Weekly Market Report - July 5, 2006

A Fresh Look at Sports Collectibles News

McFarlane had originally scheduled a new Clemens figure as part of MLB 15 lineup, but since Clemens didn't sign with any team in the off-season they didn't own the rights to use his likeness (he wasn't officially an MLB player) they had to hold off. That is until, Clemens made his debut with the Astros a few weeks back. It's too late to add Clemens to one of this years sets, so McFarlane has decided to offer the Clemens as a special window-boxed "Collector's Edition" figure scheduled to arrive in retail stores in early November. There will be two versions of the figure: a pinstriped Houston Astros version and a pinstriped Yankees version available exclusively through the McFarlane Toys Collector's Club and in their retail store.

The pose of this figure - Clemens holding his glove in front of his face preparing to pitch - is absolutely amazing. You can feel his intensity just by looking at it. Both figures are the same pose but have subtle differences, most notably facial hair on the Astros version and a George Steinbrenner approved clean face on the Yankees version. [read release]

The McFarlane Toys Collector's Club is offering the figure debuts of young NBA stars Andrei Kirilenko, Sebastian Telfair and J.R. Smith. Each was limited to a bare minimum production run to guarantee exclusivity.

I know that it's part of the business, but don't you find it ironic/hilarious that Telfair was just traded and J.R. Smith has been rumored to be going to Chicago for Tyson Chandler? I like McFarlane making limited figures of young stars, but couldn't you have chosen guys that were actually desired by their own teams? I think most real young stars are not traded for draft picks or a guy who was picked second overall and is considered by most to be a bust. [read release]

Here's how the article starts:

"For Upper Deck chief Richard McWilliam, flipping a 9,500-square-foot apartment isn't as easy as swapping a rookie Bucky Dent. The sports-trading-card executive has just reduced the price of his Ritz-Carlton condo for the third time since last October: Now the huge apartment is available for $29.5 million.

Of course, that’s still almost $9 million more than Mr. McWilliam paid for the full-floor spread in August 2004. So if he gets close to asking, Mr. McWilliam will still turn a profit (although it’s decreasing every few months)."

Damn, someone help poor Richard out. Pretty soon he's going to have to lower the price again and only make $5 million. That's got to be a tough pill to swallow. [read article]