30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Tuesday, August 11, 2020

Crazy Times

2020 has been one heck of a ride and it's not even close to being over.  There are still four and a half months left.  In just about every facet of my life things have either been crazy, unpredictable, or both.  I feel like I've aged five years over the past five months.

And now that there's less than a week left to prepare for the upcoming school year and the journey into uncharted waters, my mind has been racing and it feels like an anxiety attack in the making.

The
feeling of being prepared is the best way for me to combat this issue, which is why I've been submerging myself in webinars and professional development.  But there's a fine line between preparation and burnout, which is where the hobby and sports come into play.  Both of these things help take my mind off of things.

Last night
in between phone calls with my father and friend, I went over to ESPN to check scores when I noticed that Fernando Tatis Jr. was their current cover story.  This didn't surprise me, since he's had a very solid start to the season as well as being on fire the past week or so.

2016 Bowman Chrome Prospects #BCP17

What did surprise me was the price of his 2016 Bowman Chrome Prospects rookie card.  Yup.  Before I skimmed the article, I checked to see what this card was selling for and was absolutely blown away.

A few weeks ago
, this card was in the $200 to $250 price range... which is crazy high considering I picked the graded copy above last July for $22.52.  Actually it was $59.99 + $3.95 shipping, but I applied an eBay Buck voucher and some remaining funds on an eBay gift card to lower my total cost.

Then
last week, the card started selling for over $400 with some fetching as high as $500.  But the mind-blowing sales took place yesterday.  Prices soared to over $700 with two different auctions ending in four digit figures.  That's just crazy.

Will the card be able to hold this value?  Will it eventually tank?  Or will it continue to rise?  Well... that'll depend on Tatis and his career.  However it doesn't really matter, since I have zero intentions on selling this card.  But it was a nice distraction during this stressful time.  And ultimately, I'm glad I was able to pick up this card before it skyrocketed in price.

In fact with my recent budget cuts, it doesn't look like I'll be adding any new Tatis cards to the collection until this generation's Fernandomania comes to an end.  While we're waiting for that to happen here's the heart of my Tatis PC:

     
2016 Bowman Chrome Prospects Purple Refractor #BCP17 (#'d 42/250)

      
2019 Stadium Club #88
2019 Stadium Club Chrome Refractor #SCC-80

2019  Stadium Club Autograph #SCA-FTA

2019 Topps #410
2019 Topps Factory Set Variation #410

          
2019 Topps Chrome #203
2019 Topps Chrome Negative Refractor #203
2019 Topps Chrome Sepia Refractor #203

2019 Topps Holiday #HW126

          
2019 Topps Holiday Metallic Snowflake #HW126
2019 Topps Holiday Variation #HW126
2019 Topps Holiday Relic #WHR-FT

2019 Museum Collection Archival Autographs #AA-FT

 
2019 Topps Living Set #173
2019 Topps 52 #NNO
2019 Topps Total #3

2019 Bowman Platinum #23

     
2019 Allen and Ginter #183
2019 Topps Stickers #219

I also picked up a
signed bat for my collection about a month ago, but I'll write about that another day since this post is starting to drag on and on.


Side note... by the time this post has been published, I'll be out of my Google Classroom training and should be working on this 1978 Kenner Star Wars puzzle that has been sitting on my dining room table for a few weeks.  I got off to a quick start and managed to get the borders, the X-Wing, and the Tie Fighter finished within two to three hours.  However the remaining pieces are all black and it's been a struggle.  I've only worked on it a handful of times since and have added maybe ten pieces in ninety minutes.  Unfortunately it's time to try and get the ball rolling again, because this is my online classroom area and it has to be cleared by next week.

Ugh.  Looking at all of these black pieces that look exactly the same is driving me crazy.

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!

16 comments:

Elliptical Man said...

I would definitely be selling it. I like the Topps Living and the factory set variation.

Good luck with the online teaching.

Johnnys Trading Spot said...

Nice little TAT collection in the works

Troublewiththecurve.net said...

2020 has put me into therapy and I'm not even kidding. I work in learning & development and we've spent the last 5 months pivoting face to face content to virtual learning. Next week we put it into action. Love the Tatis collection. Those Stadium Clubs are beautiful cards. I always said that I would never be a parallel collector but if I see a card that absolutely love, I will chase all of the different variations - especially if its a PC guy (Gary Carter, Mattingly, Cuddyer, Wright, etc...) I love the 2019 Topps Wilson Contreras. I think I have like 8 or 9 variations of that card. Would love to get a sepia refractor of it if there even is one. Maybe a printing plate would be cool too.

shoeboxlegends said...

Nice Tatis collection Fuji! I'd love to pick up a couple of his rookie cards but like you am priced out at what they're going for at the moment.

I give you props for even attempting that Star Wars puzzle, that looks intense!

The Lost Collector said...

That’s a nice collection. He’s a heck of a player.

Sean said...

Ha, that Star Wars puzzle does look like a nightmare! I remember owning a board game as a kid that had the same image on the front.

I think much more than Tatis' career, the long term value of that card will be determined by how much longer these insane prices continue. Seems to me we are in a temporary bubble that has likely been stoked by people staying home due to Covid and instead of spending money on other stuff (holidays, dining out, etc) they are spending it on cards. Whenever this pandemic ends, I'm thinking people will start re-prioritizing their spending habits and probably won't be buying cards as much as they are now, which will probably bring prices back down to Earth.

Well at least that might be what happens. Its also possible that people will have gotten used to their new activities (including spending gobs of money on cards) and won't go back to spending as much on holidays and dining out, etc even after the pandemic ends.

defgav said...

Tatis makes me proud and happy to be a Padres fan, something that we don't always have with our squad! Great PC you got there. I've got a few nice Tatis cards, but think you've got me beat handily.

p.s. Received the Kellogg's cards from you.. Thanks, Fuji!

SumoMenkoMan said...

Holy cow, you might have a nice little retirement fund going on there!
Good luck on the puzzle. I like doing puzzles, but all black is a bit much for me!

Jongudmund said...

I'd bin off the puzzle if it isn't fun. Jigsaws are meant to be fun, not tedious.

Matt said...

Nice Tatis collection! Good luck with the puzzle - If you get it finished, I hope you show it off here!

Steve at 1975BaseballCards.com said...

That puzzle is no match for the Force within you Fuji :-)

GCA said...

Dangit! I still need one of those regular Stadium Clubs to kill my set. Guess I'll be shelling out big bucks. Why can't I ever pull all these guys from packs???

sg488 said...

Sell it ,most cards long term ,don't hold their value these days.

Fuji said...

elliptical man - yeah. it's tempting, but i don't typically sell cards. if i ever got to the point where i needed money to pay the mortgage or put food on the table, i would.

johnnys trading spot - thanks. not sure i can afford to add anything else ;D

troublewiththecurve.net - keep your head up. i hope everything goes smoothly for you next week. and that contreras card is a beaut with the sea of cubs fans in the background

shoeboxlegends - i've pressed pause on the star wars puzzle. grabbed a piece of foam board and laid it down on top of the puzzle, so i can work on it whenever i want and still have a workspace

the lost collector - thanks. he's cooled off a little since i published this post. lol. hope i didn't jinx him

sean - i bought the puzzle, because it's the same image that was on my lunch box as a kid. excellent point on people spending money during covid. i was blown away at what some collectors are paying on certain cards right now.

defgav - he's really been the first padre i've wanted to collect in years. hope you're able to use some of those kellogg's. worst case scenario... they can be place holders

sumomenkoman - as of yesterday, i'm taking a break on the puzzle. between the online training and lesson planning, i need to give my brain a rest. bought a foam board and laid it on top of the puzzle so i don't have to look at it.

jongudmund - that's exactly what i did. can't focus on it while stressing over work stuff. maybe i'll go back to it when life mellows out a little

matt - it won't get finished anytime soon. i've put it on the back burner. but when i do, i'm sure i'll write a post on it ;D

steve at 1975baseballcards.com - sorry. the force is not as strong with me as you thought. i've put the puzzle on pause and am focusing on work stuff

gca - you should be able to pick up a regular stadium club rookie card for under $10, but a psa 10 copy is probably closer to $100

sg488 - true. but i don't sell pc stuff. if i did, i'd probably dump my kobe stuff first. that stuff is going for even more insane prices

Matt said...

I thought I had a chrome rookie of him but never found it. Sigh. I have just a couple of rookies nowhere near this cool of a collection

Fuji said...

sport card collectors - hope you find that chrome rookie. that thing is selling for $40 to $50.