Admittedly, I don’t collect cards anymore, but in the early 90s that was my passion. I knew who the hot rookies were before the mainstream media covered them, and was first in line when new packs of cards hit the shelves.
That said, a good portion of the hot cards that I was buying back in the day are not worth anywhere near what they used to be… Here is my Top 10 list of players' cards that used to be hot, and now are definitely not. To give you some perspective, I included links to current or recently closed eBay auctions for each card.
Enjoy checking out the cards that I blew all my money on! As you will see from some of my comments, I really had no clue what the heck I was doing when buying cards back then.

#10 – Gregg Olson - Don't know much about this guy. I think he was Rookie of the Year and a Pitcher for the Orioles. Other than that, I can't tell you anything about the guy.


#9 – Blair Thomas - Running back from Penn State... Went to the Jets and he was never to be heard from again.


#8 – Brien Taylor - What's better than a good looking rookie pitcher for the beloved Yanks? Definitely not the career-ending injury that put an end to all hopes of card investors everywhere.



#7 – Chris Sabo - If it wasn't for his crazy goggles, I probably wouldn't even remember this guy.



#6 – Dee Brown - Had a bad case of Harold Mineritis... FYI – Just because someone wins the dunk contest, it doesn't mean their cards are going to hold their value.



#5 – Bo Jackson – I remember buying his 1988 Topps Football rookie for over $20, back in the day. Wow... this thing dropped quick.



#4 – Greg Jefferies – Had a solid career, but the hype in the early 90s was much bigger than how well he played.


#3 –Jerome Walton – About 17 years ago there was no card hotter than this one, in addition to the Jim Abbott 1989 Upper Deck card. Now, you can get them for about a nickel.


#2 – Jim Abbott – See above




#1 – Andre Ware – The Lions weren't bad at drafting only under Matt Millen. This guy was supposed to be the best thing ever, but never did anything as a pro.


Honorable Mention: Percy Snow


Bonus Honorable Mention: Wild Card, Classic Board Game Cards and Sports Flics

You will rarely ever hear me tell someone that a particular article is a “must read,” however you will want to read Scott Fragale’s article on Hank Aaron’s 755th home run ball. Fragale’s article is an in-depth timeline laying out the period when Aaron hit the historic round tripper to the sale of the historic treasure.



Lelands’ spring auction ended last week and the results are in… The Honus strip card went unsold because it didn’t meet the reserve. The Mantle game-used jersey did sell for 100k and the Musial shirt sold for 50k…
The boxing pieces also did quite well.


On a personal note, over the weekend I was visiting some friends in Milwaukee. On Saturday we decided to drive 30 miles to the Dairyland Greyhound Park in Kenosha. This was the first time I have ever bet on a dog or even a horse race.

I have to study up on dog-racing gambling strategies, as the first four out of five dogs I bet on finished in dead last. I tried analyzing the stats in the event program, watched the dogs before the race to check their demeanor, anything I could think of.

Nothing seemed to work. Then, for my last bet, I picked the dog that had the coolest name. The little guy won. Guess there isn’t much of a science to this dog-racing thing.

Already at almost a quarter of a million dollars and still counting, Lelands’ Honus Wagner T206 sheet ends tonight, along with all the other goodies in its May auction. Many weren’t sure if the Holy Grail sheet would hit its estimate of $300,000-$400,000, but considering the bulk of auction bidding is usually made during extended bidding, it has a pretty good chance to hit the estimate.


Not sure if you guys saw our survey on sportscollectorsdigest.com this week, but we asked our readers where they would like to see The National go to in the future. Las Vegas was our readers' choice by a landslide, and it makes sense. Cheap flights, lodging and good food and entertainment… Why not have The National in Sin City? Maybe the promoters are afraid that the collectors will spend too much cash on the blackjack tables.


We received some good feedback from yesterday’s blog entry about the Bonds ball topic. I also posted the question on the Game Used forum. Lets keep the feedback coming.

Have a great weekend everyone.

I’m not gonna lie. When I saw the initial list for autograph guests at this year’s Sportfest I was not all that excited. However, the list is beginning to gain steam in a major way and it is turning out to be one of the better autograph gatherings of the year.

I’m really intrigued that Sunday will be headlined by at least six of the World’s most famous professional wrestlers of all time. Plus, these superstars are very affordable.

Anytime you get these colorful characters in one room at the same time it can be special.

Like I said, the list continues to get bigger and better, but for now this is where it stands:

SportsFest '07- Autograph Guests

Superstar Autograph Lineup

Friday June 8, 2007
Customer Appreciation Day!
All Autographs $10!

Monte Irvin -“Hall of Famer” 5-8 p.m.


Al “Scoop” Oliver -“7 Time All-Star”4-7 p.m.


Bill Lee -“Spaceman”4-7 p.m.


Raymond Berry -“Hall of Famer”5-7 p.m.


Bill Madlock -“4-Time N.L. Batting Champ”5-8 p.m.


Johnny Podres -“1955 WS MVP”4-7 p.m.


Bob Feller -“Hall of Famer” 5-8 p.m.


Stan Bahnsen -“The Bahnsen Burner” 4-7 p.m.

Saturday June 9, 2007

Joe Montana -“3-Time Super Bowl MVP” 12-1:30 p.m.
Flats -$149
Minis/Footballs - $169
Helmets/Jerseys/Numbers - $189
Inscription - $89

Kareem Abdul Jabbar – “NBA’s All-Time Leader Scorer” 1-2:30 p.m.
Any Item - $99

Bob Gibson – “Hall of Famer” 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Flats/Balls - $69
Bats/Jerseys/Numbers - $99
Inscriptions - $25

Sal Bando – “3 Time World Series Champion”
$25 Any Item

Ted Simmons – “8-Time All-Star”
$35 Any Item

Tim Brown - one of only 4 players in NFL history with 1,000 catches and “Future Hall of Famer” 1-2:30 p.m.
Flats -$69
Minis/Footballs - $79
Helmets/Jerseys/Numbers - $89
Inscription - $25

Tyrus Thomas – “Chicago Bulls Young Superstar” 12 – 1:30 p.m.
Appearance subject to Bulls Playoff Schedule
Flats - $45
All other items - $55

Reggie Bush – “2005 Heisman Trophy Winner”
Flats - $99
Minis - $119
Footballs - $139
Helmet/Jersey/Numbers - $169
Inscription - $69

Dale Murphy 2-3:30 p.m.
Flats/Balls - $49
Bats/Jerseys/Numbers - $69

Greg Olsen - “Bears 1st Round Draft Pick” 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Flats -$39
Minis/Footballs - $49
Helmets/Jerseys/Numbers - $59


Sunday June 10, 2007

Johnny Bench – “Hall of Famer” 1-2:30 p.m.
Flats/Balls - $79
Bats/Jerseys/Numbers - $149

Fergie Jenkins – “Hall of Famer”11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Any Item - $29

Gale Sayers – “The Kansas Comet”12:30 – 2 p.m.
Flats - $49
Mini/Footballs - $59
Helmets/Jerseys/Numbers - $79
Inscription - $25

Luis Aparicio – “Hall of Famer” 11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Flats/Balls - $39
Bats/Jerseys/Numbers - $49
Inscription - $15

George Kell – “Hall of Famer” 1-2:30 p.m.
Any Item - $35

Steve Largent -“Hall of Famer” 12-1:30 p.m.
Flats/Minis -$49
Footballs/Helmets/Jerseys/Numbers - $69



Sunday WrestleFest at SportsFest


Mick Foley – “3-Time WWF Champion” 1-2:30 p.m.
a.k.a. – “Cactus Jack”, “Dude Love” & “Mankind”
Any Item - $39

George “The Animal” Steele – “Wrestling Legend” (HOF 2005) 1-2:30 p.m.
Any Item - $20

Dusty Rhodes “The American Dream” – “2-Time AWA World Tag-Team Champion” 12-1:30 p.m.
Any Item - $29

“King Kong” Bundy – “AWA World Heavyweight Champion” 12-1:30 p.m.
Any Item - $20

Nick Bockwinkel – “6-Time AWA World Champion (HOF 2007)” 1-2:30 p.m.
Any Item - $20

Bobby Heenan - “The Brain” 1-2:30 p.m.
Any Item - $20

I apologize to those of you who may think I talk about the Green Bay Packers too much, but over the weekend my hero ripped his team pretty good at a golf tournament in Mississippi.

Brett Favre is very unhappy that the Packers didn’t make a stronger push at Randy Moss. Then there were more reports that Favre demanded to be traded.

I understand Brett’s frustrations. I really do. I have no clue what GM Ted Thompson is up to, unless he is totally rebuilding the team, but come on Brett…


Don’t go out like this. Possibly the best quarterback in league history and demanding a trade after what may be his last season?

The Packers are not going to trade Favre. Although, it would have been nice for them to go after another weapon for the old gunslinger. Oh well.


In case you missed it (I know Steve Bloedow wrote about this today in his blog). But Heritage Auction Galleries was covered by many major media outlets today for its $1 million bounty that they will pony up to the bearer of Barry Bonds’ 756th home run ball.

If I remember correctly I think I wrote in my blog last week that I thought the ball would sell for a million. Honestly, now that auction director Chris Ivy has guaranteed the person who catches the ball $1 million, it will probably sell for more than my initial estimate.

I love all the excitement that will surround that one little baseball. Who caught it,? What does that person do for a living,? Where will the person sell it????

It will be very interesting!

My mom and uncle are big antique collectors. (Mom collects antique Santas and sheet music. My uncle collects guns and WWII memorabilia and tools). Maybe that’s why I’m such a memorabilia nut.
Starting in the late 1980s, my mom, dad, uncle and me used to drive 60 miles or more to rummage through the various antique shops, malls and shows of Northeast Wisconsin. Sometimes we would even drive a few hours to Milwaukee, although listening to my parent’s music choices sometimes made it unbearable to be in a car with them for more than an hour.

One Saturday night (we always went on a Saturday) dad pulled into the parking lot of Bosse’s, a cigar shop in downtown Green Bay. But like most cigar shops, Bosse’s sold magazines. They sold any magazine you could think of.  

I first started collecting baseball cards in 1987 and lived in a very small town. The only sports card publication I ever found in my hometown of Marinette was a big baseball card price guide that Beckett put out annually.

That day at the cigar shop I stumbled upon a huge newspaper-looking publication that talked about baseball cards and all sorts of other sports memorabilia. Except this was no newspaper. It was probably over 300 pages and three sections. It was Sports Collectors Digest.

I will never forget that day. All the way home I had my head buried into my newfound paper treasure, which smelt like a sweet old stogy.

I was hooked. I was a subscriber of the magazine all the way through college. I was only in middle school when I bought my first copy. Kids probably thought I was a bit odd when the only magazine I would read in study hall was SCD. Maybe that’s why I never got many chicks in high school… More on that later.

Anyway, the reason I bring this topic up is because today I made a post on the forum at gameuseduniverse.com.
Keep in mind, my post had nothing to do with SCD or any other magazine for that matter, but I had my signature at the bottom, which mentions our magazine.

It wasn’t more than ten minutes after I made my post that Howard Wolf (one of the boards regular participants) began firing questions at me.

Click here to see what was said.

I have no problem with criticism of me or the place I work for.

I just would like to stick up for my all-time favorite magazine, which I now work for.

Here is the e-mail I sent Howard this morning. By the way, he may have came off a little forceful in his message board post, but he was very cordial in an e-mail to me:

Howard,

I too remember when SCD was 300-plus pages and when I couldn’t wait to get it in order to buy tons of different items.
Now that the Internet has taken over, SCD is no longer the place for many of these items. Why would someone pay hundreds of dollars for a full-page ad when they can list their items on eBay for a fraction of what an ad would cost?

That’s not to say our publication isn’t a key part for some sellers.
Auction houses love putting ads in SCD because our database is so huge and we still do have a very high circulation number.

Also, believe it or not, there are still collectors who don’t use the Internet. Our publication is the only way they can purchase collectibles.

We are very actively trying to get new advertisers, but it is not easy.

That said, you can’t say much about our price. We charge less than 50 cents per issue. If you find just one key item a year (and that is being very conservative) it is worth your subscription fee, IMO.

Also, I guarantee you will find some of our articles very interesting. We just had a nice Cap Anson feature, cigar box feature (which I wrote) and there ARE some controversial pieces in our magazine. Joe Phillips just wrote a great article about fraudulent gloves hitting the market.

Your input is always welcome.
chris

I truly mean that. Everyone’s input is always welcome. Plus, I really feel that we are making a huge effort to improve our website and are going to fill it with very interesting content. We can’t do it alone however. The more our readers participate in things like this blog, the better it will be.