COLLECT THEM ALL!

How clever sports collectors are seriously cashing in on the pandemic

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This month a Honus Wagner card from 1911 sold for $6.6 million. Photo by Getty Images.
Bookie Busters: Money in the bank

After seven decades, since Willie Mays was a rookie, Major League Baseball is trading companies that sell baseball trading cards. Starting in 2026, sports apparel company Fantatics will have sole authority to produce cards bearing MLB team logos. Fanatics will be taking over for Topps as MLB's "exclusive partner" in the baseball card category.

Since the NFL and NBA are part of MLB's deal with Fanatics, Topps is left with Major League Soccer as its main pro sports property. Talk about bad timing, Topps is set to go public with an evaluation of $1.3 billion, although Mr. Wonderful on Shark Tank might argue that sales won't support that figure now.

Topps, which started as a chewing gum company, first produced baseball cards in 1951. With major sports leagues unavailable now, Topps may approach college conferences with trading card offers.

More bad timing for Topps - the sports card industry has exploded during the Covid pandemic with collectible cards increasing in value as much 500 percent the moment buyers leave the store. Card buyers are lining up outside stores before they open to race for the hobby aisle like the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona. Occasionally things turn ugly, like last May when four men assaulted another man who had just purchased baseball cards at a Target store in Milwaukee. The man pulled a gun on his attackers. No shots were fired and the four would-be muggers were arrested. This is why we can't have nice things – and Target can't have baseball cards on its shelves. Target only sells trading cards via its website now.

"To ensure the safety of our guests and team members, MLB, NFL, and NBA trading cards will no longer be sold in stores until further notice" – sign at Target customer service counter in Houston.

This month a Honus Wagner card from 1911 sold at auction for $6.6 million, a record for baseball cards. The previous mark was $5.2 million for a 1952 Mickey Mantle "rookie card," despite The Mick joining the Yankees in 1951. Years later Mantle would be victimized when Kramer sucker punched him in the jaw during a brawl at Yankees fantasy camp in Florida.

Other high-end sports cards include an autographed LeBron James rookie card ($5.2 million), a Luka Doncic rookie card for $4.6 million, and a Wayne Gretzky rookie card for $3.75 million – all sold this year. Doncic has played only three NBA seasons, how's this even possible?

I've never been a baseball card guy, other than flipping them into a hat when I was a kid, or playing closest to the wall, or knocking down leaners. I usually got wiped out by the kid who lived two floors up. You won't hear me say, "I'd be a millionaire today if my mother didn't throw out my baseball card collection from under my bed."

The 2004 Topps set didn't include Barry Bonds. Photo by Ken Hoffman.

I haven't had much luck with baseball cards as an adult, either. In 2004, I bought the "complete set" of Topps baseball cards at Walmart as a birthday present for my kid. Later I discovered that the Topps set that year didn't include Barry Bonds, only the greatest player of that era, maybe the greatest ever – if you can overlook his giant steroid (alleged) melon. Bonds didn't sign the Major League Baseball Players Association licensing agreement, by which big leaguers share equally in payments from baseball card companies. It comes to about $500 per year per player.

Bonds, on his way to becoming the all-time home run king, wanted to sell his own card and keep all the money. It wasn't until 2017 that Bonds and Topps reached a deal for a 2004 Bonds baseball card so collectors could complete their sets belatedly. Nah, I'm good.

Let's see how Bonds did that missing baseball card year. He batted .362, hit 45 homers and had an all-time record on base percentage of .609. If you're familiar with the Backyard Baseball video game for children, those are Pete Wheeler crazy numbers.

Here's where Bonds' 2004 stats get ridiculous. Between hits and walks, he reached base 376 times – despite having only 373 official at bats (walks don't count as at bats). He's the only player ever to accomplish that weird feat. Bonds walked 232 times that year, 120 of them intentionally. There's a record that will never be touched. The 120 intentional walks shouldn't be a surprise, though. Allowing him to walk to first was smarter than watching him trot completely around the bases. In 1998, Bonds was walked intentionally with the bases loaded. You can look it up.

Once I collected a baseball card against my will. I had just finished interviewing legendary Astros announcer Milo Hamilton at spring training in Kissimmee. He reached into his pocket and handed me about five Milo Hamilton baseball cards with a rubber band around them. He made them himself. They were autographed – "Milo Hamilton – HOF." I figured he signed them personally to me, thinking my nickname was HOF. No he meant "Hall of Fame." Hamilton received the Baseball Hall of Fame's Ford C. Frick Award in 1992. There is a special wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. for broadcasters.

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The Astros open the season against the Yankees this Thursday. Composite Getty Image.

Joe Espada has worked for an impressive group of managers.

Espada was an assistant for three managers who have won a World Series in Joe Girardi, A.J. Hinch and Dusty Baker before becoming a skipper for the first time after the Houston Astros hired him following Baker’s retirement this offseason.

As Espada prepares for his managerial debut Thursday when the Astros open the season against the New York Yankees, one of his former bosses had some advice for the 48-year-old.

“He just needs to be himself and not try to be any of the managers that he worked under,” Hinch said. “He’s going to find his own way and his own path. His instincts are great. His work ethic is great. His relationship with the players is great. I just encourage him to be himself and make the decisions he wants to make.”

Espada is one of eight managers who are either new or managing new teams in 2024. He joins Cleveland's Stephen Vogt and the Mets' Carlos Mendoza as first-time managers this season.

For Espada, settling into his new job was helped by the fact that he’d been with the Astros as their bench coach since 2018.

“I’m glad that the transition happened with a team that I already knew,” he said. “The relationships are important. Walking into an organization where you don’t know a ton of people, it takes time to develop that trust and connection with people. But having that here has made the transition that much easier.”

Espada is the only first-time manager this season who moved into the job with a team he was already with. Mendoza, who replaced Buck Showalter, worked as the Yankees’ bench coach from the 2020 season until he was hired by the Mets. The 39-year-old Vogt ended a 10-year MLB playing career in 2022 and spent just one season as Seattle’s bullpen and quality control coach before being tapped to replace Terry Francona.

Milwaukee’s Pat Murphy is one of three managers, along with Ron Washington of the Angels and San Diego’s Mike Shildt, hired this offseason with previous managerial experience. But Murphy has the least experience as a manager of the three after serving as interim manager for the Padres for just more than half a season in 2015 after Bud Black was fired.

Like Espada, Murphy remained with the same team when he became a manager after working under Craig Counsell as Milwaukee’s bench coach since the 2016 season.

Murphy, who was hired after Counsell left to manage the Cubs, said the experience he gained in that position has prepared him for his new gig. He added that he reached out to Baker, Joe Torre and Joe Maddon for advice.

“Nothing presents itself as super difficult,” he said. “I’ve learned a lot standing where I was for the past eight years, in terms of ‘maybe I’d do it this way,’ or ‘ah, that makes sense.’”

At 65, Murphy is among the league’s oldest managers. He believes waiting so long to get his first full-time job as a manager has helped him appreciate it more.

“Your ego gets challenged in this deal all the time," he said. "If you let your ego out, it’ll disappoint you every time. When you’re younger and you’re trying to prove yourself, to be known or let people know how great you are, it’s so stupid. But it’s what we do.”

Washington is back as a manager for the first time since resigning from the Texas Rangers near the end of the 2014 after leading them to two World Series trips in eight seasons. The 71-year-old Washington, who worked as an assistant for the Athletics and Braves after leaving the Rangers, will be the oldest manager in the majors after Baker’s retirement at 74.

Shildt is back to managing after leading the St. Louis Cardinals to a 252-199 record from 2018-21. Shildt, the 2019 National League manager of the year, spent the last two seasons as an assistant under Bob Melvin before being promoted after Melvin left to manage the Giants.

Counsell and Melvin are in a different position than the other six managers, jumping straight from one skipper gig to another.

Counsell moved to Chicago after going 707-625 in nine seasons with the Brewers.

Melvin joins the Giants after a 20-year career as a manager with Mariners, Diamondbacks, Athletics and Padres.

He talked about some slight confusion he’s had this spring.

“You know there’s some times I look at my (lineup) card and I see the Giants lineup and I turn it over to the other side because I just assume that’s the other team,” he said.

Melvin is thrilled to return to the Bay Area after he was born and raised there.

“It’s been great,” he said. “I’ve known a lot about this team the last several years, I’ve followed them really my whole life. They’ve made it easy on me.”

Espada was disappointed to have been passed over for a handful of jobs in the last few years before finally becoming a manager this year. But now that he has his dream job, he believes things are exactly the way they were meant to be. And he isn’t slowing down now that he’s in charge.

“Personal growth is important,” he said. “I try to every day just be better and I just make sure that I’ve surrounded myself with people that have my back and I have players that want what’s best for our team. So, I’m always seeking advice and trying to be the best I can in doing my job.”

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