It's not often I find trading card news in my local newspaper. So when I saw an article on PopCardz, a new celebrity-based trade card set not from a sports card manufacturer, I had to take a look.

A former show business agent has started a new company that will supply cards of more than 40 celebrities. Young stars, such as Ashley Tisdale will join Megan Fox, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Jessica Alba, among others. The back of the cards will feature the star's birth date, hometown, motto and favorite charity, movie, song, book, place, sport and food. There will also be a "secret" about that person on the back of the card.

Proceeds from the sale of the cards will be given to the celebrities' charities. Each card will also have a unique 10-digit access code printed on it that will provide additional online content at PopCardz.com (the site isn't currently active as of this writing).

I'll be real curious at the price point of this product because it's clearly aimed at the mass market. I see it pitched in the grocery store aisle next to the tabloids. All of this information can be found online (along with MUCH more in the case of some of the celebrities). What's the hook? Will there be autographs? Worn clothing scraps?

It's nice to see the proceeds going to charity; I just don't see this catching on. I hope I'm wrong. With good marketing and some additional "hooks," maybe it works. Any positive news regarding trading cards is good news for the entire hobby.

I was watching it rain (on TV) last during Game 5 of the World Series between the Phils and the Rays, and I thought to myself, "How much longer can this go on - it's really raining. And then I thought to myself (the Phils we winning 2-1 at the time), "Wait a minute, if the game is delayed, can they restart in this mess?"

This ultimately led to me eventually connect the dots enough to realize that if the game is halted, delayed and then ended, the world Series is over. After five innings, a game is considered complete. It's a good thing B.J. Upton can run like the wind even on a sloppy track, or baseball would have another black eye to deal with.

Has any World Series ended early due to rain with the outcome in doubt? A one-run game in a deciding game is no shoo-in for a winner. And teams have come back from 3-1 before. This would have been worse for Selig & Co. than the tie in the All-Star game in Milwaukee.  

And perhaps I got a little too slap-happy over Longoria. The poor guy has gone cold in baseball's biggest stage, and scouts are taking notice how the Phils are pitching to him. Expect, perhaps, a bit of a cooling off period for Longoria in 2009. Of course, he could be doing some adjusting, as well. Stay tuned.

As I look at the calendar and see the month of November approaching, I expect to see more deals like Topps signing with the UFC. Why, you ask? Well, the presidential race is coming to end (goodbye Presidential Predictor inserts, et. al). We'll also be waiting another two years until another Olympics comes rolling around (and it's winter Olympics – not nearly the viewing spectacular such as swimming or gymnastics in the Summer Olympics).

I don't see a new insert coming out on world leaders or "celebrities" making the news, but that probably isn't too far behind. In my former life working in the toy industry, a company would capitalize on every news story by producing an action figure surrounding that event. For instance, they made a small diorama scene of Michael Jackson holding a baby over a railing. I didn't say it was politically correct, but it did get them in the mainstream media, which is part of every companies' success.

So for future insert sets, they will have to be something that is well known (in the news, on the radio, etc.) and can be easily deciphered by the average person. Maybe they'll have the Bonds' trial, or perhaps an O.J. Simpson "By the Blunder" set.

I'm not exactly sure what will come along in the months ahead, but card companies will have to come up with something clever to get into the mainstream media blitz – and hopefully it's not for something negative.  

In case you haven't heard about it yet - retired NFL players have filed a class-action lawsuit against the NFL Player's Association over the use of their likeness in video games, trading cards and other areas.

Pro Football Hall of Famer Herb Adderley filed the suit in federal court in California. The suit represents more than 2,000 retired NFL players. The suit contends the NFLPA intentionally cut retired players out of licensing deals so active players could receive more benefits. This comes on the heels of what many believe is already poor pensions by the NFL for its former players.

Apparently there is internal correspondence from NFLPA officials that shows their notion to get less money for retired players.

This has been coming for a while. Many former players are furious at the Player's Association on a number of subjects. For any league that turns its back on its former players that helped bring the league to its current status (which is pretty good no matter what league is discussed) is just wrong. In a time when the NFL is dodging publicity nightmares as it is with its current players, this won't help the cause in public opinion.

If you're using the likenesses of the former players, they should be compensated for it - plain and simple. This is especially true when the current players get plenty of compensation for being in the same card sets or video games.   

So I was playing around in one of the Fantasy Football leagues I'm in (a bunch of old high school buddies), and one of them who admittedly has a talented roster, throws out LaDainian Tomlinson as possible trade bait. Now how many times have you seen that over the past three or four years?

I love this time of year because it's when fantasy players really start to get frustrated with their "stars" not performing at a high enough level. And being the consensus top pick in almost every draft I saw except one (and I watched dozens at the National Fantasy Football Conference in NYC where participants paid four figures to enter), Tomlinson was expected to bring more than four rushing touchdowns and just over 500 yards after seven weeks.   

So I traded Matt Forte for him - a rookie with the Bears who has put up slightly better numbers. I did so because I believe Tomlinson gets better as the season goes on - and he's getting healthy. Being able to grab a top pick from a disgruntled owner is part of the fun in fantasy, and I expect every league has a participant ready to dump a full-fledged star out of frustration or desperation. But the law of averages doesn't lie - these guys will get their numbers in the end.

Perhaps Peyton Manning is now available in your league. Anyone sick of Ryan Grant also running into a pile of nowhere (except last week, though his per-carry average still wasn't very good)? Now is the time to pounce on your fellow players and make some gains. 

I was checking out the latest episode of "Back on Topps" (www.backontopps.com) - comedy series that is based on fictional heirs to the Topps Co. While this show is getting away from anything actually related to the hobby, the name Steve Balboni did pop up in one of the episodes.

This reminds of some of the players I loved to make fun of growing up. Ron Kittle was another. I don't know, I just thought the name was funny. I also got a kick out of Chet Lemon, Dan Quisenberry, Mark Brouhard (the blowhard) and Mookie Wilson. Sometimes these are a lot funnier in a 10-year-old's mind.

Balboni also recalls some big boppers that quickly faded out. Kevin Maas comes to mind, as well. Dan Pasqua anyone? What about Kevin Reimer? I know this is like picking names out of the air, but these are names that stick with me, even the players didn't stick in the majors long.

Some day we might say the same of David Price, or Matt Garza. Arm injuries are omnipresent in pitchers. That's why we have to enjoy these players when they are performing well, so we can say we saw them when - no matter how short or far down the road that might be.

Anyone out there have some favorite "no-names" from the past that still roll around their memory banks?

Let's go Rays! Let's go Rays!

This team has captured my viewing attention. What great young talent. They can hit and pitch. While TV ratings might be down, this is exactly what baseball needs – any team can win any year.

Auctions
I was doing a little traveling online, checking out some of the upcoming auctions. There is some sweet stuff coming up for sale. Over at Game Used Universe, they are once again offering game-used jerseys in all different sports. Among the highlights are game-used jerseys of Cal Ripken Jr. (1988), Nolan Ryan (1980s Astros), Peyton Manning (2006 road) and many more.

And if you need to find any information on one of the pieces, just check out the Game Used Universe forums and ask questions. It's a nice little system.

Also, Ironclad Auctions is offering items from the last game played at Yankee Stadium. They offer game-used pieces from the final Brian Roberts (Orioles) at-bat. they also have items from Cal Ripken Jr., Eddie Murray and other stars.

And I read in a report over the weekend that Guernsey's auction of final Yankee Stadium artifacts didn't go over that well. Having not seen the results myself at this time, I can't say for sure. But the article mentioned how the economy was forcing people not to buy as much. That would be true, but the high reserves might also have something to do with it.  

   

I'm going to just come right out and ask because I really don't know the answer. With football games played in London and Mexico, basketball games in China and baseball games played in Mexico, Puerto Rico, etc., is there the same appeal for items like trading cards in those countries? And if not, why don't companies make a better effort to target their products there?

You couldn't sell the high-end items in some of these countries - there just wouldn't be the demand for it - but general trading cards of their "American" heroes would go over very well. Basketball players in particular are looked at like gods in Asia. Now imagine those same fans scrounging up basketball cards.

The one thing where I see this wouldn't work is there are only a handful of players that foreign countries (now a foreign concept since players in any professional sports now come from many different countries) would be interested in. I'm not sure a card of T.J. Ford will get the same response as a Tracy McGrady one.

But we are talking about millions of people - an untapped resource. Another hurdle, come to think of it, might be the Communist controls in China. I'm pretty sure they like to control what's offered to the masses. It's not a free market like we have here in the U.S.

I'd be interested in some of the programs either underway or on the way from manufacturers. It looks like I just gave myself a homework assignment.

In case anyone was wondering from last week's quick quiz answer on the Johnny Pesky item that sold for the most doing a week of sales on eBay. The highest-priced item was:

The 1952 Topps card graded PSA 7.

To see what the choices were, scroll further down.