Category Archives: Morneau Monster

A Comment On Extreme Price Jumps

Posted on by
Reply

Over the last few weeks, Joe Mauer has been the best hitter on the Twins and possibly in the league, after returning from his injured back. I never really expected to see Joe have a good season, but when you are batting over .400, you have ECLIPSED your homerun total from last year, and have played brilliantly behind the plate, it requires some sort of attaboy from me and others around the league. What’s even better is that Morneau is having just as great of a season so far as well, more than I ever expected to see from him. Hitting behind Mauer helps quite a bit, but I will give credit when credit is due, these guys are having cloverfield sized seasons this early.

That’s not the issue I have, however. My biggest thing is now Mauer’s cards are so fucking expensive that I cant afford them anymore. As recent as two months ago, you could get his cards for close to nothing, and I did. Now, the cards are triple what I was used to paying for them, and I am quickly being priced out of the market. So, what do I do now? I have so much Mauer stuff that I could easily sell for a small fortune, but as a die-hard fan, I don’t think I could do it! My bat I got last year is going for over 300 in regular auctions, and my Bowman RC Auto is back over $100 for the first time in a while. For the first time since Peterson’s 296 yard record game, I am in a prospector’s dream position – I bought low and can sell high, but should I?

If it were any other player but my favorite, the stuff would be on eBay as we speak. My two baseballs, my bat, my mini helmet, my 40 auto cards, everything. However, I did not buy this stuff to sell it. I bought it for my own enjoyment, so that’s where it will stay. My advice to the rest of you who may find yourself in this position one day is to really determine what the stuff means to you. If you have something you could live without, sell it. If you cant, then don’t, pretty simple stuff. That’s the rules I live by, and I encourage you to take advantage of good prices when you can/want to.

There is still another pressing question, one that I may not have the answer to. When, during an epic price run, should you sell? You don’t want to hold it for too long until the player cools off and you miss your chance, but you also don’t want to sell too early and miss out on higher prices still. I have always had a rule in gambling, and I think it should factor in here as well, because prospecting a price of a card is like gambling in this industry. If I ever sit down at a Black Jack table or something similar, I will never risk anything past doubling my money, the odds are never in your favor that you will do much better than that. So why not just take the money and run? Sure, you could win more, but its more likely that you will lose everything back. With cards, I would never hold something longer than a 75% rise in value (100 rising to 175 dollars and such) unless there is an extenuating circumstance like I have with Mauer and Peterson. In football, do it as soon as possible, maybe even at 50% or less because the season is shorter and injuries are more likely.

Listen, when you have a bird in hand, don’t wait for it to become the two birds in the bush. Just take it, risk is never good in a hobby like this one, especially with the economy where it is. Why even take the chance if its something you are willing to dump? 99% of the time, you will be able to rebuy what you sell at a lower price. Then again, with a hobby also full of wax breakers who risk hundreds weekly, its not surprising to see someone try to hold something for value. Remember, and I have said this a million times, cards are not and never will be a good investment.

With Mauer, I am going to stay put, the stuff I have is too important to me, and most of it is personally obtained. I would say the same stuff about my AD collection, though the rest I would sell in a second if the price jumped. There is no reason for me to think any other way as Tom Brady and Albert Pujols were once in a lifetime opportunities, and I am not disturbed by the fact that I missed out on both.

Blog Bat Around: My Goofy Superfan Moment With My Favorite Player

Posted on by
Reply


During the summer of my senior year in college, I got some great info while listening to the radio in my car going to work. The announcer for KFAN, the sports talk station, announced that they would be sponsoring a signing of Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau on the Saturday before I went back to Washington. It was going to be at a Best Buy, one that was a reasonable distance from my house, but I was determined to get there.

I arrived at work with a huge grin on my face, hoping that the schedule would be forgiving enough that I could make the signing. I knew I would need an hour to get to the Best Buy, a few hours to beat the throngs of fans that would be showing up, and twenty minutes to go home and change. Luckily, I was not working until the evening shift, which gave me two hours after the signing to get there without a problem. Clutch, right?

According to my plans, I needed to get two baseballs for them to sign, and maybe a few cards that I didn’t mind ruining if they got screwed up. After work, I went to target and went straight to the sporting goods section, only to find that the official balls cost 15 bucks a piece. I dug in my pocket and pulled out the tips from the night before, praying that I would have enough for the balls and some tax. As I counted the ones, I came to a total of 36 bucks, plus money for gas. It couldn’t be any more key, at least not to me!

The day arrived and I could not even stay focused enough to pack my stuff that I needed for the long drive we would be taking the next weekend. I actually showed up about four hours before I needed to be there, just to make sure I had a good spot in line for the signing. I was number 5 in the line, and little did I know how important that would be later. After buying a lawn chair at target to chill in, I started talking with the other people in line. It was awesome to see the stuff they had brought. One guy had a complete set of the Twins Medallions, mounted, framed, and signed by every player and manager except for Mauer and Morneau. Another guy had some framed lithographs that looked absolutely amazing, and I wished that I had something similar. A lot of people came with the mini batting helmets, which I thought were awesome. Me? I just had my balls and a few cards. I knew it would be one auto per person, and I collect the signed baseballs. That’s what I came for. I figured Id have another chance at Twinsfest for the fun stuff.

As the hours past, we talked about collecting and the evil shops from around the Minneapolis area, just having a whole afternoon of talking about the Twins and their future. Around 4, they let us into the store through a back entrance (we were waiting outside), and I finally saw the magnitude of how many people showed up. The parking lot was jammed, filled with about 700-800 people all circling this Best Buy. It was a sea of people, and more showed up every minute.

I was still number five in line, and they brought us in to stand next to the podium and stage they had set up. After about ten minutes, we heard cheers coming from the back, which we knew were Joe and Justin coming into the store. They had a security escort through the back of the store, but you could tell they were just there to have fun. Justin asked me how long I had been waiting, and I said that I had been there since before noon. He thanked me for the support, shook my hand, and went to go sit down at his spot. I had brought along a blue ball point, but I saw that they had hundreds of pens on the table. I didn’t take any chances, so I had mine at the ready.

Joe was first and I put the ball, as instructed on the table for him to sign. He was signing on the sweet spot for the guy before me, so I was going to nicely ask for the same. I wasn’t going to sell the ball, but for display purposes, I needed a sweet spot sig for my collection. Before I had the chance to say anything, he picked up the ball and signed the loop, much to my surprise. My mouth kind of dropped open with a partial word, and he realized that I wanted something different. He said, “Oh, dude, im really sorry, I thought Justin AND I were going to sign this one.” I (very nicely, considering my shock) said, “No, its cool, my fault, can you please sign it again on the sweet spot?” He laughed and sort of gave me the ‘you sure about this?’ look before doing it. He signed again, and we both laughed pretty hard. He hit Justin on the shoulder and showed him the ball, and the Justin laughed.

I handed Justin a fresh ball, and he said, “should I do this one three times?” but I just laughed and said that he should sign the sweet spot. He chuckled and happily obliged. He thanked me again for waiting in line, and I started to leave. Joe shouted that he was sorry again, and I gave him a signal that it was cool with me. I mean, how often do you have a story like that? I still have both the balls, and I still tell the story to the people who come over and see my display. They always laugh about it with me, because they know it was all a part of the chase.

Funny enough, I went to Twinsfest that year with my then girlfriend (now wife), who was madly in love with Justin. Mauer and him were signing together again, and I couldn’t resist the temptation to get more stuff signed. She had a few balls with her, and I advised her that she needs to TELL Joe to sign on the sweet spot, because otherwise it will end up like my other one. As we approached she got kind of scared, but eventually lightened up. Justin signed her ball and picture, but she couldn’t bring herself to confess her love, thank god. She did just as I had told her with Joe, and he happily did what she said. Joe took one look at me and said, “Man, I promise I wont screw yours up this time!” Justin laughed, I laughed, and I told him I didn’t bring a ball this time, because I didn’t trust him. He laughed again, and signed my mini batting helmet perfectly.

You know, its these types of stories that makes me feel good about being a fan. You know that players who have a good time have the best fans, and you can count me among that bunch. Mauer and Morneau are my favorites, even though my wife said she would divorce me to marry Justin.