Wax breaks from the National

Well, I had this grand idea that purchasing wax boxes would be fun and it was fun for the five minutes it took to open them, and after that it was a reminder why I don't like buying wax sometimes. I should have just bought one of the 2 auto's of Jeter I saw instead of all the wax.

The first thing I picked up was a box of 2003 Flair hobby box that I split with one of the mods from Freedom Cardboard, John a.k.a. bouwob on the board. We got a decent discount on the box from Atlanta Sportscards and went for it. The box topper was a jumbo Hideo Nomo patch that he took to give someone on Freedom Cardboard since neither of us wanted it. I have the rest of the "hits" here, which are available for trade (still waiting to see if PTB needs the Burrell card).

What box break would be complete without my buddy Chipper Jones.
This Soriano card is /100 and I rather like these cards. Design is pretty cool.

Next craptastic hobby box was 2004 SP Prospects. Going in I knew that this box would be hit or miss, but I was trying to get one of the better auto's like Phil Hughes. I didn't get Hughes but I did get a variety of prospects that are home coaching little league. Sweet.

Here are the "highlights" with the exception of 3 cards that I liked (Gordon, Jeter, Clement):

I couldn't figure out why I thought I knew Ben Harrison, then I looked around and this article may be what I knew of him.

4 autos: (what does an owl say?) who, who, who, and who.
Dual auto of...... who/who




The other box I got was 2006 UD Artifacts, which I traded my 2009 Bowman Football box for from Topps. I don't like football, and these were the same price. Here is what was in that box:






The final thing I bought could have been way worse, but wasn't worth the $20 I paid for it. I bought one pack of 2008 Sweet Spot the last day we were there because I was so bored. This is what I got:

2008 Triple Memorabilia Greg Maddux, Chris Carpenter, Roy Halladay

So that concludes my loot from the National. The singles I got will not be posted to save your sanity and mine. If anyone is interested in any of these cards, just leave a comment or send an e-mail.

One of the best parts of the National

While I only have two posts (including this one) in my brain leftover from the National, this is the better one I think. The other will be a post of the loot I bought. Aside from all the wax, singles, memorabilia and autograph guests at the National there were far more fun things/people to see and talk to.

What was so great? For me it was meeting many of the people I talk to everyday and sometimes trade with.

On my way down to Suzy's house (we left from there), I stopped off to hang out with Pete and Kim from Dropped Third Strike. They were in Jersey visiting family, and had some free time to entertain me. We had a good time, stopped at the Backstop (yes, I went to a card shop on my way to the biggest show in America) and even got to see where the Jersey shore morons work.

Once we arrived at the National, there were so many people that approached one or both of us to say hello. We met Beardy, Dan from Grand Cards, Rob from Voice of the Collector, Chris Harris from Stale Gum (whom we have both met before), Matthew from Number 5 Type Collection, Chris aka sruchris, and many other readers who don't really blog. We even met a guy that reads the blog but doesn't comment, which is fine, but we like talking so feel free to leave a comment (a nice one, otherwise we (read: me) will get bitchy.

Then there were the people who e-mailed us, or tweeted to us that they saw us at the National. Not really sure why you didn't say hello, but it's cool. We'll make sure when you say hi next year to make a big embarrassing production out of it.

We also got to meet FINALLY(!) Chris, owner of Freedom Cardboard who was kind enough to bring me and Sooz out to the show to help promote his site and hang out with the guys from his message boards. Sooz and I really had a great time meeting the guys from FCB and hanging out after hours with all of them. I strongly encourage you all to sign up for an account over there to at least check it out and meet some new people either to trade with or just B.S. about sports with. They have a live chat room which is very entertaining, and sometimes there is a live stream.

While walking around and looking at cards for 5 days sounds glorious, it does get a little boring. Yes, I said it. The fact that there were so many good people to hang out with and talk to made the trip worth while.

If I learned one thing on the trip it was this: pizza subs don't have meat.

Topps talks about sticker autos

Upon arriving at the National one of the first things we did was make sure we got a ticket to the Topps Panel because it was said to be limited to the first 100 people, I believe. While I will admit I was a little skeptical of what could come out of this meeting, I was pleasantly surprised by how forthright the answers from the executives were.

The meeting was held upstairs in the convention center, with complimentary wet bar and hors d'oeuvres. Before the start of the meeting each guest was asked to write their name on the back of their ticket to be entered in some of the raffles they were doing later on.

The panel started the meeting with an introduction by each of the executives and a background on what they do at Topps, whether or not they are collectors, and what they have done in the past. It was followed by Mike (@toppscards on Twitter) telling us he cleaned out the closets in the office and brought stuff to give away. He started by raffling off some OMLB baseballs signed by Strasburg. Then back to business.

After the intro's they floor was open to ask questions and they took a great deal of them, and pretty much let people ask them stuff until no one else raised their hands. One of the questions that was asked was why they stopped producing some sets and not others, leaving people who enjoyed one set year in and year out with nothing to enjoy. Obviously this came down to profit, if they set bombed chances are you probably won't see it again. If it did well for a year or two and slowly declined (Turkey Red), they did away with it. It also seemed that this would be a one shot deal for Chicle if anyone liked that set.

One of the things that was very clear during this meeting was the significance of Stephen Strasburg and that Topps but all their eggs in one basket with this guy, so to speak. All of the guys seemed to be in agreement across the board that the Strasburg rookie cards and this years Bowman has been bigger than 2001 when Pujols and Ichiro were rookies. That alone should tell you how much product has been sold.

After all was said and done, they raffled off some more products and autographed items, and I was lucky enough to win a 2009 Bowman Football Draft Picks & Hobby box and the guys from Freedom Cardboard collectively won the last Strasburg ball they had.

After the meeting the guys stuck around so if you wanted to speak to them personally or introduce yourself you had the opportunity. Since I am not big on shouting out things, I waited until this point to ask Clay Luraschi, Topps' director of product development something I really wanted to know.

Sooz and I walked up and introduced ourselves to Clay and told him about our blog, but he was already familiar with it (score!). I told him that I needed to know why Topps continues to use the ugly silver stickers on their autographs rather than having the players sign the actual cards. He told me it was a matter of logistics and the accounting department, more or less. Topps has so many sheets of those stickers and they need to be used - otherwise, they would take a hit on the stickers already bought and signed - as unfortunate as it may sound to the collectors.

Luraschi also said that they have been trying to get more on card, which I have noticed, but there are instances where they just can't get the player to sign the cards or they pre-sell so much of a product, they try to get more players into a product to make sure the collector who purchases it gets as much value of out their money as Topps can provide.

While there were a great number of things talked about at this meeting this was the one thing I had been wondering about for years now and was glad that I had the opportunity to ask someone about it.

I think this panel was a great idea and that it should be a part of the convention again next with some of the other companies joining in as well. If each company did a panel each night after the show or at some point during the day I think it would really do wonders for both the company to listen to the collectors, and for the collectors to have a chance to voice their opinions and maybe learn a little bit about where the company is currently and where they plan on taking it over the next few years or so.

I hope Strasburg throws a no-hitter tonight

I'm completely greedy in this situation. I want to see Stephen Strasburg throw an absolute gem tonight against the Florida Marlins. The other games he pitched, I watched just for the curiosity. Now, I want him to do well for money.

Strasburg is making his first start since July 21. He was on he DL with right shoulder stiffness.

He is limited by his pitches tonight though.

While at the National, I picked up a 2010 Topps Heritage Stephen Strasburg. I had it graded and that sucker came back a 9.5 Gem.

Now, it's on eBay.

- Speaking of Strasburg, the autographed Topps Million Card Giveaway rookie cards have shipped. If you remember, those who unlocked the card could pay $350 to get it signed by Strasburg.

There were some who certainly took Topps up on their offer. The cards are numbered to /299 and this specific card, which shows his first MLB pitch, can only be found on the MCG site.

Some special reporting

I spent five days at the National Sports Collectors Convention ... it felt like more.

However, I really had a great time and that was a representation of the people there. The people were great. I met many fellow bloggers for the first time and saw some familiar faces.

While I was there, I also did some articles for Beckett. Here are the links:

Tebow Spotlight Shines Brightly on Palm Beach Autographs (link)

Can the National be more like the San Diego Comic-Con? (link)

Fewer Card Brands Seen on Dealers' Shelves at the NSCC (link)

Stephen Strasburg Topps Heritage Card Creates National Frenzy (link)

Thanks for checking them out. I hope you guys enjoyed the articles. Feel free to leave comments, also on ways to improve the National. I would love to hear them.

Want stuff from the National?

Over the last 5 days there were a ton of things given away at the National. I won't lie, I am bad at tracking these things down and missed almost all of them. There are plenty of National exclusive cards on eBay that can be had cheap, and some not so cheap.

Both Sooz and myself managed to get a 2010 Topps Heritage Strasburg /999 and had them graded. Unfortunately mine had a tiny dimple on the surface which gave it a 9 total (subs were all 9.5 except 8.5 surface). Mind you I examined the card 90 times and never saw this before submitting it, but whatever. Suzy got a solid BGS 9.5 with all subs as a 9.5, both cards will net us a nice little profit and replace some of the money spent this week.

So, that was that. Then OBak was giving away a set of cards that contained a number of rookies and prospects. The set came in different color backs, different versions, and some were serial numbered /199. You can find the 2010 National Exclusive OBak mini sets on eBay. I did manage to snarf one of those, but missed the since I was there as a vender/exhibitor.

Upper Deck had give away sets as well, I managed to miss every last one. I honestly only found out what the cards were tonight when I finally got back home. If you want to see what the 2010 National Upper Deck Exclusive cards look like or are you can click there. That's how I found out.

There were also 2010 National Panini Exclusive cards that I checked out when I got home.

Clearly I missed a bunch of stuff I could have picked up to resell, but at the same time most of these items were given out after purchasing x number of product.

My focus was bargain bins and looking for some Cano autos. I came up empty handed in the Cano auto department, but did pick up some stuff that I will post pics and scans of when I get home. Sooz and I slept for around 11 minutes the last night we were at the national, so rather than drive home last night I decided to sleep over and drive home today.

P.S. If you guys want to meet some cool people and find new trading partners or somewhere to pick up cards, register for an account at Freedom Cardboard.

Day 4 of the National

Well today was an interesting day. We got to the National around noon and I went off on a hunt for one of these but came up empty handed. Honestly aside from the Dirk Hayhurst signing and the live streaming I feel like it's pretty safe to say that we were both kinda bored with searching for cards.

Around 4pm I realized I had not bought any cards. Well, anyone with a cardboard problem would know that I couldn't let that happen. So off I went.... and bought 2 cards that turned out to be right under my nose the whole time. The guy behind the Freedom Cardboard booth had a Robinson Cano GU jersey card with a stripe that I needed, as well as a Wade Boggs Topps RC. Both for bargain prices which are the best.

At the end of the day we took goofy pictures with the Freedom Cardboard group and then all went out to a nice seafood dinner. I finally had some delicious crab cakes, but..... no dessert because I behaved.

The hotel we had to switch to has a convention going on and it is so big that 5 elevators is not enough. They have stopped on every single floor and have taken up to 20 minutes to reach the floor from button pressing to floor of room.

I will write more about what I liked and stuff another day when I get back to civilization. I will also do a loot post as well since I have a box full of cards here, some more exciting than others and some that are not even part of my normal PC.

Guest article on Beckett

I did a guest article on Beckett this weekend from the National. There were be some more.

The first article is on Stephen Strasburg and the frenzy of his Heritage redemption card (link).

Day 3 of the National

Today was interesting. Upon arriving at the show we finally met Rob from Voice of the Collector and talked for a bit about things. Rob then asked me to go live on Card Corner Club Radio and tell everyone a little about the meeting with the Topps panel from the night before. Many people missed the chance to meet the Topps guys because of the meeting falling on Thursday and not the weekend. If you want to hear some of the show just head over to their website. They will also be streaming live from the National for the rest of the show.

I was able to pick up some cool game used cards from a bargain bin and a Pujols "RC". I put that in quotations because I learned a little bit about what defines a "RC" by Beckett's guide. I noticed that some of my RC's did not show up as RC in the my organize and learned why today. If a "RC" is not in a set that has both rookies and veterans, as well as a comprehensive checklist it will not be labeled as a RC in the price guide or in your collection on their site. Interesting stuff.

We also helped Freedom Cardboard today with a free signing they sponsored with Junichi Tazawa. The team walked around and gave out 200 tickets for people to get a free item signed sponsored by FCB. I was given one of the cards, which you all know how much I wanted a Sox prospect.... but I may give it away to someone.

I am debating opening a junk wax box from 2002 or later. Any suggestions for a box? Help me out. I was looking at 2004 Fleer Platinum rack pack box with 4 autos per box, or something else goofy. I did a break on video of 2004 SP Prospects which Sooz did nothing with so far, ahem.

Leave me a comment and let me know what you think would be fun to buy and we will do a live break or tape it.

Thoughts on the National

Some of you may be wondering why we are here for the duration of the show considering that it is really just a giant card show. But, what you don't know is that each vendor has hundreds of cards, memorabilia items, autographed items, pictures, etc. that it would be impossible to do all in one day.

For example, the show opened at 10am yesterday and we arrived around 11am to start the day. The line for the Strasburg exclusive started at 1pm and took until 3pm. Topps panel was at 5pm, so all we did was wait for that card grab food and sit in the panel and do the meet and greet. Day over. That would have been a terrible waste of a day if you only were here one day. Being here for a few days allows you to accomplish many things, not just stand in line for a card that you want to put on eBay before he slips on a banana peel.

The other great (read:nerdy) aspect of spending time at the National is that you get to meet many of the people you talk to on a daily basis through your own blog, message boards or emails for trades and the like. Sooz and I are here with Freedom Cardboard and we now know every moderator on their message boards and are enjoying spending time people who share our passion, so to speak. We have also had the pleasure of meeting Tracy Hackler from Beckett who is, contrary to popular belief, extremely nice and fun to talk to.

We are both (I now speak for all) enjoying hanging out with people who like baseball cards and the industry and don't bash it and find every negative aspect like we sometimes run across online. I will try and post some pictures tomorrow or tonight, and maybe some video.

If you want to see what is going on live here you can go to FreedomCardboard.com and there is a live stream all day of what is happening at the booth. Who knows, you may even find me or Sooz on camera.

Day 2 National Report

Sorry the blog post is so late, a lot actually happened today, which I won't be able to get up tonight, but will certainly talk about as the week goes on.

Topps had a panel today, which I thought was a tremendous idea. There were about 50 collectors in the room asking questions, some were very good.

Next year is the 60th Anniversary of Topps, the Diamond Anniversary. Topps said to expect interesting things next year, perhaps even some diamonds coming out of boxes.

Some topics that were dicussed:

- Sticker autos (Marie will have a blog post on that later)
- Bowman Chrome and the problem with distributors jacking prices because of Strasburgmania
- Topps Total (It's not coming back)
- Why Topps finally decided to make a presence
- The issue with fake patches (though Topps didn't seem to really care about the fake patches issue, but we'll get more into that another time)
- How Topps stayed afloat during tough economic downtimes
- Topps' feeling about competition and being an exclusive in the baseball card market

Photo credit: Wes Yee of Twitter fame.

Day 1 National Report

The National is one biiiiiig card show. Here are the highlights from the first day of the show.

1. Brian Gray has launched a new endeavor. He is bringing back the Leaf brand and acquired all the non-baseball brands from Razor.

2. The Strasburg Heritage will be very difficult to get. We got to the show around 5 p.m. and the line was already more than 100 people long. Only 100 were given out on the first day. However, a bit disappointing is the centering was not good on many of these cards. We saw one and the centering was off and after speaking to some folks, they all said the same thing.

Dave and Adam’s has a sign saying they will pay $80 for any Strasburg redemption.

3. There is so much vintage here. I don’t like it. There are many people who collect vintage and there should be vintage at the show, but the number of vintage is way more than the number of modern cards. This is not a good thing for someone like me. I’m looking for Derek Jeter and Kevin Kouzmanoff cards.

4. Here’s a crazy story: A person many of us are friends with on Twitter had a large shipment of 2010 Bowman cards off the get graded and got lost in the mail. This person had somewhere between 40-50 cards in that order and some very low-numbered cards including a superfractor.

Two members who are volunteering for FCB walked passed a booth with lots of 2010 Bowman and, amazingly, sitting in the case were two of these cards, including said superfractor.

The guys called out the dealer and told them exactly what happened and how this person lost their cards in the mail. He said he bought it off eBay, but eventually gave in and handed two cards over, a superfractor and red refractor.

Craziness.

Any messages you would like us to pass on?

Topps will be the National this week and has invited a group of people attending to the show to ask them questions and do a meet and greet with officials from Topps.

Mike Mader writes on Topps' website: "I decided to put together a small panel discussion and meet and greet with some Topps executives where we can sit and discuss some of the issues in the hobby, how we at Topps can do some things better, and have a few beers."

Marie and I will be attending the National and fully plan on getting into this event. They are giving away a limited number of tickets on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Many of you will not be going to the National, but we are hoping to bring you back an experience. There will be video going on at Freedcom Cardboard and a blog dedicated to just the national by many of the bloggers. We will also be writing from there right here at A Cardboard Problem.

For those of you who cannot make the panel, which is Thursday, are there any questions or ideas that you would like us to bring up? I'll put together a list and bring up as much as I can. Also, we plan to do a full recap afterward.

What will I look for at the National

I asked the good folks who follow me on Twitter to give me a blog topic and Voice of the Collector made this suggestion. Now, he better read it. =)

One of the things I am most looking forward to is meeting some of the people I talk to on a daily basis either through e-mail or twitter. It would be nice to have a face to go with all the names, and it's nice to meet people who share a common interest. While I usually hate people, I really do like (most) of you. I can hear you all laughing from here... I'm (half) kidding... ;) Another thing I am curious about it how many women will be there. Usually when I go to a card show, or me and Sooz go together the only other women we really see are mothers of small boys taking them around. (If one dude asks me if I want a WNBA card, or tells me something is shiny I may go bananas. Olds, if you are reading this I am already anticipating you doing this just to push my buttons.)

Honestly, what I will end up keeping an eye out for at the National are things that I can't really find locally or on eBay, as well as National exclusive types of things. I am interested in getting a hold of a LeBron Heat card to flip for something I care about, and definitely looking to get a Strasburg card. I will probably wait to flip the Strasburg card until he is off the DL and pitching again.

I will also pick up supplies because you get the best prices at shows on 9 pocket sheets, PC1/PC3 cases (which I love), and penny sleeves.

I would love to find some Pujols base cards to fill in the holes in my collection, and maybe some inserts on the cheap. I haven't really been buying much of his stuff lately because I have been trying to hoard as many Cano auto's as possible before they get more out of control. I would be really happy to find a boatload of Pujols cards and cross some more off the list of 90 million cards he has.

I won't be bothering with getting any of the paid auto's, that is for sure.

OK, I'm done now. Your turn to talk to me and entertain me while I wait for A-Rod to come up to bat.

So who is going and what are you looking for?

Can I get a discount on my National VIP pass?

With the National coming up in just a short time, there is so much talk going on about the hobby and who's going and who will be bringing the beer.

Blowout Cards had a different idea and is offering special Topps VIP retro card sets on their site for presale - that's before the National, before anyone has had a chance to put these cards in their hands.

I thought these cards were supposed to be limited to people who bought VIP packages. It's part of the deal, right? So, why does Blowout get the opportunity to sell these cards ahead of time to anyone who wants to purchase them?

I am not naive to think that after the convention these cards aren't going to end up on eBay, but why does Blowout get to have the upperhand and sell these cards before anyone when they were supposed to be given out to the public and the National Sports Card Convention?

What good is calling this a VIP exclusive if I can sit at home and click buy for $25 and get the same cards that hundreds of people went to Baltimore and received because they paid the $120-plus for a VIP package?

Update: Maybe they are slightly limited on Blowout, although I don't see where it says on the website. Blowout wrote on their Twitter account at 12:29 p.m.: "2010 Topps National Convention VIP 1960 Retro Card Sets-less than 10 left."

Topps releases Strasburg exclusive for the National

Topps announced an exclusive Stephen Strasburg card at the National.

Here's their release:

Collectors opening 10 packs of 2010 Topps/Bowman branded baseball cards (except Topps Attax, Topps Opening Day and the .99 cent Topps Cello Pack) at the Topps booth will receive Stephen Strasburg’s 2010 Topps Heritage card (# NCC1). The card, which will be sequentially numbered to 999, will be available in designated quantities and at designated times from Wednesday, August 4th to Sunday August 8th. The card will be limited to one copy per person per day.