Ted Taylor's Collector's Corner

Return to TedSilary.com Home Page

    Ted Taylor has been a life-long baseball fan and collector of baseball cards and sports memorabilia. He began writing a hobby column back in the early 1970s and has been writing it someplace ever since. He was first president of The Eastern Pennsylvania Sports Collectors Club and co-promoter of the Philadelphia Baseball Card & Sports Memorabilia Shows. He served as VP of the Fleer Corporation (1991-97) and was co-founder and the first President of The Philadelphia Athletics Historical Society (1996-99). Ted can be reached at ted@tedtaylor.com where he is managing partner of STAT Authentic LLC (www.statauthentic.com), a sports/celebrity authentication, appraisal and acquisitions company.

  Ted Taylor has completed two books . . .
  "Philadelphia Athletics . . . By the Numbers"
  and "The Ultimate Philadelphia Athletics Reference Book (1901-1954)"
  Visit www.Xlibris.com/bookstore or call 888-795-4274.

September 1, 2010

This is our 35th Year of hobby columns

Ted Taylor’s Collector’s Corner

 

Donruss and Upper Deck also in the mix

BUSY FALL IN TOPPS BASEBALL CARD LAND

  After a slow summer, lots of baseball products will be rolling out over the next couple of months, headlined by another issue of Topps T-206 that is scheduled for September 1 release.

  Other Topps baseball on the horizon includes Topps pro debut series 2 on September 22 (series one was a cool set), Topps Triple Threads also on 9/22, Topps Chrome on Sept. 29, Topps Update baseball on October 13, Topps complete factory sets and Bowman Chrome on October 21, Topps Sterling Baseball on November 5, Bowman Platinum on November 18 and Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects on December 15.

  Perhaps the biggest news, beyond a plethora of Topps (and Bowman, also their brand) issue is one from Donruss (Elite “Extra Edition Baseball) due to September 29, Just Minors Mystery Jerseys (a product with MLBPA license) on October 7 and a new Upper Deck baseball issue, “SP Authentic Prospects” on October 12. It’ll be interesting to see if they do well or if collectors just don’t care.

Who are these guys?

  Each of the following men have something in common.  What is it? And who are they?

  Mark Brownson, Reggie Taylor, Anthony Shumaker, Keith Bucktrot, Michael Floyd, Eric Junge, Adam Walker, Doug Nickle, Mark outlaw, Pete Zamora, Ezequiel Astacio, Elio Serrano, Carlos Cabrera, Josh Cisneros, Franklin Nunez, Travis Chapman, Nate Espy, Gary Burnham, Alejandro Giron, Kiel Fisher, Il Kim, David Coggin, Franklin Perez, Tim Moss, Jay Sitzman, Elizardo Ramirez, Rob Tejeda, Lee Gwaltney, Dan Giese, Jim Crowell, Shawn Wooten, Danny Gonzalez, Scott Mitchinson, Aaron Fultz, Brad Harman, Fabio Castro, Kelvin Pichardo, Francisco Butto, Eude Brito, Chris Roberson, Mike Costanzo, Sean Gamble, Andrew MacFarlane, Michael Tucker, Justin Germano, Brian Sanches, Adrian Cardenas, Terrance Warren, Guinton Berry, John Vanden Berg, Jeremy Slayden, Edgar Garcia, Yoel Hernandez, Francisco Rosario, Derek Griffith, Joseph Bisenius,  Clay Harris, Bryan Hansen, Tyler Mach, Karl Bolt, Michael Cisco, Michael Stutes, Jeremy Hamilton, Adam Buschini, Steven Inch, Leandro Castro.

 Do you know?  Do you think you might recognize any of the names? Answer at the end of the column.

New Hobby Stuff...

  Topps Tribute Dynasties & Rivalries edition (2010) is a high end baseball product – often purchased by the pack even by the big spenders.  Every pack brings you either a relic card, an autographed relic card – each numbered 99 or less – in the five card offering. My recent pack included a Honus Wagner relic card numbered 05/50.  It tells me that Wagner’s number 33 was retired in 1956 but it doesn’t exactly come out and say that the swatch on the card is from a Wagner uniform because, to be honest, it doesn’t look like fabric worn in that era. In little tiny print on the card it says “The relic contained in this card is not from any specific, game, event or season.  What is it then? I”m stumped.

  Also in my pack are four player cards, Gaylord Perry, Mickey Mantle  (card number 50, not number7), Vladimir Guerrero and Bob Gibson (numbered 428/399). Nice cards, thick too, but I’m not sure what I’m collecting here.

  Topps Attax 2010 football card game arrives in a 36 pack box (six cards-per) and is an extension of the popular Attax games that Topps gears toward the younger, game-oriented, collector.  Inside you may find rookie autograph cards if you are lucky.

  Topps announced there are a total of 500 Stephen Strasburg Autographed Relic cards available for redemption in 2010 Topps Tribute Baseball (250 Autographed Dual Relics & 250 Autographed Single Relics).  Both the single and dual Autographed Relic cards feature pieces of game-used base from his historic Major League Debut (as stated on the card’s back) and are sequentially numbered as follows:  

Base - 99
Blue Parallel - 75
Black Parallel - 50
Gold Parallel - 25
Red Parallel – 1

  Collectors holding redemption cards for either the Autographed Dual Relic or Autographed Single Relic will be randomly sent one of the 5 different rainbow foil cards within the next three weeks.

Who Are These Guys ? – The Answer.

  They are all players who have appeared on a Topps, Fleer, Bowman or Upper Deck baseball card since 2000 and listed as members of the Phillies.  Lots of them were/are prospects when they began, suspects when they finished.  A few may have had brief flings with the big club.  Some appeared a couple of times in different seasons. None of them stuck.  It’s just another illustration of hard difficult it is to get to the majors – and stick.  The next time you call a big league player “a bum” think of the skills it took him to get them and ask yourself if you could have done it?  (You, of course, know the answer.)

Thoughts In passing –

  The two young – and ego tripping – umpires that cost the Phillies two games against the Astros in late August simply don’t belong in the Major Leagues.  Did you ever pay money to see an umpire – the “heave ho” given Ryan Howard by AAA ump Scott Barry should get Barry a trip back to the bushes.  He was confrontational with Howard even before he called a clearly checked swing a strike. (Recall him posturing, hands-on-hips, when Howard batted?) And didn’t an umpire physically shove Howard when the big man was running toward Barry (with the intent to maim him, I think)?  That ump shouldn’t have put his hands on a player.  So sad when the guys in blue dominate a game.

  I’m a perfect 6-0 when attending Phillies games this year.  The latest was the 6-0 win over Washington on August 22 – when I was signing copies of my new book at the Phillies Newsstand.  Thanks to all of you that bought books and stopped by with nice things to say. Gene Harris, who succeeded yours truly as baseball coach at Ursinus College (many moons ago) stopped by, bought a book, and renewed our acquaintance.

 One other weird thing about my Phillies visits this year, I’ve been there for both the big storms.  The one that sent 75 MPH winds through the ball park and this latest one that (a few miles away in Delaware County) became a tornado. Very strange stuff.

  I note that the City of Philadelphia is looking at charging taxes to internet bloggers if they make any money with their columns.  Good grief are things that tough in Nutterdelphia?  Maybe if the PHA wasn’t paying quarter million dollar settlements to keep their exec director out of jail they wouldn’t need to come up with these other silly ideas.

  The summer without the usual number of baseball card products Was hard on the hobby shops.  Hopefully, see lead story, the fall will be better.  I love Topps, but MLB dropped the ball when they eliminated the competition.  Wasn’t there a lawsuit about that  very thing back in 1979?  Where’s Donald Peck when you really need him? Critics have also been vocal about Topps’ decision to not issue manager cards for each team.  Instead of nine or ten cards of a marginal “star” why not single cards of each manager?  (I have also advocated coach cards in the past and, once in a while, they would issue them.  What product managers seem to forget is that a lot of card collecting is done by “fans” not people looking to flip the latest Stephen Strasburg card.)

  And, speaking of Stephen Strasburg, if in fact he’s out for the next 12-to-18 months with Tommy John surgery there are a lot of speculators sitting on a lot of Strasburg stuff who are, to be blunt, scared out of their minds right now.  Suppose he comes back and is just a mere mortal?  How does that five figure investment of a 1-of-1 Strasburg card look about now?  Suppose he never gets to ten big league wins? Oh boy.

 What’s on your mind ????Don’t’ be bashful. Drop us a line (ted@tedtaylor.com) and let us know what you think. Thanks for reading the column.  Your feedback is important.