Minor League Prospect - Emmanuel Garcia

The New York Mets have a real prospect at second base in their minor league system. Like some of their other recent prospects, this guy has some serious speed (think Carlos Gomez.) Emmanuel Garcia batted only .256 for St. Lucie in the Florida State League. However, he swiped 34 bases in 488 at-bats. And if and when he does make it to the bigs, and Rickey Henderson is still coaching, look out. Those 34 stolen bases could easily turn into 64 stolen bases in a season.

Here's a look at Garcia's 1st card, a 2006 Bowman Chrome. This card may not be fetching much right now (you can pick it up for about $1 before shipping on eBay,) it may skyrocket when Garcia gets his chance in the bigs.

Daisuke Matsuzaka Rookie Card

Daisuke Matsuzaka, or Dice-K, as he's called, has had an impressive 2007 rookie season. The 26 year-old from Japan finished the 2007 regular season with 15 wins and 201 strikeouts in 204.7 innings pitched to go along with a 4.40 ERA. The strikeout ratio and win totals are impressive.

The are several nice Dice-K rookie cards out there right now. The 2007 Allen and Ginter #210 Matsuzaka rookie card may be the nicest. Currently priced around $5, this card would be a nice addition to any card collection. It's got the classic look of Allen and Ginter cards, showing an international phenom on his MLB rookie card.

With Matsuzaka poised for a productive career with the Boston Red Sox (with or without the gyroball,) his cards should be picked up by any serious baseball card collector.

Baseball Card Prospecting

Prospecting for baseball cards that may dramatically increase in value has become both more fun and in a certain sense easier than it was in the past. It is more fun, because we have many, many more options to find a baseball card that can dramatically increase in value. It has also become easier with the advent of the internet and being able to search player statistics and card values online. That being said, it may also be more difficult than in the past, in a certain sense, because of the wide variety of options. There is the possibility of prospecting for many different minor league player cards, across different levels of professional baseball. So you might just end up spending money, and time, on finding players that just don't pan out.

It can be a lot of fun to prospect for these cards that will increase in value though. So even if you don't find that one prospect who will eventually burst out into a superstar, you still may have a good time looking for them. Here are a couple of potential superstars you might want to keep an eye on.

Radhames Liz
Playing for the Bowie Baysox of the Double-A Eastern League, Radhames put up some impressive statistics. The right handed pitcher 161 strikeouts in 134 innings pitched in 2007. This went along with an 11-4 record and a 3.22 ERA and 1 shutout. Radhames was brought directly up to the Orioles where he struggled a little, going 0-2 with a 6.93 ERA. He did maintain his power, racking up 24 strikeouts in 24.2 innings pitched. Look for Radhames to adjust to MLB hitting, and regain the form and statistics he accumulated in the Eastern League.

Mike Costanzo

Mike, a 2nd round draft pick of the Phillies in 2005, played third base for the Reading Phillies of the Double-A Eastern League in 2007. The 24 year-old batted .270 with 27 homers and 87 RBI in 508 at-bats. Although there is room for improvement in the batting average, the power is most certainly there. Mike was an EAS mid-season All-Star in 2007 and is currently playing with the Peoria Saguaros in the Arizona Fall League.

Monthly Value Tracker

Each month we'll take a look at a card, and compare its value from month to month, as determined by the official Beckett Baseball price guide. This month we'll track the Tim Lincecum rookie card from Upper Deck 2007 (#918.)

Beckett Baseball currently has this card pegged at a value of $30 in mint condition and a value of $12.50 in near mint condition. Since the Giants didn't make the playoffs, it will be interesting to see if there is any movement on the value of this card from this month to next.

Joba Cards

As Joba Chamberlain begins his ascendancy to stardom on the MLB scene (Canadian Soldier bug incident in Cleveland notwithstanding,) let's take a look at some of his baseball cards that may appreciate in value along with Joba.

The 2007 Bowman Chrome Prospects Autograph card. Very nice card. Pictures Joba in his Yankee uniform, glove on his left hand, baseball in his right. It has Joba's signature in blue across the bottom of the card. Beckett baseball recently listed this card number one on is "Hot List" with a price range of $175 - $250. It may be difficult to imagine, but this card very well might even increase in value from it's already steep price range.

The 2007 Finest Rookie Redemption Autograph Exchange. This light colored rookie card, with an action shot of Joba delivering the ball, and his autograph in blue ink across a hologram is an exquisite card. It would be a real fine addition for any Yankee collector. Beckett baseball currently lists this card as number 7 on its "Hot List." It is showing an estimated value of $90 - $150. Not as high a value range as the Bowman Chrome Prospects Autograph card, but just as nice, if not nicer, a card.

Finally, the 2006 TRISTAR Prospects Plus Farm Hands Autographs card of Joba Chamberlain is currently trading in the $50 - $100 range. It features a picture of Joba's face (looks to be in the throwing motion,) on the left side of the card with his signature in blue ink across the middle. There is quite a bit of open white space on this card. It remains a highly sought after card and a prospect for increase in value.

2007 Bowman Heritage Baseball

The 2007 Bowman Heritage baseball cards will be released on October 31st, 2007. This particular set pays homage to the 1952 Bowman Set. Each hobby box will contain one autographed prospect card and two relic cards, according to topps.com. Pre-sale hobby boxes are currently going for $68.49 on beckett.com. The 2007 MLB draft picks will be included in this set. Each box will contain:

• 24 packs
• 8 cards per pack

The picture at the right is of the 1952 Bowman Mickey Mantle (courtesy of http://www.mickey-mantle-baseball-cards.com/,) to give you an idea of what the cards in this set might tend to look like.

Getting (Back?) Into The Game

Okay, so you've decided to get back into baseball card collecting. Maybe you started collecting when Topps was the only game in town. Maybe you picked up the hobby when Fleer or Donruss became popular. Maybe you were collecting from a few of these distributors when the then "flashy" Upper Deck company got into the game. Maybe you're not getting back into baseball card collecting, but instead, are just starting out. Whatever it might be, congrats. You're about to get into a great hobby at a great time.

Some people long for the days when Topps was all there was, you got gum in every wax pack, and you could collect and entire set with a couple box purchases. Well, there is certainly some nostalgia to those days. However, baseball card collecting today has many more options to let you enjoy the hobby. There are autographs and game-used uniform pieces to be found in packs today. You can find reedemable certificates. There are different versions of the same card. In a word there is variety. So congrats on your choice to get start collecting (again, maybe.) Enjoy!

Starting Your Collection

If you're just getting started (or re-started) in baseball card collecting, you may be wondering where to begin. Whether you're collecting for yourself, or collecting with (or for) your kid(s), there are many ways to begin.

One great way is to pick your favorite team and player and begin there. Are you a big St. Louis Cardinals fan? Start there. Albert Pujols, Scott Rolen, Chris Carpenter and Jason Isringhausen would provide you with four all-star caliber players to start your collection with. Pick up a price guide at your local bookstore (Beckett and Tuff Stuff are two of the authorities on sports card collecting and price guides today.)

Search through the price guides for your favorite players, from their rookie seasons on through to this year. Your sure to find plenty of cards to fit your collection. There are common cards which are extremely affordable (under $1,) as well as rare limited production cards that are currently worth well over $100.

Begin searching these price guides for a start (or re-start) in the baseball card collecting hobby. There are plenty of places to go from there!

All-Star Veterans as Blue Chips

Baseball card collecting can be easily equated with the stock market. A certain amount of cards are issued by the companies, as stocks are. These cards are then traded in the secondary market in such places as eBay, thePit.com, and Naxcom. Likewise stocks, after being issued, are traded in the secondary market in such places as the NYSE, Nasdaq, and AMEX.

So, continuing the analogy, if you were starting out investing in the stock market, would you want to purchase a large amount of stock in a small company which might have been hyped up by a few of the "pros," but without an established track record and years of earnings growth and dividend payouts? You might want to start out elsewhere as a newbie to the stock market.

As a new investor, you might be wise to start purchasing the stock of an established "blue chip" company with a large market share, years of positive earnings growth and dividends paid out to investors. AT&T, McDonald's, Sony, Kraft, are some "blue chip" companies you may recognize.

As a new baseball card collector, you can equate rookies and some second year players to the smaller speculative stocks. They may have potential, or they may be a flash in the pan. They may be hyped up by the "pros" as having the tools necessary for success, but until they establish themselves through years of positive play and production, you cannot be assured that their cards will remain high in value.Established all-star veterans (with seven or more years of play for our purposes) can be compared to the "blue chip" stocks. They have multiple years of high quality performance, and can now stand the test of time as high-quality investments. They have proven that they can pay dividends and continue to do so in the future.

If you are just starting out as a baseball card collector, you might want to stick with the blue chips. Go with the guys you know. The ones with high market capitalization. Ken Griffey Jr., Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Jim Thome, Pudge Rodriguez, and Todd Helton. These guys have proven that they are performers, year-in and year-out. Their cards are good bets to provide value for you.

Baseball Card Valuation

Baseball cards can be valued in many different places. The secondary market for collectors is filled with opportunities for cards to be valued by card companies, retailers and individual collectors. So you can expect to find varying degrees of value based on where the card is traded, who is trading it, and what the current market for that player is (which is also affected by that player's current situation - on the field, in the news and otherwise.)

Let's take a look at some of the secondary markets right now, and see where identical cards are being valued in these separate markets. For our purposes, let's use NAXCOM, eBay and Beckett marketplace. Let's pick a few baseball players who are currently excelling on the diamond and see where they fall in. Let's also pick different expected price ranges, as graded officially in Beckett Baseball. One constant we'll need to have for our comparisons is a fairly equal grading of the card as sold in each secondary market (if currently available.)

Starting with Derek Jeter, and the 1993 SP Rookie Card, BGS 9, we come to one variable we will need to address. The seller of the card. Variations in price may be seen based on who is selling each card. In eBay, there is a feedback rating for each seller that will directly affect the "sale-ability" of that card. Beckett marketplace and NAXCOM don't provide quite as much information regarding the seller, but do provide indications of who the seller is and feedback about them. (NAXCOM for example lists seller feedback after ten sales are acheived by that seller.)

NAXCOM currently has two separate listings for the 1993 SP Derek Jeter, BGS 9. One listing is asking $300 while the other is asking $325. Beckett marketplace is showing one listing of a BGS 9 card, at $300. Searching recent eBay completed listings shows that this card at this grading level recently sold in auction for $255 with $10 in shipping, for a total of $265. This card was sold by a seller with a feedback rating of 99.9% positive. One reason you'll see such a large disparity ($60 in this case,) between high and low prices is the method that is used to sell the card. Fixed price sales will sometimes differ greatly from auction prices. If we want to get a better comparison of the actual secondary market for these cards, we'll need to compare fixed prices for the same card, as well as completed auction prices for the same card. Beckett Baseball currently lists the 1993 SP Derek Jeter BGS 9 (mint) card at $350. So you're getting a good price in the secondary market in any case above, based on where on of the market authorities currently values this card.

Let's move on to a more recent card, but a player performing at a high level recently as well. We'll look at the 1999 Bowman Chrome C.C. Sabathia BGS 9.5. Beckett Baseball currently has this card pegged as worth $25. The same card is being sold in the NAXCOM marketplace for $22.25. Fairly comparable. The card sold for $20 with $5 shipping as a "Best Offer" on eBay as of October 2nd, being bought from a seller with a 99.2% positive rating. Taking a look at Beckett marketplace, this card, graded one level down as a BGS 9, is being offered for $50. All but the baseball card offered on Beckett marketplace seem to fit into the range of value as determined by Beckett baseball. Overall, eBay proved to have the card with the lowest price, before shipping, and taking into account buyer risk.

Lastly, let's look at current Anaheim Angel, Vlad Guerrero's 1995 Bowman's Best BGS 9.5 card. Beckett Baseball has this card valued at $250. This card recently sold in auction on eBay at $155 with $4.50 in shipping from a seller with a 99.8% positive rating. The same card recently sold for $162.95 on NAXCOM, and is currently being offered for $195. Over at Beckett marketplace, a seller has this card listed at $300, one grade down as a BGS 9.

So, we can see that if you are willing to assume the risk of buying in an eBay auction, you can often find the best deals there. NAXCOM also has some card listings valued at a very comparable price to the value as listed in Beckett Baseball.