30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Sunday, April 7, 2013

My Sketch Card Project

It's inevitable.  Everything boils down to supply vs. demand.  And when something interesting and cool hits the market, it's only a matter of time before companies cash in and flood the market.

However that's not necessarily a bad thing if you're on a tight budget, like myself.  I've been collecting sketch cards since I reentered the hobby back in 2008.  That's when I pulled one out of a box of 2004 Topps Heritage Star Wars and was instantly hooked.  In short, I went crazy and busted a bunch of boxes in an effort to get my hands on more.  If you're interested, I've showcased them in a previous post.

That same year, Topps inserted sketch cards into their Stadium Club product.  Unfortunately, boxes of this product were pretty expensive and single sketch cards were commanding prices that were (and still are) way out of my league.

I eventually added acquired my first sketch card of an athlete last year... thanks to AJ a.k.a. The Lost Collector.  He drew this custom Kurt Suzuki sketch card for me:



I'd love to eventually collect one sketch card for each of the baseball players I collect.  Until recently, this goal didn't seem plausible.  But thankfully, Leaf's 2012 Best of Baseball product has solved my problem.  They've made it possible for collectors to buy reasonably priced sketch cards.

A quick eBay search shows that you can find pack pulled, portrait sketches of HOFers for under $6 delivered.  At the last card show I attended, I found one of Greg Maddux.  It wasn't exactly $6, but I didn't break the bank either.

Behold my recent card show acquisition:



This led me to track down this Steve Carlton sketch card off of eBay for $12.33:



Three players down... and four guys to go: Rickey Henderson, Jackie Robinson, Tony Gwynn, and Thurman Munson.


Happy Sunday and sayonara!

8 comments:

The Lost Collector said...

Very cool' I need one of these.

Glad you are still enjoying the one I sent. I haven't done one in about a year. Sigh.

Dawgbones said...

Can't go wrong with Munson! Way cool Carlton too...

Greg Zakwin said...

damn some of these are surprisingly cheap. nice score on the Maddux!

Spankee said...

That maddux is great!

Jafronius said...

Took a look at a case break on Youtube. While I agree the Maddux sketch card is pretty nice (Carlton's card needs some "happy little trees"), I personally would be bummed if a sketch card was one of my two cards in the box.

Fuji said...

That Suzuki will never leave my PC. It's the centerpiece of my A's shelf in my office. Thanks again buddy.

Fuji said...

Yeah... some of these have gone for less than $5 on eBay. It's crazy.

Fuji said...

Yeah... especially since they're not really holding their value on the secondary market.