Who's Autograph Is This?!

This is the answer to yesterday's bad autograph.

Who's Autograph Is This?!

I'm not saying I have the greatest signature, but some of today's players have autos that are downright impossible to identify. I'll post the actual card that this disaster-of-a-signature came from tomorrow.

If I Only Had The Money...

2005-06 Upper Deck Portraits Timeless Tens

Okay, so they're on-sticker autographs and there's no Jordan autograph here, but with only 3 copies produced and the level of players on an 8 x 10, it would be difficult to pass up. One copy recently sold for $1,600. To some a small price to pay for Magic, Bird, Thomas, Dr. J, Russell, Kareem, Stockton, Rodman, Pippen, and Olajuwon, making up a virtual dream team autograph collection on one card.

This Week's Worst: Week 3

1997-98 Flair Wave of the Future

When you think of the 1997 NBA Draft you think of Tim Duncan, Tracy McGrady, Chauncey Billups, and Keith Van Horn... okay maybe not him. But two of these players were NBA Finals MVPs. So you would think that you'd be able to find these players in a premium product's rookie insert set. Nope. Not only is the player selection severely lacking, but to make things worse, they decided to experiment (not unheard of for Fleer) with gel. These gel-filled cards would have been a creative spin on the "wave of the future" theme if the theme had anything to do with basketball. Just think of purchasing a box to look for a Legacy insert or a rookie card and pulling one of these and attempting to resist the urge to take a sharp instrument to it. More in frustration than curiosity.

This Week's Best: Week 3

2000 Upper Deck Legends Master Collection

One of the most difficult set to find, much less complete, is also one of my favorites. Not released in packs, this set was packaged in a wooden box (pre-Exquisite) and limited to only 200 individually numbered sets. The checklist is short on quantity but long on quality, including: Jordan, Russell, Magic, Bird, Erving, Chamberlain, West, Walton, Cousy, Havilcek, Baylor, Robertson, Frazier, Gervin, Maravich (shown), Thomas, Malone, and Barry. Each box contained a complete base set and a group of insert cards (jerseys, autographs, etc.). Good luck finding any of the cards from this set, I know I wouldn't want to part with them.

Resurrect The Old/New Ball

I admit I didn't like the new ball design when it was first unveiled, but I've since warmed-up to it. Now I want to see it back in the game. How many years have they used the existing ball? Over 100 years? The updated ball is AWESOME!

Bad Autograph Answer

This is the answer to yesterday's bad mystery signature.

Bad Autograph Question

I'm not saying I have the greatest signature, but some of today's players have autos that are downright impossible to identify. I'll post the actual card that this disaster-of-a-signature came from tomorrow.

This Week's Worst: Week 2

1994-95 SkyBox Head of the Class Exchange Set

SkyBox had a good thing going with the Head of the Class exchange card starting with the 1991-92 Hoops release. But in a possible attempt to mirror the success of the Hoops Draft Redemption sets, they decided to go with a multi-card format instead of the single card with three players on each side. With a simplistic, blurred background, bad photography (specifically the Grant Hill), and the absence of individual serial numbers (differing from the previous issues), only Topps remains as the leader in ruining a popular series (Beam Team).

This Week's Best: Week 2

1996 Upper Deck USA Follow Your Dreams Exchange Set

How can you go wrong with a set that includes Barkley, Robinson, Miller, Pippen, Hill, Richmond, O'Neal, Hardaway, Malone, Payton, Olajuwon, and Stockton? I rarely see these sets for sale, but when they sell, they go for surprisingly low prices. Could be that mint condition copies are even more difficult to find because of the full-bleed printing that make the smallest of chips extremely visible. Released in a silver and a gold version, this set was only available in exchange for a contest card of either Reggie Miller or David Robinson that were both inserted into packs. No Barkley, Payton, or Richmond cards were included in the regular set (these were late additions to the team), and these are Gary Payton's only olympic cards (he did not have any in the SkyBox Olympic release that same year).

Show Review:Earle Brown Heritage Center

With all the online auctions, it's easy to forget that collector's still enjoy sifting through rows and rows of cards to find that treasure that they were looking for that the seller didn't want to pay to put it up on Ebay and just wants to get rid of it.

I attended my first card show of the year (sorry TwinsFest) and was pleasantly surprised. Lately the shows have been the same vendors with the same cards. Of course it doesn't help going to the same show nearly every time. This show had a couple of the usual vendors, but some new participants with some great deals (shown). In this economy, there's obviously more and more customers going through the $5 and less bins and I didn't mind finding some of the cool 90's inserts and some new cards of old favorites.

Advertised as having 30 tables (which might have been the number available to vendors), I think there were more like 13 or 14 vendors. Plus there was one vendor in the center (like an island) that I almost missed/forgot about. Something I took away from this show (besides my cards)? Don't try to talk down a price that you know is a good deal to start.

Hall of Fame Announces 2009 Finalists

What is probably the most eagerly anticipated list of finalists for induction to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, at least for my generation, was announced today. The list includes John Stockton (one of my favorites), Chris Mullin (another favorite), David Robinson (again, a favorite), and Michael Jordan (to a former Jazz fan, not so much).

The ceremony is scheduled for September 11, 2009 and already individual tickets were availalbe starting this afternoon and are already sold out!

More Information

A Process of Elimination

With the tons of transactions I've had on Ebay, as a seller and a buyer, there's only one card that I never did receive. One card that would still be part of my permanent collection. One card that I still hold on to this original auction image.

After years of following and collecting cards of specific players (that ended when some issues emerged in their personal lives), then collecting specific sets every year (ending with the creation of short-printed rookie cards), I finally thought more about an investment angle on my collection.

It was a process of elimination.

Who would be the best players to invest in? Sure, the good investments might be the rookies each year, but with my track record on picking that future all-star that I could then sell his rookies and invest in the next big star, routinely collapsed with his arrest or his never-ending injuries (I was really rooting for McDyess). So, focus shifted then on the established or retired players. This really took hold when the 50th anniversary of the NBA came around in '96.

What cards were the best issues for these players? Regular issues? No, these rarely increased in value. Inserts? Production of insert sets really picked up in the early 90's and so did my collection. I would bounce around from set to set. Trying to complete one set before my next favorite set would be released, was proving to be a challenge (especially pre-Ebay). And my obsession with condition only made purchasing that last card in the set disappointing when I would notice a chipped corner (92-93 Fleer All-Stars) or terrible centering (92-93 Beam Team). This all changed when I became more familiar with graded cards and online auctions. My thoughts were that the cornerstone of any legendary player collection is an autograph. What's better than an autograph? A serial numbered autograph. What's better than a serial numbered autograph? A graded, serial numbered autograph. So the decision was made. And I thought this was to be the start of an awesome collection that I would have for a long, long time.

When you think of basketball legends, you think of Boston Celtic great Bill Russell. After searching the online auction sites and local shows for months, I found a mint condition 2003-04 SP Game Used Legendary Fabrics Autograph Bill Russell. Day-by-day I would check on the card and attempt to guess how many other people might be interested in the same auction. Could they be as interested as I was? Maybe. As determined? No way. With less than 24 hours left in the auction, I couldn't help but check every hour... then every half-hour... then with under an hour remaining, I set-up camp in front of our computer with my dial-up connection. That's right, dial-up. No last second sniping. Back then I had to rely on my stopwatch in an attempt to time my bid. My price was pre-determined, but as the minutes passed, I started rethinking it. Would it be enough? Was it too much? It was too late to reconsider.

After refreshing the page and noting the time that remained, I quickly filled out every field that I could until there was that last confirmation button. WAIT! Did the seller have a decent feedback rating?! Did I check if insurance was offered?! Thinking that I would've already checked those details, I nervously moved the mouse over and clicked... and WON!

The few minutes of excitement passed and it occurred to me that this is the most I have ever spent on a card. But I thought this was a Bill Russell. A graded, autographed Bill Russell. The cornerstone of my new collection. And those second thoughts I had? No problems. Didn't seem too expensive anymore. I received the invoice, added the insurance option and confirmed my payment. All I had to do was wait... and wait... and wait.

After two weeks, my impatience got the best of me and I contacted the seller to ask for an update. That same afternoon I received a reply that my item had been shipped out and to allow just a few more days for it to finally appear in my apartment's tiny mailbox. Another week goes by. Then another. This ain't right. I contacted the seller and requested to see, or be sent a copy of the insurance receipt. Upon seeing the scanned image they sent back, a glimmer of hope returned. I gave it a couple more days to show up.

Still nothing.

Never dealing with this issue before with the post office, I called and discussed the situation. They were very helpful in explaining the entire process and I got started. I was sure glad I paid for that insurance. A few days after both the seller and I filled out the paperwork, the report came back that the item was indeed lost. It was also accompanied by a check for the amount I originally paid. No Russell. No graded autograph. No cornerstone.

Years later I came across this image (above) that I had kept just in case it reappeared online, I'd be ready. For what, I don't know. But I had a visual record just in case. I eventually purchased another Russell autograph as well as countless other cards, but this card was both one of the best (in terms of service) and worst (in terms of... well, not receiving it) online auction experiences I've had.

Authentic?

Since the 2005-2006 season, I've noticed that more and more jersey, warm-up, and patch cards have less and less to do with the player that is pictured on the front of the card. On previous releases, depending on the manufacturer, you can read on the back of the memorabilia card a phrase similar to "On the front of this card is an authentic piece of a jersey worn by (player's name) in an NBA game" (top). Recent releases have a more vague phrasing such as: "On the front of this card are pieces of memorabilia that have been certified to us as having been used in an NBA game" (bottom). And some examples even say "NBA game or event."
Theory #1: This might be that the manufacturer, in an attempt to increase production of memorabilia inserts, are using any stitch of clothing used by any player. Who knows, maybe not even a player? I'm not saying that I still don't appreciate pulling a "jersey" card out of a pack, but it's definitely not as exciting as it used to be.
Theory #2: To reduce cost or production, the manufacturer came up with a form letter version that is consistent on all their products.

Fading Finest

Wonder if anyone has noticed this problem? For a few years now, I've noticed that the early Finest Basketball issues have developed a fading problem. When pulled from a pack they look fine (top), but after a few years, you pull it from your box of cards and it looks like the player is "glowing" from the inside-out (bottom). I'm also curious if grading them might prevent this (mostly because I have a couple that I would want to see fade)?

2009-2010 Card Releases

No Topps.
No Upper Deck.
Next season, the only NBA cards will come from Panini. Known more for those sticker collector books (that I now wish I never tried to complete) in the late 80's and early 90's, the Italian company looks like it's going to use next year's exclusive NBA license agreement to get their foot in the door of the United States trading card market. Some good news is that it's rumored to be working with the Donruss company. I wasn't excited about the news, but I like what Donruss had done lately, especially with their football and Americana releases. But what will the market be like with no competition in the basketball market?

This Week's Best: Week 1

1993-94 Ultra Jam City
An example of the popular foil treatment of the mid-90's insert sets that I would like to see make a comeback. But this set was available only in retail jumbo packs at a rate of 1 in every 35 packs. The retail packs were tough to find to begin with and you only got one of these per box (a disappointment if you pull a Minor or Coleman). Nine cards in the set with Shaquille O'Neal (pictured), Derrick Coleman, David Robinson, Harold Miner, Shawn Kemp, Clyde Drexler, Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, and Dominique Wilkins. Great design for a foil treatment, but huge condition problems with chipping along the edges. I don't remember how many packs I bought trying to just complete this small set and ended up buying a set at a show. I guess there's only one BGS 9 Mint O'Neal out there with no 9.5.