Baseball Card Market Should Survive Mitchell Report

I found this article about the Mitchell report's affect on baseball cards very interesting:

When experts weighed in with their thoughts on the effect of the Mitchell report on the hobby, cards really weren’t part of the equation. Kevin Haake, editor of Beckett’s monthly baseball card price guide, fills that void. Like everyone else, he agreed that like memorabilia, Barry Bonds' baseball card's value wouldn’t be affected, because they already had taken the hit from all his previous woes, including the perjury indictment.

“Roger Clemens collectibles have taken a hit since the report was made public. Clemens has always had the benefit of playing for two of the most popular and widely collected teams in his career — Boston and N.Y. — but even that rabid fan base hasn’t been able to stop some of the initial bleeding that is taking place on his more widely sought-after RCs. Right now, the short term outlook for Clemens’ collectibles is that they will likely be accompanied by down arrows for a few months until the initial rush to judgment levels off. “The fact that many of the Mitchell report were common players will prove to be beneficial to for the hobby long-term. Miguel Tejada and Andy Pettitte are primarily considered ‘commons’ in the hobby despite their career accolades. Being named in the Mitchell Report certainly won’t help their popularity among the player collectors who are the most active hobbyists pursuing their cards.”
What are your thoughts?

Baseball Memorabilia Showcased In Our Own Gallery

Check out some of the great baseball memorabilia I found in the iTaggit gallery:

iTaggit user kihm8787 has an amazing collection of baseball memorabilia in the community collection. Within the collection are a Limited Edition Ted Williams 50th Anniversary Autographed Plaque, Hank Aaron Autographed Baseball with Certificate of Authenticity, Rod Carew Autographed Baseball with "HOF 91'" Inscription (pictured left), Lou Brock Autographed Baseball with "SB 938" Inscription, all of which can be considered almost antiques these days.

iTaggit user comic_relief added a baseball cards collectors box with over 500 cards in it!!! (pictured right) In the description, the contents consist of over 500 baseball cards from different manufacturers and years, including one original card from the 1950's, two original cards from the 1960's and five original cards from the 1970's. Other interesting cards I've found include Wheezy's autographed Bobby Doerr Baseball Card and itaggitfather's 2003 Upper Deck Sammy Sosa Limited Edition Baseball Card, which is in it's own display case. Lastly, one of the most impressive collections I have found across the board would be the_baseball_guru's The Topps Baseball Cards Complete Set from years 1986-1989, consisting of approximately 3,168 cards collectively.

I love finding new stuff in the iTaggit Gallery on a daily basis, and I hope you do to. If you find something that you feel needs to be shared, blog about it!

The Joy Of Sox

Well the 2007 World Series was a quick and painless one... if you are a Red Sox fan. To the rest of the country looking for a sweet Cinderella story to top off a season of hard knocks in sports; guess we're just going to have to twiddle our thumbs 'til next year.

The Red Sox swept the Rockies with dominating form. “They beat us with the small ball. They beat us with the long ball,” Colorado's LaTroy Hawkins said. He continued, “They beat us every which way you could imagine, brother. I'm not going to sit here and say what Eric Byrnes said about us, that we outplayed 'em, because it ain't true. They got us. They got us good.”

Until Sunday, the only franchise in baseball's history to sweep two World Series in four seasons was none other than Red Sox arch rival, the New York Yankees. Of course, the Yankees have accomplished this feat a staggering four times, but now Boston has put one hash mark on that chart as well. And they did it in style. The Sox outscored the Angels and the Indians in the first two rounds of the postseason by a combined 99-46 total -- the greatest October run differential in postseason history. They continued with hot bats into the World Series and outhit Colorado .333 to .218, earning them the second highest World Series batting average to date. Not only did they get a hit a third of the times they were at bat, they batted .419 with runners in scoring position, and held the Rockies to only a .167 BA when in the same position.

Boston put up a few more worthy stats of note:

Terry Francona, manager of the Boston Red Sox, is the first manager to start 8-0 in the World Series.

In the last seven games the Red Sox played, they outscored their opponent 59-15. When ESPN writer Jayson Stark compared those stats with the other six teams in history to go on a postseason winning streak of seven games or longer, the closest anyone came to that plus-44 run differential was a plus-30 by the 2006 Tigers, who outscored the Yankees and A's 40-10. With as much hype as the 2004 Boston team created, they were only plus-24 in their 49-25 finish. What about the 1998 Yankees, who were viewed by many as the most dominant team of modern times? They managed a plus-23 while winning their final seven, and this Boston team nearly doubled that.

At this time last year, Red Sox pitcher Jon Lester, now age 23, was undergoing chemotherapy for anaplastic large cell lymphoma. On Sunday, Lester became just the third pitcher in history to win the deciding game of a World Series in his first career postseason start. The other two? Tiny Bonham in 1941 and Whitey Ford in 1950, both Yankees. Boston pitching coach John Farrell put it quite eloquently, “This is something you could make a movie about, when you think about all the challenges he's faced on a personal level and how much he's persevered... Not only is it a punctuation mark on how this year has gone, but it is on so many levels a personal triumph for him.”

Well, that'll wrap up this week's sports report. Now that the 2007 baseball season has closed, its time to turn focus on the downhill stretch of football, as well as turn up the excitement on the beginning of basketball season! But for today, I will leave you with a not so eloquent, but still effective, quote from Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling: “Jon Lester just pitched the clutchiest game I've ever seen pitched in my life.”

You may not have a collection of comic books, baseball cards, or antiques, but you have a home full of valuables that you have spent your life collecting. iTaggit will change the way you collect, organize, and enjoy your things.

The Underdog In The Rockies

They say that this is the year of upsets in NCAA football. More often than not it seems the underdog becomes the victor. Well, that might be true across the board this year. The Colorado Rockies have a seemingly charmed life, pulling a stunning 21 victories out of their last 22 games, and they show no signs of slowing down. Mind you, this is the same Rockies team that have never won more than 83 games in one season. The same ball club that was a mere four games over .500 on September 15 and nine games under .500 in May. This Rockies team was six games back in the wild-card race in September, which narrowed to four and a half games back with only nine left to play in the season, which narrowed even further to two games back with two games left to play, while simultaneously watching the Padres, the team they were chasing for the wild-card spot, get within one strike of clinching it! Yes, this Rockies team came from two runs behind in the 13^th inning of the 163^rd game of the year to beat out the Padres for their chance to play in the postseason. A chance they have proven they were worthy of receiving.

The Rockies' story is full of great facts and trivia, so hold on to your baseball cards and check this out:

• The Rockies are the first team since the 1935 Chicago Cubs to win at least 21 of 22 after September 1^st, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, and are the fifth team in the last 70 years to go 21 of 22 at any point in the season.

• Before this season, the Rockies only had one postseason victory to their name, back in 1995, when they eventually lost to Atlanta in the first round. Now, they have become the second team in history, along with the 1976 Big Red Machine, to sweep their first two postseason series in any given October.

• The Rockies have become the first team ever to find itself two games out of a playoff spot with two games to play and somehow survive to scramble into the World Series.

• They have become the fifth team of all time to make it from last place one year to the World Series the next.

• The Rockies have become the sixth team in history to fall nine games under .500 and still climb out of their hole to make it to the World Series.

• The Rockies trailed in just two of their 38 innings against the Diamondbacks.

• The Rockies' Game 2 was saved by Ryan Speier, who had no prior big-league saves.

• Seth Smith, who hit the game-turning two-run double in Game 4, was previously better known for being Eli Manning's backup quarterback at Ole Miss. It was also his first major league RBI, since he had just been called up from the minors on September 16^th.

• And lastly, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and Colorado Governor Bill Ritter presided over a temporary renaming of 21^st St. in front of Coors Field to “Rockies Road” before watching the game together.

The Rockies have earned themselves a record eight days off before the beginning of the World Series, which will open in either Boston or Cleveland on October 24^th. So far the Indians lead the ALCS 2-1.

Need help getting through your piles of collectibles? Let iTaggit help! We help manage collections for those who need it most. Organize collections by adding in your item's important information and pictures on iTaggit. Show them off in our Gallery and send them to your friends to check out or add to. Research collections like your own through our search option and add new items you want to your wish list. Whatever it is that you seek for your collections, iTaggit will help you out.