Wait, What?

Hmmm. These are the same card. They are supposed to be 1/1. For realsies 1/1 too, not like printing plates or all the other weird stuff that the card companies do to make faux-1/1s. This is a red refractor 1/1 from Bowman Sterling. So what is going on?

Auction 1

Auction 2

Both listings are active for at least the next 9 days. Anybody have an idea of what the deal is with these?

This Is Nothing

Ok, it's not actually nothing, but it isn't really anything. Is it?



If it is, in fact, something, then this is the something that it is. Which is nothing.

Don't be confused. It's just that somebody took a Rookie Card of Curtis Granderson, got it signed in person or through the mail, butchered it by removing any picture of Curtis Granderson, doesn't mention on the card that it is Curtis Granderson, fails to remove the "D" which is the only reason I can imagine cutting up the picture (to try and capitalize on his new Yankee-ness), and then puts it a frame and calls it a one-of-one.

Nope. Nothing.

Curtis Granderson Into The Record Books

The Tigers are scratching and clawing their way towards a playoff spot, and over the last two days Curtis Granderson has come out of hiding to help out in whatever way he can. I'm not sure that anyone would say that he's had an Illustrious career...

2007 UD Black #IL-GC Curtis Granderson/Coco Crisp Illustrious Dual Auto (#17/50)

...Uh, ok I guess some people were willing to make this claim in 2007, but the rest of us realize that we're watching a player who is still coming into his own.

Yesterday that meant going 3-6 with a triple, three RBIs (one on each of his three hits) and 2 Runs. The Triple the other way was this close to being a Home Run, but couldn't quite make it, meaning we were treated to a sight that has been so prevalent the last few years:

2008 Topps Finest #95 Curtis Granderson Gold Xfractor (#08/25)

By the end of the night the Tigers had pulled together a huge comeback and stayed two games ahead of the white-hot Twins. Enter Sunday's series finale in Chicago. Granderson was in the game in his customary leadoff spot when Crack

2009 Detroit News Inserts Curtis Granderson

A leadoff homerun. Sound familiar? Maybe you've heard me talk Granderson the leadoff home run machine before. Sure enough, unless I'm mistaken (we're mid-game so none of the post game stories have been written yet) Granderson now rests atop the ALL TIME list for leadoff home runs by a Detroit Tiger, with his 24th (his 28th HR of the season).

Oh, but that's not all. In case that fine moment isn't enough, his record setting home run just happened to be his 100th of his career.

2008 Topps Finest #FM-CG Curtis Granderson Finest Moments Gold Xfractor (#08/25)

I know Curtis is modest guy, but that seems like two good reasons to raise your arms up and celebrate. With his bat seemingly getting hot at the right time, we may be treated to some spectacular fall colors in Detroit, and I think that slowly but surely (and despite a lot of the negativity surrounding him this year) people will realize that Granderson is a one-of-a-kind anchor for this franchise.

2008 Topps Stadium Club Curtis Granderson Sketch Card (1 of 1)

This bounty of cards was the culmination of me getting behind schedule on scanning and posting (shocker), with these packages having trickled in over the last few months.

Up For Trade: Alex Gordon/Billy Butler 1/1 Dual Autograph

This is the first time that I have posted an open trade offer like this, and it will likely be the last. However, something has come up.

First, my 2007 Sweet Spot Black Ink/Black Stitch 1 of 1 Alex Gordon & Billy Butler Dual Signed card has arrived from Upper Deck. My camera cord has gone MIA, but I'll get a picture of it up as soon as I can. It is this card that is up for trade.

Second, I am putting up for trade for this reason. It seems as though my dream card has become available again. There it is just sitting on eBay, waiting for me to buy it. Unfortunately, I'm a little short on that whole "money" thing. However, I do have a newly acquired asset to swap--that 1/1 mentioned above.

So here's what I'm proposing: I will trade the 1/1 Gordon Butler Dual Auto for whoever will buy me (or trade me) this card.

For the link-clicking averse, you might recognize it as this:


I'll get a picture up as soon as I can find my camera cord. The card is still in its original packaging from upper deck, but does suffer from the typical signature issues found on 2007 sweetspot. Still, it is a 1 of 1 card, of two young guys with big bats. Anybody interested in pulling this off can leave a comment or send me an email. The auction ends in 4 days. Any bloggers who feel like spreading the word are welcome to do so as well.

Curtis Granderson 1/1 Wood Mini Unearthed

Well, it has been found.

As before, in the interest of posterity, I have captured the picture and posted it here for all to see.


This time though, I have gone a step further and uploaded the card to Zistle so that the lucky winner can put it in their precious digital collection and the rest of us can just gawk and drool over what could have been.

With 4 days to go, this card is sitting pretty at $67. Here's the thing--If I had any serious amount of money to spend, I'd go for it. Sadly, I do not, so I'll just watch it slip through my grasp. The big question is: how high will it go? The 2009 Topps Platinum 1/1 variation went for something like $120, and this card is infinitely better in all respects. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Of Cards Incoming, Outgoing

A lot of great packages from bloggers and readers alike have crossed my desk recently and will be opened, sorted and posted about in due time.

I also want to say to Marie, Jonathan, Mike Gellner and Guy Payne that you guys haven't been forgotten--I am working to try and get your cards packaged tonight and taken to the post office (via my wife) tomorrow. I am heading out on business first thing in the morning and won't be back until Friday evening. Please forgive me, I haven't forgotten about you.

However, it is entirely possible that I have forgotten about someone. Are you still waiting for cards from me as part of a trade gone unfulfilled? Please let me know or forever hold your peace.

As for other cards on the way, I got this pleasant little message from Upper Deck this morning:

Congratulations Dan!

We shipped the following redemption(s):
RLWGRDN7N 2007 SWEET SPOT BASEBALL SWEET SPOT SIGNATURES DUAL SIGNATURES BLACK STITCH BLACK INK SS2-GB ALEX GORDON/ BILLY BUTLER
Please allow up to 10-14 business days for delivery. We hope you will enjoy your new collectible! For more information on Upper Deck products, please visit www.upperdeck.com.

Thank You,

The Upper Deck Company, LLC

When it arrives, you'll all be the first to know.

Noooooo!

Having thoroughly exhausted myself keeping track of all of the Ty Cobb Sketch Cards in 2009 Topps, this card popped up on eBay the other day and I thought to myself "please be the only one, please be the only one."

Nope.

Today, a new, and aesthetically superior version popped up. It is kind of awesome.
The question I have is, what do I do? As a Granderson collector, I would like to add these cards, but at this point I'm so disillusioned by them that I am barely willing to submit a bid. Of course, as I mentioned before, I am on spending hiatus right now, so the point is moot. Still, at some point I'll be buying again, and if the Georgia Peach is any indication, I'll have plenty of opportunity to do so.

Known Curtis Granderson "1 of 1" Sketch Cards
2008 Stadium Club: 4
2009 Topps: 2

A Final Sketch Note

I'm sick of pointing out all of the sketch cards that I find of the same player, feeling as though I have proved my point. So here is one last shot of a Ty Cobb sketch card (the 11th in 2009 Topps, by my count). While I am, without a doubt a Tigers collector, I'll be leaving my obsessions for my Granderson collection, if it's alright by you. So, bask in the glory of one last one-of-one Ty Cobb card and we can all move on with our lives.

Topps' Sketch Cards Get Sketchier

An anonymous commenter let me know that there is a fourth Granderson sketch card from Stadium Club--one with the same picture and by the same artist as a previous one, just in portrait formatting instead of landscape. Even worse, we can add two more sketch cards to Ty Cobb's ever-growing 2009 Portfolio. The first is actually a nice full color shot: The second perfectly showcases the egregious use of the 1 of 1 moniker:
Look familiar to anyone? Here's a refresher
Same artist, same orientation, slightly different coloring and border lines.

Again, some of these cards are really quite nice (the examples that I've shown here, for instance), but I can't help feel like Topps tried to pull the wool over our eyes in the advertising and promotion of these.

Keeping Score? Granderson '08 Stadium Club: 4
Cobb '09 Topps: 10

"Sketchy" Clarification

I was right--those two cards in question from the last post are not part of the Topps Sketch Card series. One (the B&W) is by artist Monty Sheldon and is part of a sequentially numbered series of 25 sketch cards, each 1 of 1. The full color one is described as an "artist proof" that Topps lets the artists keep. Personally, I think it was a card that Topps rejected in favor of another card from the artist. That brings our count back to 7. Fortunately, another one cropped up to bring our count up to 8.

Sadly, this card is quite similar to a handful of the others out there.

2009 Topps Sketch Card Watch (Ctd.)

Ty Cobb "1 of 1" Sketch Card count is now up to 9 with the addition of these five:





I may have missed a few, because until today I was searching "2009 Cobb" and neglecting the "09 Cobb" that revealed four of the five shown here. For those keeping score at home, that is 9 "1 of 1" Ty Cobb Sketch Cards, at least three of which are starting to look remarkably similar, a la the 2008 Stadium Club Grandersons. I'm also starting to wonder how easy these cards are to forge. Two from this list seem suspicious to me, lacking the requisite "Topps" logo on the front. Stay tuned.

Sketch Card Update

For those of you keeping score, there are now FOUR "1 of 1" sketch cards of Ty Cobb from 2009 Topps. While better than the Stadium Club fiasco, in which there were marginally different versions of Curtis Granderson, these Sketch Cards at least look fundamentally different from one another. Again, I realize that each of these cards is a 1 of 1, but most people, including myself, were led to believe that there would be one sketch card of each player. This confusion will lead to higher prices and buyer frustration sooner rather than later. Here's a rundown of what we've got so far:


So, when picking up these "1 of 1"s on eBay, use the judgement that you should be using on all of your purchases. Buy the card if you like it--don't get caught up in the 1 of 1 madness. Know that the card is rare, is unique and is something that you'll enjoy. Keep things in perspective and you'll be fine.

This "1 of 1" Watch will continue in perpetuity to try and determine how many of these sketch cards were produced.

Sketch Card Shenanigans

It was bound to happen wasn't it? Just when sketch cards restored my confidence in the "1 of 1", Stadium Club had to go and screw it all up. In my post on 2008 Stadium Club, I included a picture of the sketch card that had sold on eBay earlier in the week. I did not mention that the sketch card had sold a few months earlier, at a higher price, and that I was surprised that somebody was flipping it so soon. It turns out, this was a different sketch card (I vaguely remember the first one having yellow accents--very nice looking as sketch cards go). I know this, because during the course of my daily perusing of eBay, I found...a 1 of 1 Sketch Card from Topps Stadium Club!

Oh no. Oh yes. Each sketch card is a "1 of 1" because each is hand drawn by a different artist. However, there is no record at all of how many sketch cards there are per player. By my count, Granderson is up to three.

I wonder if this is just Stadium Club, or if the regular Topps issue will be afflicted by this as well. In other words, is this new Ty Cobb sketch card from 2009 Topps (currently on eBay) a 1 of 1, or just a 1 of a few? If I were somebody who paid a premium on a 1 of 1 card, I would be pissed. I understand that these cards are different, but they are no less different than the multitude of parallels out there. At the very least, it would be nice to know how many artists produced sketch cards, or how many sketch cards there are for each player. You can still make them 1 of 1 cards (they are each individual pieces of "art" after all), but Jesus, give us collectors a chance.

Ultimate Checklist: 2008 Topps Stadium Club

The highly anticipated return of Stadium Club featured Curtis Granderson on Card #6. Earlier this month, Dinged Corners issued a challenge to those who believed that there was a Stadium Club card that could top the one that they found of David Wright. Being brand-new to blogging at the time and not wanting to miss a chance to sing the praises of Curtis Granderson to the rest of the collecting world I submitted a compelling case for this card:

"#6: Curtis is on the run. His pants are already dirty, despite clearly being on first base. It is cold outside, and only the most hard-core fans have stuck around on this cold Michigan spring evening. Curtis has used his telepathic powers to fool the first baseman into going in the opposite correction of him. The two have created a visual chalice—Da Vinci Code style—a fact that did not go unnoticed by the photographer who wished to convey the religious-like power that Granderson embodies. His fingers are taped, his socks are up and his neck is weighed down by magic titanium power necklaces, as if to say not even broken fingers, extra weight and good style can stop me from taking third base before the ball gets out of the infield. The background exudes vintage baseball stadiums, three different shades of green, with a bright yellow line that makes you wonder why oh why replay was ever needed.

Curtis’ eyes are on the prize. He is already looking at the third base coach despite barely being past the first baseman. He is going to score. He knows it. You know it. The kid in the red with his arms up knows it—and he hasn’t even gotten to second yet."

Well, I knew that there were nicer cards than #6, but I did my best. Sadly, no other bloggers were swayed by my oratorical gem.

It turns out that Stadium Club is a simple release for Curtis. Card #6 come in Base (#/999), First Day Issue, Blue Photographers Proof (#/99), Gold Photographers Proof (#/50), Platinum Photographers Proof (1/1) and Printing Plates. The "gem" of the set is a 1 of 1 Sketch Card, which actually just sold on eBay this week for $36. I like the design and concept of the sketch card, but I think, in general, they tend to look a little plain. However, since it's a 1 of 1 I'll swipe the image and put it here for posterity. Also, word on the street is that cards divisible by 3 have different pictures for their base cards and 1st day issue cards--something that has made collecting cards (especially rookie cards) a bit of a pain. I haven't confirmed this, but now that I think about it I haven't seen a non-first day issue or photographers proof of #6 at all. Has anybody else?

Anyway, that's it for Stadium Club, short and sweet. I haven't gotten my hands on any of these cards, but they certainly seem like the kind of cards that a player collector would be happy to have.

UPDATE: After doing a little more research, the beckett checklist says that the regular "base" card is #/999 while the First Day Issue card is unnumbered. That change has been made, but it sounds like there may be some additional trickeration that Beckett isn't up on.

Ultimate Checklist: 2008 Topps Moments & Milestones

For a set that everybody loves to hate, I have a dicey love/hate relationship with 2008 Topps Moments & Milestones. I don't know how it happened, but somehow I got a small lot of Granderson cards from this set for next to nothing (like 99 cents, or something like that). I thought, simultaneously, in a true feat of quantum mental bandwidth, "these cards are cool/these cards are stupid." First, the technicals: The "base" cards are all numbered to 150. There are parallels that are numbered to 25 (black), 10 (blue) and 1 (red).

Fine, that all seems pretty straightforward. So what's the problem? Why the love and hate? First, the love:

From Curtis Granderson Collection

From Curtis Granderson Collection

From Curtis Granderson Collection

From Curtis Granderson Collection

These cards are nice. I'm sorry. Look at them! There are four cards, four different pictures, design variations, nice color schemes--they're even printed on an excellent card stock. Its not too thin, its not too thick. I am a fan. Curtis Granderson's cards, numbers 38, 39, 40 and 41 are worth collecting.

Unfortunately, Card number 38 has a few variations. 38-1, 38-2, 38-3 etc. up to 23 for each home run. Card 39 has 26 variations, one for each steal. 40 has 23 variations for each triple and there are 38 versions of #41 for each double. So, Curtis Granderson has 4 unique cards that are great. Or, Curtis Granderson has 110 cards that are repetitive and mediocre.

That is the hate component of this set, and it is what everybody hates about this set. There is no reason to have 110 different cards that only have 4 different designs. There is really no reason to have 110 more that are numbered to 25, 110 more numbered to 10 and 110 more "1 of 1" cards. These are not one of ones. These are a joke. Moments & Milestones are a prime example of artificial scarcity and corporate greed that has frustrated collectors all year.

Still, for all the criticism that I have about this set, I must confess a sickness. I have an issue, which you will become familiar with over time, if you're not already, in which I must complete any collections that I start. The corollary of this is that I don't start collections that I'm not prepared to finish, which is why I don't collect the Black, Blue and Red versions of this set. However, I am stuck trying to complete the frustrating, annoying but addictively beautful "base" set of Topps Moments & Milestones.

With that, I need your help. I need the following cards (#/150) to finish my set (Updated 2/15/2011):
Home Runs (Card #38): 15
Stolen Bases (Card #39): 10, 19, 25, 26
Triples (Card #40): 4, 10, 11, 13, 18
Doubles (Card #41): 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37

I beg you. Let me put this sickness to rest.

Ultimate Checklist: 2008 SP Legendary Cuts

Ahh, SP Legendary Cuts. You might remember it from such legal disputes as "Topps sues Upper Deck over illegally using the likeness of dead players." No? Here's a refresher. Fortunately, the still-living Granderson came through unscathed through a base card, an game used insert, and the most inane "1 of 1" cards (yes, plural) that I've seen this side of Topps Moments & Milestones.
 
The game used card is a perfectly fine looking card with a white swatch.  I think that the Tigers may have the nicest home uniforms in all of baseball, but man, they do not lend themselves to exciting jersey swatches.  If only I were a Yankee Collector, sigh... (followed by a shiver upon realization of what I just said).  Anyway, that card looks like this: 

2008 SP Authentic #DS-CG Curtis Granderson: Game Used Jersey

See? it's nice. It's fine. In fact, the gals over at Dinged Corners had something to say about it too.

This set also features a base card, #81 reproduced below for your convenience.

2008 SP Legendary Cuts #81 Curtis Granderson

Eh...

Now, onto the odd part of this set. Card #81 has a parallel known as #81 "Memorable Moments." What happens is this: On the left side of the card, above the row of stars in the lower left corner is a white box (sticker?) that has a memorable moment from the season or career. Sometimes it will be a specific game event etc. Of course the prestigious "1 of 1" gold stamp is on the top left of the card. How do I know all of this? Because I know that there are at least 14 of them floating around, each with a separate moment pasted on it, but really the exact same card. There are at least 14, and likely many more, because last month 14 of them were individually listed on eBay for $9.95 each (2 of them sold). Ugh. Now, I would like to get as many of these cards as I can (because I'm a bit obsessive for completeness) but having all of these "1 of 1" cards just artificially inflates the price and makes them a bit of a joke. So, SP Legendary Cuts, I have this to say to you: Boo.

Can SPx do better? I guess we'll see!