1. David Freese 2009 Topps Chrome RC Autos
Comments: Being called the “breakout star” of the NLCS is no small thing and that’s exactly what David is being called. He’s not a breakout start to frequent readers of the Hot List though as you know we’ve highlighted David during a few hot streaks before. That’s the thing though, it is different when your hot streak is during the NLCS as opposed to any other time. It is also different when that hot streak includes 4 XBH’s and 6 RBIs in the first three games of the NLCS. Cardinals baseball gets much love so it doesn’t take a lot to make the cards (no pun intended move) and that’s just what David’s have done. Refractor Chrome Autos moved from $13 to $30 this week and if he keeps it up all the way into potentially the World Series, they aren’t done there.
2. Nelson Cruz 2006 Topps Chrome Auto
Comments: Don’t let the picture deceive, you know better, Nelson’s not hitting home runs for his old team, the Brewers in the playoffs, it’s the Rangers that he’s dropping bombs on the Tigers for. Five home runs already this post season for Nelson! You should also note that Nelson continues the first theme of the Hot List this week, baseball playoffs (we’ll get to that second theme in a moment). Nelson is a big power guy who gets on tears and thus he’s prone to really hot spells. He’s having one of those really hot spells and it is in the playoffs, thus the cards are getting another look. His 2006 chromes made a similar move up to Mr. Freese’s moving from $15 to $30 this week
3. Tim Tebow 2010 Playoff Contenders Auto RC
Comments: And here we have our second theme of the week, Week 5 of NFL football and performances that took place. One of the performances that didn’t take place was Kyle Orton Hears a Who. Honestly, outside of throwing a pick-six, it would be tougher to turn in an uglier performance than Kyle did on Sunday. I can’t imagine that it helped that at every incomplete pass Broncos fans were booing Kyle, obviously wanting Tebow. Well Tim came in and the Broncos made some noise, then lost the game. That being said, the game progressed with considerably more excitement and now so too will Broncos fans. This has translated to eBay too where Tim’s contenders autos pretty much doubled this week.
4. Sammy Watkins 2011 Leaf Army Autos
Comments: At this point, you may be asking yourself, just who is Sammy Watkins. Feel free to watch. Sammy has been absolutely lighting up the ACC. In 6 games Sammy has 38 catches, 628 yards and 6 TDs, as a true freshman. Not only that, contrary to most college athletes, Sammy has cards that you can collect, he was a part of the 2011 Leaf Army set and some have noticed. This week two of Sammy’s autos sold for over $40 each, the most recent sale prior to that was $10 and that was the norm after release. I think you are going to see more of these army autos on here as time goes by. It’s hard to imagine what a Tim Tebow, Cam Newton or Reggie Bush army auto would have sold for when they were hot in college.
5. Delmon Young 2003 Bowman Chrome Draft Auto
Comments: Delmon has to be one of the most talked about prospects of all times. He’s had a ton of ups and downs over his career and it is unusual that a young player has stayed in the “possibly very good” category as long as he has. But from thrown bats forward, here he is now, those thrown bats are now a distant memory and all that’s flying now is baseballs, straight out of the yard, in the playoffs. Not to be outdone by Mr. Cruz, Delmon has 5 homeruns in the playoffs as well and interest is rapidly rising in that 2003 Chrome release. Base Autos doubled in price this week from $15 to $30
6. Jahvid Best 2010 Exquisite Auto Patch /120
Comments: Jahvid got people REALLY excited when he scored two TDs in each of his first two games as a rookie. Fantasy owners such as myself were running around declaring that we had a coup on our hands and all others would suffer at our hands the rest of the season due to Mr. Best. Well, we then found out that Jahvid was not the Best a man could get because he got a nasty case of turf toe, on both feet. BOOM TOUGH ACTIN TINACTIN right? Wrong, that’s athlete’s foot but anyway. From then till now Jahvid didn’t really do a whole lot notable…until Monday night, on national TV, he had an 88 yd touchdown run and a ton of yards against the Bears defense. Oh and he’s on the Lions, that’s right, I just stated being on the Lions was an asset to card values, deal with it. Jahvid’s exquisite auto patches rose from $75 last week to $120 this week.
7. Wes Welker 2004 Contenders Auto Rookies
Comments: You know what our third theme of the week is? The NBA, with that season right around the corner. Oh wait, that’s not the case at all. Lots of football players at one point in time played basketball, Julius Peppers played for UNC, Terrelle Pryor was a top 50 basketball recruit out of high school (come to think of it maybe he should have stayed….), Deion Sanders at one point participated in a Dunk Contest in impressive fashion and so on and so forth. One of the players who might not translate as well to the hardwood, Wes Welker. But guess what, it doesn’t matter one bit – Wes continue to put up prolific numbers as the #1 wideout for Tom Brady’s wide open offense. An interesting tidbit about Wes, he used to be a kicker, his career long – 58 yards, longer than Stephen Gostkowski’s career long. Anyway, Wes’ contenders auto floated along in the $80-$100 range but have recently risen into the $150 range with his enormous season.
8. Jimmy Graham 2010 Playoff Contenders Autos
Comments: Speaking of football players who played basketball – Jimmy was on the Miami Hurricanes team for 4 years. That’s not the point though, the point is that Contenders has made a living by making autograph of everyone for years. Even tight ends who were picked late in the 3rd round. Jimmy is the recipient of a whole lot of Drew Brees’ passes this year with Jeremy Shockey out of the picture. That’s making him quite the fantasy star and his cards have started moving too, Contenders were $35 last week and are now in the low $50s
9. Aaron Rodgers 2005 Rookie Autos
Comments: Announcers need something to talk about during the game right? I mean, that’s why they are there. However, it seems like often times their default is to just gush about how wonderful a particular player is as a result of certain play. Yes, that is play in the singular sense because I’ve come to expect perhaps a sack and then an announcement shortly thereafter “Willie Young is the one player who jumped off the page at me in watching the film this week, guy plays D-end but is built like a tight end” and on and on it goes, ask Ron Jaworski. That being said, that kind of mancrushing typically doesn’t emanate from the booth when Michaels and Collinsworth are present on Sunday night, yet it was last week and it was about Aaron Rodgers and it was absolutely 100% deserved. The guy is off the charts in every category you could desire as a QB, he plays for the Pack and as a result, his cards at now at insane prices. A Contenders Auto sold for $755 this week and yes, that’s a nice little increase of $150 from last week.
10. Anthony Rendon 2011 Leaf Metal Draft Autos
Comments: There are many reasons you should read FCB of course but one of the one’s at the top of my list is the massive amount of information you can glean from the site. For instance, today you could have found out all the print runs of the Leaf Metal autos and had many other questions answered directly from the manufacturer. Not every day you can get that kind of interaction. Had you been reading the forums one of the things you would know is that Anthony Rendon is an auto in the Leaf products but missing from Bowman Chrome Draft. I believe it is this that has caused the first blue auto /25 to go for over $100 and Prismatics for over $60.
