#28 Bubba Starling, OF Kansas City Royals
Tough not to love an athlete with the name of Bubba, isn’t it?
Bubba was a two-sport athlete in high school in Kansas. Things were looking bright for Starling as he had verbally committed to play football at the University of Nebraska. Things seem to be working out great. The problem for Bubba was that he was also a standout athlete in baseball. In the 2011 MLB Draft, the Kansas City Royals selected him 5th overall and gave him a signing bonus of $7.5 million, making it easy for him to drop his hopes of college football.
Search for Bubba Starling Autograph Cards and Memorabilia on eBay.
While he is a very raw prospect, some of his tools are starting to take shape. Last year, Bubba batted .25 with 10 HR and 33 RBI in 53 games for the Rookie-League Burlington Royals.
With his football pedigree, Bubba showcases a big arm while paroling the outfield. Along with his enormous size (6’4″ – 190 lbs), Bubba has great speed (stole 10 bases last year).
Top 5 Bubba Starling Cards
1. 2011 Bowman Chrome Draft Prospect Auto
2. 2011 Bowman Sterling Prospect Auto
3. 2011 Donruss Elite Extra Edition Auto
4. 2011 Leaf Metal Draft Auto
5. 2011 Leaf Valiant Auto
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#29 Javier Baez, SS Chicago Cubs
It has already been decided that Javier Baez will not break camp as part of the major league roster. But Baez has made some unforgettable impressions so far in camp.
At only 20 years old, Baez looks like a veteran on the field with sharp fielding skills, fantastic range, and great power. A premium position player with above average power is a hot commodity in the bigs these days, so I have to imagine its only a matter of time before we see him in Chicago.
Search for Javier Baez Autograph Cards and Memorabilia on eBay.
Because he is blocked at his natural position by the Cubs’ All-Star SS Starlin Castro, Baez will probably be asked to switch positions. This could be why Baez will start the season in the minors, to get more comfortable at 2B/3B.
Last year Baez batted .294 in 80 between the Florida State League and Midwest League. he also produced 16 HR and 46 RBI with an 69:14 K:BB ratio.
Top 5 Javier Baez Cards
1. 2011 Bowman Chrome Draft Prospect Auto
2. 2011 Bowman Sterling Prospect Auto
3. 2011 Donruss Elite Extra Edition Auto
4. 2011 Leaf Metal Draft Auto
5. 2011 Leaf Valiant Auto
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#30 Kolten Wong, 2B St. Louis Cardinals
Viewed by many as the team’s future at second base, this Hawaiian native has been making a splash on the mainland for sometime.
Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 16th round of the 2008 Major League Baseball Draft, Wong chose not to sign, opting to attend the University of Hawaii, where he played college baseball for the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors. Wong was named a Baseball America All-American in 2011. The Cardinals selected Wong in the first round, 22nd overall, of the 2011 Major League Baseball Draft.
Search for Kolten Wong Autograph Cards and Memorabilia on eBay.
In 2012, Wong played for the Double-A Springfield Cardinals in 2012, batting .287 with 52 RBIs and 21 stolen bases. He was also named to the 2012 All-Star Futures Game.
Wong has made some waves with his performance in camp this year, hoping to earn a spot on the roster at the start of the season. One thing we know, is that Wong has an amazing glove and great plate discipline, which are two very good things to have at the MLB level.
We are looking forward to seeing him in St. Louis.
Top 5 Kolten Wong Cards
1. 2011 Bowman Chrome Draft Prospect Auto
2. 2011 Bowman Sterling Prospect Auto
3. 2011 Donruss Elite Extra Edition Auto
4. 2009 Upper Deck USA Auto
5. 2011 Leaf Metal Draft Auto
Here is a look at a cumulative look at all of the 2012 Bowman Baseball Rookie and Prospect Autograph sales through the first month of release. There has been 2100+ sales since its release a few weeks back, and I have accumulated each of the sales via eBay and put them together for you to get an idea on which Autographs are selling the best, at product release.
Of the 50 autographs inserted, 23 of them are currently going for under $5 on average. You have roughly a 50% chance that your $150+ (on Jumbos) is going to contain an auto that sells for $5 or less. On the opposite end of the spectrum, 11 of the autographs inserted are currently selling for $20 or more, on average, with Yu Darvish pulling in around $400 per base auto.
You can click the table row headings to sort the data for that row. If a cell has a $0.00 represented in it, it means there was no sales data accumulated for that particular card.
[tab:Base]
[tab:Refractor]
[tab:Blue]
[tab:Gold]
[tab:Orange]
[tab:Purple]
[tab:Red]
[tab:END]
I have seen a number of debates on various message boards regarding if people preferred the 2012 Bowman Chrome Blue Wave Autos over the Gold Refractor Autos. Both of the cards are numbered to 50, and the Blue Wave Autos have definite appeal over the Gold refractors, but do the consumers like them better? Check out the sales data compiled from eBay over the last couple weeks. The prices seem pretty similar, however with a much smaller Blue Wave sample size, it looks as if the Gold Refractors are edging them out in sales prices.
[tab:Blue Wave Autos]
Blue Wave Autos
[tab:Gold Refractor Autos]
Gold Refractor Autos
[tab:END]
What started out as a fantastic good will gesture by the Topps Company by offering collectors the opportunity to turn-in their wrappers from 2012 Bowman Baseball in exchange for some pretty neat looking Blue and Red Wave refractors. What an amazing concept and great promotion to help push sales of one of their flagship lines.
After months of hype and anticipation for the product, a number of collectors were able to get the product up to 2-full days ahead of it’s scheduled release. With a limited number of packs (10,000) being available to the public, these collectors who received their orders early obviously had the advantage of getting their wrapper redemption fulfilled.
I have become one of the unlucky ones in the whole situation, as I just learned that my packs will go unfulfilled from Topps. Typically, I Would be fine with this, especially in a first come, first serve situation. However, in today’s fully interconnected world, I am reading stories of people who packs were submitted and received well after mine that have already received packs. There are stories of people who received many more packs than they were originally allotted (I have read upwards to 80 additional packs in some instances).
Topps really had an opportunity to make things right with a lot of collectors out there with this promotion, unfortunately, it really shows they have no value for their customers and it was merely a ploy to sell more inventory. The small time buyers and collectors are not treated the same as the big inventory buyers or bulk busters and flippers.
For me, it may take a while for this black eye from Topps to heal, I guess it could mean stepping away from supporting their products through the years like I have done. Hopefully in the future Topps and other companies have a far great plan in place to support all of their customers, especially during promotions like this.
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