2012 Sportkings Series E

I've always been a fan of retro cards, including Sportkings, but until now, Rickey's never been included in one of their releases. As of the Series E release in May, however, I'll have a few new cards to track down.

I had to crop this image from the sell sheet, so it's not the best quality, but it gives you a pretty good idea about what the card will look like. Along with the base card above, there will also be a mini version, and silver and gold mini parallels limited to 7 and 3 copies each, respectively. There also looks to be a new parallel with this release, "Premium Back" cards, which each contain a single letter, and can be combined to spell "Sportkings" to be redeemed for special insert cards.


Here's the full version of the sell sheet, which gives you a few more details about the set. Collecting all of the mini parallels would prove to be difficult (and expensive), but I hope to at least be able to add a base card and mini to my Rickey collection when they are released in a few months.

Favorites from the month of February

I was actually on top of things last month, and scanned the new additions to my collection as I received them. But, I forgot to actually post the pictures, which kind of negates being prepared. Here's some of my favorite pick-ups from the past month, with the HD Platinum probably being at the top of the list. The Topps HD parallels are impossible to find (I think this is only the 2nd one I've seen on eBay in the past 3-4 years), and I managed to get a great deal on this one!

2011 ITG Heroes and Prospects Heroes Jerseys Silver #26 S2 PR/150

2005 Leaf Certified Materials Fabric of the Game A's Jsy 98 #/50

2003 Donruss Elite Aspirations 168 #/65

2000 Topps HD Platinum 42 #/99

2003 Donruss Classics Timeless Tributes 70 #/100

2004 Leaf Exhibits 1939-46 Best Wishes Left Second Edition 39

2011 World Stars by Brothers Inc.

While perusing eBay a few weeks ago, I came across an auction for a product that I knew nothing about, and had not seen mentioned on any of the message boards I frequent, 2011 World Stars by Brother's Inc. in Japan. While I'm obviously a fan of the new cards released by Topps (although I wish they didn't have an exclusive MLB license), it's the oddball collectibles that really pique my interest, and these definitely fit the bill.


The World Stars set is comprised entirely of autographed baseballs, but with the twist that randomly inserted boxes (1:12 odds) will include original hand-painted autographed baseballs. The detail on these paintings is pretty incredible, and you can tell it's something that the artist (Mayumi Seto) put quite a lot of time into.




The set includes not only baseball stars, but football and basketball as well , along with a few other random "celebrities." The full checklist can be found here, which also breaks down the number of each type of baseball that is included in the set.


The Rickey baseball looks to be one of the more limited releases, with only 1 art baseball, 1 black baseball, and 2 SP "full-name" baseballs. The full name balls are kind of interesting, as I don't think I've ever seen Rickey sign anything that way before.


An image of the Rickey SP black baseball wasn't available, so this Mike Tyson will have to do. I love the look of the balls, as they are definitely unique and not something that you run across often. If you put one of these in a case with your "regular" autographed balls, it would definitely get its share of attention.

The boxes definitely aren't cheap (they're $119.99 each, but you do get free shipping from Japan, and can be purchased here. Like all box breaks, you're playing the odds, but with the chances of puling one of the nicer art balls, or even the a sweet SP black ball, it just might be worth it.

2012 Topps Golden Giveaway

On the heals of their successful "Million Dollar" and "Diamond" giveaways, Topps recently launched the website of this years promotion, the Golden Giveaway. By entering codes randomly inserted in packs, you are rewarded with either a virtual gold coin, or if you're lucky, an exclusive Golden Moments card, which can be requested and delivered at a later date.

According to Topps, the odds of receiving a a regular Golden Moments cards (the set consists of 100 players) is 1:15 codes. There's also a gold parallel (1:200 codes), as well as a 14k gold 1:1 version (1:20,000). Along with the Golden Moments cards, there's also 14k gold 1:1 versions of all 330 Topps Series 1 and 2 base cards, but the odds aren't much better (1: 6,666).

2012 Topps Golden Moments # GMDC-20

2012 Topps Golden Moments Gold Parallel # GMDC-20

2012 Topps Golden Moments 1:1 Gold # GMDC-20

Unlike in previous years promotions, you don't get an actual "vintage" Topps card with every code that you redeem. Since the odds of the Golden Moments cards aren't that great, you're more likely than not to get a virtual gold coin. If you collect all 30 coins in a single category (current MLB Stars, past MLB greats, MLB teams, with the rare 30th coin having odds of 1:6,666), you instantly win a signed Willie Mays card.

The coins will not actually be produced, so unless you want to print out and cut up this picture, there's no need to attempt to track one of these down.

The cards themselves probably won't be produced and able to be shipped for a few months, but once they are, I'm sure they'll flood eBay fairly quickly.