Blog bat around: 50K on ebay

Recently, Gellman of Sports Cards Uncensored posed an open question to the blogosphere:  If given $50,000 and 15 minutes to spend on cards on ebay, what would you buy? An interesting question, to say the least.  My first thought was that it was stupid, because there’s no way I could spend that much money in only 15 minutes.

But then I got to thinking that it wasn’t so much what you’d spend 50 thousand dollars, but what would you buy if money wasn’t an issue?  Now that was something I could wrap my brain around!

Like most of you, I’ll assume, my collecting has been on and off over the years.  I was a kid, and collected because my dad did.  I stopped in high school because I discovered video games.  I picked back up in high school because autographs and game used jerseys were being inserted in packs!  I stopped in college because I discovered beer.  I picked back up in college because I interned in minor league baseball and worked with an avid collector!  I stopped upon graduation because I had no money.  I picked back up because I got a job, found a card shop, and had money again!

My heyday, if you will, was the mid ’90s.  Not only does this mean that my collection is largely crap, but I also collected at the time relic cards were introduced. To this day, I’m still addicted to swatches of fabric in my cards.  Also, these were times when everybody thought that ALL cards would always go up in value and allow collectors to retire early because of their cards.  They’d be priceless!

So with my 15 minutes, I decided to find a mixture of cards that are timeless and define eras of collecting and cards that I’m currently obsessed with.  Yep – vintage and relics, polar opposites.  Hey, it’s my money!  First up, the singles.

1989 Upper Deck, Ken Griffey, Jr., RC.  PSA9:  $70. Not that I necessarily care about grading (I don’t own a single graded card, nor do I have any desire to), but I might as well make sure I’m getting the real thing since Gellman is paying for it.  This card defined Upper Deck, who, for those who don’t know, used to produce baseball cards.  The glossy card stock, high quality photos, counterfeit proof holograms and tamper proof foil packs revolutionized trading cards, and this card was the face of the revolution.  I’ve always wanted to add one to my collection.

1968 Topps Nolan Ryan RC, PSA 9: $900. This was THE card I wanted as a kid, though I never had the means to buy it.  I still don’t, without draining my savings account, but this is one of my top five or so favorite cards of all time.

1952 Topps Mickey Mantle RC, PSA 2:  $7,000. The condition stinks, but it’s guaranteed authentic.  One could argue that this is the most famous card of all time, other than perhaps the Honus Wagner card worth a small fortune.  I couldn’t find any of those on ebay, so I settled for the Mantle.

1989 Fleer Billy Ripken “error”: $18. Perhaps I’ve overpaying for this card, I don’t know.  The clock’s ticking, and I don’t have time to price shop!  I’ve always wanted this card.  The rules stated to keep things PG-13, so I picked up the blacked out version.

1963 Topps Pete Rose RC, PSA 6.5: $800. I’m not sure why this card popped in to my head other than the fact that I remember stumbling across it’s listing in a Beckett and noticing how much it booked for.  Again,  I generally don’t care much for graded cards, but it’s better to be safe than sorry with vintage cardboard.

2008 Topps Sterling Babe Ruth game used bats: $400. Or maybe these are seats – there’s no telling these days.  I love jerseys and relics, so it’s only fitting that I’ve hypothetically added a Ruth to my collection.

2005 Elite Babe Ruth pants: $400.

2005 Throwback Threads Babe Ruth/Ted Williams/Willie Mays triple game used: $400. There’s nothing particularly aesthetically pleasing about this card, but it came up when I search for “Ruth game used”.  I’ll take one, please.

OK, time is running out, I’ve got to cut the crap and go straight for the cases! I’ve always wanted to buy a case, but I could never justify spending $1,000 on something like Sweet Spot.  I can, however, justify spending Gellman’s money on Sweet Spot.  Unfortunately, pictures were generally not available for me to swipe, so I’ll list the cases in my virtual shopping cart.

• 2007 Sweet Spot Signature: $900
• 2007 Sweet Spot Classic: $1,450
• 2008 Sweet Spot Baseball: $1,589
• 2009 Sweet Spot Baseball: $2,255
• 2007 Topps Sterling Baseball, 10 box case: $2,069
• 2009 Topps Sterling Baseball, 10 box case: $2,189

And with that, my time is up.  My grand total is “only” $20,840.  I couldn’t think of any more singles that I had to have, and I suppose I would’ve tried to order more than one of each case if they were available.  This was a fun experiment, and I was able to hypothetically add a few of the cards I can only dream of owning to my collection in addition to the promise of great game used and autograph hits from the cases of Sweet Spot and Sterling.  Of course, now I’ll need to invest in quite a few virtual top loaders for my haul.

So… how’d I do?