Search the Community

While covering the Minnesota Twins this season, I’ve also made sure to include a brief foray into some additional was the game of baseball is enjoyed. Posted typically at Off the Baggy, or accessible in the Twins Daily blog section, a series on Topps baseball card offerings has been a long running topic. Gone are the years of the junk wax era in which cards became overproduced and less valuable than the cardstock they were printed on. We now are in a place where “The Hobby” as it’s affectionally known, is as much an investing market as it is a booming collectors haven.Twins Daily contributor Jamie Cameron sparked this discussion when he tweeted something that caught my eye last week. Baseball cards have expanded into a much larger industry than simply going into your local retail store and grabbing a wax pack. With someone genuinely curious and questions at hand, it seemed a great opportunity to dissect where the industry is as it stands today. Timing for this piece couldn’t be better either. Starting Wednesday and running through Sunday, The National (The National Sports Collectors Convention) is taking place just outside of Chicago, Illinois. A yearly event each summer (that swaps between Chicago, Atlantic City, and Cleveland), The National is the epicenter of the collecting universe and offers an endless supply of cardboard dreams. Setting the stage for Jamie’s questions, he denotes his background being born and raised in the United Kingdom. Having been in the Twin Cities for roughly 15 years now, baseball has always been a passion of his. He doesn’t have the childhood memories of card collecting however, and as stated earlier, the game has changed significantly since then. Here’s what he wanted to know. How did you get into collecting? As a kid or an adult? I found myself collecting cards as a kid, seeing it as an inexpensive way to connect with athletes I enjoyed. My parents would often be ok with a pack or two from the local retail store when we stopped in on occasion. By my teenage years I had a couple binders full of early late 90’s and early 2000’s sports cards that I no longer cared about. Eventually they were parted with at a garage sale I would imagine. Getting back into the hobby in late 2016, I found myself stumbling into what is known as a “break room” (where groups of people buy into a product and split cards). Having always enjoyed decorating and displaying memorabilia in my basement, cards represented an avenue to capture moments and collect objects of a bit smaller physical footprint. How do you purchase products? Packs from a store, direct from dealers, or something else? The two main avenues are your retail stores such as Target or Walmart, and hobby shops. Hobby shops are designated by the term LCS (local card store). They aren’t nearly as plentiful as they may have been years ago, but many larger cities have one. Whether specializing in cards, comics, or some other collectible, they get what is known as hobby products. These boxes and packs may have different offerings in them to incentivize consumer from buying there. Retail options include more cost-effective offerings. While hobby boxes at an LCS can run from $50 all the way into the $1,000’s, smaller blaster boxes, fat packs, hanger boxes, and single packs can all be had at a retail store for $20 or less. If there’s no LCS in sight retail becomes the lone option. It’s a great place to dip your feet in. Just be aware that the individually wrapped packs could be picked over like the best offerings in the produce aisle. What are the best brands? What determines that? There are really only three baseball card manufacturers, and only two of them are the major players. Topps is the lone company with an MLB license and that makes them the premium product. Panini is a football first company, and while they are licensed with the MLBPA, the lack of MLB license means there’s no logos or team names on any of their cards. Leaf is another offering while being unlicensed as well. Although Panini does make some very visually appealing cards, value is always at its highest with Topps. How much time and money do people put into collecting? As with any hobby this is going to have a ridiculously wide range. Collecting anything is obviously a personal adventure. Some people collect single players or teams, while others look at cards as an investment vehicle. Those investing typically trend towards prospects or vintage cards, and the time is a large component as you must study the market and make sure you’re targeting the players with the best present and future ROI. A player or team collector may simply want each card of whoever they’re after, and sites like eBay and Comc (Check Out My Cards) provide a very quick way to grab and go. From a monetary standpoint, you can land all over the board. Topps alone puts out something like 25 different products each year. You can find a new release calendar at a site like Cardboard Connection in order to keep track. The bulk of those products cost $200 or less, while a small minority can get over $1,000. Each product has significant “hits” or desirable cards that, on the secondary market, can fetch hundreds to tens of thousands. The level of buy in is again up to the collector. What’s your favorite card? Why? Too difficult to chose just one, so I’ll go with two. I collect Minnesota Twins cards and have smaller collections of both Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani. There are some really nice cards in my Twins PC (personal collection, which you can view here), but it’s two Trout cards that stick out for me. The first is a 2018 Topps Heritage Relic Autograph /25 that I pulled from a blaster box. Purchasing a $20 retail offering from Target and hitting something like this is like winning the lottery. I was stunned and it’s a card I’ll almost certainly never sell. Having been back into collecting for roughly three years now, I have added some higher end cards of the players I really like. Mike Trout is trending towards the greatest player baseball has ever seen, and his rookie card market is reflective of that. A non-descript card few thought twice of seven or eight years ago, it’s now the must have subject of the modern era. PSA (Professional Sports Authenticator- a third party grading company) graded copies of the card in a Gem Mint 10 went for roughly $500 as recently as this winter. They are now worth near or over $1,000 and continue to rise. My wife surprised me with one for our five-year wedding anniversary in February. Download attachment: Capture.PNG What do you get from it? Overall, why is this a hobby for you? Personally, I find it as a connection to differing passions. I have always been artistically inclined, and love looking at the photography and designs these companies continue to put out while tying in a sport I enjoy. The thrill of pulling an autograph or hit, as well as the fun in buying the next cool card to hang onto is something I’ve gotten behind. I’m not interested in the investment side of the hobby or looking to make money, so grabbing what I like is much easier without worrying what the return or loss may be. I find myself continually going back to look through cards in my collection. Reminiscing on players or events that were depicted is fun, and not looking through them on a consistent basis lends to a thrill of excitement each time I peruse what I have. Displaying some of my collection has made for neat memorabilia showcases in my house, but a further connection to the game of baseball is really what it’s about for me. This is obviously far from all encompassing, and there’s certainly more nuanced questions about the hobby, and collecting in general, to be asked. Do you have a collection to show off? Do you have questions to ask? Anything else you’d like to know? Feel free to share in the comments below. Click here to view the article

A young Eden Prairie boy plans to buy a Bryce Harper rookie card this weekend. One area baseball executive is hoping he can change his mind. Jake Evenson, 10, got a $20 bill for his birthday. The young Eden Prairie baseball fanatic knows exactly what he wants, too: a Bryce Harper rookie card.“He’s my favorite player, and there’s one I can get for $15,” said Evenson. “Mom said we could buy it this weekend.” Twins Executive Vice President and Chief Baseball Officer Derek Falvey wants him to reconsider. “I think he should really take a wait-and-see approach to this purchase,” said Falvey. “He has a solid card collection right now. If it appreciates in value, that’s when he can strike.” Evenson, who was pulled out of science class to take Falvey’s phone call, was confused. “It was pretty weird. This man said I should hold onto that $20 if I needed it down the line. I’m 10. I don’t have bills. I like Bryce Harper and I can afford it. “The last time someone got a call in my class it’s because their dad was in jail,” Evenson added. Falvey, who said the phone call was part of the team’s new Community Outreach program, understands Evenson’s passion, but urged the youngster to take the long view. “What if he really gets into Fortnite or comic books? At that age, your tastes are mercurial. All of a sudden, you have this Bryce Harper card that was cool at the time, but now you want to trade it in for some Claremont-era X-Men issues. Then the market isn’t there and all you can get is a cruddy Daredevil that smells like milk.” Evenson remains adamant. “I like Spiderman, but Mr. Falvey said he’s not an X Man. I want a Bryce Harper card because I have money and he’s awesome.” Falvey remains convinced that he can sway the child to his way of thinking. “Later today we’re sending T.C. Bear to Jake’s after-school program with a dozen pizzas and a personalized t-shirt cannon signed by Jonathan Schoop,” said Falvey. “If he’s still apprehensive, we’ll let him shoot the cannon at TC with whatever he wants: apples, staple guns, you name it. Don’t tell TC that.” _____________________________________________ Twins Daily is THRILLED to welcome Randball Stu as a weekly satirical contributor. Click here to view the article

We all know Benny “The Jet” Rodriguez is the best ballplayer since The Great Bambino, but exactly how good is he? Following Grantland’s article earlier this year ranking The Sandlot characters, I scoured the internet only to discover The Sandlot gang’s slashlines are nowhere to be found. In order to correct this glaring error of omission, I watched the film and recorded every at-bat, hit, run, and “back of the baseball card” stat we the viewers see. Obviously, this presents some challenges, so a few notes up front: Scotty Smalls tells us early in the film, “When I finally got up enough guts to go out there and try and make friends, I found out that they never kept score, they never chose sides, they never even really stopped playing the game. It just went on forever. Every day they picked up right where they left off the day before. It was like an endless dream game.” For this reason, in the Games Played column, all Sandlot games and activities are tallied as one big, long, continuous game. The game against the crosstown Tigers includes a montage of the kids putting balls in play, but only some are demonstrated to fall for hits. The ones that aren’t shown to land are assumed to be outs. If a ball is shown to land, it’s a hit. If it lands and gets passed an outfielder, it’s a double. Anyone shown on base in the game without explanation receives a boost to his OBP but not to his AVG. Also, for a stat to apply, the ball needs to be thrown by a pitcher. Benny hitting self-tossed grounders or pop-flies doesn’t impact anyone’s stat line. However, even if there’s no clear “game situation,” so long as the ball starts with a true pitch, the event is counted as in-game. While I’m excited to finally have a definitive accounting of each kid’s movie stat line, I’ll note that the most at-bats anyone racks up is Benny, with six. In addition to such abbreviated stat lines, I’ve also included an MLB comp to provide each player’s projected line over a full season. So, without further ado, here are your Sandlot kids’ baseball card stats, ranked from worst to best player: 9) Tommy “Repeat” Timmons Tommy is clearly the weakest link in the Sandlot Nine. In the single at-bat we see from him, he produces little more than a swinging bunt. It’s also difficult to imagine him producing even average defense in right field. Player comp: 1983 Ron Roenicke As a role player-level talent pushed into a starting spot, Tommy shared a lot with Ron Roenicke—including middling numbers with no major weakness in his game, just an overall below average level of play. 8) Bertram Grover Weeks Bertram doesn’t show much with the bat, but based on his ability to go around the horn, he looks like he’d be pretty good at turning two. Player comp: 1982 Dale Berra Like Bertram, Berra’s a middle infielder with a perfectly average offensive stat line, while putting up a positive Total Zone (TZ) of 11. Also like Bertram, he’s only a few years away from a little off-the-field experimentation. Should’ve stuck with the white lines marking foul territory… 7) Timmy Timmons Timmy actually looks like a decent player, but on a team this stacked, you’ve got to expect better production from first base. His bat doesn’t stand out, and that’s a problem. Player comp: 1982 Gary Roenicke Both Timmy and Gary have more to offer a ball team than their respective brothers. Over a full season, Timmy’s numbers would look good, though not stand out on a team of All-Stars. 6) Alan “Yeah Yeah” McClennan Yeah Yeah lands a hit in his one onscreen at-bat, but more impressively, covers the entire left side of the infield with Benny at the plate. That kind of defensive prowess pushes him a little further up the rankings. Player comp: 1979 Buddy Bell Gold glover Buddy Bell played a solid third base while posting a 110 OPS+, something you could imagine Yeah Yeah doing over a full season. In addition, Bell’s ability to play games at shortstop reflects Yeah Yeah’s ability to cover the ground between third and second. Based on Yeah Yeah’s defensive alignment, however, you’d think Bells’ 1979 Rangers could’ve gotten away with a few more defensive shifts. 5) Scotty Smalls Smalls comes a long way from his initial flubbed fly ball (the only error any Sandlot kid makes in the movie), and is one of only three players to pound a home run onscreen. In his rookie campaign, Smalls shows a lot of promise. Player comp: 1967 Rick Monday Monday’s first year in the bigs showed a capable ballplayer with some power. That began a career that would include multiple All-Star Game appearances before giving way to a position as a well-regarded play-by-play announcer for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He just might be Scotty Smalls incarnate. 4) Michael “Squints” Palledorous Perhaps a little stretched in centerfield, Squints nonetheless plays an up-the-middle position, increasing his value. He also raps a double in his lone at-bat against the crosstown Tigers, suggesting that even though he’s on the small side, Squints can swing the bat. Player comp: 2007 Nick Swisher In 2007, Swisher showed good pop while starting a plurality of his games in center. It’s not hard to imagine Swisher calling a teammate an “L7 weenie,” even if overall, both he and Squints are good clubhouse guys. Plus, Swisher’s wife is decidedly Peffercorn-esque. 3) Kenny DeNunez We know Kenny made it to AAA ball, so it would be difficult not to rank him near the top of the Sandlot Nine. He puts up two Ks in his shutout of the crosstown Tigers, but also struggles with giving up the long ball when facing his own teammates. As a hitter, DeNunez actually performs quite well, knocking a double the one time he comes to the plate. In evaluating DeNunez, Innings Pitched is quite difficult to determine. Because we never see three outs occur on the same visit to the sandlot, I treat each visit as one inning. The game against the crosstown Tigers is worth 9 innings of work. I’ve also tracked Batters Faced to provide a more quantifiable measure. For DeNunez’s won-loss record, he receives a no decision for the sandlot game, because it’s still going on. As pitcher: As hitter: Player comp: 1966 Juan Marichal Marichal as pitcher: Marichal as hitter: Marichal shows the same easy delivery as Kenny, and both managed an impressive winning percentage. Too, both held their own with the stick. In 1966, Marichal put up an eye-catching 2.23 ERA… while serving up 32 home runs. He’s a full season of DeNunez if I ever saw one. 2) Benny “The Jet” Rodriguez The Jet at #2! Who saw that coming? It turns out that despite tossing himself what’s clearly The Most Clutch Hit of All-Time and placing the ball squarely in Smalls’s glove, Benny’s not perfect at the plate. He takes a pitch to left field that’s definitely an error on Smalls’s part (prior to the Clutch Hit), and later when he busts the guts out of the ball, Smalls catches the string ball left behind for an out. (It appears fly balls to left field are his kryptonite.) Nevertheless, Benny hits a grand slam in the crosstown game, and an inside-the-park home run on the Fourth of July when his fielders lose interest, in true . And twice, we see him bust out a triple-into-a-rundown that he escapes to score. Without naming names, I’ll say I consulted with an official MLB scorer, who suggested the Benny Trademark Hotbox Run is best ruled a home run. Benny plays all around the diamond, filling in for his teammates when it’s their turn to bat, and actually appears in four games—two more than his Sandlot counterparts—because the film starts with him playing a schoolyard game, and ends with the Jet subbed in as a pinch runner in the clutch situation of the season… Player comp: 1998 Alex Rodriguez Shockingly, a full season of Benny, surely one of the most beloved baseball movie characters of all-time, best matches the numbers of A-Rod, the most loathed player in the major leagues today. But there’s no denying it: Benny and A-Rod both put up a strong batting average, have the kind of speed that results in plenty of stolen bases, doubles, and triples, and swing a mean bat that’s always a threat at the plate. But if the Jet’s not the best player in the sandlot, who could it be? 1) Hamilton “Ham” Porter That’s right, Ham Porter turns out to be the best ballplayer on the team! We see him go two for two with two home runs, making him the true Kid Who Only Hit Homers—and that’s as a catcher. Turns out, the Great Hambino could’ve made his career in the MLB instead of the WWE. Player comp: 1998 Mark McGwire Imagine Mark McGwire in his prime, but offering his kind of production as a catcher. Take a .299 average, mix in a whopping 70 home runs, 162 walks, and 155 strikeouts for the Three True Outcomes-iest of Three True Outcomes players, then add a dash of Ham Porter’s mouth. You’ve found yourself a Hall of Fame talent with a reputation to rival the Sultan of Swat himself. This blog post was written with assistance from John Buckeye and dsinner.