A reason to buy baseball cards

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2003-10-26 08:39pm

http://www.etopps.com/Marketing/Newslet ... tsnews.asp

From Woodrow Wilson throwing out the first pitch in Game 2 of the 1915 World Series to former Texas Rangers managing partner and current president George W. Bush throwing a strike before Game 3 of the 2001 World Series, U.S. presidents and baseball have long been synonymous.

Now, 2004 Topps Baseball Series One, releasing November 12, brings the two together in a hand-numbered 1-of-1 series of inserts known as American Treasures. These cards feature a signature of each of the 42 different U.S. Presidents, cut from authentic documents. George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Grover Cleveland, James Monroe and John F. Kennedy are all featured in a set that transcends the game and is sure to be talked about for years to come.

Now those are going to be FREAKING RARE.

But talk about fucking awesome. I'm going to go down and buy a couple of packs. Maybe I'll get lucky and get Jefferson's signature.

Glocksman · Post by **Glocksman** » 2003-10-27 01:52am

Destroying historic documents in order to sell baseball cards???

Sometimes I wonder if Lenin was right about the rope sale.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2003-10-27 02:36am

The "collectibles" industry has been out of control for a long time. In the old days, things became collectible because most people who bought them gave them to their kids, who played with them until they were destroyed. The resulting rarity and nostalgia made them "collectible". But now, they are selling things which are packaged and labelled as "collectible" or "classic" in the fucking factory!

And naturally, "collectors" buy them up and put them in hermetically sealed keep-cases, so that there will be the same number of "collectibles" 20 years from now as there are today

Post by **Dalton** » 2003-10-27 07:04am

I like the Serial Killer trading cards they had on Addams Family II.

Zoink · Post by **Zoink** » 2003-10-27 11:27am

If you work out how many packs you'll need to buy, it would be cheaper to just buy an autograph at an auction/sale or whatever. Since that document would have a historical context (ie. the remaining text), it would probably be more valuable in the long run.

If you look at many of the ultra-rare inserts, many jump in price right away because of the rarity/demand. But, give it a decade and the price will drop as people forget about it (ie. no demand). The prices for these sometimes remain artificially high because the people that own it still value it for its rarity (or the price *they* paid!), and don't want to part with it unless for a high price. But, finding a buyer is going to be really hard.

20 years from now appraisers will look at it and probably say something like: "it would be more valuable if the signature hadn't been cut from the document, its just an autograph now"

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2003-10-27 11:29am

I thought the reason to buy baseball cards was to put them in the spokes of your bicycle so it makes cool "motorcycle" noises.

I suppose you could also buy them for the gum.

Death from the Sea · Post by **Death from the Sea** » 2003-10-27 03:14pm

Tsyroc wrote:I thought the reason to buy baseball cards was to put them in the spokes of your bicycle so it makes cool "motorcycle" noises.

I suppose you could also buy them for the gum.

that is why I did it as a kid.

Post by **Gandalf** » 2003-10-27 07:26pm

Glocksman wrote:Destroying historic documents in order to sell baseball cards???
Sometimes I wonder if Lenin was right about the rope sale.

Methinks they were photocopied or scanned.

I don't collect cards anymore, despite my 4000 plus Star Trek CCG collection, and 2000 Star Wars CCG one.

I collect the Buffy action figures, still in their cases, it looks cool on my shelves.

Glocksman · Post by **Glocksman** » 2003-10-28 02:35am

From the linked article:

These cards feature a signature of each of the 42 different U.S. Presidents, cut from authentic documents. George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Grover Cleveland, James Monroe and John F. Kennedy are all featured in a set that transcends the game and is sure to be talked about for years to come.

Screw topps.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2003-10-28 04:34am

How the fuck did they get their hands on those documents?

Zoink · Post by **Zoink** » 2003-10-28 09:12am

I imagine that the presidents sign hundreds of documents over the course of their presidency, and the vast majority are of little value and can probably be had for fairly cheap. The "documents" are probably requisitions for toilet paper or whatever

It sounds like there is only 1 of each card (ie. 1 for each president). So maybe they spent a few hundred on the early presidents, probably less for the later ones. They probably could have had the whole thing for a little more than $10,000.

So let's say they print 25,000 boxes, that'd be about a 1 in 600 chance per box, or about a 1 in 21,000 per pack of getting one (assuming 36 packs in a box). So you're looking at spending about $50,000 for a good chance of getting one of the cards. Not really worth trying unless you want the regular cards anyway.

Post by **Ghost Rider** » 2003-10-28 09:28am

Darth Wong wrote:The "collectibles" industry has been out of control for a long time. In the old days, things became collectible because most people who bought them gave them to their kids, who played with them until they were destroyed. The resulting rarity and nostalgia made them "collectible". But now, they are selling things which are packaged and labelled as "collectible" or "classic" in the fucking factory!

And naturally, "collectors" buy them up and put them in hermetically sealed keep-cases, so that there will be the same number of "collectibles" 20 years from now as there are today

Shhh...you'll disturb hundreds of comic geeks who believe the shit Marvel/DC/Image shovels them about collectibles.

To say nothing of companies that purposefully do small runs to up prices.

As for getting the card...it's worse then that given Stores have no problems about looting to get those said cards so they can jack up the prices. I'd rather invest in the lottery, at least then only the IRS can rape me of my money.

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2003-10-28 12:49pm

Ghost Rider wrote: Shhh...you'll disturb hundreds of comic geeks who believe the shit Marvel/DC/Image shovels them about collectibles.

I learned a long long long time ago to only buy or collect stuff that I will enjoy. If at some later date it's worth something and I want to get rid of it that's cool but otherwise collecting as an investment just doesn't seem to work. If it's a fun past time that may end up being profitable then that's cool but otherwise it's a waste of time.

Incidently, the comic that made me see the light on the buying for collecting only was an issue of the A-Team mini-series. It sucked.

Ghost Rider wrote: As for getting the card...it's worse then that given Stores have no problems about looting to get those said cards so they can jack up the prices. I'd rather invest in the lottery, at least then only the IRS can rape me of my money.

"Looting"?

Is that where they try to go through all their packs of cards to find the special ones so they can charge a lot for them? I'm not entirely sure why that'd be necessary since I've had friend who've bought several boxes of one set of cards just so they could get all of the cards they needed for a complete set.

Collecting cards should really be the way to go because of the size but it always seems like it costs a fortune and is a real hassle to get a complete set of anything. There have been a few artwork card sets that I've really liked (the original Marvel Masterpieces, Frank Frazetta etc...) but I never completed any of the ones I bought. The Marvel one had those stupid prism, or whatever, special cards that were a pain in the ass to get. I ended up helping a friend finish his out instead of trying to complete mine. I liked the regular cards best anyway.

Zoink · Post by **Zoink** » 2003-10-28 01:43pm

Tsyroc wrote: There have been a few artwork card sets that I've really liked (the original Marvel Masterpieces,

I have the complete set for that one. I got all the regular cards, plus the chrome cards. There is 5 "spectra-chrome" cards, I ended up getting three in packs, I bought the remaining at comic conventions. There used to be worth about $25 at the time of release, but can now be had for less than $5 (last time I checked at a convention). That's basically the story behind most sets.

You can probably get the entire Frazetta set (I know the one you're talking about) for about $15-$20, which is nothing compared to what you would spend buying the packs back in good old '93.

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2003-10-29 12:33pm

Zoink wrote: I have the complete set for that one. I got all the regular cards, plus the chrome cards. There is 5 "spectra-chrome" cards, I ended up getting three in packs, I bought the remaining at comic conventions. There used to be worth about $25 at the time of release, but can now be had for less than $5 (last time I checked at a convention). That's basically the story behind most sets.

Yikes, talk about depreciation.

You can probably get the entire Frazetta set (I know the one you're talking about) for about $15-$20, which is nothing compared to what you would spend buying the packs back in good old '93.

Geez, that's probably cheaper than what it cost to buy a box back in '93. The set was a good way to get a bunch of Frazetta artwork in a size that was convienent to store and not to costly.