong with those two pitchers.  I like both of them.

In review strikeouts are fun and exciting to watch, but.....

and I cannot possibly have a Nolan Ryan post without this gem...

I didn't remember this being that big of a fight, but Gene Lamont restarts the fight after it calms down.  I believe this is the highlight of Gene Lamont's coaching career.

Favorite Card-
I could have put the Nolan Ryan Upper Deck football card here too, but I went with his 1990 Upper Deck 5000th Strikeout card.  I also thought about his 1990 Topps cards which commemorated his strikeout record.  They're all great cards.  I loved this card when I was in seventh grade.  Classic in my collection.  It's also cheap and easy to find.

I'm Making A Collecting Goal!

I think I did a post last year about why I do not make collecting goals at the beginning of the year.  I can't find the post, so maybe I just made the whole thing up in my mind.  Goals can be confining and I am just here typing about baseball cards for fun.  After I have worked, hung out with the little guy and wife, what's my next favorite thing to do?  Sit here and write about baseball cards.  Pretty relaxing.  Anyway, I have decided this year that I am going to make a goal, stick to it, and look back in satisfaction at the end of this year. 

So, here's my goal: I have spent my first year and half in blogging talking a lot about the cards that I am adding to my collection.  I have been collecting a lot longer than a year and half, which means there are a few hundred thousand cards in my collection which have gotten little love on my blog.  I did a write up about my picks for the tops sets over the last 30 years last year and I did my picks for the best 50 players on cardboard this year.  Along the way I have had the chance to talk about some of the other cards in my collection, but there are so many things that would make great blog posts.  I need to do better on getting to them.

Two examples came to mind during the past week.  First, during my write up of Mark McGwire for My Top 50 Players On Cardboard I touched on my attempts to collect insert cards during the late 90s after the Cardinals traded for the big slugger.  I could easily make a cool post featuring some of my cool McGwire pick ups from that era from my collecting past.  Second, during my write up of Barry Bonds for My Top 50 Players On Cardboard I mentioned that I collected Pacific Die Cut cards of Barry Bonds.  I actually did do  a little bit of work this year on Pacific Die Cut cards, but that was just one post.  Kind of lame. 

So, here's my goal: I am going to do two posts a week which feature cards that are already in my card collection.  I am also going to refrain from using lame post titles like Throwback Tuesday (or Thursday) or Wayback Wednesday.  Starting next week. 

My Top 50 On Cardboard- #5 Mariano Rivera

My Top 50 On Cardboard

#5

Mariano Rivera

1992 Bowman Mariano Rivera

If I had made this list last year I am not sure if Mariano Rivera would have been this high up on the list, but this past year did a lot to cement his place as a legend across the hobby of baseball cards.  If you are going to make a statement that a player has been one of the ten most influential baseball players in the baseball card industry the player needs to possess some popularity across the hobby.  Rivera's standing in the hobby started off slow and gradually built in something bigger and bigger every year until his last year which was absolutely crazy.  Everyone wanted something Rivera and suddenly there were Rivera collectors everywhere.  Prices escalated up and and plenty of short-print high end Rivera cards made their way into collections and are not coming back anytime soon.  

Hobby Impact-

The secondary card market on Mariano Rivera has come so far over the course of his career.  I bought my first Mariano Rivera autograph sometime during the summer of 2000.  I was at One Million Baseball Cards in West St. Louis County checking out a plastic display the owner had installed on the wall next to the cash register.  He had put a while bunch of good, but affordable autographs into the display.  After loading up on Cardinals cards, picking up a box of something, I went for two autographs out of the new display.  I believe I paid $30 for both cards. 

The first card was a 2000 Stadium Club Lone Star Signatures of Mets third baseman Edgardo Alfonzo.  The other autograph was a 1998 Donruss Signature Mariano Rivera.  Both players had great signatures and I thought they could be in line for good seasons.  The Mets and Yankees ended up playing each other in the World Series that year, so I was on to something good with the cards.  Alfonzo ended up fading away while Rivera would go on to be a fixture on Yankees team for more than the next decade.  

Surprisingly Rivera's hobby value actually start off down.  Yankees collectors went after Jeter, Clemens, Pettitte, and all sorts of other players over the years.  Rivera's cards were fairly popular.  He had his base cards and parallels.  Every once in awhile he'd get a cool insert, but its not like there were tons and tons of Rivera cards coming out.  There are Rivera cards out there, but there are not many and there are even less after the boom around the Rivera market during the past year. 

If I had to recommend one card for collectors to pick up of Rivera I would get an autograph of the all-time saves leader.  There are several different Rivera autographs out on the secondary market, but I would actually look at Rivera's earlier cards for a great Rivera autograph.  He has a nice 1996 Leaf Signature, 1998 Donruss Signature, and a 1999 SP Signature.  I like the 1999 SP Signature, but there all really nice cards.

Collectors should expect to pay somewhere between $120 and $150 for a nice Rivera autograph.  If you are going to spend that much on a new autograph of a player than I vote on-card.  You can also find newer autographs of Rivera in products like Topps Pristine, but they're sticker autographs.  Roughly the same prices as the on-card autographs.  Rivera has a great autograph, buy the on-card.

On The Field-

Rivera ranks as the second best relief pitcher all-time according to JAWS behind Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley.  The Eck spent the first part of career as a starter which helped boast some of his stats and in his WAR.  Instead of comparing the pitchers by WAR, Rivera really shines when you switch the comparison to ERA+.  Rivera ranks second all-time in ERA+ behind current Braves closer Craig Kimbrel.  The closest Hall of Famer to Rivera is Hoyt Wilhelm who's 148 ERA+ is great, but far behind Rivera's mark of 204.  

Besides the ERA+ and WAR numbers Rivera has two other positives going for him as one of the great players in the history of the game.  First, he's the all-time saves leader.  There are many players who have come along and racked up huge numbers of saves pitching one inning.  Rivera has plenty of one inning saves, but could also be stretched out to pitch more than three outs.  Especially during the playoffs.  Rivera's all-time saves mark of 652 is impressive and ranks well ahead of most other players who simply pitched one inning during all of their saves.  

Second, Rivera was part of a great team.  Most people do not remember, but Rivera was not actually the Yankees closer during their World Series pennant in 1996.  However, he was the closer on the 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2009 World Championship teams.  He appeared in a few other World Series where the Yankees did not win.  

The best part of Rivera being one of the game's greats for more than a decade was the fact that he threw one pitch the entire time.  I am not sure how many other players ever pulled that off besides Rivera, but I am impressed.  

Favorite Card-
I love the Rivera autographs and his 1992 Bowman card is cool.  However, if I am going to throw in another card into the mix I will go with the 2013 Topps Update card.  The card features Rivera running in during this past year's All-Star game.  Cool event and great moment for the game. 

My Top 50 On Cardboard- #6 Barry Bonds

My Top 50 On Cardboard

#6

Barry Bonds

1987 Topps Barry Bonds

Barry Bonds is easily one of the five best offensive players to grace the uniform in the Majors, but he is probably the greatest bad guy of all-time.  Fans across the game in every city had no problem booing Barry Bonds every time he came up to bat.  I am talking about pre-steroids Bonds too.  People hated Barry.  Despite all the booing, yelling, and hate Barry Bonds is a pretty popular guy around the baseball card industry.  I have had more than my fair share of good/great Barry Bonds cards over the years and have never had any difficulty finding collectors interested in buying or trading for these cards.  While I am sure there are a fair number of Giants and a spattering of Pirates fans who actively seek out Bonds cards, there are plenty of other collectors who are still tracking down cards of the all-time home run leader's cards too.  Bonds still remains one of the stronger players in the hobby.  

Hobby Impact-

Bonds has been a popular player since his cards first hit the hobby scene at the end of the 1986 season with his Topps Traded cards and the regular issue 1987 cards.  One of my first white whale cards I chased down in my teen years was a copy of Bonds 1987 Fleer Glossy rookie card.  Outside of the Johnny Ray error, the card was one of his most popular cards out there.  Since the steroid allegations and end of his career the card has come down in value, but it's still an iconic and popular card amongst collectors.  

While Bonds rookie cards were popular and high sought after, most of the cards from the first half of Bonds career are nice cards, but nothing worth rushing out and hunting down as soon as possible.  Bonds was a star player during that time, but he was not overly popular and just merely offered card collectors a solid and mid-level star player to collect.  As the 90s progressed, Bonds started to accumulate some great career numbers and reached some great individual goals.  The accolades started to ramp up the market on Bonds cards.  I first actively started seeking out Bonds cards for my collection during the summer of 1996 when he was chasing down the elusive 40 home runs/40 steals plateau. 

I spent much of the late 90s running down Bonds cards which was an easy thing to do in St. Louis at the time.  Bonds was a huge villain around town and cards companies were pumping out plenty of Bonds cardboard.  I was able to find all kinds of cool inserts and parallels and often could talk the shop owners down on the cost of the cards, or I would just dig them out of the cheapy bin.  Either way, I landed a ton of his cards for a fraction of the price I would have paid other places.  I am particularly proud of my Pacific Die-Cut collection I have of Bonds.  Probably deserves its own post sometime. 

2000 Pacific Aurora Styrotech Die Cut

Of course the icing on the cake to any modern player collection is owning a certified autograph of the player.  Bonds has a ton of cool autographs out on the market and most can be had for less than $100 with a little bit of patience.  Scan Ebay on any giving day and there are plenty of Bonds autographs available for sale right up against the $100 mark.  However, they are almost all Buy It Nows.  Wait a little bit until you see an auction of the card and you might land the card for considerably less depending on the issuing brand and print run.  One of my simple favorites...

2002 Topps Barry Bonds Autograph

The 2002 Topps Bonds autograph has how many copies?  I do not know, but its a lot and you can often find this card closer to $50 than $100.  It's an on-card autograph too.  If you just simply want to add a Bonds autograph to your collection, but your looking for value I would highly recommend trying to chase down a copy of this card.  The 2002 Topps Ten autograph is another on-card Bonds autograph which can be had for a reasonable price. 

Overall, the market for Bonds cards has turned south since the end of the sluggers career.  There was a lot of drama and all sorts of garbage surrounding Bonds which helped drive his card prices lower.  He still offers collectors lots of value and his cards have kind of found there niche in the market.  If you rushed out and spent a bunch of money on Bonds cards you are not going to see a huge gain in value in the foreseeable future, but you are not going to lose money either. 

On The Field-
Is Barry Bonds the greatest offensive player to have have stepped onto a baseball diamond?  It's a legit question which drives hoards of people insane.  Bonds is the best player I have seen with my own eyes, but I never had the chance to watch Babe Ruth.  Here's the break down on Bonds.

JAWS rates Bonds as the greatest left-fielder of all-time.  That's higher than Ted Williams, Rickey Henderson, Manny Ramirez, Carl Yastrzemski, and Pete Rose.  It's really not even that close.  Bonds has a career WAR of 162.5 and Williams, in second, has a career WAR of 123.  Just so you know, the Babe was at 163.  Hmmm..

More Barry goodness.  If you were to look at Bonds and Babe Ruth next to each other, the Bambino has a slightly higher WAR and also leads Bonds in OPS+ by a pretty healthy margin.  However, there are plenty of areas were Bonds has outperformed Babe.  Namely in defensive metrics and stolen bases.  Here are a few categories where Bonds is the all-time leader or really close:

+Bonds won 7 National League MVPs.  Most all-time


+WAR-4th

+oWAR-3rd

+Slugging %-5th

+OPS-5th

+Runs Scored-3rd

+Total Bases-4th

+Home Runs-1st

+RBIs-4th

+Bases on Balls-1st

+RC-1st

I am going to go ahead and stop there.  You get the point.  Babe Ruth ranks high on most of these lists too, but various other greats are ahead of him on these lists too.  Bonds and Babe Ruth are consistently the two players who appear most frequently on these lists.  Sadly, Bonds will likely not be seeing the inside of Cooperstown anytime soon unless he buys a ticket just like the rest of us.  Here's a look at the final home run of Bonds career which is now the current home run record.  Watch it once for the home run, watch it again to laugh at Matt Holliday. 

Favorite Card-

Yes, its the same card again.  I love the 1987 Fleer Glossy card.  

My Top 50 On Cardboard- #7 Mike Trout

My Top 50 On Cardboard

#7

Mike Trout

2010 Bowman Platinum

While players like Bryce Harper have garnered a lot of hype around the hobby, Mike Trout has been the true best young star around the baseball and the baseball card hobby.  Mike Trout's first batch of cards first showed up in 2010 and were actually pretty affordable before the 2012 season.  Once Trout was called up in late April of 2012 the climb in the value of Trout cards was dramatic and steep.  Trout has offered baseball fans a glimpse of brilliance during his first two full seasons on the field, while offering collectors the opportunity to chase down some great cards of a young proven talent.  

Hobby Impact-

Trout cards did not get the hype that players like Harper and Strasburg received during the past few years, but his rise to the top of the hobby ranks has been quick and steady.  Before the 2012 season, there were several Trout autographs out on the secondary market and the cards were all more than affordable.  By the All-Star break in 2012 Trout cards had gone from affordable to high end.  Since their meteoric rise during the first half of the 2012 season the cards haven't really budged that much.  Rookie cards of the Angel's outfielder are popular and can range greatly in price from hundreds of dollars to a few dollars depending on the card and the print run.  

I am always a little bit skiddish about spending a lot of money on cards of young players, but Trout was an exception for me.  I watched Trout several times during the first half of the 2012 and was impressed with how he impacted the game.  I even got a chance to watch him in-person during a summer vacation up to my in-laws house in Michigan.  Cool to see Trout and Cabrera on the same field. 

I was interested in finding and adding just one Trout autograph.  I am honestly not a very big of the Angels, but I do appreciate the extraordinary talent that Trout possesses.  I was able to land one Trout autograph and it remains me lone copy of his signature in my collection.

2011 Topps Finest Orange Mike Trout Autograph

This card cost me a Willie Mays autograph which hurt me a little bit at the time, but I am pretty happy with the decision now.  Trout autographs will easily run collectors prices north of $100 and can expect to tack on extra depending on print runs, grading, and product quality.  There are some off brand Trout autos out there if you are looking for a bargain, or Trout autographs with weird combinations.  Last month someone tried to trade me a dual signature Trout/Jeremy Hellickson autograph.  Why was such a card ever made?  I am not sure, but it exists and was actually a bit of a bargain.  If you are into that sort of card.  

Not being a huge Trout collector I am not sure if I have done him justice in this write up.  In review, Trout has only played during two and a half of the thirty years I have been collecting cards.  I already rank him in the top ten of important players in the hobby over the past three decades based on his short time in the league.  Trout is truly a unique talent (more below) and I could easily see him being first on this list if I revisited it in another twenty years.  Of all the young players and prospects that collectors have jumped on during the modern era of baseball cards, Trout is one of the few to distinguish themselves by actually living up to and exceeding expectations. 

On The Field-

Trout is truly a unique talent on the field and I love watching him play despite the fact that he plays for one of the most inept organizations in all of professional sports.  Baseball fans throw out the term "five-tool" player rather easily at times, but Trout fits that description to a T.  There is not an aspect of the game where Trout is not capable of impacting a game.  Trout hits for power, runs the bases well, has great plate discipline, and his defensive his superb. 

A quick check of Baseball Reference's similar batters is a little misleading.  His top comparable is Hack Miller who only played six years in the teens and twenties.  His career was interrupted by World War I.  Hard to get a handle on exactly what kind of player he was when he played so long ago and had is career split in pieces by four years of military service.  His second comparable is Allen Craig.  As a Cardinals fan I can tell you that's not quite right stylistically. 

If I had to venture out and make my own comparable player, who reminded me of Trout both in numbers and style of play, I would point you in the direction of a young Eric Davis.  Specifically the first two seasons of both players careers.  Davis put up a .277/.378/.523 line in his first full season with the Reds to go along with 27 home runs, 71 RBIs, and 80 stolen bases.  Trout's first year line was better, but you will see some of the similarities: .326/.399/.564 with 30 homers, 83 RBIs, and 49 stolen bases.  The numbers are somewhat close, but I really cannot think of another player who closer to Trout than Davis. 

I also could not find a video for reference, but the young version of Eric Davis was a spectacular defensive player just like Trout.  He cost Jack Clark a few home runs back in the day.  Trout of course is one of the best defensive players in the game. 

Adding in age as a factor to Trout's comparable players on Baseball Reference yields a list spectacular list of Hall of Famers.  Players on the list include: Frank Robinson, Mickey Mantle, Orlando Cepeda, Al Kaline, Jimmie Foxx, Ted Williams, Hank Aaron, and Ken Griffey Jr.  I am pretty sure that the Angels would be more than happy if Trout turned into any one of the players listed above.  Cannot really go wrong with that list. 

There's also the whole MVP award debate surrounding Trout.  He's lead the American League in WAR the past two seasons ahead of eventual MVP winner Miguel Cabrera.  During the 2012 season Cabrera won the triple crown.  Last year, the Angels were a terrible team and the Tigers were one of the better teams in the league.  So, does Trout deserve to have two MVP awards in addition to his 2012 Rookie of the Year award?  I am beyond tired of this debate and the people who debate this issue being ridiculous.  I could post several screen shots of ridiculous people on both sides, but I will be classy. 

Instead of further debating the Trout for MVP debate I will bring you a video cornucopia of Mike Trout and his five tools.  Four shown.  

Speed

Power

Defense

Hitting For Average

Favorite Card-

I like this 2013 Topps Out of Bounds variation they put out of Trout leaping to take away a home run.  This card is much better than his regular 2013 Topps and is a much better picture for showing the type of player Trout is on the field.  Definitely more expensive than a regular Topps base card, but still a really affordable card.  

2013 Topps Out of Bounds SP Mike Trout

2014 Topps: One Month Out

I am going to do more smart things with numbers this year on my blog.  It's my only goal for the year.  We'll see how it works out, but here's my first post using "math"

 

We are a little less than one month out from the release of the new 2014  Topps Series 1 cards.  This set is looking like the typical flagship set release collectors have come to expect from Topps during the past half decade.  Not much has changed and the status quo is definitely maintained with this new release for better or worse.  The prices on the product generally seem in line with Topps releases of the past, so here's a look at what has sold so far:

330 Cards Base Sets 

High Price: $27.00

Low Price: $26.49

Comment-There are only two sellers offering this product on Ebay at the moment, so it's a little bit tough to get a good picture about the value of the base set.  While the pricing appears to be lock in step, and each seller has sold multiple copies of this product, the usual heavyweights have not started their pre-sales on their sets yet.  Honestly, it's not a bad price for a complete set a month out from release.  Case breakers always like a little bit of certainty up front and sometimes collectors can win by buying sets ahead of time.  Over the next few weeks we will learn a little bit more.  

Master Sets

No Pricing

Comment-There have been two listing for Master Sets on Ebay which include the base set of 330 and usually an assortment of different insert sets.  Master sets can be a great way to figure out pricing on various insert sets.  Usually most Master Sets on Ebay come with 5 insert sets, but one of the two completed listings on Ebay came in with 6.  The set including 5 sold at $159.99 which seems a little bit on the high side.  

Hobby Boxes

High Price: 59.95

Low Price: $47.95

Comment-Seems in line with past releases of base Topps sets.  The $12 split is rather high.  I would actually expect the low to rise up higher as the product gets ready to release.  I think the high just below $60 is not going to change very much. 

Jumbo Boxes
High Price-$99.95
Low Price-$89.99

Comment-The range is still pretty great here too, but I actually think that these prices are both pretty good.  Especially the low end of the spectrum on this product.  I could easily see these numbers drifting closer to $100 over the next few weeks leading up to this products release on January 29th.