The Angry Sports Card Guy

Topps' "Million Card" mayhem

2010-04-03T21:19:00.000-07:00

Finally, The Angry Sports Card Guy owns a 1976 Jose Cardenal, big hair and all.
Thank you, Topps, for your Million Card Giveaway promotion.
It takes a lot to get TASCG to even smirk when it comes to card company promotions or gimmicks, but this one is pretty dandy.
Not everything about the Million Card program is awesome, nothing ever is. For every Mickey, Reggie or Nolan to be had, there’s thousands of pounds of crap cardboard emerging every day since the promotion launched in mid-February.
After three box breaks, TASCG has picked up 18 codes and “unlocked” those cards through the giveaway's Web site. No-names spanning five decades have dominated my online collection. That’s not the problem. My set actually improved when someone offered a 1966 Yankees team card for a late-50s common, a trade offer immediately pounced on by TASCG. Perhaps you can guess why?
TASCG’s inevitable rage surfaced during a further trip around redemptionville. There’s no way to know who has what, who wants what or, really, what cards have turned up.
Now, the latter gripe can be remedied by doing many searches of particular players or years. Fair enough, TASCG supposes. An inability to know who’s holding what is just plain silly. This isn’t “Go Fish,” it’s a really intriguing concept by Topps -- one that has some code card lots selling for $100+ on eBay -- which is bogged down by technology and ignorance to basic collecting common sense.
Think about it this way: TASCG is sitting happy with this ‘66 Yankees card and has seen a ton of lame trade offers. Wouldn’t it be nice for him, with a card people clearly want, to be able to peruse what potential trade partners have in their collections to see if a deal is possible?
Yes. Of course. Can’t do it. That would make too much sense, apparently.
Instead, TASCG has to put the‘66 Yankees on a virtual fish hook, throw it at specific cards and wait for: a) the other collector to see a trade offer has been made; b) want the card being offered up; and c) be willing to make a deal.
On this end, TASCG will never knows who an offer went to or, even worse, if the other person even saw it. Just like my high school days, give me the rejection up front, it’s easier to deal with.
TASCG has also run into a bunch of techy glitches -- you can't see what trades you've made, for one -- that frustrate the whole process. Maybe Topps didn’t know what kind of response it would get and the site has been overwhelmed, but TASCG thinks an ominous tone was set when Topps didn’t get the site running on time on launch day in February.
The Million Card program is why TASCG hasn’t bought any other 2010 baseball boxes. Hit me with those six code cards and let me see what other “treasures” can be uncovered before the giveaway goes away.
In the meantime, those of you in the market for a 1980 Richie Zisk, drop me a line.

Among the other things TASCG found upon when returned to the hobby was this thing called eBay. Check out what he's offering here.

Panini stops Upper Deck "exclusive" breakaway

2010-03-24T17:11:00.000-07:00

Upper Deck keeps on taking hits, but this one might actually benefit hockey collectors such as The Angry Sports Card Guy.
The buzz of anti-UD sentiment and Panini excitement hasn't exploded too much -- yet -- since word surfaced the NHL and NHLPA has granted Panini a license beginning with the 2010-11 season.
Upper Deck has been a dominant and maligned force in the hockey world of a level not seen since the New Jersey Devils deployed "The Trap" during the 90s. UD has tossed out a wide variety of products, high-end to kid-based, while holding the exclusive. Success can be measured by the awesomeness of sweet finds in The Cup and yearly Young Guns rookie cards, failure by redemption problems and a sense UD simply took for granted hockey collectors couldn't go any place else for solid NHL products.
This is a TASCG-approved move by the NHL and NHLPA for the simple fact it will diversify the market. UD did a lot with the exclusive, but it's still a monopoly.
If this makes UD thin its product line and focus on top-shelf (hockey term) ideas and innovation (not just top-shelf prices), then all hockey collectors win.

The Angry Sports Card Guy is a typical guy living in the Chicago suburbs. He resumed collecting in 2007, with the help of a young son who loves sports, a wife who doesn't like parking her car in the garage and a mom who want to get rid of all the cards he's storing at her place in California. Among the other things TASCG found upon when returned to the hobby was this thing called eBay. Check out what he's offering here.

Dinosaurs, dirtbags and disappointment: TASCG's '09-10 Champs Hockey box break

2010-03-22T17:21:00.000-07:00

Hockey card collectors, what's the worst thing that could come out of a 20-pack box of 2009-10 Upper Deck Champ's Hockey?

A. TWO Craig Andersons out of your nine base card variations.

B. Getting three cards from an alleged five-card pack.

C. Dinosaur cards that don't include the words "bone" or "redemption."

D. Patrick Roy and Jarome Iginla being two of your hits, and Russian Mobster Alex Ovechkin (watch your back, son) also making an appearance.

If you answered "yes," then you and The Angry Sports Card Guy should go grab a beer some time.

Upper Deck's second installment of Champ's deserved a second look from TASCG simply for the novelty, because he bought one last year and figured the $65 box price to be a decent buy. The debut topped $100 when TASCG picked up his '08-'09 box around this time in 2009.

From a purely results perspective, most hockey guys wouldn't complain much about this break. TASCG isn't those folks.

TASCG is unabashedly a Blackhawks fan, and there probably aren't too many trios as disliked as Roy, Iggy and Ovi in these parts. Roy for the past, Iginla for recent history and Ovechkin for the foreseeable future.

Roy was a jerk, Iginla has tortured the Hawks over the years and Ovechkin's recent blast of Brian Campbell to the IR are just the basics for such hatred.

Pulling Roy and Iginla mini jerseys had me reaching for my laptop and eBay almost immediately.

Ovechkin showed up as a base card variation, although TASCG thinks a yellow variation might be more appropriate after the Dirty Russian's "push" of Hawks key d-man Campbell.

The regular minis were average, the mini-rookies were lame and there were four dinosaurs of the political variety (Ronald Reagan, Teddy Roosevelt, James Monroe and Andrew Jackson).

My two other hits – a Nathan Horton mini-jersey and Oscar Moller mini-auto – aren't pictured because, well, who cares.

TASCG recently finished off a set of Topps 206 baseball and thought the old-school mood would prevail in the cross over to Champ's this year. Not so much. If you liked Champ's last year, maybe you'll dig it again.

BREAKING DOWN THE BOX:

- 48 base cards

- 9 base card variations (1 yellow, 2 red, 6 green)

- 3 mini jerseys (Horton, Iginla, Roy)

- 1 mini autograph (Moller)

- 18 base minis

- 5 mini rookies (John Scott, Benn Ferriero, Jay Rosehill, Dmitry Kulikov, Michael Vernace)

- 4 historical minis (Reagan, Roosevelt, Monroe, Jackson)

- 1 Wonders of the World mini

- 5 Natural History minis

KEEPERS:

- Jonathan Toews and Ovechkin base cards (Ovi for my bike spokes); Wayne Gretzky and Denis Savard green variation base cards.

EBAYERS:

- Roy, Iginla and Horton jerseys; Moller auto.

THE ANGRY TALLY (1 means many angry shakes of the head, 5 means TASCG almost smiled):

- TASCG gives 2009-10 Upper Deck Champ's Hockey a 3 out of 5. To paraphrase Dennis Green, this set is exactly what TASCG thought it would be. Maybe you'll be more excited than him.

The Angry Sports Card Guy is a typical guy living in the Chicago suburbs. He resumed collecting in 2007, with the help of a young son who loves sports, a wife who doesn't like parking her car in the garage and a mom who want to get rid of all the cards he's storing at her place in California.
Among the other things TASCG found upon when returned to the hobby was this thing called eBay. Check out what he's offering here.

Coming soon: The Return

2010-03-09T16:35:00.000-08:00

Get ready for the return of rants and rage, all in the name sports cards.

Among the other things TASCG found upon when returned to the hobby was this thing called eBay. Check out what he's offering here.

The other one bites the dust...

2009-03-21T13:52:00.000-07:00

Doing the usual Saturday morning routine today, TASCG noticed the other local "card" shop has disappeared, replaced by a nail salon. This one, which also sold cigars (sign No. 1 how much they cared about cards), was overpriced (sign No. 2 how much they cared about cards) beyond belief.

Example: Even at its debut, did anyone ever buy a box of 2007 Topps Draft Picks & Prospects football for $79.95? Well, these guys thought it was worth that much last month. These guys barely got off their rears to help you, let alone talk shop. Good riddance. As you can tell, TASCG didn't visit the cigar store often and certainly doesn't lament its demise like the mentioned in this earlier post. Good riddance cigar dudes.

Made it out to Rosemont Friday for opening night of the Sun-Times show. Low-key is the best I can say. Tons of old (or is it vintage?) stuff, not to mention tons of photos and good pieces for autos (Derrick Rose was the main signer, but Rashaan Salaam did have someone in line, too).

Picked up a few singles in the effort to close out some sets that have long tormented me (how hard is it to find a damn Carlos Marmol UD2 card from last year? Let me tell you... ). Picked up a box each of 08/09 UD Ice and a Upper Deck series 2 hockey. Ripped a few packs with The Son to reveal a couple of double-swatched jerseys in the Ice and two Young Guns (scrubs) from the UD.

TASCG Sr. tagged along, grabbed some '09 baseball boxes, but he hasn't reported his findings yet. We're planning a return Sunday morning to see if there's any better bargains.

TASCG's two gripes: Only three tables selling boxes and the dude who brought his garage sale leftovers (sorry, Pulp Fiction on VHS isn't sports or collectible).

The Angry Sports Card Guy is a typical guy living in the Chicago suburbs. He resumed collecting in 2007, with the help of a young son who loves sports, a wife who doesn't like parking her car in the garage and a mom who want to get rid of all the cards he's storing at her place. Among the other things TASCG found upon when returned to the hobby was this thing called eBay. Check out what he's offering here.

Good times: Sun-Times show this weekend

2009-03-18T10:36:00.000-07:00

With so little in the way of decent card shows anymore (one a month, at best, in my part of the Chicago suburbs), it perks up TASCG's spirits when the Chicago Sun-Times show hits Rosemont. Check out details here and here.

Chicagoland was spoiled in 2008 with The National, Sportsfest and the pair of CST shows all dropping in between March and November. TASCG made it to the final day of the CST's November edition. Tough economy plus usual closeout Sunday specials made for some bargain finds on boxes, but also some single cards.

The Sunday scene is good for collectors, not necessarily so for those dealers. Hell, even Dave & Adam's Card World looked kinda flat ... and their booth is always hopping.

TASCG's isn't into the autograph mob at shows like this, but the lineup looks decent. I'll try to offer some highlights after visits on Friday and Sunday. Oh, if you're going, park at the CTA station north on Manheim ... hell of a lot cheaper than convention center parking lot.

The Angry Sports Card Guy is a typical guy living in the Chicago suburbs. He resumed collecting in 2007, with the help of a young son who loves sports, a wife who doesn't like parking her car in the garage and mom who want to get rid of all the cards he's storing at her place. Among the other things TASCG found upon when returned to the hobby was this thing called eBay. Check out what he's offering here.

Blasting the blaster box

2009-03-07T15:43:00.000-08:00

Too much real world in the last few weeks has meant not much time to be an angry collector.

What's festered in TASCG's mind is a growing resentment toward blaster boxes at the "big box" stores. There's really only one reason for it, and it's not because they don't produce hits.

My beef is with what's on the outside: the"plus one bonus pack" line.

It means nothing, nada, zip, because every single blaster sitting at the front of your Target or Wal-Mart has a freakin' bonus pack. How is it a bonus? It's not like there's a bunch of Topps 2008 Series One blasters sitting there with only seven packs and this one has a bonus eighth pack.

Blasters never have had a standard number of packs in them like the customary hobby numbers of 15, 24 or 36 (egads, a 1990s reference). So, who is actually going to notice if you have 11+1 this year, versus the 9+1 you had last year.

Just sell me a box with the total number of packs. That's it. End of story. Oh, and while you're at it, mention how many cards per pack.

On an unrelated note, a co-worker and closet (as in his wife doesn't let the cardboard out of it unless it's going to the garage) collector handed off to me a copy of The Card. If you haven't heard of it, you'd be like me. Released in 2007, it paints a slimy picture of this hobby in the context of a controversially clean T206 Honus Wagner. It's written by Michael O'Keefe and Teri Thompson with a very newspaper-ish style.

A nice read, but likely to make you angry about the dirtballs who have ruined the once-simple art of collecting.

The Angry Sports Card Guy is a typical guy living in the Chicago suburbs. He resumed collecting in 2007, with the help of a young son who loves sports, a wife who doesn't like parking her car in the garage and mom who want to get rid of all the cards he's storing at her place. Among the other things TASCG found upon when returned to the hobby was this thing called eBay. Check out what he's offering here.

The Upper Deck lifestyle: Cool cards or gimmicks?

2009-02-12T22:07:00.000-08:00

Tired of watching Topps do this type of thing, Upper Deck puts out this press release today that touts short prints in the '09 series 1 baseball.

OK, I get it: Joltin' Joe, MJ and Junior are sports legends. Any chance you get to hype your set with them is one worth taking. But, a reworked David Price card? This guy's got some filthy stuff, and did his part to move perennial doormat Tampa Bay into last year's World Series. Beckett, as it often does, bestowed the young hobby king tag on a guy like him, which lit up the market on his cards.

Here's the rub -- UD knew what they did in churning out a limited number of these cards, so to put out a statement acknowledging it is like pretending your crumb-faced kid didn't eat the cookie. Topps has tried to be more coy about such ploys (Jeter/Mantle/Bush for one, Favre/Lombardi another), but then flat-out ridiculous with the fake Japanese phenom last year.

What happened to the market determining demand instead of creating gimmick buzz. As a Bulls fan during Jordan's career, his brief tour of baseball duty sucked. And, he played in the damn Sox system -- not very endearing to a Cubs fan. Griffey's luster took a hit when he visited the South Side last season.

Would I like to drop this one right into my limited MJ collection beside his classic 1991 Upper Deck batting practice? Sure. One SP deserves another. But, this carousel of gimmicks is wearing thin.

As a closing thought on Price, the UD release maintains the mega-company did it just right to maintain the set's integrity. At that point, an image of Yankees can't miss, did miss prospect Brien Taylor (h/t Wax Heaven) crossed my mind.

The Angry Sports Card Guy is a typical guy living in the Chicago suburbs. He resumed collecting in 2007, with the help of a young son who loves sports, a wife who doesn't like parking her car in the garage and mom who want to get rid of all the cards he's storing at her place. Among the other things TASCG found upon when returned to the hobby was this thing called eBay. Check out what he's offering here.

Back to the (re)start

2009-02-08T16:48:00.000-08:00

With one rant out of the way, it makes sense to explain why TASCG actually came back to the collecting.

There's three reasons, actually: my now 4-year-old son, Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews .

Kids are always a great reason for collecting, either as one or as a way to bond. My own has grown in the old man's mold of loving Chicago sports -- Cubs, Blackhawks and Bears primarily. The other two "kids" just happened to be coming on the NHL scene when the old cardboard began to emerge from my long hobby hibernation.

Like any silly Dad, who as a kid expected to retire off of early '90s Score baseball sets with 900 cards and Pro Set Hockey, I saw the Hawks top youngsters as a nice pair to collect for now and the future. I saw the potential of what 2007/08 rookie cards could have for my boy in 2020 if Kane and Toews turned out to be brilliant stars. We had missed out on the hobby boom Sidney Crosby created, so I wasn't going to let it happen with two studs like this in our backyard.

The bulk of my modern hobby education -- and disdain -- came from the hunt for these youngsters.

It prompted frequent stops to the recently departed shop down the street which stocked a surprisingly nice array of hockey wax and singles. We tried a bit of everything -- Upper Deck 1 and 2, Black Diamond, MVP and eventually worked up the nerve to spend $100 a box (gasp) on Hot Prospects.

Often bad mouthed by "serious collectors" for a lack of anything special to them, blaster boxes at local big box stores also lured me into several $20 hits of Upper Deck, especially after catching on to the six Young Guns per box, and Ultra.

As the young Hawks made their noise on Chicago's West Side, they were hot in the hobby, as well. It fed the frenzy to grab as much Kane-Toews stuff as possible. With the help of eBay, we've put together a nice start over the last year-plus. Nothing that's going to put my happy collecting kid through college, but our highlights are the two autographs pictured above -- the Toews came from a pack and the Kane from an online steal of a deal.

My son's a big fan of these guys, which is totally the point of hunting for their cards. Of course, the other stuff we've encountered about the hobby along the way has made me, well, angry. Stay tuned. The Beckett rant is next.

The Angry Sports Card Guy is a typical guy living in the Chicago suburbs. He resumed collecting in 2007, with the help of a young son who loves sports, a wife who doesn't like parking her car in the garage and mom who want to get rid of all the cards he's storing at her place. Among the other things TASCG found upon when returned to the hobby was this thing called eBay. Check out what he's offering here.

Death of a card shop

2009-02-03T11:16:00.000-08:00

Brutal.

The well-run, friendly, shop right down the block locked the doors for the last time a couple of day ago. When I wandered back into the hobby about 17 months ago, I understood the rarity of having a shop this close to home. Call them my enablers, but the two guys that ran it knew their stuff, priced it as well as expected and treated my son like, well, a kid in a card shop. Hell, I did, too.

You know what? That's what made me come back to the hobby and this classic disorganized card heaven -- to buy packs, boxes, supplies, magazines (watch for TASCG's upcoming Beckett rant) or to chat with people having fun with it all.

Perhaps sensing a disturbance in the force, trying to establish normalcy in their own lives or whatever, the two guys who ran this shop for more than a decade sold it to Hot-Shot who they've known for a while. Hot-Shot came in with the tag of being a high-end guy, which made me leery, but at least my son and I still had a shop right there.

Ownership changed hands in August. Hot-Shot blew out a lot of old boxes, shut down for a few days to remodel and reopened just as the economy started to go. With a modest hobby budget, TASCG could handle maybe one or two trips a month to support Hot-Shot. Maybe that meant $100 a month, sometimes a bit more, sometimes a bit less. It was what this collector could do with a little extra money selling the stuff my son and I don't care to keep.

Hot-Shot -- not the most personable guy in the world, by the way -- always seemed disinterested. He told me a lot of regulars hadn't flocked back after he reopened. While standing over a case packed with the highest of high-end singles he busted out of his own boxes, Hot-Shot complained that guys who used to stop and drop $300-$400 a week weren't doing it as often. The economy I can understand, his attitude I couldn't.

I still wanted him there. The shows around here are pretty lousy most weekends. My fix was always down the block.

Last month, he pulled out. During my final visit, we chatted. Hot-Shot wasn't worried about the money he lost, he'd make it up in sales of the high-ends to other shops. Didn't seem to concerned about another shop disappearing. He cut me a $2-a-pack deal on loose 2008-09 Upper Deck hockey, Black Diamond and MVP. A nice gesture for a guy who probably said "Hi" to my kid once.

I walked out like a disgruntled teenager. "Why'd this happen to my shop, in my neighborhood?"

All I could think of was Hot-Shot and guys like him. Shops have overhead and depend on customers. Cards are a commodity and he's a broker. Take the goods to the people, don't stand around four days during the week in four-hour increments, hoping someone is gonna dump $500 on a box of Exquisite.

I understand business, but can't figure why he bothered to buy this shop in the first place.

The Angry Sports Card Guy is a typical guy living in the Chicago suburbs. He resumed collecting in 2007, with the help of a young son who loves sports, a wife who doesn't like parking her car in the garage and mom who want to get rid of all the cards he's storing at her place. Among the other things TASCG found upon when returned to the hobby was this thing called eBay. Check out what he's offering here.