Tuesday, November 11th

Hi everyone. Sorry I've been out of touch so long. I'm working on an e-newsletter that will be going out in a couple of days, and realized I've neglected my BLOG.

Well, of course the big news around here is the PHILLIES winning the World Series. It's put a smile on a lot of people's faces, and we're so proud of our guys. It's a win this city wanted so badly, and it was great to see all the celebration and pay back to the great fans. So many kids took off from school to attend the Friday parade, using the excuse of "Phillies Phever" that they actually made it an excused absence in our area. A great bonus for Phillies fans is that the 2008 Upper Deck World Series card set coming out in early December will finally feature our team! We have a great deal right now on pre-orders. One set is $19.95, and 4 or more is $14.95; so essentially, that's buy 3, get 1 free! Definitely lock in your sets as soon as you can because we'll know we'll be selling a lot of them this year (and we don't want to run out!).

As for products that arrived lately, we've received 2008 Leaf Rookies & Stars Football, 2008 Leaf Limited Football, 2008 Bowman Football, 2008 UD Masterpieces Football, 2008 Upper Deck Timelines Baseball, 2008 Topps Updates & Highlights Baseball, 2008 Stadium Baseball, 2008 Donruss Threads Baseball, 2008 SP Authentic Baseball, 2008-09 Upper Deck Hockey, 2008-09 Ultra Hockey, 2008-09 Artifacts Hockey, 2008-09 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects Basketball, 2008-09 Hoops Hot Prospects Basketball, 2008 Press Pass Legends Racing, Pokemon Stormfront, Rittenhouse James Bond in Motion, and Topps WWE Heritage Series IV. Boy, that was a mouthful!

So let's discuss a few of those products. I've gotten some questions about 2008 Donruss Theads. Since Donruss doesn't have a MLB license, some customers want to know what Donruss Threads is all about. It's a mixture of minor leaguers and legendary players, with roughly 4 hits per box (hits being jersey and autograph cards). Highlights of the set include Shoeless Joe Jackson bat cards and Pete Rose autograph cards. It's a nice looking card set, and very similar in design to 2008 Donruss Threads Football. Like-wise, 2008 UD Masterpieces Football is very similar in design to its baseball predecessors from 2007 and 2008. Masterpieces are drawings of actual game moments. I wasn't too familiar with this product other than the look of the card ... which is rich in color and on a nice, thick card stock. Masterpieces also has framed inserts in every pack that you don't get a "hit" in. Hits are 3 per box, and include an auto and two jerseys. We saw someone opening a couple of boxes yesterday, and he got a kick out of identify'ing the game highlights depicted on the cards. There are great plays from the past, as well as the present; and rookie cards are frequent too. All in all, it's a different looking and very nice set (and with 90 cards in it, it's do-able for set builders). A couple of products that are different for 2008 are Stadium Baseball and Leaf Limited Football. We haven't seen Stadium Baseball in a while, and it's back this year with an autograph in each pack (12 packs per box), so while the regular card set is everything you've come to expect from Stadium over the years (high gloss, great photography, thick card stock); the configuration is different, making autograph collectors happy, but set builders needing to purchase several boxes. 2008 Leaf Limited Football had been a single hit per pack product the last couple of years. This year, it's more of a conventional Donruss product, with 16 packs and 4 hits per box.

A few notes ... Donruss cancelled their 2008 Playoff NFL set product. Topps has pushed back 2008 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects Baseball until December 10th, and while we currently have the very popular 2008 Topps Heritage High Number Baseball as pushed back until December 4th, we hear rumors that they're trying to get it out in November. The much anticipated 2008 Topps Letterman Football was due in November, but we're currently waiting to hear an update on its release date.

Look for our new e-newsletter in your In Box soon, and if you don't get already get our e-newsletter, take a minute to click on the "Join Our Mailing List" link at the top of this page. We're always looking for ways to keep in touch with you! Thanks. We hope to hear from you.

Tuesday, October 14th

Hi everyone! There is definitely PHILLIES FEVER in the air here, as just about everyone is going crazy for our hometown team, and hoping we can make it to the World Series. Phillies fans aren't used to watching our team in the post season, so this has been fun!

The only new products to arrive last week were 08-09 OPC Hockey and 08 SP Rookie Threads Football. This week, we're expecting 08-09 Ultra Hockey, 08-09 Hot Prospects Basketball, 08 Donruss Gridiron Gear Football, and 2008 SP Authentic Baseball; so that should be something for everyone; since all four sports are represented, and all four products are pretty popular.

New SELL SHEETS posted on our website are ...

Upper Deck Documentary Baseball, UD Ultimate Collection Baseball, UD Sweet Spot Baseball, Razor Draft Baseball, Topps Sterling Football, Topps Triple Threads Football, Press Pass Legends Bowl Edition Football, UD Ultimate Collection Football, Leaf Limited Football, Topps Co-Signers Basketball, UD Ultimate Collection Basketball, UD SP Rookie Threads Basketball, Topps Chrome Basketball, UD Trilogy Hockey, UD MVP Hockey, UD Black Diamond Hockey, Press Pass Legends Racing, 2009 Press Pass Racing, and Rittenhouse Bond in Motion.

Take care. We hope to talk to you soon!

Tuesday, October 7th

Hi everyone.

All products announced in my last BLOG entry as upcoming did arrive (2008 UD Masterpieces Baseball, 2008-09 MVP and Topps Treasury Basketball, and 2008 Wheels American Thunder Racing), except for 2008 Bowman Football (the one probably most anticipated!). It's been pushed back until the week of October 22nd. We also received 2008 SP Rookie Threads Football, 2008 UD Premier Football, 2008 Topps Football Factory sets, 2008 Upper Deck First Edition Baseball Factory sets, and MAGIC: The Gathering Shards of Alara. This week, we expect 2008-09 OPC Hockey to arrive. We had expected 2008 SP Authentic Baseball and 2008-09 Fleer Ultra Hockey as well, but they've been slightly delayed.

Topps released some misc. info regarding some if its products. Due to breakout performances by 2008 football rookies Felix Jones, Matt Forte, and Jonathan Stewart; Topps is adding them to their 2008 Topps Sterling Football roster. They join the already announced Darren McFadden and Matt Ryan. Topps also made a correction to the autograph odds stated on the sell sheet of Stadium Club Baseball. A triple relic autographed card with ONE autograph will be inserted at a rate of one per case, instead of a triple autograph card, as stated on the sell sheet.

More news as it arrives...

Tuesday, September 30th

Hi all. I'm writing to tell you about two products that have been cancelled ... Topps Predictors Basketball and Topps Election Collection. I guess Topps didn't receive enough orders for either product to substantiate making them. I'm surprised about the Election Collection because there's certainly a lot of interest in this year's candidates, and the timing couldn't be better for it.

New products expected this week include 2008 Bowman Football, 08-09 MVP Basketball, 08-09 Topps Treasury Basketball, 2008 Upper Deck Masterpieces Baseball, and 2008 Wheels American Thunder Racing.

Until next time ...

Thursday, September 25th

Hi everyone! Many new products arrived this week. We now have 2008 Upper Deck Ballpark Collection Baseball. If the pack we opened is any indication of how good the product is, then it bodes well. We pulled an 8 piece jersey card of none other than the Phils and the Mets. On the Phils side (and remember what city we're in and the fact that we're HUGE Phillies fans) were ... Chase Utley, Cole Hamels, Pat Burrell, and Brad Lidge; and then on the Mets side were ... Carlos Delgado, Johan Santana, Moises Alou, and Billy Wagner. I was so thrilled, because I've seen many multi-piece Phillies cards over the years, but I've never pulled one. SO I really fished my wish with this one. Our quad jersey card was pretty respectable as well ... Mike Schmidt (another Phil!), Albert Pujols, Ken Griffey Jr., and David Ortiz. Pretty good, huh?

Other recent products include ... 2008-09 UD Black Hockey (with 2 pulls per pack and 2 packs per box), 2008 Leaf Certified Materials Football (4 game used or autos per box), 2008 Finest Football (3 mostly rookie autos per box), 2008 UD Premier Football (one high end pack featuring several jerseys, patches, and autos), 2008 Playoff Absolute Football (4 pulls per box, including one auto), and 2008-09 Upper Deck 1st Edition Basketball. Still selling well are 2008 Topps Chrome Football, and to set collectors ... basic 2008 Topps Football, Baseball, and Basketball. Each basic Topps box guarantees a jersey card per box this year, which is a great bonus. Speaking of set collectors, the 2008 Topps Football Factory sets are supposed to arrive tomorrow.

Those of you who opened 2008 Topps Football packs may have noticed some retro looking inserts (numbered to 40). They're part of a 40 card Turn Back the Clock insert set, available directly to hobby dealers (like us) and in packs of 2008 Topps Football. Cards 1-5 and all even numbered cards from 1-40 were sent to us (as a way to reward Topps Football pack purchases), and odd numbered cards from 7-39 are found randomly in packs. If you are completing this set and need the ones we have, please just let us know. If you ordered 2008 Topps Football from us, we'd be happy to ship the remaining cards to you, FREE of charge, with your next order.

Another Topps Football product update ... this one for 2008 Finest Football. Due to a production error, the base autographed cards were not sequentially numbered, and Topps had intended for them to be. So, if you have an auto that you'd like to have numbered, you can send the card(s) to Topps, at ...

>  The Topps Company
>  ATTN: Consumer Relations
>  401 York Ave.
>  Duryea, PA 18642

They'll return the card to you, numbered, and with a bonus pack of cards. What's interesting is that some of the print runs are REALLY short. If you were lucky enough to pull one of the better players, including Darren McFadden, Matt Ryan, Felix Jones, and Joe Flacco ... you were luckier than you even thought! There's only 40 of each one. Feel free to e-mail me if you want the print run of a specific rookie. They range from 40 to 1999.

For you Republicans out there, Razor's new 2008 Razor Cut Signature Edition (primarily a Celebrity signature product) features the first ever cut signature card of Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Apparently, her autograph is being heavily forged right now, so this is your chance to have a James Spence authenticated one (he's a well respected authenticator). Razor is also releasing a Baseball Draft Signature Series in late November. There will be 10 packs per box and 1 auto per pack.

Products we're expecting soon (next week) are ... 2008 Upper Deck Masterpieces Baseball, 2008 Upper Deck First Edition Baseball Factory sets, 2008 SP Rookie Threads Football, 2008-09 OPC Hockey, 2008-09 Ultra Hockey, 2008-09 Topps Treasury Basketball (which I wrote about in our last e-newsletter and looks really good!), 2008-09 MVP Basketball, 2008 Wheels American Thunder Racing, and Topps 2008 Election Factory set.

More info soon!

Wednesday, Sept. 10th

Those of you who like affordable boxes have a ton to choose from right now ... in all sports! For Football, we just received the brand new 2008 Upper Deck First Edition Football and Topps Kickoff (and that's in addition to the recently released Score and Topps). For Basketball, 08-09 Topps arrived today (and we received Upper Deck earlier in the week). For Hockey, there's 08-09 Victory. And for Baseball, we have lots to choose from ... 08 Upper Deck First Edition & First Edition Update, Topps Opening Day, and Topps. It's nice to know that you can still put a set together without breaking the bank.

Other new sports releases include 2008 Playoff Absolute Memorabilia Football, 2008 Bowman Sterling Football, 2007-08 Topps Letterman Basketball (more on that later!), 2008-09 Upper Deck Legends Masterpieces Hockey, 2008 Press Pass VIP Racing, and 2008 MLS Soccer (with 2 jersey cards per box and at $49.95 ... it's a great deal!). Non-sports fans are enjoying the NEW Yu-Gi-Oh Duelist Genesis and Webkinz Series 3.

Regarding that 07-08 Topps Letterman Basketball release, we saw a customer open a bunch of it the other day, and I must say that I was very impressed with the quality of the product. We saw MANY good pulls. The best was probably a 1/1 Dwyane Wade auto laundry tag card, but the fact that I'm not sure that's the best card makes the quality of the product pretty good. Our customer also pulled an awesome Dennis Rodman pull-out card. It spelled out R-O-D-M-A-N, with 6 different Letterman cards, all attached, and the first card was autographed (numbered to 19). That was really sweet. Those pull-outs are apparently 1 per 8 boxes. We really liked Letterman, and we think this bodes well for their Football version, arriving late Fall.

Talk soon!

Monday, September 1

I was away for a week, and the hobby exploded with new football products! So many new releases have arrived ... 2008 Score and Score Select, 2008 Topps Chrome, 2008 Upper Deck Icons, 2008 Bowman Sterling, and the 2008 NFL Rookie Premiere set. Icons is the product that features the Brett Favre autographed Jets Letterman redemption. The regular cards are attractive, with a foil finish; and each box has an autograph and 2 jersey cards. Topps Chrome looks great with no big surprises based on last year's product. Chrome consistently looks like a shiny metal plated version of basic Topps. Rookies are roughly 1 per pack, and there is one autograph per box. Score is your basic, inexpensive no frills football product, that like Topps, allows you to put a set together without breaking the bank. If you're wanting jerseys and autos, then check out Stadium, SPx, Bowman Sterling, or Donruss Threads; but if you want to get the rookies cheaply, then Score's for you. Score Select looks like a shiny version of Score, with many parallels (numbered cards) per box. 2008 Playoff Absolute Memorabilia Football is the next product due in, to be followed by 2008 Upper Deck Kickoff and 2008 Topps Finest.

Baseball fans are enjoying the recently released 2008 Upper Deck First Edition Update, 2008 Upper Deck Heroes, 2008 Goudey, 2008 Bowman Chrome, and 2008 Triple Threads. Next up, on September 9th and 10th respectively, are two new Upper Deck products ... 2008 "X" Baseball, and 2008 Ballpark Collection. Details on those new releases to follow in a future BLOG entry. Basketball collectors will finally have 2008-09 rookies in September 9th's Topps Basketball release, followed by 08-09 Upper Deck MVP on the 10th. Hockey fans have 08-09 Victory so far; and can expect 08-09 Upper Deck Legends Masterpieces next week, and 08-09 Upper Deck Black on September 10th. (All dates given are those provided to us by the manufacturers, and are subject to change.)

Wednesday, August 13th

I'm back with more hobby news. If you didn't receive our e-mail newsletter, then let me quickly cover the highlights I first announced there ... 1. Brett Favre's first Jets card will be in the 2008 Absolute Memorabilia Football, retail version 2. Topps will be making a High series of their popular 2008 Heritage baseball product. 3. Topps signed Babe Ruth to an exclusive deal where only they can feature his likeness on cards.

On to other news, contrary to what was expected, Topps will not be releasing a 2008 Topps Baseball Factory Update set. We're surprised, given that last year's update set was so well received.

Much like the already released 07-08 Stadium Club Basketball and the brand new 2008 Stadium Club Football, there WILL be a 2008 Stadium Club Baseball product. Like its predecessors, the HOBBY box will contain one hit per pack. Specifically, the 12 pack box will contain 12 autographs (6 will be rookie autos) and one Yankee relic card. Every 4 box case is slated to contain a sketch card and 1 triple autograph card. Sell sheets are posted on this site in our SELL SHEETS area.

Major changes have been announced for the upcoming Leaf Limited Football, most notably that it's no longer a one pack box. More details will follow, as we get them, in a later BLOG entry.

Another notable mention is that Topps Letterman Football will be debuting later this year. The basketball version is expected next week.

Products received so far this week are ... Artbox 24 Season 5, Press Pass Elvis By the Numbers, and Inkworks Journey to the Center of the Earth (with accompanying 3D glasses!).

More later!

Friday, August 8

This will be a quick post. I wanted to briefly go over this week's new football releases. Three new ones came in this week ... 2008 Donruss Threads, 2008 Upper Deck, and 2008 Stadium ... and we've seen them all. Upper Deck and Stadium both feature the new rookies in their NFL uniforms. Upper Deck added an extra jersey card to their box, so you now get 3 jerseys and 1 autograph. Cards feature good action photography in a full bleed (no border) design. Donruss Threads yields 4 relic and/or autograph cards per box with their popular rookie autograph Lettermen inserts returning for this year. Stadium Club is a 10 pack box with an autograph or jersey per pack. It still features the thick card stock, great action photography, and high gloss coating that collectors have grown to love. We've heard from a lot of collectors that they'd like the traditional 24 pack box of Stadium to return. It was always a collector favorite.

We're expecting 2008 Bowman Chrome Baseball and 2008-09 Victory Hockey next week. More news then!

Wednesday, July 30

Well, lots of new products have arrived ... 2008 Triple Threads Baseball, 2008 Goudey Baseball, 2008 Topps Baseball Factory sets, 2008 Press Pass Legends Football, 2008 Sage Squared Football, 2008 Rittenhouse WNBA, Magic Eventide, 2008 Razor Cut Signature "packs", X-Files "I Want to Believe", Star Wars "The Clone Wars", and WWE Ultimate Rivals.

We're looking into changing and modernizing the "Collector Links" page on our web site to reflect our customers' current interests, and we want your help! Right now, we list web sites we think might be of interest to you, but we want to branch out and cover other areas as well. What would you like to see in this section? Are there topics you want to know more about? Do you have questions you need answered? We'd like to hear from you so we can incorporate as many of your interests as possible into this section. I'm open to all of your ideas.

Time to answer a few customer questions I've gotten. One is quick and easy ... QUESTION: 2008 Speedway Racing ... is it Nascar? ANSWER: Yes, it is ... a new brand from Press Pass. The next question is more involved. QUESTION: 2008 Topps Baseball Factory sets. You advertise more than one set. How are they different? ANSWER: It's mostly the packaging. Every 2008 Topps Factory set has the same 660 baseball cards from Series 1 and 2, but the bonus cards and players featured on the packaging differ depending on whether it's the regular set, All-Star set, or team-specific set. Just ask us if you want to know the exact differences, but rest assured that no matter which set you choose, you WILL have one of each card that Topps released in Series 1 and 2. QUESTION: 2008 Upper Deck A Piece of History Baseball ... is the history aspect of the product baseball related? ANSWER: No. As mentioned in a previous blog entry, the History aspect covers all sorts of trivia, from presidential facts to landmarks to explorers. If you have a question you'd like answered, either in this BLOG, or privately, just e-mail me!

The last order of business in today's BLOG entry is a reminder to protect your cards properly. Too many of our customers don't use soft sleeves inside of top loaders, and you must! Putting a card directly into a top loader will hurt the corners of the card as well as the card's surface. I always think that top loaders should come with the soft sleeves to make sure the collector knows to use them, but since they are sold separately ... please be aware of this fact. And until a soft sleeve designed to fit a patch card is created, if you're putting a patch card into a top loader, use a team set bag as a makeshift soft sleeve. If you put the patch card in it, seal it with the adhesive strip, then fold the bag around the card, it slides perfectly into the patch top loader (either a 3.5 mm or 5 mm). We use team set bags for just this purpose all the time! They work perfectly, and even create a little resistance inside the top loader (because of the folded over plastic) to keep thinner patches from falling out!

Thanks for reading, everyone!

Saturday. July 19th

It was slim pickings this week for new products, but 2008 Topps Football did arrive. With the same design as this year's Topps Baseball product, the Football features rookies in their NFL uniforms (the first product this year to do so). The jumbo box has 2 autographs (we received an additional jersey card in 1 of 2 boxes, but it's not guaranteed). The regular 36 count hobby box guarantees an autograph or jersey card, one per box. We also received the latest Tri Star Projections Baseball (the High Series) and the 2008 Topps Baseball Factory set, All-Star Game Edition.

The next two weeks are BIG weeks for high end product (read that as expensive!). Due in are the much anticipated (and overdue) 2008 Topps Triple Threads Baseball, 2007-08 The Cup Hockey, and 2007-08 Exquisite Basketball. For those of you with more modest budgets, we'll also be getting 2008 Press Pass Legends Football, 2008 Topps Allen & Ginter Baseball (a popular product for set collectors), and 2008 Topps Baseball Factory sets this week.

Non-Sports fans will be happy to know that Supernatural Connections, Marvel Masterpieces Series 2, Heroes 2, and Stargate SG1 Season 10 are all now in stock.

'Til next time ...

Saturday, July 12th

2008 UD Piece of History is our best selling new baseball product. At $74.95, to get 4 pulls per box is pretty impressive. We've seen a bunch of these opened at this point, and the breakdown of the 4 pulls is one autograph, two baseball jersey cards (often double and possibly triple jersey pieces), and one "A Piece of Hollywood" memorabilia card. It's these Hollywood cards that are the most interesting to me. They feature almost solely A-name actors' costume pieces. We've seen multiples of George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Denzel Washington, Demi Moore, Robin Williams, Christopher Reeves, and Mel Gibson. Almost every Hollywood card is a winner, but the weird part is that they only list the actor's first name and no photo. I'm guessing that those omissions saved Upper Deck on royalties, which certainly paid off for the collector, who gets so many A-list actor costume pieces. I've never seen such an all-star celebrity line-up. It would be like every baseball jersey card being Jeter, A Rod, and Pujols ... a happy collector every box. While mostly a baseball product, the "Piece of History" name refers to general historical fact cards also in the set ... everything from inventions, explorers, and landmarks to presidential trivia.

We've been getting a lot of phone calls about 2008 Topps Baseball Factory sets. Rest assured, they're coming. The All-Star version (same basic Topps set, special All-Star Game packaging) is due this week; and the rest are due later this month.

On the redemption card front, things are changing for the better ... finally! Topps has just created an on-line redemption process, like Upper Deck's; so mailing in redemption cards is no longer necessary. Donruss did a complete overhaul of their redemption process and website, including enabling on-line redemptions (as well as filing damaged card claims on-line). Most importantly, all three manufacturers are limiting the number of redemptions in their products. Donruss had no redemptions in their first two football releases ... 2008 Playoff Prestige and 2008 Donruss Elite. Upper Deck has vowed to eliminate redemptions (as we know them) altogether, and is putting a system in place where collectors can go on-line and choose which cards they get (more info on that as it becomes available). So at least that's a step in the right direction by the manufacturers.

Coming in this week is the much anticipated 2008 Topps Football. This should be the first 2008 product to feature rookies in their NFL uniforms, with photos taken at the rookie photo shoot.

Until next time!