Coming Soon:

Here are a few things that will be added to inventory soon. Keep your eyes peeled.

2007 Topps Factory sets. These should be listed within the day.

2003, 2004, 2006, and 2007 Topps Heritage Singles. We will be listing every base set single, and most inserts from each of these sets. This includes every SP. We've carried a decent inventory of the 04, 06, and 07, but this will be the first large offering of the 03 we've had on the site. We are working hard on finding a few solid 2001 and 2002 Topps Heritage sets to break up. That said we will be listing the base set of 2001 Topps Heritage soon, this will not include SP's.

2007 SPX, 2007 Spectrum, 2006 SP Authentic, and 1985 Topps Tiffany base set singles will be listed shortly.

We will also be listing a handful of EX or better 1952 Topps singles.

As you may notice, Topps Heritage was a recent focus of our buying. One of our goals was to increase our inventory of the Heritage sets, and we have succeeded thus far, though the 01 and 02 are still on our list. Another of our goals was to dramatically increase our pre-80 offerings. I hope that we have succeeded there. While it does not show up on this list you should, soon, start seeing considerable 1950's, 1960's, and 1970's listings on the website.

Anything you need? Let us know. We'll find it.

1948 and 1949 Bowman!

Typically I do not like buying collections from individuals. This is mainly because the value they see in the Beckett guide and the price at which I can buy and still pay the bills are greatly different. It can be uncomfortable. Today, however, not the case.

A gentleman called asking if I was interested in 1948 and 1949 Bowman. Of course I'm interested. I've been making a concerted effort recently to stock pre-80's stuff. We have 212,000 cards on the website and barely 1,000 of them are pre-80's. I need to fix that. 1940's Bowman would be fantastic additions to the website. The guy told me he had the Musial and Slaughter from the '48 set, and the Berra from the '49 set, as well as about 15 others. He also had about 30 48 Bowman football cards. He told me they were in 'great' condition. My expectations on grade are always far lower than what I'm told on vintage. People say great, I think G-VG at best.

Man was I wrong in this case. These cards are in fantastic condition. I do not expect PSA 8 or 9 out of them (upon further consideration I've changed my mind. The card featured above I think could grade 8 or 9), but they are all clean, no creases, barely any corner wear, beautiful color, only slight aging discoloration. I was shocked.

We agreed on a price, took care of that, and spent the next hour talking about his time in the army, his 13 years working for Skybox, etc. It was great. That is what I love about the hobby. It is full of great people. Sure we had business to take care of, but if we hadn't agreed on a price I'd have still been just as happy having talked to the gentlemen for an hour.

I'm including an image of one of the cards here.. see for yourself, the card is fantastic. If interested in high res scans just send us an email.

For the love of the minor leagues

Mrs. BBC and I decided to take in a Durham Bulls game yesterday. For her this was her first minor league game. Ever. I know, just realizing how long we have been married, and to know that I have failed her up until this point.. it was devastating.

I love minor league baseball. As a kid we often headed out to see the Frederick Keys, and Hagerstown Suns. We even went into Baltimore and watched the Bowie Baysox play in Memorial Stadium after the Orioles moved. Basically, once the Orioles moved to Camden Yards Eskay stopped putting the "Buy one O's ticket, get one free" coupons on the inside of the hot dog packages. Without that coupon dad wasn't taking us to a big league game. Can't really blame him. That's the great thing about the minor leagues. Every seat in the house is awesome, and every seat in the house is less than $8.

The Bull's played the Toledo Mud Hens. The Mudhens appear to be one of the best teams in the International League, and there were solid prospects and former major leaguers on the field.

Michel Hernandez was the player of the game. He hit a 3 run home run in the 5th that tied the game. As you may recall Hernandez was originally a pretty well thought of Yankees prospect. He has since been through at least 4 other teams, without any big league playing time since 2003. Here's a name you want to remember: Joel Guzman. 3B for the Bulls. The kid is 6'6" about 250. He hit a rediculous home run in the game. The bulls have a big blue wall out in left field, ala fenway. My guess is the wall at the point the ball went out is 355' away and probably 35' high. Guzman, on a line, hit an office building construction project on the 4th deck ABOVE the blue monster. IE, he cleared the wall with a line drive by 40 feet. It was one heckuva shot.
Chris Richard, former Cardinal/Oriole/Rockie is the first basemen for the Bulls. While he appears to be having a good year (.300 average) he looked outmatched on this day (0-3 2k's)
One former big leaguer who did look good: Timo Perez. Plays left field for Toledo. He had 2 at bats that exceeded 12 pitches. He finally drew a walk on the first one (and scored on a Ryan Raburn home run) and extended the game with 2 outs in the ninth with a long at bat against Chad Orvella. He eventually singled to center but was left stranded this time when Orvella overpowered Raburn with a K.

Enough with all that.. It was a blast. Cheap tickets, sort of cheap food. Plenty of mid-inning silliness that makes minor league baseball great, (baby race, sumo wrestling, and the like) good people, friendly players, you could even buy the auto'd jerseys the players were wearing during a mid-game auction to benefit Durham's meals on wheels. (we picked up a non-game used Autographed B.J. Upton jersey.)

Go to minor league games. They are fun, cheap, and exciting. Even Mrs. BBC wanted to go back again this week.