Tag Archives: Wil Myers

Sports Card Hot List for December 7th 2012

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If you are one of the lucky you live in an area with great hobby shops and card shows.  The hobby is no fun if you do it on your own.  This is the kind of thing that has to be shared.  That sharing can be father and son or collector to collector.  Your local scene has a lot to do with your level involvement and fun.  I live in Atlanta and quite honestly, it isn’t what it used to be.  Yeah, we have weekly shows but it almost seems like the people frequenting these shows are stuck in previous decades and are often out of touch with the card market as it is.  The only dealers who have in demand stuff want way more than market for it and that prevents buying.  The good news is that Atlanta also has three hobby shops that are pretty good.  The shop that this site owns, FCB Sports Cards Comics and Games, On Deck Sports Cards in Lawrenceville, and Champions in Kennesaw.  All three of them have a different feel and offer something unique to collectors.  I really wish I could say the same thing for shows.

The big show in the sports world this week was the crowning of the first freshman trophy winner Johnny Manziel of Texas A&M.  It’s no surprise that he pops up #1 on this hot list even though he does not have a single card.

#1 Johnny Manziel Jerseys, Footballs and Helmets

His freshman year was absolutely amazing.  Historic in that he’s the first freshman to ever win the Heisman award.  If you were at the scene at the downtown athletic club you would have seen a pen in his hand as he left and entered the facility.  I wouldn’t be surprised if he signed some during the actual ceremony.

People who were prepared and willing to brave the event as his items are amazingly expensive these days.  Those who gotten them previously and already had them on ebay saw a spike from already inflated prices.  Mini helmets hitting $200 is crazy as hell.  I just hope ebay seller magicmomentmemorabilia isn’t paying the player for these autographs as it would be a shame to see such a great player violate NCAA rules and have to pay for it at this point in his career.

#2 Wil Myers Bowman Chrome Autographs

Blockbuster trades almost always make cards go up when there are prospects involved.  Obviously if a Yankee prospect loses his pin stripes it has a negative affect, but often times the market can react favorably to team moves.  Part of this is the increased attention paid to the prospect with baseball writers all the sudden bringing the prospect to front and center of the hot stove season.  Another part is the fan base of the new team now has cards to acquire.

Rays fans get ready for Wil Myers as the trade from KC to Tampa happened last night sending WD40 (Wade Davis) and James Shields to KC for Wil Myers, Mike Montgomery and Jake Odorizzi.  It sent the already expensive Wil Myers bowman chrome autograph from $60 to $75.

 

#3 Cryptozoic Walking Dead Season 2 Boxes

As exciting as sports cards are there is really no comparison between the appeal of them vs the appeal of movie memorabilia.  Companies like Rittenhouse and Cryptozoic have capitalized on TV show licensing with products like The Big Bang Theory, Warehouse 13, James Bond and this second release of The Walking Dead.  These boxes are selling to a special kind of crazy as a factory cost $55 box is selling for $150 on the open market.  It’s not that crazy when so many cards from season 1 are worth about what a box is selling for.  I always make sure my orders for The Walking Dead are large.

 

#4 David Wilson Topps Chrome Autographs

New York is truly the biggest stage in the sports world.  Things that happen there just seem to have more of an impact than anywhere else.  David Wilson’s day would have stood out no matter where it happened from.  One does not simply ignore a 327 yard day.  However one writer jokingly was not impressed and thought that Wilson could do more in the back-flip department.

Sports card collectors were impressed as the cards doubled in price with this weekends game.  They aren’t fetching huge value with a spike from $25 to $45.  These cards still have a long way to go as $50 is mere chump change for these beautiful black camo autographs.  I would keep an eye on his role in the Giant offense and if this is going to lead to any serious playing time.

#5 Bo Jackson PSA 10 Rookies

Those that weren’t watching sports in the early 90′s can’t really grasp how great Bo Jackson was.  The whole “Bo Knows” campaign was a huge part of pop culture and a rare case where talent exceeds the hype.  Bo was the real deal and if it weren’t for a dislocated hip no NFL rushing record would be safe.

This spike comes as a result of ESPN coverage in a 30 for 30 special that coincidentally is the brain child of sports card collector Bill Simmons.  I wonder if he is aware of his concepts affect on the sports card market?  The ESPN spike is a real thing as his 1988 Topps rookie in PSA 10 format could be had for $65 before the show.  Now a few collectors are paying over $100 with the new hype.  Look for the next episode to cause a similar sports card spike.  You could do pretty well buying and flipping.

#6 Nick Foles Topps Chrome Autographs

It’s the roller coaster ride that is the 2012 Philadelphia Eagles and Foles is one of the prime players.  He looks to have supplanted Michael Vick for good as he led the Eagles to a rare victory by calling his own number on a goal line play.

This was an all around good game played by the new Eagle signal caller and gave Philly fans something to look forward to in a season that they would just rather forget.  If all works out Foles is the quarterback of the future there and his cards would only go up from here.  His refractor autographs went from $30 to $40 and have a lot of room to grow.

 

#7 Panini Prime Cuts Patch Autographs

Great is the void in 2012 high end products.  It’s so great that people are even willing to chase unlicensed cards of their players as long as it’s from a known source.  It’s no secret that Panini has not done much right in the way of sports cards this year.  Limited is one of the worst return products I have ever seen.  Prime Cuts seems to be an exception to the Panini failing at 2012 sports card release rule as these singles are selling for big money.  This Griffey in the picture brought $450.  That’s not what it would have brought if it were a Topps card, but it’s a good start.

 

FCB Weekly Hot List May 18th 2012 Edition

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Each and every week I read a lot of online content in the form of articles, blogs, forums,  Facebook posts and other assorted websites.  It ranges from history to politics, to pop culture, to theology, to sports (lots and lots of sports) and a whole other range of topics.  The one thing that they mostly have in common is that what’s being said, has already been said before, in largely the same way.

So goes the internet 24/7 news cycle, you have to be lightning quick to report the news, then you have to be even faster to get the first opinion pieces out on it and then the rest spend time rehashing the original news or even more likely, what the other opinion writers said.  This can make for a lot of boring reading and probably accounts for the abundance of pictures, .gifs, photoshopped images and other things on the Internet designed to keep our attention.  Without either a. interesting writing b. a new subject matter or c. some other hook that sucks you into the story you are either 1. bored or 2. on another website.

So, all that said I’m going to risk being repetitive and say Josh Hamilton is really good.  Oh, you haven’t watched ESPN this week?  Well let me make a list of simple comments/questions to update you on the sports world and the card hobby.

1. Josh Hamilton is indeed all that and a bag of chips, heck, he’s a Big Grab (you know the kind that you can hardly believe contains over 700 calories?  that one) – his lead in the Triple Crown categories is astounding, even this early in the season (uniformed fan:  wait, Pujols isn’t leading?)

2. Brett Lawrie is really stupid.  I’m a lifelong Cubs fan, that means I’ve had to endure the ups and downs of Carlos Zambrano and even he didn’t throw his helmet into an umpire

3. 2012 Bowman singles are selling for astounding amounts of money, the autographs that is.  More on that in the Hot List later

4. I hope the Lakers lose just to see James Harden triumph over Metta World Peace and for no other reason.

5. Speaking of which, the NBA playoffs – do you follow them?  We don’t have a lot of commentary on the site but if so comment here on what you think.

6. One of the more enduring topics here on the boards has been the successes/mistakes of Leaf (the producer formerly known as Razor).  You haven’t heard much about them lately but they’ve knocked it out of the park with Leaf Metal Draft and Leaf Valiant Draft in the football arena and to say I’m excited for 2012 Leaf Army is an understatement.

7. Yu Darvish =  best Japanese pitching import ever, eat your heart out Hideki Irabu!!

And on that note, away we go.

 

1. Xavier Avery 2008 Bowman Chrome Draft Parallels

Avery

Comments: It’s not often that you write about and see the #1 subject on the Hot List play in the same day but that’s exactly what I did when I saw Xavier Avery play in Kauffman Stadium Thursday afternoon.  Frankly, it wasn’t like he stood out as the best player on the field but that was overshadowed by two other pieces of information.  First, he was in the big leagues and second, prior to his call up to the big leagues his cards were selling for darn near nothing.  Avery’s been up for several games now, one of those games included a double and triple where he got to show off the wheels.  Avery’s emergence in the big league lineup caused collectors to remember him and thus the Blue Refractor that sold last week for $1 sold $15 this week.

2. Josh Hamilton 1999 Topps Traded Autos

Hamilton

Comments: Honestly, a couple weeks ago all the buzz was about Matt Kemp, who had began the season on a tear.  Pffffft, Matt Kemp isn’t even first in the NL in HRs anymore, now it’s Carlos Beltran (yes, that one).  Buzz is not a word to describe Josh Hamilton, neither is on fire, it’s almost like Josh has dropped an atomic bomb on the rest of the American League, or gone Blitzkrieg, or insert your own war analogy here.  Josh’s start to the season is awe inspiring and if you had those 1999 Topps Traded cards laying around, it is time to break them out.  Base Topps cards are selling for $10 and Autos that were at $350 last week, hit $600 this week.

3. Corey Seager 2010 Bowman Chrome Draft Autos

Seager

Comments: In case you are wondering, the presses at Topps are still glowing red from all the USA sets they printed.  you would have thought Topps was forced to adopt some patriot cause the way flags were being printed at that place.  For many of us that busted products like 2010 Bowman Chrome Draft (my hand is raised, 20 times, for 20 cases) this meant that USA Autos usually sold for something like a nickel.  However, as the draft draws near and people start to sniff out their favorite prospects certain players are rising.  One of these players is Corey Seager whose Refractor Autos from 2010 Bowman Chrome Draft were selling for $8 or so last week and $15 this week.

 

4. Brandon Beachy 2011 Topps Chrome Refractor Autos

Beachy

Comments: I had a roomate in college who made an awful lot of bad jokes and the really unfortunate thing was that it didn’t stop him from trying.  However, as they say, even a blind squirrel finds a nut sometimes right?  I have to imagine that this theoretical blind squirrel would die before finding his nut….I digress.  Anyway, he did find a nut once when talking about a couple of girls whose last name was Beach.  “Hey Phil, imagine if they were men, they’d be sons of Beaches.”  Say it out loud, it will make more sense then.  This is just a small insight into my mind as it illustrates what I think when I hear names like Brandon Beachy.  However, the only ones left cursing are opposing teams as Brandon is having a fantastic year for the Braves.  His 2011 Topps Chrome Refractor Autos moved from $14 to $21 this week.

5. Dustin Brown 2003-04 Young Guns

Dustin Brown

Comments:  I watch hockey highlights on SportsCenter and that’s about the extent of my knowledge of the sport.  As it pertains to the Hot List I hope that our resident hockey fans keep me informed.  However, that being said it doesn’t take a lot of attention to realize that the Kings are surprising people this year and that Dustin Brown is at the center of that.  There’s a terrible pun there related to his position and I should be chastised simply for pointing it out I think.  However, as with all hockey rookies, when the player starts making news, so do the Young Guns rookies.  Dustin’s Young Guns all the way back from 2003-04 moved from $5ish last week to $10-$15 this week.

6. Wil Myers 2010 Bowman Chrome Autos

Myers

Comments: What Josh Hamilton is to the Major Leagues, Wil Myers is to Double A.  Well, ok, it’s not that crazy but he does lead the Texas League in 2 of the 3 Triple Crown categories but is being held out of the big leagues by the stunning Royals offense (or not).  Wil just keeps producing wherever he is at – both league and position and his cards reflect this, Refractor Autos jumped from $45 to $65 this week.

7. Christian Friedrich 2008 Bowman Chrome Draft Parallels

Friedrich

Comments: The 2008 Bowman Chrome Draft non-auto CL was much maligned, the big star was Rick Porcello and yeah, that’s about all we need to say about.  However, with Xavier and now Christian we appear to have a resurgence on the Hot List.  Christian has started his big league career with 2 starts and a 1.38 ERA and that will get almost anyone’s attention.  His 2008 Draft Parallels have really started moving as a result, everything from Refractors selling for $5 to 9.5 Gold Refractors selling for over $100.  Couldn’t this guy be Jamie Moyer’s grandkid?  :)

8. Yu Darvish 2012 Bowman Chrome Autos

Yu

Comments: It’s official, I’ve run out of Yu jokes.  But wouldn’t it be funny if Yu talked about himself in the third person like the famous “Jimmy” episode of Seinfeld.  It would be so confusing.  “Yu’s got a crush on Elaine.”  “Yu’s down, Yu needs help.”  People wouldn’t really know what to do with Yu at all and now even I’m confused.  I guess that’s what I get for trying to cross Seinfeld with a Japanese pitching import.  All that said what’s yous got (slang for Texas Rangers’ management) is a guy who is having a fantastic start to 2012.  Yu is tied for the ML lead in wins and is a receiving a great deal of very positive publicity on ESPN.  Yu’s Blue Refractors were selling for $650 when we featured them last week, then they started tailing off and hit the $550 range but with more spectacular performances, back to $650 they go.

Now for a couple new features that will rotate in and out of the Hot List from time to time.

Blast from the Past:

Gio Gonzalez 2004 Bowman Chrome Autos

Gio

Comments: A little insight into the Hot List.  One of the things I do each week is to check the leader board in the MLB from a statistics perspective.  If you look at the National League you will note that a Washington National is on top in the K’s category.  Right, Stephen Strasburg…but actually, wrong, it’s Gio Gonzalez.  Gio, although only 26 is already on his 3rd team and seems to have moved it up a notch in 2012.  He’s 5-1 with a 2.22 ERA and 60 K’s in 48 innings.  Once again, Gio’s 2004 Chrome Autos are on collectors minds as they surge to the $20 range.

Ooops, we missed it:

2010 Donruss Elite Drew Smyly Autos

Smyly

Comments: When you write a list like this, missing a spike is inevitable, there is just too much data out there.  Sometimes these misses get pointed out but often not.  Therefore, an oops we missed it category that makes a debut on the Hot List seems appropriate.  This go round it is Drew Smyly Elite Autos that sell for $30 now and weeks ago sold for half of that.  Drew’s maybe not a name you have heard of but after seven starts, his ERA is in the l0w 2s, even though the Tigers have so far given him only one win!

 

FCB Weekly Hot List – May 11th 2012 Edition

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A big part of the reason I initially got into baseball cards was statistics, I loved watching the leader boards in all the categories, projecting what the year would look like and doing analysis of any and every kind.  Now, I’m no leatherman (check his posts for lots of good nuggets) but still, I enjoyed the backs of the cards as much as the front.  This week, Josh Hamilton had quite the statistical night when he went 5 for 5 with 4 HRs and a double – 18 total bases and 8 RBIs.  This of course caused me to look up Josh Hamilton on Yahoo! Sports and confirm what I had suspected – his amazing night boosted him even further into the lead in all of the AL Triple Crown categories.  Saying Josh Hamilton is having a good year is similar to saying that the sun is somewhat warm to the touch and that Chris Gilmore has a slight southern accent.  It’s a bit of an understatement at this juncture.

That said, what’s even more interesting about Hamilton is the story that goes with his somewhat surreal life.  Baseball stardom as a young person, descent into abject drug and alcohol addiction and subsequent reclamation of stardom.  Josh’s unreal first month of the season, in tandem with unreal life story I think point out something that’s very unique to the sport of baseball.  Players can truly come out of (or come back from) nowhere to make it back to the top of the game.  It’s not that the NFL doesn’t have some compelling stories – Tom Brady was a 7th round draft pick and is now considered one of the best in the game.  But c’mon the guy was a star at Michigan, he was drafted and well known before the draft.  You take your Tom Brady and I’ll counter with Mike Piazza a 67th round pick taken as a favor, only to become perhaps the best hitting catcher ever (not to mention slowest runner).  Nick van Exel had an outstanding career as a second round draft pick in the NBA but honestly, every stud in the NBA without exception is a 1st rounder – show me a guy who went through what Hamilton went through and made the All Star game, show me a guy who was taken in the 39th round and is now starting at 1st base for one of the most recognizable franchises on the planet (LaHair).

Not only are the rags to riches stories more prevalent in baseball than any other sport but so are the resurgences.  If you don’t believe me, look at the two guys immediately behind Hamilton on the batting average list, one Mr. Jeter and one Mr. Ortiz.  There was a near consensus that at 37 and with 2,456 games under his belt Jeter’s game was tailing off.  He’d been under .300 for the past two seasons, only hit 6 HRs last year and 10 the previous year and his slugging percentage had been under .400 for the first time in his career, two years in a row.  All of a sudden, here he comes hitting .388 with 5 HRs already and playing like his old self.  This would be akin to Joe Montana coming to the Chiefs late in his career and actually doing something.  It just simply doesn’t happen.

All this to say, this is what makes baseball great  – there’s just seemingly so much more to love.  More story lines, more players and as of this week – more cards.  You thought that you had already tasted the rainbow of refractor colors until you saw this year’s 2012 Bowman Chrome, which now incorporates regular, blue, purple, orange, gold, red, super, bowman 1/1, silver ice, red ice and soon to come blue wave and red wave.  And you know what, the market loves them all and they are all selling like hot cakes on eBay and that’s kind of fun too.  All of this makes for a very long introduction to a Hot List packed with new cards and rejuvenated players.

 

1. Tony Cingrani 2011 Bowman Chrome Gold Refractors

Cingrani

Comments: So we’ll start with a guy you have never heard of to prove my point about “there’s so much more to love.”  One of those things that exists to love in baseball more-so than in any other sport is the full blown minor league system.  Heck, on FCB we spend about as much time talking about that as we do about the majors.  How many NBA D-Leaguers have you seen grow up to flourish in the league?  Exactly.  Have you heard of Tony Cingrani before?  No, he’s not Vince Papale’s cousin, he is a guy who has a sub 1 ERA in 6 starts this year for the Bakersfield Blaze.  Now, why do I mention the team?  Two things – if you know Bakersfield, you would know that Merle Haggard hales from there and that its in the CAL League launching pad, so the sub 1.00 ERA is even more spectacular.  Prior to this week Tony’s last Gold Refractor had sold for $8, then they sold for $40 and $55 this week.

2. Christian Friedrich 2008 Autos

Friedrich

Comments: Christian has been a fairly prominent prospect in the Rockies organization for some time but he’s always had one big strike against him, he’s a Rockies pitching prospect.  The Rockies and pitching prospects just haven’t historically had all that much success so in spite of his success at the minor league level in non-elevated ball parks he never garnered a ton of attention from the hobby perspective.  Christian’s first start in the majors was excellent though and it caused cards like a Prime Cuts that got no bids the prior week at $1.99 to get hit at a buy it now of $8 this week.

3. Josh Hamilton 1999 Topps Traded Autos

Hamilton

Comments: Ah, the aforementioned Mr. Hamilton.  Truth of the matter is that Josh was already having a spectacular season when he went straight Ed Delahanty on the Orioles this week. You might need to read more here, to catch that reference.  With this evening of insanity, Josh vaulted into the lead into all the Triple Crown categories and by some margin in the home run category.  Josh’s 1999 Topps Traded Autos had been creeping upwards for some time but this week pushed them over the edge.  Raw copies went from $150 to $300 and with a big season and a big offseason contract  to come, I think it is very possible that this card becomes the Miguel Cabrera type of it’s set.  Eat your heart out Carl Crawford, Josh owns this set.

4. Wil Myers 2010 Bowman Chrome Autos

Myers

Comments: Speaking of guys who are experts in the art of the long ball, Wil Myers is at this point clearly too good for AA.  I live in the KC area and I heard a conversation on the radio today regarding how long they could keep Wil Myers down in the minors.  If he keeps playing like this, I’d go for “not that long.”  Wil is another exciting young hitting prospect to add to the collection of Moustakas and Hosmer and he’s absolutely lighting it up this year.  Myers Chrome Autos were $10-$15 back when 2010 Bowman came on the market, overshadowed by some Strasburg and Harper guys…  $10 no more, last week they were $35 and this week on sold for $55 as Wil continues to make his case for top prospect in the minors.

5. Jon Jay 2006 Bowman Chrome Draft Parallels

Jay

Comments:  Jon Jay had a puppy, I think it’s name was Rover.  Rover was a good dog but shortly before this picture was taken for 2006 Bowman Chrome Draft Rover got hit and killed by a drunk man riding a  moped.  This is what I imagine happened because Jon’s face is….well, sour doesn’t even begin to describe it.  I have to imagine the picture might be happier now, perhaps Rover II has made his way into the Jay family and even if he hasn’t, being in the top NL leaders in the batting category usually does some emotions good.  Jon’s been around .400 the whole first month of the season and his Xfractors that were $10-$12 last week hit $20 this week.

6. Yu Darvish 2012 Bowman Chrome Autos

Yu

Comments: The Bowman w/Chrome brand used to be the dog of the Bowman brands.  Well, how about this, in a dog show it was the mutt compared to the greyhound and golden retriever like brands of Bowman Chrome and Bowman Chrome Draft.  This all seemed to change in 2010 when Stephen Strasburg mania brought us 2010 Bowman Chrome, 2011 Bowman Chrome brought us Bryce Harper and this year, the chase card can be summed up in a single letter, or two, it’s all about Yu.  Collectors are entering hobby shops humming the Paramore song, “All I wanted“…. was Yu.  So far Yu hasn’t disappointed this year with a 2.54 ERA, 4-1 record and nearly 10 K’s per 9 IP.  What this means in short is that Yu’s auto has gone for Strasburgian and Harper (ian?) type amounts with Blues routinely getting $650-$750 early in the release cycle.

7. Will Middlebrooks 2007 Elite Autos /409

Middlebrooks

Comments: A difference between Will Middlebrooks and Bryce Harper?  Alex, what is “who hit a grand slam in their first week in the big leagues?”  Why, that’s correct and since you wagered $2,000 on that daily double you’ve now taken the lead…ok, I perhaps took the Jeopardy analogy a touch far but you get the point.  Will has been on this list in previous weeks for going bonkers on the MiLB, now he makes it for lighting up the MLB for a grand slam in his first week up.  This pushed his already hot Elite Auto /409 up another notch from $70 to $100 this week.

8. Dylan Bundy 2011 Bowman Chrome Auto BGS 9.5

Bundy

Comments: What Bundy is doing might be even more impressive given that he seems to typically only have 3 innings to do it in.  Dylan seems to regularly fan more than half the batters he faces, no matter who he is facing.  This week it was 8 K’s in 3 innings and the cards continue to rise.  Chrome Autos in 9.5 slabs hit $135 this week up from $105 last week.

9. Bryan Lahair 2007 Bowman Sterling Refractor Autos

Lahair

Comments: Listen, the Cubs need bright spots, badly.  Bryan is turning out to be that bright spot and in typical fashion Cubs fans will latch onto any bright spot that shows itself during the year.  As I mentioned last week LaHair autos were the bane of many busters existence in 2007 Bowman Sterling and 2008 Bowman Draft.  However, Refractors hit a new high of $75 this week up from $55 last week.

10. Bryce Harper 2012 Bowman Chrome

Harper

Comments: What would this list be without a Strasburg or Harper sighting, honestly?  Believe it or not, Harpers in the veteran, or at least “green RC” category now yet the Topps printing presses are still glowing red hot from how fast they’ve been printing cards and autographs of him.  Exclusive contracts are for printing!  None the less in spite of the fact that he’s taken ever shape and form possible for a Bowman subject over the past couple of years it is still a good thing to pull Bryce Harper cards out of 2012 Bowman – they indeed are hot.