2008 Spectrum

I went and got a blaster of Spectrum last night. No detailed breakdown, but you'll see how the box went in the style of a 1st grader: 2 words or less and pictures.

Meh.

Decent.

Better.
MUCH Better.
Best.

2008 Allen and Ginter

Well I know where my money is going. The sell sheets for this went out today and I'm highly anticipating this set. I do need to finish last years set though. Just looking over the checklist, here are some of the non-baseball highlights with some still to be determined:

Stevie Williams - Pro Street Skater

Matt Biondi - Olympic Swimmer

Kerri Strug which will probably feature either this or this image

Nicky Hayden - Motorcycle Racer

Joey Chestnut - Pro Eater

Bonnie Blair - Olympic Speedskater

Dan Jansen - Olympic Speedskater

The DNA card makes a return and instead of there just being one, there are 8 subjects which are slated to be Abraham Lincoln, John Adams, Andrew Jackson, JFK, Jackie O, Alexander Hamilton, a Wooly Mammoth and a dinosaur fossil. World Leaders, Baseball Icons, US States and Ancient Icons are all inserts now, making the master set that much harder. Cut Sigs are back with Daniel Webster, John Paul Getty, J. Edgar Hoover and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle leading the way of what has been determined at this time. A cut sig of L. Ron Hubbard is included in the list which should be put on e-Bay as soon as someone gets it in hope of Tom Cruise paying a lot of money for it.

The Future Is Now!

While trying to get caught up on my blog reading and everything else, (yes yes, apologies about the lack of posts. Hopefully once exams are over in mid-May, there will be more posting) I was reading that dayf had a prediction about the inclusion of celebrity autos becoming more commonplace in the hobby. Well low and behold 2008 Spectrum did just that, which dayf missed in the sell sheet, which is even more hilarious because he commented on the Winkler auto over at Wax Heaven (you know I'm just ribbing you dayf.) So after looking at some stuff and taking a gander on e-bay for what's available right now, here's my thoughts on the whole thing. I figured it might take a few years to get to the point where the "stars" that are signing the cards are at the level of the utility infielder/rookie autograph that is often the hit of a box. Nope, looks like they went for medicority right out of the gate with most of the autos (at least the ones that are on e-bay right now) being from 80's hair metal bands and not the people that you've usually heard of from said bands. Oh sure, there's Sebastian Bach and Dee Snider, but for every one of those, there's 5 Dan Dokkens or Mark Mendozas listed. The best ones I see listed are a few Tom Bosley, Larry Hagman,and Eric Roberts cards. There's one Henry Winkler and it's a die-cut SP. There is also one of the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld. I mean, couldn't you get all of the people that played bit parts on Seinfeld to sign cards? And I'm sure Michael Richards isn't doing a whole lot these days. At least most people would recognize them where as no one can tell the difference between the bassist from White Lion and the lead singer of Ratt. Get Jaleel White, Jodie Sweetin, Bob Saget, Craig T. Nelson, Dustin Diamond even someone like Jeff Probst who might just be a host, but I know who he is. I'd feel like I'm getting some value out of the cards at least then. Also, if you're a new collector, around the age of 13-15 and are being drawn in with the celeb autos as being one of the selling points, wouldn't it make sense to have autos of someone these kids would recognize? I'm not saying make every card someone from the Disney Channel, but maybe make some cards that are known by both the older and younger set like Hillary Duff or Shia Labouf. Now I understand that you can't make every autograph a big celebrity like Matt Damon or Bruce Springsteen, but there are recognizable faces that are more than willing to shame themselves on reality shows for weeks and weeks. I think they'd be open to doing one day of autographs and I know UD has the money. So basically what I'm saying is that if I want a box of overpriced crap celebrity autographs, I'll buy a box of Donruss Americana because at least most of those people I've heard of.

Jordan Schafer - HGH User

http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/braves/stories/2008/04/08/schafer_0409.html

The top prospect in the system has now been tainted. Hopefully, he'll not be effected by this and still be a great hitter when he makes The Show.