Nonsense Newsletter No. 169: Golf, early season baseball standouts, vintage hockey cards and more!
Welcome to another installment of the Nonsense Newsletter — the top-shelf newsletter in the trading card industry! This wee’s edition promises to delight and inform (as usual), and the Quick Hits section is dynamite as well! So, without further ado, I bring to you this week’s Nonsense Newsletter!
By John McTaggart
Currently, I am watching the Masters and am in awe at the majesty of the course, the beauty and complexity of the game, and feelings of how much I love golf are stirring inside of me.
I’m also wondering, as I sit here writing this column and watching the Masters, why I don’t deal in golf cards at all?
Heck, it seems like something that is right up my fairway, so to speak.
The game has great players, legendary ones, in fact. It has players with big personalities and players who are true characters in the sport.
It also has rising young stars and prospects on the horizon, waiting to make their mark on the PGA Tour or, dare I say, LIV golf tour.
Heck, I am even a regular follower of college golf thanks to The Golf Channel’s commitment to the amateur game.
So, today I’m going to start dabbling in this beautiful game, with this wonderful facet of the hobby.
So, where to start?
By John Dudley
I love early-season baseball. Each year brings changes with new heroes and busts, and I love checking box scores, stat pages, and watching early games to get a handle on those changes. Many players are off to a fast start. Others are wishing it were still Spring Training. The trick is to figure out which starts indicate a change in production and which ones are just the result of the ups and downs of a long season.
Knowing what players are hot is fine and dandy. We care about the cards, though, so let’s check out how these early successes are being received in the card market for five of the players off to a fast start and likely to continue. This week is for optimism. Next week, we’ll check in with the poor performers.
Quick Hits
Hobby News- Topps’ Easter Eggs are proving popular with collectors. The eggs come packed with 2025 Topps Series 1 cards with some exclusive Easter and Spring-themed parallels. It’s unclear what the exact odds are for autos or game-used are in the eggs, but they seem to be providing good value for the $12.99 price if you can find them at that price.
Vintage- Alas, some vintage hockey card stuff! If you’re a fan of early 1970s hockey cards… this era well might be the greatest article ever penned on the subject. Check it out here.
Hobby News- 2024 Heritage High Number is a runaway hit, but it’s not a great product for breakers, and so box prices are coming back down to earth. Hobby boxes spiked to over $200 after a fast sellout on the Topps website, but as breakers move on and collectors realize there are quite a few boxes out there, prices are on the decline and boxes are selling for $165 now. That’s still a great sign for Heritage, which has seen box prices typically decline after release recently.
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.