Sneak Peak at 2010 Panini National Treasures Football

Montana to Rice, powerful combination.  You can find both of them and more in the 2010 release of Panini National Treasures.  Here is a sneak peak some of the cards, which unless your eyesight has gone bad, are AMAZING!!!  There are even more images of these must see cards at Panini's blog, The Knight's Lance.  In addition to Joe Montana and Jerry Rice, the lineup includes Tim Tebow, Tom Brady,  Payton Manning, Dez Bryant, Barry Sanders, Adrian Peterson, Dan Marino, John Elway, Warren Moon, Brett Favre, Daryle Lamonica, CJ Spiller, Ryan Mathews, Jahvid Best, Toby Gerhart, Ernie Davis, Johnny Unitas, Joe Namath and the list goes on.

Up for sale... The Houston Astros.

I’ve already given you one suggestion for a great holiday gift in my post “The Man Behind the Cards, Dick Perez.”  But for those of you that want to go really extravagant this year, why not buy the Houston Astros for your loved one?

The owner of the Houston Astros, Drayton McLane, is putting his team up for sale. McLane made the announcement on Friday at a news conference at Minute Maid Park.

Considering he paid about $117 million for the team back in 1992 and the Texas Rangers were recently bought by a group led by Nolan Ryan for $593 million in a fire sale,  McLane should make a tidy profit on the team.  An asking price has not yet been set.

One has to wonder is Mark Cuban might be the first in line to buy the team.  He is still licking his wounds from losing out on the Rangers to Ryan’s group of investors.  But for now, Cuban has stated he has no interest in purchasing the Astros.

Here are some incentives if you are still on the fence about buying the Astros.

1- McLane is putting in $12 million dollars in Stadium improvements to Minute Maid Park, including a new scoreboard.

2- The Astros have a new deal with the Houston Rockets that will create a regional sports network that will air their games.

3- The Astros are averaging 28,783 fans in attendance a game.

McLane says he’s not in a rush to sell the team, so you have some time to think about it.  But really, what were you going to do with that half a billion dollars that’s burning a hole in your pocket?

Are you cuckoo for Coco Crisp? This might be the job for you.

The internet is full of posers.  People working with stolen identities.  So when I first caught wind of this story I thought FAKE.  Let's see what you think.

Here's a recent ad from Craigslist

Yeah... right.  Coco Crisp, a Major League Baseball player for the Oakland A's, who is making good money, has turned to Craigslist to go looking for a personal assistant... sure.  Oh, and if you want the job you must be FEMALE and along with your resume send a PICTURE... OK.   This is starting to sound like a bad pickup or a setup for a segment of Dateline NBC.

I was ready to laugh this one off.  While in the process of tweeting (That's using Twitter for those of you that don't know, and for those of you that do know and tweet, you should follow us if you don't already at http://twitter.com/Allaboutcards  )  I thought I'd check out Coco Crisp's Twitter page.  Surely he would have something to say about this ridiculous hoax.   Here is what I found.

Here, let me make that top tweet bigger for you.

As the British would say, I was gobsmacked.  Unless Coco is in on a joke, all of this is for real.  

So for all of you... wait... strike that.. for all of you females (sorry guys, its his ad, not mine) that have dreamed of being a ball players personal assistant, (but probably not as fanatic as Annie Savoy) if you live in or would be willing to live in Southern California and you don't mind scheduling, shopping, cooking and some light cleaning, Coco is looking for you.

Sneak Peek at 2010 Panini Limited Football Cards

Here is an advanced look at the soon to be released 2010 Panini Limited Football Cards.  No question, these are some amazing looking cards, but at $100 for one pack of seven cards, its not for your casual collector.  Still, who wouldn't like to get a hold of these.

Contest on another blog for 1952 and 1953 Topps Baseball Cards

Quick post to let you know that on another Blog, Vintage Sportscards, they are running a contest to win one of three vintage cards.  A 1952 Topps Clyde Kluttz, A 1952 Bob Kuzava and a 1953 Hank Thompson.  The catch, the cards are not collectors cards (they've been cut) and you can't own a card that is older than the cards offered.

As is clear from my previous post, Nuns hit the Mother load, a Honus Wagner T206, every card, even damaged, has value to someone.   So head over to their post, Mail Call and a Free Card Offer, to find out details on how to win one of these vintage cards.

It's good to be the King. 2010 AL Cy Young Award Announced.

Despite a record of 13-12, Felix Hernandez beat out David Price and CC Sabathia for the 2010 American League Cy Young Award.  Perhaps it was his dominating performances on the mound and a league leading 2.27 ERA.  One can't help but feel if the Mariners had produced some more runs that King Felix's won-loss record would have looked much better and obviously the Baseball Writers' Association of America took this into consideration.

In addition to his ERA, Hernandez led the league in Innings pitched (249 2/3), in innings to hits ratio and was second in strikeouts to Jared Weaver of the Angels by one.  He could have been the league leader in strikeouts if Seattle had played him on what would have been his final start of the season, instead of sitting him out.

Hernandez will receive a $1 million raise next year for winning the Cy Young Award, bringing his total salary to $11 million a year.  To quote Mel Brooks, "It's good to be the King."

Old School Mojo as Panini Prestige Goes Retro

I was at my local Target again picking up some odds and ends.  They keep their trading cards near the cash registers so like moth to a flame I was lured to the cards.  My intention was to by a blaster, preferably of Basketball or Hockey cards, but there were only Baseball and Football card blasters.  So I decided to go old school, at least for me, and pick up a rack pack of 2010/11 Panini Prestige Basketball cards.  I used to buy rack packs almost exclusively, but with the hobby becoming so insert card centric, I've shifted to Hobby Boxes.  Yes, you can hit insert cards in individual packs, but unless you're a pack searcher, trying to get an insert from a retail pack can be like Waiting for Godot.  So I wasn't expecting much from this pack, but that's OK because some of my favorite cards are just simple base cards.

So what did I pull?  A lot of old school players.  It felt like a throwback to a simpler time in card collecting, when all you wanted was to complete your set.  Here are some of the cards I got.

Pistol Pete and Larry Bird

 Mike and Mike.  Cooper and Dunleavy

But today's players are still well represented

 Carmelo Anthony

 Steve Nash

 Pau Gasol

 Gary Payton

And yes, I did get a numbered insert

 DeSean Butler 228/499

So was I looking for an exclusive autograph from Kobe Bryant?  No.  This is not a Wonka Bar and I'm not Charlie.  But for five bucks, I think I got my money's worth.

I leave you with a few of the other cards from this rack pack.