stuck in the middle

Around the middle of July, I was happy to announce that Aardvark Trading Co. was going to be in the position to sell hobby boxes of Topps Allen & Ginter baseball cards after preordering an entire case from some eBayer. We were very excited to be able to touch an unopened case, bust it, and then hopefully keep track of the “hits” (as the kids call them) as reported by people purchasing boxes. I thought it would provide an excellent opportunity for interested parties to study a case of cards and over analyze it… to death.

I was on edge waiting for the UPS truck for the initial days that followed Topps’ official release. Nothing. Then I finally got the eBayer on the horn and was informed that his supplier had declared bankruptcy. Long excuse short…. there would be no case coming.
Bummer. We got our money refunded without a problem, but already the price of cases (now in hand) had increased to the point that we didn’t think it would be a wise investment given that the market was immediately saturated with product.

Jay Marshall (2007 Topps A&G no. 244 and black-bordered mini)

I managed to get these Jay Marshall cards autographed in person the same day. It was then that I realized that I was going to have to rethink my plan for dealing with the 2008 set. Would I find myself trolling for blaster boxes at Target, paying way more for a box than I cared to from a local dealer, or trying to find a three hobby box deal online?

Walking out of the third different Target store in a 36-hour period on Saturday afternoon, I decided to purchase a hand-collated set online, and invest the difference (both time and money) in the pursuit of the sets I’ve been neglecting- 2006 A&G and 1975 Topps.

Mike Caldwell (1975 Topps no. 347) and a 1975 Dodge Dart Sport

I’ve seen quite a bit of the 2008 Allen & Ginter set via the interweb. I have to say that experiencing cards like these is probably best done with the actual cards in hand rather than seeing them online. So I will save my thoughts on the set until I have one in front of me.

By the way, I’ve also wasted a good couple of days trying to crack the damn Allen & Ginter code, but I believe the code has cracked me. I wonder if that’ll win me a prize off the lower shelf.

– Kris

is this (wax) heaven?

No, but it is a link to a contest that Aardvark Trading Co. is currently sponsoring over at Wax Heaven. Of course, if I need to inform you that Wax Heaven is one of the most popular baseball card blogs in the business, then you obviously have neither been doing your homework nor copying from your neighbor.

Without repeating the terms of the contest here (you will need to hustle over to Wax Heaven to learn how to enter), I will let you know that the prize is a PAIR of autographed Topps 52s baseball cards. One of the cards is Paul Hoover’s from the 2006 set (no. 212), and the other is Ross Wolf’s from the 2007 set (no. 172). Both players are presently on the Albuquerque Isotopes roster, and waiting patiently for THE phone to ring.

In my mind, it makes perfect sense to sponsor a contest with Mario’s readers given his “history,” and one might even wager “future,” with the Florida Marlins organization.

The only thing that is confusing is why you are still here reading when I’ve already told you that your only shot at winning is dependent on your visiting Wax Heaven immediately, if not sooner.

Good luck!

UPDATE

Okay, the Wax Heaven contest is officially closed (but not ended). Be sure to dig the special shout out to the Aardvark Trading Co. in this Wax Heaven video blog.

– Kris

seddon-tary ways

After just missing hitting a homer the same evening I featured Andrew Beattie’s DAV card, the second baseman arrived at Isotopes Park the following afternoon ready to do a little yard work. One would be hard-pressed to find any fault with Andrew’s contribution, as he was perfect at the plate going 3 for 3 with a walk, his third home run of the season, scoring twice and adding a pair of RBIs to his totals. Oh yeah, and raising his batting average to .317 in the process.

Andrew shared the spotlight of the Albuquerque Isotopes 5-2 victory over the Round Rock Express (Houston Astros) with starting pitcher Frankie De la Cruz- who pitched a gem. De la Cruz went eight and two-thirds innings on an extremely windy evening yielding only five hits, a walk and two unearned runs en route to improving his season record to 6 and 2. The vast majority of the 24 batters who didn’t strike out ended up grounding out. The few pitches offered by De la Cruz that weren’t recorded as strikes didn’t miss by much.

Isotopes fans are hoping for a similar outing this evening from southpaw Chris Seddon. Over the course of eight starts this season, Seddon has amassed a record of 3-2 with a 4.00 ERA and 1.53 WHIP with 45 innings in the scorebook.

Seddon also signs a very nice signature complete with a sweeping “C” and a looping “S” that leaves this blogger wondering whether Chris studies art when he isn’t studying batters. Unfortunately this first series 2008 Upper Deck card (no. 292) fails to mention what Seddon’s hobbies are. I guess I’ll have to ask him myself- which is fine because he is a heck of a nice fella.

– Kris

national baseball card day 2008

Of course the well-educated readers of Cards in the Attic are all aware that TOMORROW Saturday, March 29 is National Baseball Card Day! If that isn’t something to cheer about, I don’t know what is.

You have probably already mapped out your route to hit your favorite trading card dealers so you can cash in on some FREEBIES while stocking up on fresh (or stale) boxes of wax to carry you through the true opening weekend of the 2008 Major League Baseball season.

This is just to serve as a reminder that you can also get FREE baseball cards simply by visiting MLB.com/cards and signing up online. That’s right…. FREE baseball cards while you are still wearing your jammies! According to the information available, “each pack will contain five base cards from Topps, five base cards from Upper Deck, one chase card from Topps, one chase card from Upper Deck, and one informational card.”

Don’t forget to tell them that Aardvark Trading Company sent ya!

– Kris

happy birthday boy scouts of america

What better time to announce one of the goals of the Aardvark Trading Company than on the 98th anniversary of the founding of the Boy Scouts of America?

It was on this date in 1910, that W.D. Boyce, a Chicago area publisher, founded the BSA. Legend has it that Boyce had benefited from the generosity of a Scout performing his duty in London, England the year before, and was very impressed by the Scout Movement that had been organized by Robert Baden-Powell at Brownsea Island, England in 1907. Scouting has flourished in America ever since.

Everyone who collects baseball cards realizes that fewer and fewer kids are getting into the hobby today than in the past. The reasons for this trend are numerous, and it would prove a time-consuming waste of effort to start pointing fingers at the technological advancements being made in other industries such as skateboarding and video gaming. And I’m not buying the excuse that kids aren’t collecting cards because of the use of steroids in baseball.

Philosophical collectors are reaching the conclusion that if younger generations fail to develop an interest in the hobby, the demand for all those cards they’ve been carefully storing in protective sleeves and binders could dry up right around the time they plan on retiring. As a result, we will be left sitting alone with our stacks of boxes of cardboard covered with photos and stats of baseball players that no one has ever heard of. Slowly but surely, old baseball card collectors will become as crazy as the “cat woman” living next door as we try to comprehend how an Albert Pujols rookie card suddenly is as worthless as an off-center 1981 Donruss Lenn Sakata card.

The bottom line is that museums such as the Smithsonian Institution and the Baseball Hall of Fame will probably only be interested in one of each card for their type collections. Unless the trend changes, even Topps will be forced to rethink their policy of buying back old baseball cards to insert into packs when the only merchandise selling is 50-year anniversary reprints of Harry Potter cards. Of course this brings to mind the Boy Scout motto: “Be Prepared.”

But what can be done? Surely a single person can do nothing, right? WRONG!

We were elated to learn of the partnership between the Major League Baseball Players Association and the Boy Scouts of America that allows youngsters to earn achievement awards and merit badges by collecting cards, creating displays to share at meetings, and demonstrating a knowledge of different aspects of the hobby. I think we can all agree that once the baseball card bug has bitten you, there is no cure.

We believe that it is such a great idea that we immediately sent off our application for consideration to serve as guides along the trail that has become overgrown and difficult to navigate. We are hopeful that we will be selected to help support Albuquerque area kids as they discover the joys in something that is so meaningful to us.

While performing our good deed, I suspect that we will learn many new things about trading cards as we observe the decisions made by new collectors.

– Kris