Mike Trout Giveaway Contest!

Plus: an SI.com article about an Aaron Judge rookie card goes bust

Author

Mike Junk Wax Hero
November 11, 2024

Happy Monday, collectors! If you didn’t see last Wednesday’s “Is PSA 9 A Bad Grade?” article, it may have ended up in your Spam or Promotions folder.

I’ve been updating my shelves behind me a little bit, and wanted to provide the full view. You never see the top shelf in my video, except in an occasional livestream.

I’m looking forward to the day when I have an office and can cover the walls with cards and other things.

Here’s the contest and how to enter:

The first subscriber to email me (you can reply to this email) and name every card on all 3 shelves will win the Mike Trout Home Run Challenge card, numbered to 612, plus a JWH sticker.

If you aren’t a subscriber and are reading this on the web, just subscribe and email me from the email address you subscribed with.

You do not need to name the ticket on the top shelf, but fake bonus points if you do. You do need to name the one that’s obscured by light.

You do not need to include the grades. Just tell me the set and player.

This is pretty hard! Don’t assume someone has already won.

My preference is that you name them from left to right, top shelf to bottom shelf.

PRESENTED BY

The Pennysleever’s Amazing Card Products

Here are their products that I use:

Feel-good eBay Aaron Judge Rookie Card Story Goes Bust

After last week’s newsletter story from Sports Cards Nonsense went bust, I had to spike an article for SI this weekend. I’m sure this happens a lot for “real” writers, but it’s not something I want to get used to.

The story came to me from a viewer named Riley, and it was a really nice story about someone buying an Aaron Judge Topps Gold rookie off of eBay. The seller made a mistake in the listing, and they ended up seeming to bond over it and the seller let the buyer keep the card.

The buyer sent me all the messages between them, and it was a really cool story. Unfortunately, when I reached out to the seller, he no longer felt good about it. I couldn’t publish a feel-good story under those circumstances. It no longer felt good.

I was really proud of the article too. I’m pretty bummed about it.

I’m always looking for hobby stories, preferably about “regular” people. Please send any you see my way. A big thank you to Riley for sending me this one.

Where’s the Autograph?

A longtime viewer who goes by “Stick” emailed me this Goldin auction for a Roger Federer card that was apparently supposed to be autographed, according to both the front and back of the card:

The card graded a 6 with PSA. No word on if the submitter asked for the autograph to be graded.

🗣️ YouTube Comment Of The Week

🎬 Upcoming Videos

I don’t usually do video responses, but I’ve considered a few recently, and I think I’ll do one for John Mangini’s “If I were hobby president” prompt.

📩 Upcoming Newsletters

  • 1990 Topps George Bush story

  • Are eBay sales down?

  • Topps and the worsening collation

  • I am still trying to get a quote from Andy Broome about the newly-discovered T206 card. Some net54 users are convinced that it’s a fake, so I am editing the original article to highlight their concerns. CGC reportedly had layoffs last week, so I’m not holding my breath for a response but won’t stop trying.

  • And more!

So I’d like to ask you:

What's your preferred number of newsletters I send per week?

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🎬 Channel Highlights From the Past Week

Pretty weird to have a three-video week. Work has been crazy for more than a month, and last week was especially crazy.

I did get out another ACE100 video, though:

I really enjoy that series, and the people who watch it seem to as well.

On Sunday night I was on Dan’s Vintage Baseball PC for a Yaz livestream with living legends Mark Hoyle and John Keating, and that was very fun. Amazing collections.

🎁 My Pickup Of The Week

I didn’t buy anything, but here’s one I really wanted:

It sold on Goldin for $2,044. I didn’t bid because I knew it would go for way over what I could pay. This card isn’t the Ashe card I selected for my top 100 because it’s too rare. (PSA has only graded 17 of them.) What a coincidence that it popped up for sale a few days later.

👻 Brief Horror Movie Review of the Week

I jumped in the time machine to 2009 and watched The Orphan on Saturday morning. I will watch pretty much anything that has Vera Farmiga, and the concept sounded good. About halfway through I started realizing that it was basically as if someone pitched the idea of “Problem Child but it’s a horror movie.”

It was decent, but pretty formulaic.

3 out of 5 stars.

Then on Sunday morning I started watching 1983’s Sleepaway Camp, and wow does that not hold up. I had to turn it off about 20 minutes in. The acting is terrible, and the characters aren’t any better.

Someone recommended that movie to me recently, and now I have a bone to pick with them.

Health Update

Starting weight: 240

Current weight: 237

Weight lost: 3 pound (1.3%)

Goal weight: 210

Loss required: 30 pounds, or 12.5%

2 pounds lost last week, which is an improvement but not great.

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