It’s not often I get to take a victory lap around here, but remember when I wrote this back on July 8th of this year: Yankees rookies who do well — particularly
It’s not often I get to take a victory lap around here, but remember when I wrote this back on July 8th of this year:
Yankees rookies who do well — particularly the ones who come out of nowhere — see their card prices skyrocket (and eventually fizzle when the fanbase sours on them for whatever reason). Enter Cam Schlittler, who has a 2.82 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, and an 11.6 K/9 over 76 ⅔ minor league innings this season. There’s one catch: he doesn’t have a card yet.
He has some of those “minor league team set” cards, but no Bowman or anything. And so this is like Steven Kwan, when he made his debut and his “only” card was a Topps Now one, which spiked for a few weeks until he cooled down and his prices plummeted. It’s worth $3 now.
How many Cam Schlittler cards did you buy back in July for $3? His base 1st Bowman is going for anywhere from $25-$35 on eBay, and if you wanted to get a numbered card of his you’d have to pay in the $200-$300 range for raw Bowmans (Buy on eBay).
via Topps
After his insanely impressive performance against the Red Sox last week, Topps released a Topps Now card of his, which will likely hit an insane print run, but hey it might have been worth a shot at his auto seeing that his Bowman autos are going for thousands of dollars, in some cases.
It’s not often I get to take a victory lap - and I’m way out of shape to do so without falling short of breath. So, you know, let me have this one.
Speaking of speculation, Topps released the first Topps Now card of hockey phenom Gavin McKenna. Don’t ask me if he’s worth collecting, but I figure that since we all missed the opportunity to retire on those can’t-miss-Connor Bedard rookie cards, we owe it to ourselves to take another shot.
I know Evan Parker in his way-more-boring-than-this-newsletter newsletter (editor’s note: Above the Mantel, which is a heck of a read) mentioned the return of licensed Topps NBA cards hitting the hot release last week - gee, thanks Evan.
A couple of thoughts from me: I do think the Victor Wembanyama licensed autos, even though they won’t be rookie cards, might actually top his Mercury Collection autos. People will pay up for licensed stuff - just ask anyone who collects Leaf cards.
I also want to caution those who are going to spend up big time for some of those Wemby or even Cooper Flagg rookie autos to be mindful of the fact that Topps is likely going to deluge the market this year with NBA cards. They have a number of properties that will hit shelves and you can probably bet someone else’s house on there being a Cooper Flagg collection, similar to the Wemby Mercury Collection, that will include short print, numbered rookie autos as well. Licensed ones, to boot!
It’s an exciting time to see Topps flagship have logo licensing, but just keep it cool, guys. There’s going to be plenty of releases this year and with each release will come mass hysteria.
Shadeur Sanders had a card sell for over $6k. We collectors are a fun bunch, aren’t we?
Funny observation of the week: Rockets second-year shooting guard Reed Shepard is a “tiny auto” guy (Buy on eBay). They say you can’t give this guy too much space on the court, but off the court that strategy certainly doesn’t apply.
It’s very Anthony Richardson like (Buy on eBay).
You know the famous saying, fellas: get you a newsletter that can do both.
Here’s where my head was at this week. First, the fun little viral moment (or burn, maybe?) where former WNBA player turned-Internet model (you know what I mean…) Liz Cambage was seen at a Drake concert with current NBA player Kevin Durant.
Naturally, the world wondered: are they dating?! Ms. Cambage came out with a hard “Nah.” No shame in that.
But, the news got me thinking about my collector rule of thumb: collect athletes who have over 1 million followers on Instagram. Remember Sophie Cunningham? Yeah, 1.3 million followers. So I checked Ms. Cambage’s Instagram and wouldn’t you know: she has 1.2 million followers. That seems pretty significant, right?
Then I went and checked eBay and you can get a “rookie” auto, numbered to only /99, of Ms. Cambage’s for under $20 (Buy on eBay). If you want a Sophie Cunningham auto /99 then you’ll have to pay up to $900 for it.
Wild, right? TMZ literally used front page real estate on a photo of her and Kevin Durant. Am I crazy? Doesn’t that seem like a massive market disconnect.
Otherwise, if you’re not looking for former-WNBA player turned Internet model as a potential investment, Topps is releasing the brand new Disney Wonder set on October 15th! That one looks really fun.
I picked up 3 Mega Boxes from Fanatics during the pre-sale. Mark your calendar for the 15th and grab yourself a few boxes of this brand new set.
See? Get you a newsletter that can do both.
Disclaimer: Mantel may earn a commission through eBay if you buy anything through links in this newsletter.
Category: General Sports
