The Steroid Era is HERE!

For years I've been collecting and writing about Jose Canseco cards here, and I've had the chance to work directly with Jose on what I'm about to show you. It's months of work, dozens of designs, and something I don't think the hobby has seen before. The card companies keep going back to the same well: the Athletics, the 40/40 season. Jose Canseco is so much bigger than that. He transcended baseball and became a fixture of pop culture itself. It was time somebody made cards that reflected that. As The Steroid Collection takes a brief intermission, allow me to

A 1988 Garbage Pail Kids x Jose Canseco Card?

I'm probably going to upset a lot of folks saying this, but ... I don't like Garbage Pail Kids.  At all.  I've always thought they were ... well ... gross.  Some of the newer ones seem to not be as bad, but for me? They are a no-go.   Except for this one ... In 1988, Jose Canseco was at the top of the heap for baseball.  Card companies were putting him in every set they possibly could...like this 1988 Topps Super Star sticker.  Twice the fun with a player on both sides, but half (read: way less than half) the

What if? Swap Canseco and Ohtani – Who does 50-50 then?

With yet another player on the brink of achieving 40-40 club membership in Pete Crow-Armstrong, I figured now is as good a time as any to recontextualize  the conversation in terms of how the game is played now vs. how it was played back then.  Let's dive in with the sole member of the 50-50 club, Shohei Ohtani.   On September 19, 2024, Shohei Ohtani went 6-for-6 with three home runs, two stolen bases, and 10 RBI against the Miami Marlins, clinching the first 50-50 season in Major League Baseball history. He finished the year at 54 home runs and 59

The Steroid Era – It’s Almost Here

If you've been following me for a while, you know I've been teasing something. The black bag. The biohazard sticker. The "something big is coming" posts. Time to pull back the curtain - a little. This October, I'm launching The Steroid Era - a 30-card Jose Canseco set unlike anything that exists in the hobby. Five waves. Six cards per wave. One wave per month from October through February.  This isn't a Topps product. This isn't Panini. This is one collector who's spent years obsessively documenting everything Jose Canseco, working directly with Jose himself to create something from scratch. So

Baseball’s 1st Home Run King – In Color

Baseball's 1st Home Run King - In Color   This is an 1889 Goodwin A35 Round. The lithographic piece is circular and is about 8". I designed and created an acrylic holder with a pullout tray for easy access to it. The holder serves as a way to both display the awkwardly round piece and hide damage near the hole on the left where it was strung together as an album.   Featuring the finest in 19th century baseball color lithography, this piece is drenched in baseball history. Depicting some members of the team, the New York Giants were fresh

A Jose Canseco Topps artifact from…1982???

I recently picked up the original Topps Vault internal file/contract record for Jose Canseco, and underneath a later sheet stapled over the top is something very intriguing. The earliest entry appears to read: SIGNED: 10/14/82TERM: 5 YRS. PYMTCHECK #: 23072AMOUNT: $5.00 There’s also a 9-29 date associated with the payment, all recorded via typewriter. Canseco had only turned 18 years old on July 2, 1982, meaning this paperwork appears to date from just a few months after his 18th birthday - years before he became a household name. And then there’s that $5. If I’m interpreting the notation correctly, Topps

Jose Canseco Fine-Ish Superfractor to Finest Superfractor

How much do you dislike sticker autos?I don’t necessarily hate them - especially when they’re done well - but there’s just something more special about an autograph being directly on the card.When I saw 2026 Topps Finest, I instantly fell in love with the design. Topps somehow fused ’90s mall food court / skating rink energy with a genuinely beautiful high-end look.A quick eBay search showed that the set has a mix of on-card autos and sticker autos. My friend Jon and I decided that if it had a sticker, maybe it should really be called 2026 Topps Fine...or perhaps

Is the 1911 Turkey Red Ty Cobb the Most Beautiful Baseball Card Ever Made?

Yesterday marked the 121st anniversary of Ty Cobb’s debut as an 18-year-old. He doubled in his first major-league at-bat and would spend the years that followed building a resume worthy of a man many still consider the greatest player in baseball history.   In 1911, Turkey Red produced what many consider the most beautiful baseball card ever made. Its rich colors, ornate border, and atmospheric ballpark backdrop give Cobb the mythic presence he deserves. This wasn’t a card made decades later to celebrate a legend - it was produced at the height of his fame.   There’s no foil, no

Will the Real Honus Wagner Rookie Please Stand Up?

Let's take a break from the multi-million dollar bounties placed on social media for cards that were produced two minutes ago, shall we?  One hundred and twenty-seven years ago today, (August 19th, 1899) on a hot Thursday in the summer of 1899, a young third baseman named John Wagner stared out from the pages of The Sporting News. Not Honus. Not Hans. John. "JOHN WAGNER, Third Baseman. LOUISVILLE, 1899."  He would end up becoming arguably the best shortstop in baseball history. The supplement - cataloged today as the M101-1, was tucked inside the August 19th edition of The Sporting News

11 Years Later: From Cupcakes at Canseco’s House to the Steroid Collection Series Two Reveal

Talk about a full-circle moment!   Eleven years ago tomorrow, I was embarking upon easily the craziest moment of my baseball card journey. I was pulling up to Jose Canseco's house with my family. We ended up spending the afternoon with him - we played cards (with cards I made him,) ate cupcakes they made us, played with his animals, and even traded gloves. Oh, and yes, he signed a mountain of stuff for me. I wrote about the experience, which got picked up by Beckett Magazine, and they put my childhood hero and me doing the bash on the cover!