Collectors connecting from home even with NSCC postponement
Virtual lineup with collectors, breakers and more set for this weekend
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This should have been a week for friends. Old friends you only see once a year. Making new friends because of a shared love.
This should have been the week of the National Sports Collectors Convention.
If you’ve never been to the National, it’s five days of the biggest sports card and memorabilia show in the world. Hundreds of autograph guests show up and adults get to relive their childhoods for a few moments.
(Here’s a pic of Marie and me from the 2017 National)
While trading cards and memorabilia are the draw, it’s really about the people. Getting to see your friends, enjoying steaks, and chatting over the hobby is the best part of it all. Adding to the PC is nice too, but that’s just an added bonus.
It’s sad we’re not at the National this year. It was supposed to be in Atlantic City, N.J., and I was looking forward to it. I lived in that area for eight years; I love the Boardwalk and the beach. I have plenty of favorite spots that I was looking forward to checking out again.
This year, however, we’re dealing with something no one could have imagined, a global pandemic disrupting life as we know it. The impact of COVID-19 in the United States has been particularly rough as more than 150,000 people have died (including a couple people I knew personally) with millions more sick from the virus.
Because of the pandemic, the National was postponed until December. The new tentative date is a tough one for collectors and dealers due to the time of the year – and we also don’t know what the future holds.
But even with everything going on, collectors have found a way to still make this week about friends. Several collectors have gotten together to host virtual events this week such as HobbyPalooza 2020.
HobbyPalooza will feature nearly 30 hours of live content starting on Friday. It was conceived by YouTubers with support from Topps, Panini America, Beckett Media and Go GTS. There are also more than a dozen of other live shows that will be presented by breakers, YouTubers, and even Project 2020 artist Blake Jamieson.
I had a chance to speak with Mike Moynihan (The Baseball Collector on YouTube) who developed the idea for HobbyPalooza and it took off with the help from Bench Clear Media, a consortium of YouTubers dedicated to creating videos on collecting.
Much like thousands of other collectors, Mike was disappointed the National would not be happening this week. However, he wanted to still do something. There was already an active platform on YouTube and then he spoke to a few his closest collecting friends.
It didn’t take much convincing, either.
“This all came together less than a week ago,” Moynihan said last Wednesday. “Everyone was so excited about it. Within a few hours we had every slot filled up. We’ve had to turn people away.”
Nearly 30 hours of hobby content will be livestreamed with different hobbyists, breakers and sponsors hosting an hour.
What Mike likes about HobbyPalooza is how different each hour is from the other — which just shows how diverse collections are.
For example, Up North Collectors are a father and son duo hosting box breaks, or Moynihan discussing the PSA Registry, or Breakerculture doing a live podcast.
There will also be giveaways, plenty of cards, and collectors reminiscing about the National. This week is going to bring back a lot of memories and fun moments and great cards.
It sounds perfect.
So while the next National may not be until December or next year, collectors are getting creative and using all the tools on hand to bring the National home.
HobbyPalooza kicks off on Friday at 2 p.m. ET. Get more details here.
Dr. Fauci Topps Now card breaks record
Topps Now has been a record of what’s happening in baseball since 2016. But this year more than ever, it’s become a record of what is going on in the world.
It has featured players wearing masks, the first on-field woman coach in MLB history, and players and coaches taking a knee to bring attention to the injustices Black people face in America.
And we’re only a week into the not-so-regular season.
Dr. Anthony Fauci threw out the first pitch before a Washington Nationals game on July 23. While the pitch itself was unimpressive, the moment was not. Dr. Fauci is the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and he is looked at as a voice of calm and honesty during the pandemic.
Topps created a card of Dr. Fauci’s first pitch and it sold more than 50,000 copies, which is, by far, the print run record. It broke the previous mark of Vlad Guerrero Jr.’s debut by more than 30,000 copies. And if that wasn’t crazy enough, prices on the secondary market for Fauci’s card are even wilder.
The card is selling anywhere from $100-$200 on eBay. This was a card that anyone could have purchased in a 24-hour span for at most $9.99. Even with such a high print run, the card is currently sitting at crazy prices for a Topps Now card.
Many collectors think the price of the card will come back down in the coming weeks, which is certainly a possibility. However, when you have friends and family who don’t even like sports texting you about the card and Time, People and CNN writing about it, you know it’s special.
Looking at the card from a purely marketing standpoint, this is amazing for Topps. While collectors could have fatigue over Topps Now at this point, there are still so many people who don’t know about the program.
Now, they do.
Some of these people may never buy another Topps Now card again, but they won’t forget where the card came from and who made it. That’s important as brands build name recognition and affinity with consumers. The next time something happens in baseball, they know where to go if they want to keep a record.
And if you want to check out the latest Topps Now cards, click here.
2020 Goodwin Champions is unpredictable — and fun to break
By Dan Good
2020 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions is a fun break, if you can find a box or two.
Demand has driven the price of boxes past $150, and in some cases into the $200 range, online … which isn’t cheap! But even with the price spike, Goodwin remains a fun break and one that could still pay off.
The brand, which has been going strong for more than a decade, has always been known for its range. If you can imagine it, it’s a card that could be included in Goodwin Champions. Dinosaurs. Animals. Sea creatures. Airplane and spaceship parts. Plants. Coins and stamps. Books and fables. And the checklist is bound to include a wide range of celebrities and athletes, just like its namesake 1888 release.
But where Allen & Ginter — another 19th-century-inspired Topps product — is baseball-focused, Goodwin has broken free from that mold, making it more unpredictable, and thus, more fun to break. Even the packs are unpredictable. Some contain two or three cards. Others include seven. Some contain miniature cards. Others don’t.
Here are five reasons why I enjoyed this year’s Goodwin Champions.
Accomplished celebs
This year’s Goodwin Champions features a talented checklist.
Among them: the rookie cards, if you will, of Big Boi (Antwan Patton), one half of Outkast, who’s racked up six Grammy wins and 18 nominations between his work alongside Andre 3000 and his solo career.
Another musician making his cardboard debut in Goodwin Champions is Scarface, also known as Brad Jordan, a Houston-born rapper and member of the Geto Boys who’s a master lyricist — one of his most powerful songs he’s written, the paranoia-themed, contemplative and anguished “Mind Playing Tricks on Me,” feels just as fresh today as it did when it debuted in 1991. If you’ve ever watched the movie “Office Space,” you’re familiar with his work.
Same goes for character actor Stephen Root, who played the stapler-obsessed Milton Waddams and a million other quirky roles — including 2004’s “DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story,” or the underrated “NewsRadio,” or as Bill Dauterive (and Buck Strickland) on “King of the Hill,” or in “Crocodile Dundee 2,” or “Get Out,” or “Barry” ...
Manon Rheaume
If you collected mid-1990s Classic cards, you know the name Manon Rheaume.
The hockey goalie signed with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 1992 and ended up appearing in exhibition games in 1992 and 1993. She also added a silver medal at the 1998 winter Olympics, playing for her native Canada.
There were lots of Classic cards — some autographed, some acetate, some showing portrait shots. She appeared in some of the same sets that included Shaquille O’Neal.
Rheaume has had numerous cards over the years, including some produced by Leaf and Panini, but Goodwin Champions pairs her with other female sports pioneers who came after her, like Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan.
Cards of cats
Lions, and tigers, and cheetahs, oh my!
Goodwin Champions is nothing if not playful, and this year’s version features lots of felines, including cards of big cats in the base set, and Cat Collection patch cards.
Other patch cards highlight Sea Creatures like the Atlantic cod or sea turtle. They’re different than the usual tried-and-true insert sets you often encounter in current products, and something that children who might not care as much about sports can enjoy.
Exquisite Rookie Autographs
These cards look sharp in hand — they’re simple and thick and pretty, a callback to sets that redefined the potential for modern cards.
Of course, this year’s Exquisite inserts aren’t as pricey as a LeBron James rookie card, but you can pull James Signature Kicks redemption cards that are worth a pretty penny (or about a million of them). Other Exquisite autographs numbered to 99 are selling for anywhere from $250 to thousands of dollars, and resemble either the 2009-10 autographs or 2003-04 autograph patch cards.
The checklist features some of the sports world’s most intriguing young players, including football’s Joe Burrow, baseball’s Jasson Dominguez, and basketball’s Darius Garland.
Not a bad lineup.
Michael Jordan
There isn’t enough attention around Michael Jordan … it seems like people kind of forgot about the retired Chicago Bulls player. Glad his Goodwin Champions cards will help remind everyone how great a player he was.
Trading Card News Round Up
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