Coffee anyone?
The Spot Starters has started to create a list of reputable baseball players who happened to spend a little time wearing the Old English D. These are your Cup of Coffee Tigers. Part 1 is up right now.
I will be running a parallel series of posts that tracks down the rare instances of these stars depicted as Tigers on a baseball card. A preview:
Oh yeah, that’s a Hall of Famer, folks.
Jiminy Jillickers
Every time I think that I’m caught up on checklist compilation another release sneaks up on me. Then I try to catch up, then another release. It is this:
Milhouse: Making movies is so repetitive. I've said Jiminy Jillikers so many times the words have lost all meaning!
Director: We've got to do the Jiminy Jillikers scene again, Milhouse.
Milhouse: [fuming] But we already did it. It took seven hours, but we did it. It's done!
Director: Yes, but we've got to do it from different angles! Again and again! And again and again and again and again and again!
Oh what’s that? You were expecting a video clip? Me too. I consider myself a veritable encyclopædia of Simpsons quotes for use in any real life situation. The internet is not. For all that is out there, the shocking difficulty in finding relevant Simpsons clips disturbs me greatly. So, instead we’re left to “read” and “use our imaginations.”
Anyway, I’ve put so many checklists together that they have lost all meaning. But I need to do it again. And again. And again and again and again. With sensible releases, you know, with base cards and a few parallels and inserts, this is no problem. In fact, I find that the act of putting a checklist together gives me a much better grasp on the product. But with things like Ballpark Collection, which are just horrid nonsensical compilations of extra jersey pieces thrown together, I lose all hope. Even when I turn to Beckett to get a list for these releases, it just pains me to go through it.
Even so, checklists are up and constantly being updated for your perusal and convenience. There are 28 releases up there, with checklists for all but four of them (Ballpark, Ticket to Stardom, SP Authentic, Topps 206). I relish the day when I’ll be able to work backwards, knowing that no products can be released retroactively.
Update Insanity
Yowza. Topps Updates & Highlights is out and Tigers fans everywhere are droolingover fancy (and unattainable) cards. Actually, they’re going crazy over everything, it seems.
Click the picture to make it bigger and...legible. Sorry.
Those are regular “All Star Stitches” jersey cards for Brandon Inge and Justin Verlander. Note that they sold for more than, like $3. Get your wits about you, people! These two auctions are particularly interesting, as they each started a $0.99 and had Buy It Now prices of $2.99 (Inge) and $3.99 (Verlander). The Inge went for three times that! I looked at these when they were first listed, got greedy (there was also an Edwin Jackson that got bought for $2.99) and said to myself, “I’ll bet I can grab these for about $2 when the time comes. I still believe that to be true, but geez, I may have underestimated the demand for these.
And that’s just the “run of the mill” game used cards. This release is chock-full of Tigers, with a full 13 card base set, a slew of inserts and some low-numbered cards that are going to be increasingly hard to come by. Add in a couple of box-toppers and autographs of hot rookies and Tigers fans have their hands full.
Timing Is Everything
Am I wrong to think that this card is sad and ironic on multiple levels at this point? Also, Miguel Cabrera is 108 Years Old.
It sure is neat though. I’ll just take it as a prediction for next year.
