Baseball Card Articles Archives - Tan Man Baseball Fan

Sixty Years for One Pack Hit? The Wild Odds of 1991 Donruss Elite

Let's talk about 1991 Donruss! Mediocre. Lackluster. Predictable. That's what some collectors said about Donruss' first two series release. It has been said that the production run was at its highest with the brand in '91, allegedly having printed 3,000,000 of each base card. To make matters worse, the set was pretty much a barren wasteland. But to me, they were spectacular. You would find this 10 year old boy in the back of mom and dad's car at a Christmas tree farm Christmas time of 1990, excited beyond belief, for he had with him, a few unopened packs of

Capturing the True Essence of a Baseball Card

Capturing the true essence of a card through photographs can elevate certain cards from want list to grail status. For me, this is the ultimate example: 1998 E-X2001 Essential Credentials NOW & FUTURE parallels. These two had been on my want list for forever. The scanned pics at the bottom were on a collector's website, and I didn't think much of them. Until I saw a Ripken that was properly photographed. My jaw DROPPED. They went from my want list straight to my dream list. Seeing a properly photographed exemplar instantly elevated them in my mind to some of the

If you had a chance to sell your entire collection, and start over, what would you shoot for?

"If you had a chance to sell your entire collection, and start over, what would you shoot for?" This question would pop up in my head from time to time. Whenever it would, I would start to place a value on my collection, and start to daydream about what I would build the next go 'round. You may have done this before, too. Maybe it sounded something like this in your head: "If I sold these 100 cards for $25 each, I'd have $2,500. What card (or cards) with a high WOW factor would I get?" After my sell off

What are the most coveted grail cards of the 90s?

"What are the most coveted grail cards of the 90s?" I've been asked this quite a bit recently, and I decided to put together a "Fabulous Five" list of top 90s cards for my guy Canseco - this list is subjective, of course, but is based upon my personal tracking, and countless interactions with other collectors over the past several years. These cards all possess a perfect storm of desirability, beauty, and rarity, while being hunted by: - player collectors - 90s collectors - Set collectors They were created during the playing days of Canseco, and in a time when

Second Wave Nostalgia?

It's no wonder why many of us collect cards today: Nostalgia! We may have collected as kids, and have come back to the hobby years later. Let me explain. I walked away from collecting back in 1993-94ish, and came back about a decade later. It's like I had left right when the magic was starting. By that time, everything had changed. There were shiny cards, serial numbered cards (lower than 10,000...gasp!), autographed cards you could pull straight from packs, and even cards with pieces of game-used relics. Jeesh! Over the past several years, I've found great joy

Jose Canseco’s FIRST EVER Pack Pulled Autograph!?

Any jersey serial # card collectors out there? I don't typically seek them out, but for this one, I made an exception - it is a MONSTER! For higher numbered cards, seeking out a specific serial number can be like searching for a needle in a haystack...a 25 year old haystack. Enter: the 1999 Fleer Mystique Fresh Ink /250. This card holds the distinction of being the very first pack pulled autograph of Jose Canseco! Though it is numbered to 250, they typically sell for significantly higher than other much rarer autographs of his, given that it is a monumental

36 Years of Collecting … TODAY!

A few years ago, I found an old journal entry from 1990 discussing how March 12th 1989 was when I started officially collecting baseball cards. What a wild ride it has been!I went from having no cards over $5, to a single player collection that received national attention, to selling off, to now having a better collection of Canseco cards than I've ever had before! (My collection is way smaller, but packs a much bigger punch!)I fell in love with vintage, and have been able to get some pieces I never thought in my wildest dreams I'd be able to

2002 Upper Deck Reverse Negative – Straight from 1989’s Playbook!

In 2002, Upper Deck treated us collectors to a special '89 retro design, which also yielded short printed Reverse Negatives - a call back to the famous '89 UD Dale Murphy. This card blends scarcity with nostalgia, and can go undetected if you don't know what to look for.

What card made your jaw drop most?

In 2017, I was minding my own business, when pictures of the 1/1 Leaf Q Jumbo patch Jose Canseco showed up online before it was even signed. Though unlicensed, it was a card that made my jaw drop like no other. I can't think of a single licensed card that captured my attention quite like this one when I first laid my eyes on it. Thus began a long struggle in my mind trying to justify how I could love an unlicensed card so much - after all, I'm *supposed* to like licensed cards more ... right? It didn't matter.

What’s Black and White and Red All Over?

It is a time honored riddle that has stumped all of us as children. A rite of passage, if you will. "What's black and white, and re(a)d all over?" While some would giggle and say a zebra in a blender, the "official" answer is of course, a newspaper. That is ... until now. The 2024 Topps Black & White Red parallel! Yes, I picked up this card for that exact reason. The fact that this card is a physical representation of the most famous riddle-turned-pun. Jose even looks like he's reacting appropriately to this tom foolery. One might say he

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