The Best and Worst of Sports Collectibles in 2006 
By Adam McFarland Every week I write the Weekly Report where I take the top three collectibles stories of the week and add my thoughts on how the news effects the hobby. As we reach the half way point of the year, I've written about well over 60 stories and read several more. Here are the best and worst of the year thus far. Best Stolen Super Bowl Ring Returned to Kramer after 25 Years; Replica Ring Sells for $22,000 in Charity Auction In a story that gained a TON of national media attention (and rightfully so), Green Bay Packer legend Jerry Kramer's stolen Super Bowl ring was returned to him after 25 years. The ring, originally lost/stolen on a United Airlines flight from Chicago to New York, surfaced when it was placed up for auction by Mastro Auctions, Inc. When Doug Allen, president and COO of Mastro Auctions, became aware of the situation, he immediately pulled the ring off the auction block (bidding had already reached $21,000). |
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After getting the ring back, Kramer decided to do something good for his fellow NFL alumni "I am auctioning my Super Bowl I Replica Ring right here on JerryKramer.com, using the funds raised to be the first in establishing a fund that will assist retired NFL players who are in need. The fund will provide financial assistance to those retired players who are disadvantaged or indigent due to the inadequate pension and disability compensation provided to older players by the league."
The replica ring eventually sold for $22,000, nearly double the amount experts predicted. What a great story with a perfect ending. Kudos to Kramer for using the publicity surrounding the return of his ring for the good of his fellow retired players.
Topps Behind Controversial "TRADE BARRY!" Billboard
For a while I had questioned Topps for commemorating Barry Bonds' "historic" home run chase. Well, I changed my mind. Before the start of the 2006 season, Topps embarked on arguably the greatest sports marketing campaign ever. On April 1st, Topps secretly bought a billboard outside of AT&T Ballpark in San Francisco that simply said "Trade Barry". After the billboard caused a ton of controversy in the sports community, Topps revealed that they were the ones to purchase the billboard. The billboard now reads "TRADE BARRY'S CARDS WITH TOPPS - The Exclusive Home of Barry’s Home Run Chase".
Seriously, this is freaking awesome. Discussion about the billboard and it's origins had been all over TV and sports radio. Everyone wanted to know who in the Bay Area hated Barry enough to take out a billboard? Come to find out, it was Topps encouraging people to TRADE Barry cards. Unbelievable. How insanely creative is that? ''Together with Barry, we decided to have some fun with everything that's going on in the game today,'' said Warren Friss, VP/General Manager, Topps Sports. Good for Topps. Great idea. All hail Topps. You rule.
Teenager Pulls Ruth Card, Sells it for $10,000
Teenager J.J. McCormick pulled a one of a kind Babe Ruth baseball card from a pack and sold it for more than $10,000. The 2004 Playoff Prime Cuts card featured a piece of a 1925-era pinstripe home jersey worn by the Babe himself, and the swatch was from the "G.H.Ruth" nametag stitched into the jersey. According to Leland's Auction House, this particular Babe Ruth jersey, with "G.H.Ruth" embroidered into the fabric, is the earliest of only three known to exist.
Talk about every collectors dream! The best part is that he's only 17. It seems like whenever we hear about these amazing pulls it comes from some 45 year old guy...probably because they are the only ones who can afford the kind of packs that have cards like this. Regardless, young J.J. now has some $ to for college, a car, or whatever else he needs/wants. Who knows, maybe he'll buy $10,000 in baseball cards and pull something even better. Congrats J.J.
Worst
Cleveland Cavaliers Dump McFarlane Giveaway for Upper Deck
There was an interesting headline on Spawn.com back in January that read "LEBRON JAMES GIVEAWAY CANCELED - Change of Plans by the Cavs." In the story it stated that "The Cleveland Cavaliers decided to make a change in the giveaway presented that night based on factors out of our control." I found the whole "factors out of our control" thing a little odd so I went to the Cavs site and found the following: "Fans to Receive a LeBron James Upper Deck Collectible Card Set At Cavs vs. Milwaukee Game on February 6th."
I wonder what really happened. Would those "factors out of our control" happen to be money? If that's the case the whole thing is messed up. McFarlane had likely produced the figures already and Upper Deck just swept in with more $ and knocked them out? And why wouldn't the Cavs just have TWO nights, one for each? It's not like their is a promo every night and I'm assuming these things make money for them or they wouldn't be doing them. One other theory I've heard is that McFarlane had production problems making the necessary figures and Cleveland then canceled the promotion. Either way we'll probably never know...although collectors who bought tickets for the game expecting to get a figure deserved more.
Topps Makes Mickey Mantle Basketball Card?!?!?!?
Topps will be producing a basketball set utilizing the classic design of the company’s 1952 baseball set. But that's not what I picked up on when reading about it. What stood out to me was the "Card No. 7 in the set will feature a photo of Mickey Mantle in a basketball uniform." And then the article just continued on...as if we would be expected to read that. Huh?!?!? So...is this like a high school photo of him in a basketball uniform? Did they Photoshop a bball uni on him? I suppose the better question is why? Was the Mick some nasty baller that everyone knew about and I'm just totally in the dark about the whole thing?
Look Topps, I know the Mick is your guy, but come on. I think you can milk enough out of him on the baseball side of things. No need to jam him down our throats on the basketball side. This is worse than when the Miami Heat retired Dan Marino's jersey.
"$6 Million" 1927 Yankees Photo for Sale for $250,000
The "$6 Million" 1927 New York Yankees original photo signed by the entire team was recently posted on Justdoit23.com. The photo traces back to the estate of former Yankees pitcher George Pipgras and is graded a PSA/DNA 8.
My first thought was - wow, that photo is cool but is anything worth $6 million? Well, it turns out that the description explains that the $6 million comes from the fact that "if you had every game worn uniform in that photo, it would set you back a cool $6,000,000." Yea, and my Michael Jordan rookie card is called the $6 million card because if you owned everything pictured in that card (his shorts and jersey, the basketball, hoop, and arena) then it would set you back a "cool" $6 million. What kind of messed up logic is behind that?
The card should be called the $250,000 card because that's how much Justdoit23.com is asking for it.