I stopped buying packs and wax due to the fact that unwanted cards were nearly impossible to get rid of. Most people want what’s hot, but many have lower budgets than they are used to. With the decline in the economy, the price of wax doesn’t justify what they have in the product. Something has to give. I wonder who will follow Fleer’s lead.

Another thing that is very annoying are group breaks? Whenever you see box break posts of a product that you need something out of, you think, “Maybe they pulled something I need for my collection.” But when you click the thread, you see, “Get your spot now”. If you don’t know what this is, let me explain. A person buys a box or more of a certain product and charge a certain price per spot. Each spot gives you a random team. If you pay for 3 spots, you get 3 teams at random. Whenever the person open his box, you get all base, inserts, autographs, etc. of that team. This is great for “random” collectors, but it has been flooding message boards to the point where I never look at box break threads anymore. You never know if it is an actual box break or “group” break. If you do want to get in on a group break I recommend going for one at TCS.

I guess a lot of things in today’s hobby have annoyed me more than things in the past, such as those eBay 1/1s. It seems people are just confused and don’t know what to do now in this time of economic crisis. When selling, people sometimes are asking for 5% to 10% OVER BV and expect you to cover shipping costs as well.  With the price increases for fees at eBay, you have less of a variety to choose from. And Checkoutmycards has 4 TIMES higher rates then ebay, making them downright criminal.  Really the best option is still ebay but that doesn’t mean you have to be happy with them. Just the lesser of the evils I suppose.

All of these small annoyances, along with many others, make collecting a headache if you get too wrapped up in them.  So step back for a minute and take a minute to simply collect what you enjoy and enjoy what you collect!

We also review In The Game’s Heroes and Prospects Baseball Hits Series 2 as well as Sportkings’ Ringside Boxing Round 2 Standing Eight Count.

In addition we provide a rundown of new product previews available including; Leaf Poker a product they have had success with in previous editions, Tristar brings the Obak design to football, ITG rolls out a brand new hockey product in Canada Versus The World, Upper Deck rolls out another single campus football product, this time from the University of Texas, Topps goes old school with WWE Classic Wrestling and Panini details Limited Football.

1. 1912 New York Giants Panoramic Photogravure ($3,000 – $4,000)
2. 1933 Goudey: Joe Cronin #63 – photograph proof ($1,200 – $2,000)
3. Lot of 10 Single-Signed Baseballs Featuring 500 Home Run Club Members – inlcudes Frank Robinson, Reggie Jackson, Harmon Killebrew, Willie Mays, Ed Mathews, Willie McCovey, Mike Schmidt, Ernie Banks, Hank Aaron, Ted Williams ($1,000 – $1,500)
4. 1957 Cleveland Browns Team Signed Football – includes signatures from Len Ford, Paul Brown and rookie, Jim Brown among others ($800 – $1,200)
5. Baseball Greats Signed Hall of Famer Plaque Postcards – Lot of 89, more info here ($800 – $1,200)
6. 1930′s-2000′s Baseball Card Collection – includes over 1,300 cards, more info here ($800 – $1,200)
7. 1963 World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers Team-Signed Baseball – includes Sandy Koufax, Walt Alston, Leo Durocher, Don Drysdale, Johnny Podres, Frank Howard, John Roseboro, Bill Skowron, Maury Wills, Ron Fairly, Tommy Davis, Willie Davis,Wally Moon, Al Ferrara, Pete Richert and Roy Gleason ($750 – $1,000)
8. 500 Home Run Club Multi Signed Print – includes Williams, Robinson, Killebrew, Jackson, Mantle, Mays, Aaron, Schmidt, Banks, Mathews and McCovey ($600 – $1,000)
9. 1960 All-Star Team Signed Baseball – includes Roger Maris, Yogi Berra, Al Kaline, Ted Williams, Early Wynn and others ($600 – $800)
10. 1960-61 Boston Celtics Multi Signed Reunion Basketball – includes Bob Cousy, Bill Sharman, Red Auerbach, Bill Russell, Sam Jones and others ($300 – $500)

To place a bid or view the complete auction listing, go the Heritage website here.

Here are the latest opportunities to cop some free sports cards:

• Panini – Guess The Autograph Contest Part II – Analyze 14 mostly unidentified autographs that arrived at Panini America headquarters this week. Most of them are slated for inclusion in future Panini America products; some of them fulfill an outstanding redemption. Your job is to identify them before anyone else does. Panini will award the winner with an autographed basketball card, football card, hockey card and a box of 2010 Panini trading cards.
• The Cardboard Connection – 2010 Topps Sterling Baseball Contest – Simply subscribe to their daily email digests and/or their newsletter (both of which I’ve found to be really cool and not at all invasive) for your chance to win a 2010 Topps Sterling Baseball hobby box!  These babies are expensive and Topps Sterling is a great product so there aren’t many chances to get a free box like this!
• Topps - Chrome Bounty Contest #9 - Be the first to assemble the Stephen Strasburg Rainbow and win an autographed Strasburg Baseball!  You need a 2010 Topps Chrome Strasburg base card, as well as a standard refractor and one each of his non-autographed, blue, gold and red refractors.
• All About Cards - 2010 Sports Card Awards – I’ve never heard of this blog, but I applaud them for holding this cool giveaway. Simply vote in the various contest polls and then tell them you voted by leaving a comment. Panini, Press Pass, SAGE and Topps have donated an unspecified number of boxes to be used as prizes for the contest.

Merry Christmas to everyone and good luck with the contests!

**I listed them from most compelling to least compelling, though, to be honest considering we are talking about free stuff here everything is worth checking out.

1. Topps Blog – 2010 Topps Chrome Baseball Bounty Card Contest #5. The Prize? A game-used base from the 2002 NL Division Series between the Atlanta Braves and San Francisco Giant. They have some great contests for this Bounty promotion so keep your eyes peeled for them.
2. The Cardboard Connection – This time they are giving away a 2010 Topps Update Baseball hobby box. They are giving away a hobby box of sports cards every week.
3. All About Cards – Random Free Football Cards. Win random cool football cards or some unopened packs.

Feel free to copy and paste these on your blog or where ever all I ask is that you give me credit preferably with a link here.

1. Topps Blog – 2010 Topps Chrome Baseball Bounty Card Contest #4. In their latest bounty contest, Topps is giving away a 1962 Topps Willie Mays card to 3 lucky collectors! They have some great contests for this Bounty promotion so keep your eyes peeled for them.
2. The Cardboard Connection – For their latest contest they are giving away a 2010 Topps Chrome Baseball hobby box. Also be aware that they just announced they will be giving away a box of cards every week.
   
3. Sports Card Info – 2010-11 Panini Certified Hockey Contest. Win a bunch of cool hits and inserts from this new release.

Feel free to copy and paste these on your blog or where ever all I ask is that you give me credit preferably with a link here.

Here is an uploaded list of the currently available contests. This time I listed them from most compelling to least compelling, though, to be honest considering we are talking about free stuff here everything is worth checking out.

1. The Cardboard Connection – Don’t worry football card collectors they’ve got you covered. Check out their 2010 Topps Chrome Football card hobby box contest.  Also be aware that they just announced they will be giving away a box a way of cards!
2. Topps Blog – 2010 Topps Chrome Baseball Bounty Card Contest #2. Up for grabs here is a 1964 Topps Mickey Mantle!
3. Trade Cards Now – TCN’s Ongoing Raffles. About 1-2 raffle drawings are held each week. The winner of each raffle receives a GU, Silk, Bat, Floor, Auto, or similar hit.
4. Traders Retreat – Weekly Football Contests. This ongoing contest will span the entire NFL regular season. Select the winning teams each week to win various free cards.
5. The Bench – Win a couple dozen random football autographs and g/u cards.

Feel free to copy and paste these on your blog or where ever all I ask is that you give me credit preferably with a link here.

Feel free to copy and paste these on your blog or where ever all I ask is that you give me credit preferably with a link here.

The set will be made up of 15 cards. The checklist includes: Stephen Strasburg RC, Jason Heyward RC, Austin Jackson RC, Mike Leake RC, Buster Posey RC, Starlin Castro RC, Ike Davis RC, Carlos Santana RC, Mike Stanton RC, Tyler Colvin RC, Babe Ruth , Lou Gehrig , Jackie Robinson , Ty Cobb , Mickey Mantle.

You should send your 2010 Topps Chrome baseball card hobby wrappers to Topps at:
PO BOX 2230
Duryea, PA 18642
ATTN: Chrome Promotion

The deadline for submissions is 2/28/11.

This will add to the significant excitement already surrounding this and the other main Chrome release, 2010 Bowman Chrome baseball, which is currently scheduled to hit stores in mid October.