Nonsense Newsletter #25: Is Aaron Donald the Hottest Player in the Hobby? Hockey Playoffs! The Guys go Gaga for Marvel!
Sponsored by SGC Cards gosgc.com
Welcome back to another action-packed issue of the Sports Cards Nonsense Newsletter! Our 25th is a doozy with a look at the hockey playoffs, Jesse and Mike getting wild with some Marvel cards, and a new way to evaluate player popularity.
Contributor: John McTaggart
There is hockey season… and then there is playoff hockey season. It’s a completely different space in reality — a completely different mindset and attitude.
The hits are harder, the speed faster, and the intensity is off the charts.
For hockey card collectors, it’s a chance to single out that card or two that can make a real splash in the chase for Lord Stanley’s Cup.
Heading into the postseason, I’ve got my eyes on a trio of potential Stanley Cup heroes — and in turn, perhaps the opportunity for a quick flip for collectors or before-the-puck-drops bargains for collectors.
Evgeny Kuznetsov (Washington Capitals) — The 29-year-old center lives in the very large shadow of superstar center Alexander Ovechkin (as does most every other player in the entire league), but he’s a stud, and the numbers back it up. He’s a point-per-game player (77 points in 77 games this season) and can turn heads with his playmaking skills.
His 2014-15 Upper Deck rookie hovers around the $115 mark, and for a player of Kuznetsov’s ability, that’s a deal.
A solid postseason run from the Caps this season, which despite the team’s lower seeding, can happen, will brighten the lights on Kuznetsov without a doubt.
The guys rip a 1990 Marvel Impel sealed box. They document and see if they can make their money back!
This was Sports Boi's favorite rip ever! Make sure to checkout to see why!
Contributor: John Dudley
What’s hot right now? It’s a question all collectors ask and it’s an important one. Figuring out which players are trendy can greatly impact buying and selling decisions. But how do we answer this question? Normally, we check prices, look at the internet or news chatter, or just go with our gut.
The first option is good but doesn’t always lend itself to comparisons and can be a pain to calculate or research. If Tom Brady’s Bowman RC goes up $500 and Elijah Moore’s Mosaic RC doubles, who is trendier at the moment? The second leaves one vulnerable to the biases of the most vocal online. The latter is easiest but is often inaccurate if we are honest with ourselves. What’s a collector to do?
A New Measure
That’s where this swanky new measure comes in. OK, maybe not swanky. It is simply the percentage of all eBay listings for a player’s rookie that are auctioned. Let’s call it auction percentage for simplicity or the swankometer if you’re feeling fancy. The idea behind it is that sellers are more likely to use auctions when a player is popular and in the news and less likely to do so when a player is being ignored for whatever reason (injuries, poor performance, bad team, etc…).
I calculated the auction percentage for each of what I considered the 60+ most popular NFL players. I easily could have missed someone so let me know if your favorite isn’t on the list. I did this simply by searching for the player’s name plus RC on eBay and then I calculated the percentage of listings that were auctions. I restricted my list of NFL players to vets as rookie players, in general, are more likely to be auctioned. The complete list of 62 is at the bottom of the article.
Table 1: Top 10 NFL Players by Auction %
Quick Hits
Grading- PSA has already graded over 1300 2022 Topps Series 1 cards. Unsurprisingly, over half are Wander Franco cards. It looks like quality control at Topps was good this year as his cards have high gem rates with one exception. His Gold /2022 parallel is proving to be a tough grade early on with a gem rate of 34% compared to 68% for his base and other parallels combined.
-J. Dudley
Vintage- Admit it, we all secretly hope to have something like this happen to us. A couple who purchased a home back in the 1970s stumbled upon a small tin box of baseball cards when they decided to renovate. And, you guessed it, it was stuffed with over 150 baseball cards and the find was even featured on an episode of the Antiques Roadshow.
Read more about it here
-J. McTaggart
Pop Culture- This week saw a product hit the shelves of Walmart that combines two of the hobby’s biggest trends: NFTs and non-sport cards. DC and Cartamundi created a hybrid DC comics NFT set where you get physical cards that come with NFTs. If nothing else, this is one of the few comic sets that actually utilizes art from big-name comic artists.
-J. Dudley
Need More Nonsense?
Even in bad condition and altered, the Honus Wagner T206 still commands over a million. Check it out for more on the massive sale.
Who’s off to a great start in baseball? More importantly, what cards are moving up to start the season? Some decent answers to these questions in this look at five players whose cards are going up.
Unfortunately, stories about card thefts are on the rise, but here’s one with a bit of redemption and a great ending. It took twenty-five years, but right won out as someone returned cards they stole as a twelve-year-old after a couple of decades.
Upcoming Events
The guys are back with their Tuesday and Thursday shows for the Podcast. UFC journalist, Areil Helwani, will be joining the Podcast. In addition, Mike and Jesse will include a giveaway in the episode.
Mike and Jesse will also be getting a box of NT football to break 1-2 days before release. They will be going live to open it. Make sure to join to get a sneak peek of one of the hottest football products.
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The Sports Card Nonsense newsletters reflect the opinions of only the authors and contributors. They are for informational purposes only, and are not a recommendation for purchases or of an investment strategy or to buy or sell any assets.