A Great Plan Foiled

Fate, circumstance, luck, Beckett, and possibly Juan Nieves (I never trusted that guy) have all conspired to keep me penniless and poor. I very sad to announce that I must now scrap my foolproof plan to strike it rich.

You may remember the plan

It hinged around the awesome Legends Chrome cards that you got in the cereal box packs at Target and Walmart (and Giant Eagle, as it turns out). There are 20 cards in all, 10 for each set. Beckett assured me that these were very valuable cards.




Beckett, after thorough and painstaking research, taking into account all manner of complex mathematical formulas, using some of the worlds most powerful computers to put these formulas and computations through various probability matrixes, carefully studying the results of these repeated tests, and just plain old good common sense, have decided to drop the values of the cards in these sets.

Here are the updated values of these cards:

Walmart set: (silver ones)

1. Ted Williams $25
now $12
2. Jackie Robinson $12
now $8
3. Babe Ruth $20
now $12
4. Honus Wagner $10
now $8
5. Lou Gehrig $12
now $10
6. Nolan Ryan $25
now $15
7. Mickey Mantle $25
now $15
8. Thurman Munson $15
now $8
9. Cal Ripken Jr. $40
now $20
10.George Sisler $8
STILL $8!

I guess I should start by saying that I am using the high values for this. There is a lower value column that should be used. But, let's face it, anyone who puts any stock in Beckett value uses the High column.

As you can see, the returns are somewhat less than they were a few short weeks ago. It's funny that I barely noticed the bottom dropping out of the 2009 Chrome Legends market. I guess I just need to pay more attention.

As disappointed as I am that I won't be retiring to the Virgin Islands with a small harem any time soon, I can still take pride in the fact that you can STILL get all of the other cards in the cereal boxes for free. Just get the box, sell off the Chrome, and keep the base cards for free! I plan on finishing the Turkey Red set that way (I'm a fool for Turkey Red). Oh, and, look at Sisler! Good for that dude! Holding strong at $8!

Now, I know there are those of you who are thinking that maybe Beckett lowered the prices in response to my first post. You are thinking of the great power wielded by The Achiever Card Blog!. But, alas, you would be mistaken. I am but a mere pimple on the Great Ass that is Beckett.

Mario, however. I do believe he may have the juice. I'm just saying. It makes you think doesn't it? Is Beckett now setting prices in response to Wax Heaven?

Billy Idol Gets It

Why doesn't Jay?

Last night, right before I went up to bed, I checked the interwebs to see what doins where a happenin'. SCU directed me to the Nennth Inning (which I STILL cannot get onto my blog roll) and a discussion of book value taking place. I ususally stay out of these discussions. There isn't anything that I can say that Gellman hasn't already said, and said better. If you haven't read the post and discussion, you should. It's highly entertaining.

But it got me thinking, maybe I'm looking at this wrong. Maybe there's something I haven't thought of yet. I asked my self these questions because the whole argument seems like a no-brainer. I decided to ask my wife. This is that brief exchange:

Me: Hey Katie, what is something worth?

Wife: What is what worth?

Me: Anything. What is anything worth in general?

Wife: What someone will pay you for it.

Me: OK. What if I had a widget store, and a book that told me what the widgets were worth. Now, you like widgets and came into my store. You found a Widget that you like and my book told me to charge $30. But, you know you could get the same exact widget on Ebay for $7. What would you do?

Wife: I'd get it on Ebay.

Me: Right.

Wife: And, you probably wouldn't be in business for very long.

Me: I don't suppose I would.

Wife: I don't think you should say "worth"

Me: Huh?

Wife: Well, things are worth different things for different people. You should call it value. Your widget may be worth $30 to you, and you may not be willing to give it to me for less than $30. But the value is $7 because that's what I can buy it for. You should say value.

Me: I suppose I should.

Wife: And, your book is wrong.

Me: I guess it is.

Wife: Does this have something to do with baseball cards?

Me: Yes

Wife: I'm going to sleep now.

Me: Want to stay up for 2 more minutes?

Wife: Not really.

Me: OK.

I just wanted to post that because if Billy Idol gets it, and my wife gets it, how come Jay doesn't get it? I thought it might be somehow relevant that my wife (who could car less about baseball cards) inherantly understood the basic concept without thinking too hard about it.

My favorite line?..."your book is wrong"

My wife, like Martha Washington, is a hip, hip lady.