Sports Card Club

Baseball card collectors who focus on vintage cards know the “Big 3.” These three timeless baseball card sets are adored, heavily collected and extremely valuable. Attempting to complete one of these sets can be a lifelong project. Those three sets are 1909-11 T206, 1933 Goudey and 1952 Topps. Each set contains one extremely valuable card with a special story. For the T206 it’s the legendary Honus Wagner and 1952 Topps it’s the Mickey Mantle. That unique card in the 1933 Goudey set is #106, a card as mysterious as the more famous T206 Honus Wagner.

Before we dive into the story of card #106, let’s start with some information on the set itself. The 1933 Goudey baseball card set was issued by The Goudey Gum Company of Boston. The 240 card set was issued in packs with bubble gum and are considered the very first of the “gum cards.” The cards themselves were 2 3/8in x 2 7/8in with very colorful backgrounds. To capitalize on the stars of the time, some players had multiple cards...

Per box items:
24 packs per box
8 cards per pack
a combination of 3 hits of autographs and/or relics

The standard sized base set cards have a color 'art-style' picture of the player on the card fronts. Bordered with a simple graphic there is a splash of a complementary color behind the player. The player's last name and set name are centered along the card bottom. The occasional horizontal card does have a color background picture behind the player. The card backs are photo-less. The plain back cards lists moderate biographical information and career statistics. All the the usually numerical information is written out. For example a Batting Average of .296 is displayed as "Two Hundred Ninety Six."

What I pulled:
191 unique cards, no duplicates
138 base cards
26 inserts
23 mini cards
2 relics
1 auto
1 mini 1/1

Base card front and back:...

Per Box Items:
24 packs per box
8 cards per pack
2 autographs
2 relics

2014 Topps Pro Debut has an similar design to 2014 Topps series 1 and 2 releases. The standard sized base set cards feature a full color action shot of the player. Bordered in white, the card fronts have the player name and team logo at the bottom. The card fronts are trimmed with the team's primary color. The card backs are photo-less and are horizontal in design. The backs include moderate biographical information, and brief career highlights or a player quote. The backs are also trimmed with the team's primary color.

What I pulled:
186 unique cards (no duplicates)
179/220 base set cards
2 gold #/50
2 autographs
1 relic
1 manufactured patch
1 printing plate

Base card front and back:...

I think most sports fans come across a player during their lives that stands out as special...even if they don't really find great success. For whatever reason, you become a fan of that athlete...often because they were in the right place at the right time. For me, former quarterback Tony Graziani is that person. Let me explain that story.

I grew up in Eugene, Oregon, the home of the University of Oregon and their Oregon Ducks. Now, as a child...the Ducks weren't what they are today. In 1993, I was 8 years old and my dad took me to my very first Ducks game...we went to the annual rivalry game the "Civil War" and watched Oregon loose. The Ducks lost 12-15 capping a 5-6 season. On that day, I had never heard of Tony Graziani nor did he stand out. He was the redshirt freshman backup QB to junior starter Danny O'Neil. Even though Oregon lost and it was an ugly game...I was already a budding Oregon fan. My first experience at Autzen cemented my love for the Ducks and going into...

Per Box Items:
36 packs per box
10 cards per pack
1 autograph or relic per box

2014 Topps Series Two has an identical design to 2014 Topps Series 1 and Pro Debut releases. The standard sized base set cards feature a full color action shot of the player. Bordered in white, the card fronts have the player name and team logo at the bottom. The card fronts are trimmed with the team's primary color. The card backs are photo-less and are horizontal in design. The backs include moderate biographical information, and brief career highlights or a player quote. The backs are also trimmed with the team's primary color.

Dear Press Pass,

Thank you for producing the NASCAR product for the NASCAR fan/collector.

Would you pleace consider this...since you only produce six products a year, could you STOP putting firesuit cards in every product? You are becoming Upper Deck, producing so many "game-used jerseys" (i.e. firesuit, sheet metal, etc.) that the items are becoming worthless!

Per Box items:
24 packs per box
8 cards per pack
2 autographs per box

The base set cards feature either an action or posed shot of the named player depending on the set design. The cards are bordered in white. The card designs hail from the 1980's. Some of the more notable set designs include 1980, 83, 86, and 1989. The card backs are all photo-less. The backs all list moderate biographical information complete career statistics and sometimes career highlights. The card backs are all in horizontal design and match the respective design of the card fronts. The 250 set is broken into 200 regular base and 50 SP cards.

What I pulled:
192 unique cards
171 base set cards
14 inserts
5 serial numbered refractor parallels
2 autographs

Base card front and back:...

I grew up in Eugene, OR, I did my undergrad at the University of Oregon (class of 2007) and I am an Oregon Ducks football season ticket holder. One could say I'm a huge Duck fan. Growing up, I had several Oregon players that I was especially fond of. One was Joey Harrington. I know his NFL career didn't pan out, but that doesn't diminish what he did for the Ducks and his fan-base here is still strong.

When I got back into collecting a few years ago, I thought a Harrington collection would be a nice project. I hadn't collected since the GU boom had started and the first thing I noticed was there were TONS of cards of newer players. So, I thought I would focus my Harrington set on what I considered "higher end" pieces. I would avoid the base stuff and focus on autos, GU cards and low number SPs. I figured since his popularity wasn't great, his cards would be affordable. I also decided I wouldn't grab the first GU I could find, but I would search for multicolored jerseys and nice...

When I first got out of card collecting (later 1990s) it seemed that professional card grading was just starting to get popular. I personally transitioned from card collecting to coin collecting and discovered a world that was very into the idea of grading and certifying coins.

I knew that Collector's Universe (who is the parent company of coin grading giant PCGS) also had a card/sports memorabilia grading service (PSA) but was never really exposed to it until I returned to the card hobby a few years back.

Now, coins are graded on a scale of 1-70. Many collectors believe that a coin graded "70" isn't really a true thing...that it is almost a sales gimmick made up by the grading companies to encourage competition within their registries. A lot of the evidence to this is in the fact that the difference between a 69 and a 70 is so infinitesimally minor...that the price difference (which is sometimes great) isn't worth it.

So, when I discovered PSA graded cards (and their...

Per box items:
20 packs per box
5 cards per pack
2 relics per box
1 autograph per box

Press Pass sell sheet

The 70 card base set has posed color photos of the drivers on the card fronts. The glossy driver photos are superimposed over a two-tone gray background that has a matte finish. The cards are boarder-less but are trimmed on the bottom with gold foil accent for the driver's name and corresponding color to the car. The set logo is in the top left corner of the fronts. The driver's car number, car sponsor and car type are also listed. The card backs feature a reverse image of the driver over the same gray background, all in a matte finish. The backs also detail brief biographical information and moderate career statistics.

What I pulled:
102 cards
70/70 base set cards...