I have opened a lot of packs, but I had never pulled a redemption card before. That changed with a Topps Series 2 box, and honestly, I still do not really know where to put the feeling. It was a redemption for a Munetaka Murakami 1991 Topps Baseball Autograph Gold Parallel, card 91B2-MUR from Series … Read more
David Beckham is one of the few athletes where I am not entirely sure whether collectors are buying the football career, the celebrity, or both at the same time. Of course Beckham was a great footballer. Manchester United, Real Madrid, England, free kicks, Champions League, the No. 7 shirt, the red card against Argentina in … Read more
My Bernie Williams card made me think about a question collectors do not always separate cleanly: when does an autograph become an inscription? You can see the card above. Under the signature there is a small extra mark, almost like a heart or personal symbol. At first glance it looks different from a standard autograph, … Read more
Nobody wants to pull a redemption card. You open a box, get to the hit, and instead of the actual autograph you get a placeholder. A code. A promise. The real card is supposed to come later. That might be in a few weeks, in a few months, or after enough waiting that the whole … Read more
Michael Jordan is one of the biggest names in sports cards, but his card market is not one clean market. The 1986 Fleer rookie card, the 1986 Fleer sticker, rare 1990s inserts, Upper Deck autographs, game-used cards and important high-grade copies live in a completely different world than ordinary late 80s and 90s base cards. … Read more
I was looking through Etsy again for sports memorabilia, and it is one of the stranger places to search for autographs. The selection is huge: Jordan, Brady, Ohtani, Kobe, Messi, framed jerseys, signed photos, balls, helmets, display pieces. A lot of it looks good at first glance because Etsy is built for presentation. Nice photos, … Read more
A cracked PSA slab does not always mean the card inside is damaged. I know that grey area myself. I have a cracked PSA 5 Markelle Fultz Prizm slab in my collection, and for that kind of card, I can live with it. But a cracked or badly scuffed holder is still not the same … Read more
I spend a lot of time in sports card Reddit groups and Facebook groups, and honestly, some of the comments are wild. Someone posts a big pull, not even a crazy flex, just a card they are happy about, and immediately people jump in with “$50 card,” “PSA 9 max,” “centering is off,” “sticker auto,” … Read more
I saw this in a sports card Facebook group: PSA 9s should not be that much cheaper than PSA 10s. Good topic. Also exactly why I still read Facebook groups. I have written before about sports card Facebook groups being messy, but this is where the real hobby talks. Not auction copy. Not dealer language. … Read more
I saw someone walking through Berlin in a Lakers jacket, pulling a shopping trolley behind him. Nothing rare. Nothing game-used. Nothing signed. Just a Lakers jacket in a normal Berlin street. But that is exactly why I stopped thinking about it. You see this everywhere now. Yankees caps. Bulls hoodies. Raiders logos. Dodgers caps. Jordan … Read more
