Sunday, February 28, 2010

It's official: I'm collecting 2010 Topps Chicle and a quip about integrity in the hobby

You know, I've finished up most of my packing, with the exception of a couple, which I'm waiting on addresses for.  While I was going through my email and checking out Ebay, something triggered me to look up 2010 Topps Chicle, which I promptly did, looking at the Beckett Blog for the break down on the checklist:

2010 Topps National Chicle Checklist from the Beckett Blog

Nice.  Really nice.  I couldn't help the hoopla surrounding this set when it was first announced, with people bitching and complaining about the set and how some of them looked "ugly."  Well now, that's in the eye of the beholder, no?

I have EVERY intention of completing this set.  Here's why:

#1 - it's a good looking set - Babe Ruth in a Braves uniform?  That's called innovative.

#2 - the Relics and Auto Set is actually not filled with uber stars; don't get me wrong, it's a strong checklist, but not strong enough where a collector would severely struggle in completing the set.  The Relic and Auto set is also HALF of what Ginter and Goodwin had in their checklists; out of the Auto's, the only challenging ones I could foresee would be the Musial and the Beckham; unless they mysteriously (a la Goodwin) do SUPER short prints, both auto and relic set could be had at a fairly reasonable price.
 #3 - no mini's.  Thank God.  I've had my fill with the mini's and after I complete the Goodwin and Ginter set, I doubt I'll ever chase another set that has mini's in it again.  I can deal with the printing plates, but I've never considered them the part of the actual set (unless you refer to a master set).  Hey Topps and Goodwin, the fad is kinda over, so move along and let's slow down with the mini's, ok?

I'll do a much more thorough review of the set when it comes out :)

Now, referring to my earlier post about my mail outs.

I asked BA Benny from Benny's Card Buffet for his address to send him out a stack of Met's cards that I had.  He wrote back and gave me his address but told me he didn't have anything that I needed.  My response was, in a nutshell, "Hey, don't worry about it, when you pick up some stuff that I might collect in the future, save a few of them for me."  That simple.

Benny had some kind words for me in return and I appreciated that.

I started this blog to make a few friends in the blogosphere, have a few trading buddies, and progress the hobby forward.  I knew this was important, more so than ever, reading and being a part of the Net54 forum.

Some of you all should go take a read over there; it's mostly about cards that I would gather 90% of the collecters in this world know about, but do not touch - only because one card found at the forums can be equivalent to what you spend an entire YEAR on cards.  I'm talking about the guys that can spend $30,000 on a Sherry Magee error T206 and not blink an eye.

These guys are about integrity in a hobby that's about as American as it gets.

And when you lose that integrity....whew.....read some of the forum posts; these guys will tear up, spit out, beat on any jerk trader/collector that tries to hose, lie, cheat, or steal from the hobby that we love.

It's an absolute honor and pleasure to be part of that forum and I'm on it constantly to see what's going on with our hobby on the Vintage side. What makes these guys also different is that they are made up of Attorney's, Executives (ahem), Doctors, etc. a uniquely different breed of collector and it's just awesome seeing what these guys have and the pics they post up of stuff that most of us would only dream of.  (why spend $100's of dollars on Ebay for a bat-card of Joe Jackson when.....hell....just buy the whole bat.  $100K for the bat?  Meh, no problem).  As a matter of fact Keith Olberman, who is a hardcore T206 collector is a member of the board too (he doesn't write anything, but he's quiet lurker).

So anyway, I'd like to believe I'm on the safer side of the hobby and with the blogs I read, looks  like most, if not all on the blogosphere are safe to trade with and this is a very good thing; it's good because if there were shady people, guess what?  I'm pretty sure most of the blogoshpere would light up the person in question (like SCU's blog - that guy is all over those counterfeit cards in Ebay lol).

With that said, I hope everyone enjoy's the rest of the weekend, have a great and happy week of collecting and mail days, and try to stay warm (for those of you up in the NorthEast).

I'm grabbing a glass of wine (BevMo is the shit),  my PS3 controller, and I'm going to make a valiant attempt to Prestige up in Call of Duty.

Ok, more later!

PS - Have any of you played that game Dead Space?  Is it any good?

5 comments:

Joe said...

Dead Space is great, there are a few good scares in the game and overall it has a great atmosphere, looks great and the controls are pretty sharp. If you lie shooters you'll like it.

I have the Yaz Relic From Goodwin for you if you want it.

If you ever want to work a trade send me an e-mail: redwingshockey82 at hotmail dot com .

MJ said...

Hey Joe - very cool - was thinking about bidding on it on Ebay cuz it's only about $20 or less.

Also, absolutely I need the Yaz - you have a blog or someplace where I can look up your wants/needs list? Hit me up - thanks! MJ

Roy said...

Just shot you an email my man

Offy said...

The only thing that might inflate the price of the Chicle autos is that they're all on-card. With so many stickers out there, the hard signed cards will always command a premium.

I agree with you about this set. The early thoughts on this set ended up being way off base. Yes, there are some clunkers in the set that don't look anything like the player they are supposed to be, but there are also some beautiful cards.

MJ said...

You're right Offy - the on-card auto's might cause a blip or jump on the premium market for some of the cards - but I won't jump on that bandwagon till the set's been out for at least 4 or 5 months when prices finally settle a bit.