Anyone need a gift idea?

A gift for my birthday that is, of course.

In my usual daily Robinson Cano search on eBay, I stumbled across a 2010 Triple Threads Robbie Cano 1/1 that I would LOVE to have. While normally the game used jersey part is quote boring (read: all gray), this one really stands out as a 1/1 with some cool patches/writing going on in there.

December 10th.

Maybe a bunch of people chip in a dollar.... I'll even chip in. =)

But seriously, this is a really sweet card and I like that the 1/1 has a different game used area than all the others I have seen. Kudos to Topps on this one.

John Sterling meets Topps

If you’re a New York Yankee fan, you’re familiar with the radio broadcaster John Sterling. One of the characteristics of his broadcasts is doing the most absurd home run call for a player by using their name. It’s became a joke amongst Yankee fans when a new player comes to the Yankees what Sterling’s home run call will be.

Apparently, Sterling’s home run calls are far-reaching.

Topps decided to incorporate some of those home runs calls into 2010 Topps Triple Threads
this year.

First, we have Alex Rodriguez (A-Bomb by ARod, although I think he usually says From Arod).
(auction link)

Robinson Cano (Don'tcha know!)
(auction link #1)
(auction link #2) 1/1

Derek Jeter (Jeterian - Although, Sterling has used this to describe Jeter doing anything things, but often says "Jeterian swing")
(auction link #1)
(auction link #1)
(auction link #3)

Mark Teixeira (Tex Message, which is arguably better than when Sterling says "You're on the Mark Teixeira")

Nick Swisher (This is actually not John Sterling, but an inside joke or sorts with Yankee fans. When Swisher is called out during the roll call, he does what has been coined as the Swisher Salute)
- This card sold for $300 on eBay (link)

Topps Triple Threads FAIL Part 2

You didn't think I was done hating did you? I drank a nice big glass of Haterade before I started searching around on eBay again. This one is an epic failure.

Mariano Rivera is hands down the greatest closer of all time. Topps was kind enough to give Mariano a card in the 2010 Triple Threads, however they were not kind enough to make it a card that is unique to him. Instead, they mailed it in and made this card... 2010 Topps Triple Threads Mariano Rivera

That's it? That was the best idea the design team could come up with? Really? Not "Sandman" in illegible words with all gray jersey filling it in? No booklet of "Greatest Closer of All Time" illegibly in all gray jersey?

Come on guys, that is a terrible card for Mariano.

Topps Triple Threads FAIL

Last night Sooz and I were going back and forth exchanging links on some of the cards we found of 2010 Topps Triple Threads. I searched for Jorge Posada to see if there were any cool cards and was very surprised at what I found.

One of the nicknames for Jeter, Posada, Rivera, and Pettitte is "The Core Four". They have been called that for a while now, and have appeared on magazine covers with the phrase, Steiner special 4 auto ball's in a special case deals, photos, etc. Suddenly, according to Topps there are only 3 members of "The Core Four", Jeter seems to not be worthy.

Take a look at "The Core Three" card, which also has a large part of the jersey area filled with a color the Yankees don't even wear.

Now, honestly how can Topps mess this up? It's really annoying.

Maybe it's just me ...

A buddy of mine opened a box 2010 Topps Triple Threads and shared the break with me in some pics. He got a pretty nice haul with an Albert Pujols relic card and an auto/bat card of Stan Musial.

But I kept looking back at the Pujols cards. Every time I read it, I chuckled to myself because I'm really just an immature kid who can't find the time to grow up.

If you read that and don't know what I'm talking about then I suggest you move on. Prince Albert is a term for a male genital piercing. Then, my mind went other places, but that's for the XXX-rated blog. This isn't the first time this nickname has been used, so maybe the designers didn't really think about it in the way my perverted mind went.

If you were a trading card designer, would you try to put suggestive comments or pictures on items and see if they would make it through?

I know Disney items are famous for this kind of thing, including The Little Mermaid cover where a piece of the castle was shaped like a penis.

2010 Topps Triple Threads cards sprinkling on eBay

As of 10 a.m. this morning, there were very few auctions of 2010 Topps Triple Threads baseball cards. One of them Marie is going to be very interested in, just not the price.

There is a different design than in year's past with more vertical cards. But there are still some cards with the JEJGEGE spellings. Certain cards I just had no idea what they were trying to say.

What do you guys think of the new design? Do you like them. Is it a step in the right direction.

- Casey McGehee auto/jersey /50
- Adam Lind auto/jersey /99
- Phil Niekro relic /27
- Monte Irvin relic /18
- Johnny Bench green parallel /240
- Derek Jeter "The Captain" Anyone want to get this for me?
- 2010 Stephen Strasburg auto/relic /99
- Triple auto David Wright, Ryan Braun, Matt Holiday

Hold on to your wallets

Topps Triple Threads was delayed until September, according to a tweet from Beckett baseball editor Chris Olds earlier today.

That means with Topps pushing back TTT, Topps is currently planning four releases next month with Topps 206, Pro Debut Series 2 and Topps Chrome. Also, Donruss Elite Edition is scheduled to go live in September.

With less baseball product, the release calendar should not get this clogged in any particular month. We've had roughly 11 Topps products released in the first eight months of the year.

The good news about the releases is that they tend to target different collectors. The only two that would directly compete against each other is 206 and Chrome, which are supposed to be about three weeks apart from each other right now. Also, I believe, Pro Debut and EEE are in direct competition with each other.

Most casual collectors aren't going to buy boxes of all being so close to each other.

Are you staying away from one because it's too close to another product you like?

Topps showing a lil Thread

Yesterday, Topps threw up a blog on Stephen Strasburg cards. He's the hottest thing the company has going right now and they are going to milk him for everything he is worth.

First of note, there are 500 autographs in Topps Tribute. That's the print run. It's great to know they are releasing that info because some companies do not.

What was most interesting on the blog, though, were the photos of some of the Triple Threads cards of Strasburg.

I actually like these cards. They look different than Triple threads in the past, which has been OK, but still sold because many collectors enjoyed the uniqueness of the cards.

Triple Threads has not been very pretty in year's past, however, I feel these cards are a step in the right direction. I love the cutout of the team logo as well. More cutouts that make sense and less HR440BB because it often takes me a while to understand what the cards mean.

What's even better?

On-card autos. See how much on-card autos makes everything look nicer.

Catching up on hobby news

With Marie and I going on our adventures last week, I didn't get a chance to write up the latest hobby news, which by this point is old news to many of you.

I like putting it on the blog anyway because it's a way for me to keep record of what's happening and I could refer to it at a later date.

Item #1 (from Beckett)
Panini and the NFL and NFLPA have agreed to a multi-year trading cards deal

With the announcement (that many knew was coming), Panini released 2010 Prestige, which includes Tim Tebow's first rookie cards and autos. Love the player or hate the player, his auto from this set have sold for around $150 with the short-printed variation going in the $25-$40 range.

Items #2 (from Beckett)
Topps released preview images of 2010 Triple threads

I intend to have a whole post dedicated to Topps Triple Threads, but just wanted to show a few of the preview images released of the set. I like the first card, but the player should certainly have his name on it. I'm not sold on the second card, but it would be nice if they were on-card autos.

Collectors always love that. This product is set to be released at the end of August at around $180/box.

Item #3 (where I read at Sports Card Info first)
Finest Rookie Redemption #3 revealed

Cubs rookie Starlin Castro is the third redemption. Castro had a great debut (which we blogged about). He had a homer a six RBIs, but since then he has not had any more of either. However, he has gotten on base and is hitting .323 (10-for-31).

Item #4 (from Beckett)
Upper Deck announced it will create Major League Lacrosse cards

I got nothing.