‘Dawson-Mania’ Sweeps Over Ebay!!!

I am not ashamed or embarrassed to admit that I patrol Ebay often.  Quite often in fact…

The hours I keep are odd.  My wife and kids leave for work and school an hour or so before I have to.  And at night, I am up multiple times to either sooth a crying baby or hang out with a funny 3-year old that wants some attention and affection.

For some odd reason, the baby only wants me at night.  To my wife’s delight, she gets to sleep while I get to play ‘dada’.  And instead of turning on the television while I hold him, I turn to the computer.  And it is during those times that I surf the web, work on the blog, and shop around.

And in the last few weeks, ‘Dawson-Mania’ has swept over Ebay.  Currently, I have 30-40 different saved searches in ‘My Ebay’, and probably half are related to Andre Dawson.  I have seen the number of auctions for these specific searches more than quadruple in the last 2 weeks.  Overall, there was a steady flow of 200-250 active auctions featuring Dawson prior to his Hall of Fame election.  But since then, the number has never dropped below 500!!

And the prices are incredible!!!  Items that were listed again and again with no bids are now sold.  Items that were selling for $3 are now coming close to $10.  Autographed items that were getting 1-2 bids are hitting double-digits.  And the new stuff is going at prices that are through the roof.

Check out this 2009 Topps Tribute card.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230426320021&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

Now I understand that it is a 1/1 and it is also a beautiful card. I also understand that it is a brand new release that may never be seen again due to its rarity, but two months ago this card may have sold for $75 – Maybe!

I am very thankful that I was able to stock up on Dawson stuff like I did prior to January 6.  I added some great stuff, some of which I have yet to show off.  Lucky for me that I have enough to hold me for a few weeks until this huge spike in popularity and prices dies down a little. 

If the prices and action for Andre Dawson related items stays this hot for more than a month or two, I may have to put the collection on the back burner – my wallet can’t take this!!!

But I do have to admit that I love the attention Andre is getting.  It’s long overdue!!!

Eddie Murray 1988 Donruss – Baseball’s Best

Eddie Murray 1988 Donruss – Baseball’s Best

The 1988 Donruss Baseball’s Best design is not an award winner.  But for a card featuring a Baltimore Orioles player, it works well.  Very well, in fact!!

There is such a strong presence of the color Orange throughout the border of this card that any card featuring a team not using that color in their uniform instantly makes the card fail.

If you’re keeping track, cards of the O’s, Mets, and Astros have a leg up on this set.  The rest of the teams in the league are a step back.  Way back!!!

Did You Know…

The most Gold Gloves any player has won is 18 by Greg Maddux.  Both Brooks Robinson and Jim Kaat won 16 apiece.

**factoid courtesy of ‘Armchair Reader – Grand Slam Baseball’

‘Same Card, Different Paths’ – Card #35

‘Same Card, Different Paths’ – Card #35

1969 Topps - Card #597 – AKA – ‘The Rollie Fingers Rookie Card’

Bob Floyd – Floyd was a 7-year veteran and was primarily used as a utility infielder.  Over the course of his career, he appeared in just 214 games.  In total, Floyd collected 93 hits while batting .219.  He also added 18 doubles, 1 triple, 2 stolen bases, and 26 RBI.

Larry Burchart - Burchart made 29 appearances in the major leagues – all in 1969.  His career record is 0-2, with a high 4.25 ERA.  Used in middle relief, Burchart pitched a total of 42.1 innings while giving up 42 hits, allowing 28 runs, striking out 26, and walking 24.

Rollie Fingers – The accolades keep rolling in for this Hall of Famer.  Fingers is a Cy Young Award winner, an MVP Award winner, a 7-time All-star, and 3-time World Series champion.  Fingers has amassed 341 career saves with a 114-118 career record.  He finished his career with a 2.90 ERA and a 6.9:1 strikeout to walk ratio.

1989 Bowman Darryl Strawberry

1989 Bowman Darryl Strawberry

1997 Headline: “Don Mattingly Retires From Baseball”

On this day in 1997 the above headline, or something very close to it, appeared on every sports page across America.  Don Mattingly, ‘Donnie Baseball’, was retiring from the country’s national past-time.

Don Mattingly gave us 14 years.  14 wonderful years.  14 years of memories that will last and be passed down  from generation to generation.  Never the most talented player on his team, Mattingly was without question the leader of his New York Yankees team.  His incredible vision and skill as a contact hitter were remarkable.  And for a few years in the mid-1980′s he thrilled us at the plate as his batting average hovered close to .350 season after season. 

But Mattingly was not a 1-dimensional player.  When needed, he was able to hit for power and do it well.  Mattingly blasted 222 home runs in his career and hit 30 or more homers 3 times.  And then there was the 8-game streak in 1987 in which Mattingly launched a homer in each game.  A truly amazing feat by this great competitor!!

And to round out his play, Mattingly was a dominant defender at 1st base.  A 9-time Gold Glove winner, ‘Donnie Baseball’ could do no wrong when taking the field.  In 1,634 career games at 1st base, Mattingly committed just 64 errors.  That’s just 1 error per 25 games played and just 6 per year.  INCREDIBLE!!!

The Hall of Fame debate about Mattingly always makes for interesting conversation.  He won the MVP award one time, and finished in the Top 10 for the award 3 more times.  He has been to 6 All-star games, won 3 Silver Slugger awards, and has 9 Gold Gloves to his credit.  Whether he deserves to be in the Hall of Fame is an argument that could go on forever, but he will certainly go down as one of the best, if not the best, 1st baseman to play baseball in the 1980′s.

I Got My Andre Dawson Hall Of Fame Ball!!!!

I am speechless.  Yet I have so many things to say.

First, check out the ball!!!!

Awesome huh???  I got chills when I went to my mailbox and saw that the package was stamped from Miami!!!  Exactly 2 weeks from the day of his election was announced too!!  Pretty fast turnaround…

I have to wonder how many other collectors have a Dawson HOF item.  I would imagine it is very few.  And this is definitely my first time that I’m seeing his autograph with that perfect inscription.

I also wonder how ‘The Hawk’ feels now when adding the HOF addition to his name – it has to be a pretty fun thing for him!!!

I am on ‘Cloud 9′ with this one!!

The Official 30-YOC ’1975 Topps Cincinnati Reds Checklist’

The Official 30-YOC ’1975 Topps Cincinnati Reds Checklist’

It’s official now!!!  After asking for and receiving some help last week, I have completed my checklist for the 1975 Topps Reds team set I will be collecting.

My original goal was to get the 25-card team set featuring just the base cards, but it has now evolved into securing each and every card featuring the Cincinnati Reds logo.  25 became 34 very quickly as I have added multi-player rookie cards, league leader cards, and other parts of the ’75 Topps set featuring a Reds player.

Here is a look at the checklist:

1975 Topps Cincinnati Reds Team Set
“The Big Red Machine”
Card #	Player	Own it?	Notes
531	Anderson, Sparky
622	Armbrister, Ed		Multi-Player rookie
208	Bench, Johnny		1970 MVP
210	Bench, Johnny		1972 MVP
260	Bench, Johnny
308	Bench, Johnny		1974 RBI Leaders
235	Billingham, Jack
157	Borbon, Pedro
345	Carroll, Clay
507	Carroll, Tom
581	Chaney, Darrel
17	Concepcion, Dave
447	Crowley, Terry
615	Darcy, Pat		Multi-Player rookie
133	Driessen, Dan
621	Eastwick, Rawly		Multi-Player rookie
87	Foster, George
41	Geronimo, Cesar
284	Griffey, Ken
65	Gullett, Don
108	Hall, Tom
423	Kirby, Clay
481	McEnaney, Will
180	Morgan, Joe
562	Nolan, Gary
396	Norman, Fred
560	Perez, Tony
656	Plummer, Bill
369	Rettenmund, Merv
199	Robinson, Frank		1961 MVP
204	Robinson, Frank		1966 MVP
211	Rose, Pete		1973 MVP
320	Rose, Pete
602	Vukovich, John

A special thanks goes out to every one of the readers that helped guide me to this final list of cards to go after!!!

I am so eager to get going on this one – I can hardly wait!!!  And no mini’s for me.  I have very little love for them and I had to draw the line somewhere!!

Stay tuned as I will present each and every I card I pick up for this set as I secure them.  If all goes well, this should be a challenging but gratifying quest!!!

Jim Palmer 1976 Topps – 1975 ERA League Leaders

Jim Palmer 1976 Topps – 1975 ERA League Leaders

This card comes from the 1976 Topps base set and it celebrates the American League’s top pitchers based on their ERA.

Here is how they ranked:

1. Jim Palmer – 2.09
2. Jim ‘Catfish’ Hunter – 2.58
3. Dennis Eckersley – 2.60

What I think is most remarkable about Palmer’s performance in 1975 is that he kept and maintained that ERA while starting 38 games for the Orioles.  For a guy to pitch a total of 323 innings while allowing just 87 runs – that is a truly remarkable feat!!

And Hunter and Eck were not too shabby either… Hunter threw 328 innings while allowing 107 runs an Eckersley tossed 186 innings and gave up just 61 runs.

Oh yeah – 3 Hall of Famers too.  Take note…

Did You Know…

On May 27, 1960, Clint Courtney became the first catcher to use the knuckleball ‘big mitt’.

**factoid courtesy of ‘Armchair Reader – Grand Slam Baseball’