Happy New Year to everyone. It's been an interesting 2008, with a lot of changes in the sports collectibles hobby, along with the world in general. I hope the next 12 months brings everyone good fortune and joy.

Along those lines, I also hope 2009 brings the following:

More postseason experience for my Milwaukee Brewers (though I highly doubt it).

A way for baseball to reconstruct itself so the Yankees can't by the only big-money buyer come free agency time.

Terrell Owens retires – and joins Michael Jackson in Europe.

Tiger Woods makes a successful return to golf, thus giving us all amore chances to watch him.

Lance Armstrong competes in the Tour de France and proves that hard work and training make you better - not just doping.

Chris Paul makes it to the NBA Finals.

Brett Favre retires, for good.

I get a Wii gaming system so I can improve my golf game - at least in pretend land.

That all of the major card manufacturers stay in business for collectors to have a variety of selections and signaling some strength left in the market.

NASCAR rewards its drivers who do well all season, not just the last 12 races or whatever it is.

Danica Patrick shuts up and just races. She might win again sometime if she focuses on what she needs to do better besides worrying about everyone else.

Mixed Martial Arts starts to lose its cult status and limited popularity.

The NCAA makes basketball players stick around for two years instead of one.

And finally, I hope 2009 brings my wife and I have a healthy child - we're expecting in June.

 If anyone else has hopes for 2009, please share them with us.

Yawn, grumble, shuffle, shuffle.

That was me this morning as I awakened from my holiday slumber to come back to work. One thing is for certain – I haven't been bored. When it snows every other day, you tend to keep busy outside. Heck, I haven't even witnessed a college bowl game yet, but I suppose the "real" bowl games haven't quite fired up yet. The home-state Wisconsin Badgers didn't even belong in a bowl, so the whooping by Florida State was pretty predictable.

I did enjoy the NFL games yesterday. NBC showed how the playoffs standings looked before games started and how they ended up at the end of the day. Now that's the way a season should end. Pats, Broncos, Jets, Tampa Bay, Bears - out. Whoo-hee, that's fun.

I only caught a few of the Brett Favre-related jabs from the NY media this morning. The Wisconsin websites enjoy sharing that with Favre's long legacy in the state. It's tough when a team loses four of its last five games, and gets bounced from the playoffs. I guess all that love New York had with Favre when the team was 8-3 faded away with the team's postseason chances. I'd imagine he'll head south and enjoy the peace and quiet for a while.

Turning to baseball, my cousin didn't get five feet out of his truck at Christmas before he was spouting about another New York team - the Yankees  -  and their high-spending ways. I guess the Teixeira signing was the last straw for him.

He's now asking for a salary cap - at least "something to be done." Well, I can say the salary cap will never happen - not without another labor strike. And as much as I think it's unfair that one team can seemingly buy whomever it wants, it doesn't guarantee them a World Series title, much less a ticket to the playoffs.

Plus, the Yankees will be left sitting with some of these contracts for many years. As is usually the case when the Yankees sign a guys to 6-plus years, they help out for about three, get hurt or decline in pay and then the remaining contract is still paid out with no output from the player.

I'd like to see something change, but I don't think it will. Until then, I'll just continue to hope the Yankees blow it and all that money is for naught. .    

 

It's a common practice, I know – sticking pieces of memorabilia (be it jerseys, pants, bats, shoes, gloves, tires, whatever) into cards as inserts. It's fun, unique and can even bring a little money in the process.

But we just opened a box of Prime Cuts IV (of which I'll cover in the Bustin' Wax blog soon), and in the pack was a memorabilia card of Joe Jackson. Yes, that Joe Jackson. It was pieces of one of his bats.

Now, I've never seen anything related to Joe Jackson except in catalogs and online, so this was pretty cool to me. However, does the reward of a memorabilia card featuring Joe Jackson warrant chopping up one of his bats (and there can't be that many around)?

I'm a little torn on this one. The topic of taking legends' equipment and cutting it up used to cause quite a stir, mostly by mainstream media who couldn't understand the concept. The question is: Do you leave it alone and let one person enjoy it for an extremely high price, or do you chop it up for hundreds (perhaps thousands) of people to enjoy? And does the patch card hold the significance behind the idea? Do we feel we really have a piece of Jackson's bat in the office?

Yes, we have a piece of Jackson's bat, but the allure is sort of lost in this fashion. And perhaps that's why a lot of collectors an dealers are calling for changes in inserts.

But what? Everyone wants change, but they offer few ideas as to what to change.

Until then, I'll still admire the Joe Jackson card, but I still consider it a small prize compared to the full-sized items.

Now if it were a Joe Jackson cut sig......

I had to share the following obit on pitcher Dock Ellis, and then I'll pose a question:

Dock Ellis Jr., the outspoken pitcher who played for the Pittsburgh Pirates, New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics, Texas Rangers and the New York Mets, died Dec. 19 at the USC Medical Center in Los Angeles. The 63-year-old had battled liver disease for over a year.

Ellis debuted with the Pirates on June 18, 1969, and would be a double-figure winner for the Pirates from 1969-74. He was traded to the Yankees after the 1975 season, going 17-8 with New York in 1976 and winning the American League Comeback Player of the Year Award. Ellis pitched for the Yankees, Athletics and Rangers in 1977. After spending the 1978 season with the Rangers, Ellis played for the Rangers, Mets and Pirates in 1979.

His best season was 1971 when the tall righthander went 19-9 with a 3.06 ERA, as the Pirates beat the Baltimore Orioles in seven games to win the World Series.

On June 12, 1970, Ellis threw a no-hitter versus the San Diego Padres. Later, in the second edition of his book In the Country of Baseball, Ellis claimed to be high on LSD while throwing the no-hitter.

Ellis compiled a 113-119 record in 345 games, 317 of them starts. He had a career 3.46 ERA. He struck out 1,136 batters, while walking 674.

Question
Now Ellis isn't on the same level as say Roger Clemens or Mark McGwire, but where's the abomination for his admitted drug use? Or is LSD OK because it doesn't "enhance" performance?

I realize the 1970s were the 1970s, but the double standards make me shake my head.

Happy Holidays
I'm not sure what other blogging duties I'll squeeze in before flying off for the holidays, so I'll say it now: Happy Holidays to all and to all a great 2009!

Here is some new regarding Texas Stadium artifacts as the Cowboys prepare to move into a new stadium.

Steiner Sports has produced commemorative game ticket and turf collages in honor of the final regular season game played at Texas Stadium.

One collage will feature a commemorative ticket and a 4-by-6 photo from the final game. The second version of the collage will feature a commemorative ticket, two 5-by-7 photos from the final game and turf from the field at Texas Stadium. Each item comes with a Cowboys/Steiner letter of authenticity.

In addition, fans who attended the final game will have an opportunity to be able to send Steiner Sports their ticket stub to be framed in either style.

Also...

The Dallas Cowboys wrapped up an auction of artifacts associated with Texas Stadium. The auction generated more than $245,000 in sales, with more than 470 items sold.

Among the top-selling items were a Cowboys helmet golf cart that sold for $12,500 and the door to the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders’ room sold for $5,050. Some of the oversized stars, which line the walls along the edge of the field, sold for as much as $1,300 apiece, while an American flag hanging above the field sold for $850.

Winning bidders will receive their items soon after the team plays its final home game of the season.

A little musing first:

I know this has been beaten to death, but if you're Stephon Marbury, wouldn't you do exactly what he is doing? He's getting paid $21 million this year to do nothing, not even show up to anything Knicks-related. They banished him. I think if we could get up, eat breakfast and make thousands of dollars a day to do whatever we want, we would, too.

And now for some news.

Kentucky Senator Jim Bunning (you might remember him as a Hall of Fame pitcher) was taken off the autograph list for the last Gibraltar Trade Center show in Taylor, Mich. It seems the promoter, Jim Koester, didn't care for the senator's vote against an auto industry loan package in the U.S. Senate.

Koester said, "“Being a business owner in Michigan for over 30 years, I simply cannot support anyone who, in my opinion, votes against the economic well-being of our great state,”

I doubt Bunning lost much sleep over it, but the sports fans who wanted his $35 signature might have at least wanted the opportunity. As for Koester, I guess you chalk that up to standing up to your convictions.

Dreams Inc. announced that it had its highest-selling day of online sales in its history on Dec. 15, topping $1 million. That's not bad in this economy. Dreams must be doing something right with deals and good shipping times to reach that mark before Christmas.

And finally, someone from Finland won the Magic: The Gathering World Championships. Prize money? $45,000. That makes me wish I had actually played some of those games growing up. OK, maybe not.  

 
 

Did you hear the economy is so bad that one of the leagues is postponing its 2009 season? What, another labor strike? No, not that - bit a league is postponing its 2009 season.

According to reports in the New York Times, the Arena Football League has canceled its 2009 season, but will resume play the following year. This is all done to fix the league's "economic model."

This won't shake the sports world to its core, but it is rather odd to suspend a league's play for a year. Of course, it might end up that the league never surfaces again.

There is a local arena team in Green Bay. I never attended a game, but it looks like fun on TV. I always thought of it like a made-for-TV football with a small field, crowd right on the sidelines and tons of scoring.

I hope the league does come back, just for something different.

In other news...
I've heard about a few baseball teams losing corporate sponsorships heading into the 2009 season. So let's say you have am entire section of seats planned around an advertiser, complete with a theme in decoration. Do you leave the decorations the same, or pay big bucks to overhaul it and give the seats back to the general public? What about those picnic areas in the outfield? Pack up the sand and start over?

I don't know, something to watch for next season, I guess.

I hope everyone had a nice weekend. Mine was spent away from anything sports-related, unfortunately. I had a lot of catching up to do this morning.

I did have a release in my inbox this morning about Timelines Cuts Baseball from Upper Deck. This is a product that features deceased players only, and the cards have cut signatures and more. Check out the set here.

Topps also announced that its first trading cards based on the deal with UFC will be released in early January. Each 16-pack box will include three autographs and three relics and will feature the likes of Georges St-Pierre, Royce (pronounced Hoyce) Gracie, Anderson Silva, Forrest Griffin and many more UFC superstars.
 
The 100-card base set includes 90 different fighters’ debut match and a mix of personalities such as Dana White and the Octagon Girls.

So that's what is happening on the card front as of Monday morning.

The professional sports front was pretty quiet, with the Yanks adding another arm in A.J. Burnett. It's amazing. Burnett gets injured every year, and then in his contract year, he posts career highs in innings and Ks, landing a monster contract.

I hope he pulls a Carl Pavano on the Yanks and barely sees the mound. Serves them right for being the kid with the most money and grabbing all of the players.

Yeah, it's sour grapes being a fan of a small-market team, but I know I'm not the only person that feels that way.

hre are a few things that have floated acrossthe desk in the past few days, as I've been a little lax in posting here:

Fleer and Jordan
This year, to create excitement around the release of 2008-09 Fleer Basketball, Upper Deck has bought back 23 unique Fleer cards of Michael Jordan. Recently, Jordan added his signature to each of these cards and now they’ll be randomly inserted into the upcoming release which is scheduled to launch on January 6, 2009.
 
Each of the hard-signed autograph cards will be numbered as 1-of-1s and all will pack out live in the product. Jordan signed some of the cards in blue ink and some in silver, based on the cards’ varying backgrounds.
 
“He was the type of player who never let you down,” said Brandon Miller, Upper Deck brand manager for Basketball. “If he was playing, you had to watch. To be able to procure such a unique variety of Fleer cards of MJ from throughout his career and then have them signed is just awesome. We know collectors love promotions like this so it’s highly likely that they will all be chasing these cards when 2008-09 Fleer Basketball lands in stores.”

Upper Deck and Konami
Upper Deck has filed suit against Konami over Yu-Gi-Oh! While we don't have a lot of gaming presence here, this gist of the story is that Konami is taking over Yu-Gi-Oh from Upper Deck because UD's contract is up with the product. More details to come for those interested.

NFL Staff Cuts
The NFL is cutting more than 10 pf its headquarters staff, which translates to about 150 people. Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal reported the NFL is anticipating a $50 million shortfall in budgeted revenues for the cuurent fiscal year.

Big Spender
In auction news of a the non-sport variety, a 1-of-1 Geroge Washington Legendary Cuts Hair Card sold for $12,000 on eBay. For that price, I hope you can make a clone from the strand of hair. 

I'll have more in the coming week. Until then, enjoy thr last bigt of holiday shopping - I'm sure the malls won't be too busy (ha!).

Well, I just landed in Las Vegas for baseball's winter meetings. Yeah, I'm a little late, but I figured someone needed to get this party started in a proper style.

So I see CC Sabathia has taken the Yankees up on their offer. Not so fast. After all, the day before reports were he declined their offer. So let let me make a pitch for him. You want to hit CC in the National League? My new team, the Bartsch Bombers will let you bat fourth. We're located wherever you want to play, so I guess it's somewhere in California.

There, now you don't have to play in New York - where you really don't want to play in the first place and you only took their offer because the Player Association makes you take the highest offer to not upset the market.

Now I'll head to the hotel "lobby" where all the real action takes place. According to "sources," Barry Bonds is not on any teams' radar. Hmm, he likes to play in California, too, maybe I can sign him as well.

Rumors are flying that Seattle wants to trade their closer, JJ Putz. Perhaps I can offer them some advice instead. Keep your pitching, lord knows you need it after handcuffing yourself financially on such great hitters as Adrian Beltre and Richie Sexson. Maybe I can trade some vineyard land my team will play on for Putz.

So I have a starter, closer and an outfielder. I don't need any more pitching because CC can pitch every day, and then I'll have Putz pitch the eighth and ninth innings every other day.

To fill out the rest of my roster, I'll just wait until February, when all these lesser tier free agents start to get really antsy because they still don't have a job. They wonder why they are still "free" when they are asking for $3-$5 million a year to hit .240. Meanwhile, the rest of the teams blew all their cash on Scott Boras' clients, so I can scoop in with a lowball offer.

With my team of Bonds, Sabathia, Putz and a cast of also-rans, I figure I can still beat the Reds, Nationals, Rockies and Pirates. Not bad for an expansion team.

And this just in: Sabathia has spurned the Bartsch Bombers and will take the 2008 season off to join a European basketball team.

Shoot, I'll have to rethink my strategy. 

I'll make this short and sweet. I love baseball, so the last month and a half has been a chore for me because  - well - nothing has happened.

Ahh, so begins the Hot Stove Report - fueled by the current winer meetings attended by baseball general managers. This is when teams are built or destroyed. When hopes are made and dashed. It's baseball free agent time.

But wait, where's all the action? Usually, something happens before the meetings, which kicked today. Thus far, all that's happened is a backup catcher getting traded. Hmmm.

Oh that's right, no team is making any moves until one of the big horses is signed - Mark Texiera or CC Sabathia.  These guys control nearly the entire free agent class.

CC will set the mark for pitching and for what teams can do with or without him. For instance, the small-market Brewers have to wait until he officially says no to their subpar $100 million offer before they can direct their attention elsewhere. They can't afford CC and another free agent (top-line or marginal). The Yanks want to sign him so they can start buying everyone else (Lowe, Burnett, etc.).

Texiera is the biggest bat, so teams are vying for him and then turning to Manny (Dodgers, Angels).

So right now, it's a big showcase of nothing. Before the meetings are over at the end of the week, I expect more trades than signings. And when super agent Scott Boras is involved with many of these players, you know the process will take longer.

Maybe I'm wrong, and by the end of the week you can tell me so. But so far, the Hot Stove hasn't been lit.

It seems the only time sports memorabilia get attention in the mainstream press is for bad things - or when Pete Rose offers a new enlightening inscription.

The latest episode involves O.J. Simpson, who had his sentencing after a botched robbery attempt to retrieve his sports memorabilia. He'll spend at the minimum at least nine years in prison with the possibility of parole after five years.

Is any sports memorabilia worth that much of a price. I mean, would you, even for a $1 million-item waiting for you on the outside, spend at least five years in prison to have it? I don't pretend to know everything about this case, and I know there were a lot of other scenarios involved with the sports memorabilia and the hotel sting, etc., but O.J. - use your head. You got what you deserved for this crime.

It makes me wonder how much more his stock will fall in the memorabilia market. I also wonder what will happen to Michael Vick's stuff once he's eligible to come back next season.

If Vick does well, I could see a lot of people back on the bandwagon (if they ever left) and his stuff doing all right. You know people still have his cards stashed away - just in case.

Maddux
In better news, I just saw a report that Greg Maddux is going to announce his retirement. There isn't a better class act in the game. Never flashy, he just pitched and fielded his position at times better than anyone else. Sure he slipped of late, but at age 43, that's going to happen to a righty that doesn't just have to throw to one batter, like the lefty relievers that live on forever.

I hated when my favorite teams faced him, but he was a heck of a great pitcher and the league will miss him.

Boy if there aren't more polar opposites that Vick, Simpson and Maddux, I don't know what it is.

Well in case you folks don't keep up with the "News" portion of the Tuff Stuff Sports Collectors Monthly website, here are some hobby happenings.

MEARS is getting into the auction business, with its first auction slated to end Dec. 18. It's live now. This is a first for the company, and they are using it as a test for future development. Look for a lot of variety - not the just the usual high-end game-used items the company is known for.

Speaking of auctions, Legacy Sports Rarities, headed by Gary Bussineau, will conduct its inaugural auction in March. Look for classic 19th and 20th century sports rarities in the sale.

Topps is expanding its entertainment card brand by adding a trading card game based on the online Sony game Free Realms. the first product will be available next spring.

Tristar is releasing a few different products. TNA Wrestling has a new set in Cross the Line, which features the 5-year-old daughter of Kurt Angle. Hmm - is that soemthing you want your kid subjected to so early? Also, Tristar Prospects Baseball launched this week. Get the draft picks before everyone else wants them.

Also, Beckett Grading Services is now accepting Star Co. Basketball cards for grading. The move was initiated through a request from The Schonco Sports Collection to have BGS grade their inventory of Star Co. basketball cards prior to its release onto the market.

Star Co. was the exclusive licensed distributor of NBA cards in the early 1980s, and their limited edition sets feature some of the earliest and most valuable Michael Jordan rookie cards available. There are a lot of counterfiets out there of this product, so hopefully BGS can get the true stuff out there.

So the hobby isn't stopping for the tough economic times or for the holidays. They are moving forward, as I hope you are.

We just finished opening a box of Co-Signers Basketball the other day, and it got me thinking what my perfect pairs would be for autographs on a baseball card.

Now, I'm thinking they need to have some relative link - Nolan Ryan/Robin Ventura or Roger Clemens/Mike Piazza.

On a more pleasant level, perhaps George Brett/Nolan Ryan (HOF inductees the same year). Even a Ryan Howard/Prince Fielder card would be pretty cool. 

But when all is said and done, my Brewers colors flash brightly, and I would like a Robin Yount/Paul Molitor Co-Signers card. They are the ultimate Brewers players and both HOF inductees.

Of course, a Ryan Braun/Prince Fielder card wouldn't be a bad addition either.

When it comes to hoops, I'll go with Magic Johnson/Larry Bird or a Tim Duncan/David Robinson. I loved watching Duncan and Robinson in the paint.

Football? How about Jim Brown/Walter Payton? That would be fun to open, though I'm guessing it might be hard to do unless the autos were gotten of Payton from long ago. I saw Payton at a gas station once after a race. He was a big racing guy. I miss watching him do both sports.

I won't count presidents in this list, as this would be too hard to obtain and I don't really consider those to be sports cards.  

So I roll into the office after the turkey break and find holiday music screaming throughout the building courtesy of Muzak. I love being reminded that I should start thinking about doing some shopping every minute at work. It's great.

But I was also thinking about how quickly the end of the year is coming and what changes will be ahead. While there are new business starting up (MEARS just started an auction portion of its business and Legacy Sports Rarities is back in the auction game), you know some other businesses aren't going to make it far into 2008.

All of the bad economic news is going to affect this hobby, like it or not. I cringe every morning watching the Today show and seeing what they're saying on Wall St.

But aside from that, it's been a fun year. We've seen a name and somewhat format change for Tuff Stuff's Sports Collectors Monthly, added a new website, kicked off a great forum and saw some great collectibles come through the pipeline.

So I'm curious - what was your hobby highlight of the year? Did you pull a great product, complete a great set (anyone aside from Tommy Baxter getting close to the UD Yankee Stadium Legacy set?), get that elusive autograph?

This year, I got a few new Brewers autographs, keeping the vintage yearbook collection growing and am looking at ways to keep my sports room when the family get a little bigger next June.

Next year will be interesting all the way around, and I look forward to reporting the changes to you.