Saturday, October 16, 2010

Strasburg Auto- What Should I Do?


Hey guys, Drew back here. I spent much of last week thinking about what I should do with my recent crown jewel of my collection, a redemption for an autograph of pitching phenom Stephen Strasburg, a card that typically sells for between $200-300 as of right now. I ended up redeeming the card a few days ago, and now I'm starting to think twice.

I explained on the post in which I revealed the pull that since I got the box for free, I would feel like I would be taking advantage of my grandma to sell the card and make a profit for my own good. I also said that it's for my own good that I don't sell it because most likely I'd end up buying things that maybe I wanted more, but nothing that could touch the value of this card right now.

But now, my thoughts have kind of shifted. I'm a big fan of Stephen Strasburg's. I think the hype that he has/had been getting over the past year or so is fantastic for collectors. We now have that element of which we could be happy just pulling a standard rookie card of a guy like Strasburg, Bryce Harper, Jason Heyward, those kinds of star rookies. Before the mania began, we hoped for the ever so boring white and gray jersey swatches and sticker autographs of no name middle infielders for the Arizona Diamondbacks, and when we didn't get enough of that, we would complain and complain to Topps and Upper Deck in disappointment.

This has also been a bad thing for our hobby. Prices have soared on boxes, and the value of the dollar has steadily decreased in our hobby. People are unloading hundreds, even thousands of dollars, or waiting in an enormous line, just to get their hands on a card of this big name pitching prospect. This is almost as crazy as Beatlemania!

But now- this kid is injured. This kid undergoes a major operation on his shoulder, just because of a minor mechanics problem that has put him in danger for the rest of his career. Perhaps throwing 100 mph is harder than it looks! 1 Tommy John Surgery later, and now those same very collectors that dropped thousands of dollars on his Bowman rookie autographs and superfractor, are looking like the bad investors. Now people will be more afraid when the next big prospect comes up, perhaps when Bryce Harper has his first Bowman autograph as early as next year.

Getting back to the card, I've been having nightmares, of me keeping this card, and even though I didn't blow hundreds of dollars on it, seeing it in the bargain bin and then regretting my decision to hang on to it. But I already redeemed the card, so no matter what I can't sell the card right now, just the used redemption, which wouldn't sell for a buck on eBay most likely. I would never just let this card leave my collection if there wasn't a purpose for that, which is why I have a substitution that maybe I could get in an "exchange" for the Strasburg autograph. And that would of course be, an autograph of Albert Pujols.

http://keymancollectibles.com/autographs/images/albert7.gif

This guy's scribble is much more valuable to a baseball fan like me, then an autograph of a pitching prospect that you'd have to gamble on. People are telling me that Strasburg's autographs will never go for a higher amount then right now. Now is the time to sell, all that stuff. The collector in me wants to keep the Strasburg, the fan in me wants a Pujols instead. This is my golden opportunity to get an autograph for no cost most likely, of the player with the best chance at breaking Hank Aaron's true home run record. (Barry Bonds will never be #1 on my list)

No matter what, I have no choice now but to wait for the autograph to arrive. It's not like I don't want the Strasburg, it's just that I might be able to do something better, invest in someone more worth it, with the amount of $ Mr. $trasburg is selling for. If I was to do this, I would have to wait for the right time to sell the autograph, which most likely would be weeks before his next pitching appearance, which could even be in 2012.

So, do any of you have advice for me in this situation? I really need advice on this, because I seem to be the only one that is agreeing with myself about this other than Grandpa Roy. Thanks for the help in advance, because I know I'll get some advice here from you guys. You're the best!

See Ya!

10 comments:

  1. I would hang on to it. At this point, you're basically playing with house money. You may be wrong, his value could end up higher in the future. Many pitchers have come back from TJ surgery better than before.

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  2. I'd sell. It's extremely unlikely that his value would ever be higher than today. You could sell today, buy something else you like, and still have enough left to repurchase the card ten years laster.

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  3. I'd keep it. Not even for the value of the card (which is only worth what people would pay for it) but because of the story you already have behind it. I think that if you traded it or sold it, you'd regret it a while from now, even if Strasburg pans out. One day you'll be able to pull out the redemption and auto and show it to your grandkids and have a visual aid to go with the awesome story of you pulling the hottest card at this time. If I could have it back, I wouldn't have sold the gold JeterBush/Mantle, but I needed the money at the time. Its your card, though, no matter what you do with it, you know we all will be supportive!!

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  4. If that's the only one you have of him, I'd keep it.

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  5. It's refreshing to read about this stuff in the hobby instead of all that "mojo" crap I have to hear about. Keep the card. Who cares if Strasburg may not pan out? It's a 206 relic... it's gonna look pretty damn good.

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  6. How rare are the American Carmel versions of the card? Are they numbered? One option that you might have is to sell this Strasburg and pick up a different one if there are cheaper autographs available and have a little cash left over for something else.

    While he was healthy, I would have thrown the Strasburg up on eBay immediately. You're not going to get as much now that he's injured and out for over a year, but the cards are still selling for decent money. I sold a Blake Griffin autograph while he was out last year and got decent money for it. Now that I see how he's playing in the preseason, I'm kind of wishing that I had held on to it a little longer because it probably would sell for even more now or at the end of the year if he goes on to win Rookie of the Year.

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  7. Sell it. I'm sure Grandma would be happy to see you make a few bucks off her present.

    moe.

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  8. Hey man it's your collection and if a Pujols is what you covet then I would go for it. I would either put it up for trade on your blog and try and get the best Pujols auto you can for with the best value. then it would be like Grandma got you your most coveted card and everytime you looked at that card you would have grandma in you your thoughts forever! or Sell the Stras and buy the best Pujols you can! good luck with your decision and whatever your decide you have one great card.

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  9. Great post! Nice and informative, I really enjoyed reading it and will certainly share this post with my friends .

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