Nonsense Newsletter No. 81: A Bowman baseball check-in, Matthew Tkachuk, vintage hockey, Star Wars Sapphire & More.
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This week, we pulled out all the stops for y’all! Why? Well, because y’all deserve it, that’s why! John Dudley conducts a check-up on Bowman baseball that will blow your mind. I discuss my bromance with all things Matthew Tkachuk, plus the Quick Hits section, well, you guessed it — it’s fabulous again! And, if that wasn’t enough reason to get excited, we’re celebrating the birth of a new Nonsense Newsletter follower (The brains behind this whole outfit here, Tamara, had a baby!) Let’s party! So, as the holiday weekend inches itself closer an closer to reality, start the rest and relaxation mode early by kicking back and enjoying this week’s edition of the Nonsense Newsletter!
Contributor: John Dudley
2023 Bowman is a hit and Bowman Sapphire recently ushered in a new era of Dutch auctions for Topps. With Bowman on the brain, I decided it’d be a good time to check in on the minors to see how former (and current) Bowman darlings are doing. The season is far from over, but the players have enough at-bats to evaluate them. Note that I said at-bats as I’m not looking at pitchers here. At all. It’s just gotten too hard to predict pitching performances to bother.
When looking at guys in the minors, I tend to focus on players 23 and younger. It is just too much of an uphill battle for guys who are older to make noise in the hobby. It doesn’t mean the occasional 24 or 25-year-old never gets hot in the hobby. It is just more likely to happen for the youngsters. I’m also trying to stay away from likely call-up guys in this article, but will mention that Colton Cowser, Elly De La Cruz, Matt McClain, and Mark Vientos look ready now and are biding their time terrorizing poor pitchers in the minors. The guys I’m looking at should finish the year still in the minors, but I could see a couple of them getting a cup of coffee in the majors.
Contributor: John McTaggart
Every year, in every sport, there’s someone that rises to the top of the heap, comes out of nowhere and basks in the intense glow of the postseason.
In the NHL, during these Stanley Cup playoff run, this guy is clearly one of my favorite players, and I couldn’t be more happy about it.
It’s Florida Panthers standout, and former Calgary Flames member, Matthew Tkachuk.
To say this guy has been on fire on the ice is an understatement.
Tkachuk has led his Panthers to the Stanley Cup Finals, including scoring the game-winning, series-clinching goal late in the third period of game four against the Carolina Hurricanes May 24.
He’s second in scoring in the postseason with 24 point heading into game one of then finals, and third in both assists and goals.
In short, he’s been the standout player of the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs — and he’s not done.
For folks such as myself, folks who follow the Calgary Flames, Tkachuk’s success and new-found stardom is nothing new.
We knew he could play, it’s just Calgary isn’t always the best place to get the kind of attention needed to really shine — neither is Florida for that matter, but the team has been dazzling thus far.
Quick Hits
Pop Culture News- Star Wars is getting the Sapphire treatment from Topps again. This time they are skipping ahead to the Return of the Jedi Topps set from 1983. It makes sense for the 40th anniversary, but hopefully, they’ll go back to the Empire Strikes Back set next year. They’ve added some goodies to up interest including buybacks and autos from the biggest names in the franchise.
Vintage- It seems weird to me to be writing about vintage sports cards and citing 1983-84 O-Pee-Chee hockey as being of that stock — but it is. Which also means that if I were a trading card I would be vintage as well - scary. Either way, Sports Collectors Daily takes a great look at this underrated set in hockey history — a set that included Gretzky, Scott Stevens, and more! It also has a card of Lanny McDonald and his mustache (which might be the greatest in professional sports history). Check it out here.
Hobby News- Topps Series 2 is coming out soon and Topps did presales already. Of note, they upped the price of Jumbos to $200. While the format was the clear winner in Series 1, it is not as loaded compared to others this time around. Check out the odds from Topps here to see which version is your best choice.
Grading News- I don’t get the allure and there have been some public debacles that raise eyebrows (ahem. Jake Paul’s GI Joe cards), but PSA’s pack grading saw big gains last month up 40% in volume. I’m curious to see if this is a trend or just them catching up on some backlog of packs. We’ll see if the trend continues next month.
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.