well, it's not office furniture but...

Remember a few posts back when I talked about the legitimacy of relics and how there is the possibility that they aren't what they are perceived to be? Remember it started with this card:

My sweet sweet Ty Cobb "bat" relic from Triple Threads. One of the nicest cards I've ever pulled, being questioned about its very existence and its possible deception about being what could be 2 cents of desk wood.

I went on to question the process of obtaining these bats and relics and such, wondering how many bats could Topps have used by Cobb, Ruth, Mantle, etc. Especially Mantle seeing how they give relics of his away with factory retail sets. How absurd and totally de-valuing a Hall of Famers relic in the process. Well all this started by my nature to question most everything and just wondering how Topps could have all this authentic memorabilia stacked up in their warehouse. It came into question again two days ago.

Topps recently put out their Tier One set. Curious of course, I decided to check out some stuff on eBay and found myself quite unimpressed by the results. Seven cards per box, about $80-100 per box. In said box, you get two autos (both on-card) and one relic. Well, I know what you're thinking, grab two of these and you equal a box of Triple Threads with two more hits! Well, that may be true but the relics are beyond dull. The design isn't horrible but single white/gray swatches? No thank you. On-card autos are nice but the odds of getting a great one are way high, so you end up with two OK autos and one dull relic. While with Threads you may only get four hits but triple relics are way better than single gray ones. Plus everything is pretty low numbered too.

Being unimpressed I decided to check out the BlowoutCards forums to see what the buzz was. I came across some guys questioning the authenticity of the relics, specifically the big timers like the Hall of Famers I mentioned above. Then someone posted a link to an article:
http://www.beckett.com/news/2010/01/topps-details-stadium-seat-relics-offers-replacements/

Apparently this isn't the first time it's come up. If you don't feel like clicking the article, or you can't here it is:

This just in from Topps…

Topps has confirmed that the following five memorabilia cards in the recently released 2009 Tribute Baseball include pieces of stadium seat:

Babe Ruth Dual Relic — Bat/Old Yankee Stadium Seat

Babe Ruth Triple Relic — Old Yankee Stadium Seat/Uniform/Old Yankee Stadium Seat

Ty Cobb Dual Relic — Bat/Tiger Stadium Seat

Jackie Robinson Triple Relic — Ebbets Field Seat/Bat/Ebbets Field Seat

Mickey Mantle Triple Relic — Old Yankee Stadium Seat/Uniform/Old Yankee Stadium Seat

Topps will replace any of the above cards with a pack of 2009 Topps Tribute Baseball or comparable product for collectors that are not satisfied with their card(s).

In addition, every card in 2009 Topps Sterling Baseball features game-used bat and game-used uniform except for one subject — Carl Erskine, which features Erskine’s autograph with stadium seat. Topps will replace this card with a pack of 2009 Topps Sterling Baseball for collectors not satisfied with their card.

Moving forward, to ensure no confusion, stadium seat pieces will not be used as memorabilia pieces unless it’s part of a special stadium seat-specific insert.

Please send all items intended for replacement to the address listed below. Please allow 2-4 weeks for delivery.

The Topps Company

ATTN: Seat Relic Replacement

401 York Avenue

Duryea, PA 18642


INSANITY!!! Imagine pulling a Babe Ruth triple relic only to find out that its a uniform with two pieces of Yankee Stadium seating?? WTF?? Honestly, I lost so much faith in Topps after seeing this I almost debated on quitting the hobby. Oh and in case you may be wondering why I'm taking it so personally:


I own two of the relics they state in the article. I paid good money for both these and to find out they're stadium seats? Just totally disheartening. I don't even know what to say about it. I really don't. I'm sure that relics from current players are authentic but I have to totally question wether or not I have actual relics from guys that played 80 or so years ago and it totally shouldn't be that way. It's such BS but maybe instead of putting a Babe "bat" relic into every set numbered to 399, maybe get an actual damn bat used by him and making it actually rare. Like numbered to 18 rare. That goes with any older player. People aren't going to avoid a product because you can't pull one but pulling one would be all the better. I don't know. I know its cheaper but Its pretty bad that Topps has to mislead its customers like this.

it started with tickets...

My local card shop has a Facebook page. The owner announced on this page that he had free New Britain Rock Cats tickets for those who wanted them. I jumped at this, of course, as I've been dying to get to a game as of late. The game is this Sunday and they'll be playing the Harrisburg Senators. Should be a good time.

Well, it wouldn't be much of a post if I stopped there, would it?

I sent him a message asking if he had gotten in his Gypsy Queen yet. He said that it should be there any minute. I proceeded to ask him how much boxes were going for. His reply was "about $150ish". Ouch. That's about what they are now averaging online, scary, no? Well, yes it is but if the Christy Mathewson deal taught me anything, it is that bartering is good. Very good. So I checked out my stuff, rounded up some trade and headed on over to the shop. With the trade stuff, I managed to get the cost of the box and six packs down to a flat $100. That folks, I can work with. I had to get some of the set, my collecting itch doesn't go away when it gets itchy, so I had to think of something. Packs are selling for about $9 right now over there and boxes are $159. Here is what I ended up with:

Boy, the cardboard Gods must have been smiling upon me. My box contained the Youkilis and Ripken relics and the Freeman auto redemption. It also had the Pelfrey (leather parallel numbered 1/10 but its not really leather) and the Halladay sepia numbered 99/99 (this card is spoken for). Seems I was missing that second auto, so My UPC will be sent in for my second no name auto. The Freeman is on eBay right now due to them selling for a decent amount of money.

The packs had the Frank Robinson mini relic, the Markakis auto, and in the same pack was the Fukudome relic and Ruben Tejada mini cyan plate. This is only the second plate I've ever pulled and BOTH have been Mets (the first was a Jose Reyes from National Chicle).

I really like the set but due to cost I won't be finishing it up. I really don't think he will let me trade up for another box so it looks like this is it for boxes. He also informed me of a potential reason as to why this set is doing what it is.

He spoke with two different distributers and they both gave the same reason. Seems that when this set was solicited in December, orders and interest were low. So Topps printed less just to be cautious. Makes sense as to why they cut the set down by 100 cards last minute. So maybe I have been a bit harsh on Topps if this is the truth. Most dealers and collectors must have passed this off as 'just another retro set', and saw that might be hot last minute so now everyone is scrambling for product. Also if this is the case, this set will seemingly be always tough to find and expensive (card shop guy expected boxes to be around $200 next month), due to not much of it being out there. We will just have to see.

follow up

After re-reading the post I did on Saturday, about my plans in collecting during this coming year, I realized that I neglected to mention a few things.

First and foremost is the 1954 Topps set I'm working on. While I would love to finish the set this year, it all comes down to finding the cards at the right price. Currently I am at a little above 80 cards of the 250. I have the 16 most "expensive" cards in the binder already. There are two separate lots I won on eBay coming in with 21 and 30 cards each. Hopefully those two lots will put me at 125, halfway there. I would really like to finish it up as soon as possible because I really get antsy when a set isn't finished (its my compulsive nature) and I need it to be completed yesterday. So maybe this set will be the focus.

Secondly, I am not sure on how many sets I plan to get into this year. With 2010 behind us and being the year I came back in, I've ended up with a lot of cards. A lot of cards and different sets I'll never finish. On Saturday, I only talked about early in the year releases (Topps flagship, Heritage), but what about stuff that comes later? Being that I'm not a huge fan of Bowman (although I can't seem to get enough Platinum), I don't see me buying much of it. There is no 206 or Chicle this year. Gypsy Queen will have to be a 'wait and see' type of set. I don't do high end like Tribute or Triple Threads due to it not being worth their over-inflated price tags. I definitely won't buy into Opening Day as much. Putting that set together was almost a complete nightmare and they said it was easy to collect! Pack after pack of doubles. I'll grab some 2011s but I won't go for a full set. After those products, what's left? I'm not talking about series 2 or Update (or what ever they call it this season), but I am talking about the surprises. Topps released twenty sets this year. TWENTY! Think about that:

Series 1
Series 2
Update
Chrome
Opening Day
Allen & Ginter
Heritage
National Chicle
T206
Finest
Sterling
Tribute
Triple Threads
Pro Debut
Pro Debut Series 2
Bowman
Bowman Chrome
Bowman Platinum
Bowman Sterling
Bowman Draft Picks and Prospects

Isn't that a bit much? How many of you bought packs from every release? What about boxes from even just half? Seriously how does someone keep up? Answer: you can't. Your wallets usually can't. I know mine can't. I seriously hope Topps tones it down just a little this year. Maybe whittle it down to fifteen sets this time because twenty is way too many. Of course, if you eliminate Bowman (if you aren't into Bowman), minor league stuff and high end stuff (this counts Finest, as it is way too expensive now), it leaves you with around 10 sets. Which isn't all too bad when you think about it. Still, Topps could do fewer sets and it would be a-ok by me. Maybe I'll just buy considerably less this year and focus on the vintage.