Category Archives: Twins

A Comment On Extreme Price Jumps

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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.

Mauer Is Back, Twins Watchable Again

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Yes, Mauer is back, no pun intended, after spending exactly 1 month on the shelf. I cant tell you how happy I am, as finally the Twins are actually watchable again. I love Justin Morneau, dont get me wrong, but for some reason, watching one without the other just doesnt seem right. 

Actually Mauer couldnt have come back at a better time, as the Twins are in the midst of a division series against the near first place Royals. Whoa, hold on, pick your jaw up off the floor, yes the Royals dont suck anymore – yet. 
You know what the great thing is? First at bat: GONE. Yeah, he takes a pitch the other way into the seats, making me feel okay in his returning clout. Mauer goes away with the pitches more than any hitter I have watched on a regular basis, enough to actually give the teams nightmares in their outfield shading. To see him back to business the first time he steps up to the plate makes me a little warm and fuzzy inside.
As of now, Mauer has had 6 hits in his first 8 ABs, and thats gotta make your week. I am hoping this continues.

Get Ready To Sock Some Dingers

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Its that time of year again, my friends, that time of year when the sky is usually blue enough that it hurts your eyes to look at, the time of the year when the titans of the game take off the training wheels and let ‘er rip. Finally, its opening day. Finally.

This year, its been tough to get excited with Mauer on the shelf for up to a month, and the Twins hurting in general, but everything always seems to work itself out. In fact, Mauer is far from the biggest name on the DL, as Rodriguez is out for a few weeks and Hamels is also out for a few weeks. Everyone is still recouperating from the WBC, and the fans are putting on their winter jackets to sit through the early games in the cold weather cities. Its still a wonderful time of the year.

To me, Football is obviously the bigger sport, and much more of delicacy considering the lack of games, but that doesn’t take all the excitement out of the boys of summer. I will say this, I did not re-purchase the baseball package this year, and I think that is a pretty good idea. You get to that middle part of the season where teams are on autopilot and you just get bored. At least I did last year. It becomes another job to get home and watch the games you paid for.

As for the hobby, I havent bought a box of baseball cards for myself in a long time, and Prime Cuts was really the only set I saw that was worth my time. I bought a box of threads with money I had won or gotten as a gift, so it really wasn’t the same as risking my shit for a box of cards that wasn’t going to produce. Baseball has become even more of a first world collector’s sport because there just isnt anything worth spending 200 bucks on for a box these days. Triple Threads is a disgusting excuse for a product, and Topps Sterling is even worse. I cant justify spending 200 bucks on a five hit box, let alone 250 on a 1 hit box or a 1 auto box, when the majority of the autos are worth less than 10 bucks on ebay.

Baseball should have a good season this year, though, as most of us are looking for another team to recreate the Tampa Bay miracle. Last year showed that payroll means nothing, and Baseball needed that. It didn’t stop the Spankees from spending a small country on Captain Cheeseburger and Mark Texiera, and if you were looking at how much was being thrown around, you would wonder what the hell people were talking about when they mentioned the bad economy.

Either way, today should have been a holiday, and it should be your top priority to get out to a park this week to enjoy the nice or shitty weather for playing Baseball. Im going to try to make an Angels game, but work sucks about that, so it may not be possible.

So, umm, PLAY BALL!