Almost two months into the 2010 Baseball season and a few players who have yet to lace up their MLB cleats are making splashes in the card world. Unless you live under a rock, or a remote location of the World where there is no Internet, then you have probably heard of Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper. These two phenoms have been lighting up the secondary sales market, recently fueled by their debuts in the 2010 Bowman products (which are just about as hot)! Take a peak at the May 2010 Hotlist.

1. 2010 Bowman Prospects Stephen Strasburg Auto
2. 2010 Bowman Chrome Prospects Stephen Strasburg
3. 2008 Sweet Spot USA Signatures Black Stitch Red Auto Stephen Strasburg
4. 2010 Bowman Chrome USA Bryce Harper
5. 2005 Donruss EEE Ubaldo Jimenez RC Auto
6. 2008 Upper Deck USA Stephen Strasburg
7. 2009 Upper Deck USA Bryce Harper
8. 2005 Upper Deck SPx Ubaldo Jimenez RC Auto
9. 2008 Bowman Chrome Prospects David Price Auto
10. 2009 Bowman Chrome Draft Prospects Mike Leake Auto
11. 2008 Bowman Chrome Prospect Jason Heyward Auto
12. 2009 Bowman Aflac Bryce Harper PROMO
13. 1993 Upper Deck SP Derek Jeter RC
14. 2003 Upper Deck Prospects Andre Ethier RC Auto
15. 2008 Bowman Chrome Prospects Michael Moustakas Auto
16. 2004 Bowman Chrome Aflac Andrew McCutchen
17. 2005 Topps Chrome Update Andrew McCutchen Auto
18. 2001 Bowman Justin Morneau RC Auto
19. 2002 Bowman Chrome Joe Mauer RC Auto
20. 2005 Bowman Chrome Draft Ryan Braun Auto
21. 2006 Bowman Chrome Draft Pick Evan Longoria Auto
22. 2009 Bowman Chrome Draft Prospects Mike Trout Auto
23. 2005 Bowman Chrome Prospects Billy Butler Auto
24. 2006 Bowman Chrome Draft Prospects Clayton Kershaw Auto
25. 2008 Bowman Chrome Draft Prospects Jesus Montero RC Auto

Happy collecting!

There is nothing more beautiful than a rainbow, especially if it’s made up an amazing collection of a young and talented Evan Longoria 2006 Bowman Chrome Draft Auto. Just like at the end of a real rainbow, the owner of this sweet collection is hoping there is a pot of gold for them at the end of the auction. With a BIN of $350,000.00, this 2006 Bowman Chrome Draft Auto Evan Longoria Rainbow is sure to grab some attention. With a majority of the cards in the collection a BGS 9.5 or PSA 10 – you are going to be hard pressed to find a set in better condition, but, for $350k – I could find a lot better things to spend my money on.

As always, happy bidding!

Back by popular demand, DailyWax is holding another contest for all of our readers. Our first contest was a success, and we hope to continue to offer more contests in the near future. To enter the contest, simply reply to this entry with your name and email address (which will not be visible) along with your guess of final price of this 2006 Bowman Chrome Alex Gordon Superfractor Auto auction on eBay. The closest, without going over, to the final price listed in the auction will win a 2009 Bowman Jose Reyes Printing Plate 1/1. In the event of multiple correct guesses, it will be randomly awarded to one of the correct guessers. You are only allowed to enter your guess once, multiple guesses from the same email address will result in disqualification from the contest. Be sure you use a valid email address, as I will be contacting the winner via email on where to send their prize.

Good luck and happy guessing!

MLB.com is reporting that 19-year-old San Francisco Giants Prospect, Angel Villalona, who considered one of the top prospects of the franchise, has turned himself in to Dominican Republic authorities following the murder in La Romana, DR.

The shooting occurred on Saturday, September 19 around 11 PM local time, and the authorities have named Villalona as the prime suspect.

This year, Villalona hit .267 with 9 home runs, and 42 RBIs in 74 games with the San Jose Giants at the Class A Advanced level before a season ending injury in July. As a 16-year-old rookie, Villalona received a $2.1 million signing bonus, one of the largest ever at the time.

Villalona had a 2008 Bowman Chrome Prospect Autograph that has been an anchor for the set and one of the years more highly sought-after prospect cards. If convicted, this could really damper a once very bright and aspiring future.

While, we’re not exactly sure how they all ended up on in the sellers hands, over 2,400 2008 Rene Tosoni Bowman Chrome Auto’s have been placed up for auction on eBay. The seller, who deals in “buying lost freight shipments, unclaimed freight, manufacturer and distributor overstocks, and close-out merchandise”.

The seller currently has auctions for 2,412 of the cards, that were originally inserted as redemptions from Topps in their 2008 Bowman Chrome product:

• 500 base autographs
• 498 base autographs
• 484 base autographs
• 480 of 500 Refractor autographs
• 241 of 250 Xfractor autographs
• 142 of 150 Blue Refractor autographs
• 44 of 50 Gold Refractor autographs
• 23 of 25 Orange Refractor autographs

The lot of the Orange refractors also contains 24 of 25 Tim Bascom Orange Refractors autographs too. If you ever wanted to own a near entire print run of an card, here is your chance.

This has to make you wonder what Topps will do to replace the redemptions currently in circulation or which have been redeemed?

The push for the exclusive invites to this years Post Season Party is in full effect. A number of teams are jockeying daily atop of the Wild Card standings with the look of a photo finish almost imminent. This month, some of our hottest cards are from players helping their team lay a stake in this years Post Season.

Here is the Top 25 Baseball Cards for September 2009:

1. 2007 Bowman Chrome Tim Lincecum RC Auto
2. 2007 Bowman Sterling Tim Lincecum RC Auto
3. 2007 Bowman Chrome Prospects Tommy Hanson RC
4. 2008 Bowman Chrome Draft Prospects Gordon Beckham RC Auto
5. 2008 Donruss EEE Pablo Sandoval RC Auto
6. 2009 Topps Chrome Tommy Hanson RC Auto
7. 2004 Bowman Chrome Felix Hernandez Auto
8. 2009 Bowman Aflac Bryce Harper PROMO
9. 2002 Bowman Chrome Joe Mauer RC Auto
10. 2008 Donruss Elite Neftali Feliz RC Auto
11. 2006 Bowman Chrome Prospects Pablo Sandoval
12. 1993 Upper Deck SP Derek Jeter RC
13. 2009 Bowman Prospects Gordon Beckham Auto
14. 2008 Bowman Chrome Draft Prospects Buster Posey RC Auto
15. 2002 Bowman Chrome Prospect Zack Greinke
16. 2008 Sweet Spot USA Signatures Black Stitch Red Auto Stephen Strasburg
17. 2002 Upper Deck Prospect Premieres Prince Fielder RC auto
18. 2008 Upper Deck USA Stephen Strasburg
19. 2004 Bowman Chrome Aflac Andrew McCutchen
20. 2005 Topps Chrome Update Andrew McCutchen Auto
21. 2008 Bowman Chrome Draft Rick Porcello RC
22. 2006 Bowman Chrome Draft Pick Evan Longoria RC AU
23. 2005 Bowman Chrome Pospects Justin Verlander Auto
24. 2009 SPx Matt Wieters Auto
25. 2008 Bowman Chrome Draft Prospects Jesus Montero RC Auto

Happy collecting!

Riding on the coat tails of his skyrocketing 2008-09 Upper Deck USA cards and recent cover shots on SportsIllustrated and Beckett, Harpers limited edition AFLAC All-American Promo cards have been hitting eBay with their sellers looking for premium prices.

From what I have read, production numbers are around 125 per player, with 40 total cards in the set.

As teams are making their pushes toward the post season, a rash of mid-season call-ups have escalated the demand for quite a few prospect rookie cards resulting in an overwhelming demand and collectors paying out at some all-time highs for prices. For the month of August and possibly into late October, I can see that Gordon Beckham and his cards are going to very hot.

Here is the Top 25 Baseball Cards for August 2009:

1. 2008 Bowman Chrome Draft Prospects Gordon Beckham RC Auto
2. 2007 Bowman Chrome Prospects Tommy Hanson RC
3. 2007 Bowman Chrome Tim Lincecum RC Auto
4. 2009 SPx Matt Wieters Auto
5. 2008 Bowman Chrome Draft Prospects Jesus Montero RC Auto
6. 2007 Bowman Sterling Tim Lincecum RC Auto
7. 1997 Bowman Chrome Roy Halladay RC
8. 2009 Bowman Prospects Gordon Beckham Auto
9. 2008 Bowman Chrome Draft Prospects Buster Posey RC Auto
10. 2004 Bowman Chrome Aflac Andrew McCutchen
11. 2005 Topps Chrome Update Andrew McCutchen Auto
12. 2006 Bowman Chrome Draft Pick Evan Longoria RC AU
13. 2008 Bowman Sterling Evan Longoria RC Auto
14. 2009 Bowman Chrome Prospects Logan Morrison Auto
15. 2006 Bowman Chrome Justin Upton RC AU
16. 2007 Donruss EEE Matt Weiters Auto
17. 2008 Sweet Spot USA Signatures Black Stitch Red Auto Stephen Strasburg
18. 2008 Upper Deck USA Stephen Strasburg
19. 2009 Topps Red Hot Rookie Redemptions
20. 2004 Bowman Chrome Felix Hernandez Auto
21. 2002 Bowman Chrome Joe Mauer RC Auto
22. 2008 Bowman Chrome Prospects David Price Auto
23. 2008 Bowman Chrome Draft Rick Porcello RC
24. 2009 Topps Chrome Tommy Hanson RC Auto
25. 2005 Bowman Chrome Pospects Justin Verlander Auto

Happy collecting!

Topps has signed an exclusive deal with Major League Baseball, and starting 2010 will have an exclusivity on MLB, club trademarks, logos and other intellectual property for use on baseball cards, stickers and other product categories featuring MLB players.

What does this mean? Basically that no other card manufacturers will be able to show photography of players in their actual MLB uniform or use team logos on their product. Topps is hoping that this exclusivity will appeal to a new generation of enthusiasts and restore their reign as the crown jewel of the sports collecting world.

he exclusive arrangement ends MLB’s 30-year relationship with Upper Deck, the other main player in the market, which retains licensing rights from the MLB Players Association. That enables Upper Deck to continue producing cards with players’ images, but team logos and such are out.

Prospectors and collectors alike love the adrenaline rush from the mid-season prospect call-up or the rookie who was invited out of camp making it big in their first season of play. This year’s crop of recent call-ups and rookies have not let us down. Like previous seasons, some of our favorites and some dark horses have been putting up huge numbers on their first blush with the show.

Not only have these huge starts resulted in immediate pay-off for their big league club, it has resulted in a large pay-off for prospectors who have been sitting on a large stash, waiting for the right time to sell. Let’s take a look at some of the players making a large splash today:

Rick Porcello – SP – Detroit Tigers (9-7, 4.36 ERA, 55 Ks)
This 20 year flame thrower made it to the bigs directly out of camp. His 2008 Bowman Chrome Draft and 2008 Donruss EEE Auto continue to be hot sellers. His prices have cooled off in the past few weeks, but there is still a monumental upside to Porcello.

Elvis Andrus – SS – Texas Rangers (.263 AVG, 4 HR, 20 SB, 42 R)
Another 20 year phenom making it on the everyday roster, the Rangers saw so much talent is Andrus they moved over perennial All-Star and Gold Glove winner Michael Young to 3B. His 2006 Bowman Chrome Prospect has been selling pretty steadily all season. Plan on buying on a few these to hold as he should have a permanent spot on the roster and possible All-Star roster.

Tommy Hanson – P – Atlanta Braves (6-2, 3.22 ERA, 46 Ks)
Considered by some as the crown jewel of the very talented Atlanta Braves prospect pool, Hanson has added some much needed stability to the shaky Braves rotation. Collectors were salivating at Hanson after he started off his young career 5-0 and was making headlines across the sports world. After his June call-up, price of his 2007 Bowman Chrome Prospect sky rocketed in anticipation and reached new heights after his hot start. His first certified auto was just released in the 2009 Topps Chrome set.

Gordon Beckham – 3B – Chicago White Sox (.314 AVG, 6 HR, 38 RBI, 18 2B)
It’s hard to believe that a little over a year ago Beckham was on the main stage at the College World Series, now he is in the lime light in Chicago, working on a ROY-type season. In the past weeks his cards have started to soar in price. His 2008 Bowman Chrome Draft Auto has seen a steady incline in price. These cards could hit all new highs as the White Sox make a push towards the post season and Beckham climbs higher in the ROY ballets.

Andrew McCutchen – OF – Pittsburgh Pirates (.292 AVG, 7 HR, 32 RBI, 5 3B)
It seems every year prospectors talk about when McCutchen was going to be brought up to help the struggling Pirates organization. Consistently ranked Number 1 by Baseball America in the Pirates Organization since he was drafted, McCutchen finally got called up. The Pirates haven’t been disappointed. McCutchen’s 2004 Bowman Chrome AFLAC and 2005 Bowman Chrome Draft have seen nice gains as McCutchen has started to adjust to every day play in the bigs. He has a great shot at a NL ROY award and you could see a nice spike in sales if he would win.

Derek Holland – P – Texas Rangers (4-7, 5.60 ERA, 68 Ks)
This 25th round pick of the Rangers made his way to the starting rotation after his second full year in the minors. His 2008 Bowman Chrome Draft Auto has been steadily increasing with each start. Holland could be a number 1 starter in the coming years.

Josh Reddick – OF – Boston Red Sox (.313 AVG, 1 HR, 3 2B in 4 games)
With only a few games under his belt, Reddick has made a huge splash in the hobby with his over night success at the plated. His 2008 Bowman Chrome Draft Auto almost doubled over night. I would consider these a strong hold if you haven’t already sold.

Matt Wieters – C – Baltimore Orioles (.269 AVG, 3 HR, 14 RBI)
Easily the most anticipated prospect in all of MLB coming into the 2009 season. The Paul Bunyan-esk Weiters has got off to slow start in Baltimore but is showing leaps and bounds of adjustment and improvement to the game. Sales have remained steady on his 2007 Donruss EEE and 2009 SPx Auto.