Weekly Market Report - June 21, 2006

A Fresh Look at Sports Collectibles News

Before Carolina's Game 7 win in the Stanley Cup Finals the other night, they were already proclaimed champions by Beckett Hockey Magazine. Sixty thousand copies of the magazine were printed before Monday night with Eric Staal and Cam Ward on the cover celebrating Carolina's Stanley Cup. At the time the decision was made the Hurricanes were ahead 3-1 in the series and appeared to be virtual locks for the championship. Edmonton rallied to tie the series at 3 games a piece and Beckett was forced to release a press release explaining that it "was a calculated risk" and "at that point in time it didn't look too risky." The Oilers had copies of the cover in their locker room for motivation, but thankfully for Beckett it didn't help much.

Listen, I understand that sometimes you need to make business decisions like this. They probably have a deadline to get the magazine to print. But you can't let it get out to the public. Especially before the series ended. I was rooting for Carolina (gotta root for USA right?) but it would have been great to see Edmonton win and see that cover hit the news stands. I don't usually get Beckett Hockey but I sure would have picked up that issue! [read article]

"In February, Upper Deck unveiled its All-Star “Athlete” LeBron sports action figure, featuring the red special-edition Nike Zoom LeBron III shoes James wore at the NBA All-Star game – where he was named MVP. All 750 of the special sneak-peek offering to its first edition figurines sold out in less than two hours.

Now, in conjunction with the NBA Finals, Upper Deck is releasing to the public The Chosen One Edition, the first edition of all four of the popular characters from the commercials: Athlete, All-Business, Wise and Kid."

I personally don't see the appeal in the figures (except for their rarity), but it worked for UD the first time despite my thoughts so I'm sure it will work again. [read release]

Seriously, this is probably the coolest thing to EVER happen to sports cards -

Appearing one per hobby case, Topps all-new “Rip Card” will make its debut in the upcoming Topps Allen & Ginter Baseball. The “Rip Card” is a trading card within a trading card that may or may not be concealing a treasure.

The “Rip Card” looks just like your average 2.5 x 3.5 sequentially numbered trading card, but after closer inspection, collectors will find that this card has a small perforation on its back and a message: Keep it or rip it.

A collector would keep the card because of its rarity - many cards are sequentially numbered beauties featuring the likes of Mickey Mantle and Josh Gibson that are not easy to find. They would rip it because of the possibility of finding a "treasure" card, such as original 1887 Allen & Ginter cards or a 1 of 1 hand painted card by famous sports artist Dick Perez.

Brilliant idea Topps. Brilliant! [read release]