Early last month, Topps launched a facebook application named Wacky Digibles.  While it doesn’t really touch on the sports card theme very much, it may still have some appeal to hardcore collectors.  In 1967, Topps launched a series of cards they dubbed “Wacky Packages.”  You can read more about them over on Wikipedia; however, the short of the long is this: they were trading cards that parodied various brand products.  Wacky Packages were really popular during various times and even spawned the popular collectible series known as the Garbage Pale Kids.

The application allows you to buy cards (aka digibles) for your own collection, or give them to friends.  In addition, Topps made it a point to make some harder to get than others, thus feeding into the inherent desires of most every collector.  It seems that they plan to continually release new digibles every so often.  he release of the facebook application coincides with the release of a new line of Wacky Pages cards, which you can buy over on the Topps online store.

Produced in 1911 and designated as the T5 set in the American Card Catalog, these sepia toned photographs were mounted on cardboard stock that measures roughly 4-¾” by 7-¾”.  While the mounts are often grey, the cards also appear against a tan background.  For that matter, you can find non-mounted examples with some frequency.  In those instances, it is possible to find the cards with postcard or scorecard backings.

The cards themselves feature various baseball stars in the midst of playing their favorite game (or at least the one they were most likely best at).  At the bottom of each image, you will find the player name along with the designated card number, their position, and their team at the time of issue.  More on the find and the cards themselves after the jump!

The process for obtaining these images was via a redemption system.  Produced by the Pinkerton Tobacco Company, the forefather of Red Man Tobacco, customers would collect 10 product coupons.  After mailing those coupons in, Pinkerton would send out one of the cabinet cards as a reward.  As the cards were not mailed with any significant protective measures in place, finding these cards in decent condition is not easy.  As they were redemption pieces as well, their value is based not only on the breadth of the checklist, but also their low numbers in the hobby and their condition sensitive nature. We currently list the set at 375 cataloged players; however, cards numbered in the 600s do exist, so its possible more items will come to light.

Given those factors, this batch of cards should command strong prices.  The key cards were all authenticated by Sportscard Guarantee (SGC) and some of them received very strong grades.  While most collectors of material produced after 1980 demand their cards be in Mint or better condition, that is simply not possible in the pre-war world (cards produced prior to the outbreak of World War II).  Case in point, the Jackson graded out as an SGC 40 (very good), while the Addie Joss example came in as an SGC 84 (near mint).  It would not be surprising to see the Jackson read the $50,000 plateau.

Also included in the auction:

• * A complete 1957 Topps baseball card set, all graded PSA 8 or PSA 9
  * A 1914 Cracker Jack Christy Mathewson in an SGC 50
• * An autographed 1902-11 W600 Cy Young card
• * And for the football lovers, a 1948 Leaf Sid Luckman (Yellow Background) Rookie card.

The full catalog of available items is on display at Goodwin & Co’s auction site.  Even if you aren’t packing the thousands of dollars necessary to finance one of those big hitter cards, many lots remain quite affordable as of this writing.

The Topps company announced some big news yesterday.  Michael Eisner, the former Disney exec who (along with Madison Dearborn) bought Topps in 2007, has gobbled up outgoing TV Guide CEO Ryan O’Hara to fill the same position with the famed trading card company.

O’Hara, who stepped down at TV Guide last week, is scheduled to make the move from Los Angeles to New York City on March 1st.  O’Hara will take over for Scott Silverstein, who will remain on as a member of the board of directors.  More details after the jump!

While the move may strike some as odd, top hobby companies have been in the habit of hiring outside the domain.  In addition, when Eisner took the reins, he made no bones about his intentions to make Topps more of a media company.  That being the case, hiring the former TV Guide CEO may not be such a bad idea.

O’Hara isn’t completely out of his element.  Topps does own some confection properties, and O’Hara used to work at Nestle.

In a statement released yesterday, O’Hara was quoted as saying: "I am thrilled to take on this new role. …The ability to work with Michael Eisner and Madison Dearborn Partners on the evolution of Topps makes this an incredibly exciting opportunity. No brand had more of an impact on me when I was a kid than Topps, and I look forward to working with the entire Topps team to strengthen and grow this iconic company."

[via broadcasting cable]

 Jim Caple is a writer for ESPN.com.  Though the majority of his posts speak specifically to on-field activities, he’ll venture outside of that niche every so often.  Recently, Caple made a trip to Renton, Wash. to visit with DJ Joss, the owner of DJ Sportscards.  Amongst other things, DJ’s was the longtime card shop of Cy Young award winner Tim Lincecum.

It’s an interesting interview in which Caple asks Joss a lot of questions related to the Upper Deck/MLB lawsuit.  Joss has been in the hobby since 1988, when at the age of 16, he bought out the card supply from the comic book shop he worked at.

In addition to the video (embedded above), Caple put together a nice article that summarizes his experience.  Throughout the article, there is a strong yearning for the enjoyment of collecting, something many of us can relate to.

If you happen to live in the area, you can find DJ’s at 1630 Duvall Ave NE #D, Renton, WA 98059. Otherwise, take a gander at their website, where you can order direct.

You can still get your bids in if you head over to the SCP Auction site before Thursday evening.

This past Monday, MLB filed suite against trading card company Upper Deck (UD) for using team logos on baseball cards without permission.  To hobbyists around the country, this news is mildly surprising, albeit not completely out of left field.

Roughly six-months ago,  MLBP and Topps signed an multi-year agreement that provided Topps with the exclusive rights to produce imagery that includes team logos and uniforms.  In essence, this gave Topps a monopoly on baseball card manufacturing.

At the time of that deal, Upper Deck made it known that they would continue to produce a full line of MLB baseball cards due to their own deal with the Major League Baseball players association.

Last week, UD released its "Signature Stars" (above) and "Ultimate Collection" line of cards.  While you won’t find any nicknames and such, there are at least a handful of cards where you can see partial or complete logos.  We’ll see what happens, but with a $2.4 million dollar asking price, UD can’t be feeling good right now.

[via Michael O’Keeffe and NYDN]

While there aren’t any serious revelations in the piece, especially to those who are active in the hobby, there are some nice videos and a series of other articles that are worth reading.  Check out the video below:

Amongst some of the more intriguing changes, there will be a new option that gives sellers up to one hundred sub-$1 listings a month.  If items don’t sell, you don’t pay a thing.  Continuing along that path, there will be a flat 9% final value fee on all items (capped at $50).

Changes to the Store Inventory are particularly important to baseball card collectors and dealers, as a number of them rely on store listings to conduct transactions.  For high-volume dealers, listing fees will drop significantly; for those who sell less frequently, they will see insertion fees go up.

One of the more impactful ramifications of this decision is that the store listings will now be available in the main search results area.  In previous iterations, store listings were grouped together in a section outside of the core search results.

For a breakdown of the changes, keep on reading!

Fee Changes
- No Insertion Fees for Auction-style listings when you list your item with a start price under $1—up to 100 listings per month. Pay only if your item sells.
- New low Insertion Fees when you list your item with a start price of $1 or more
- One easy Final Value Fee of 9% of the winning bid—and never more than $50—regardless of your start price or final selling price.
- 50-cent Insertion Fee for Fixed Price with Final Value Fees for the most part staying the same.

eBay will also introduce new fees for its Stores.
BASIC: 20¢ Fixed Price Insertion Fees, $15.95/month – Consider a Basic Store if you list more than 50 Fixed Price or Auction-style items a month. It’s a great starter package if you plan to start an eBay business or ramp up your selling.
PREMIUM: 5¢ Fixed Price Insertion Fees, $49.95/month – Great choice for higher volume sellers (more than 250 items per month) and sellers listing in both Auction-style and Fixed Price formats.
ANCHOR: 3¢ Fixed Price Insertion Fees, $299.95/month – Get the same great deal as the old Store Inventory format-now with full exposure in search results! With an Anchor Store subscription, higher volume sellers get top savings and the lowest package rates on eBay.

NOTE: Starting in March, meeting the new minimum performance standard for all sellers will be a requirement for Premium and Anchor subscribers. ("Above Standard.")

- Insertion Fees as low as 3¢ for Fixed Price listings with full exposure in search results
- Fixed Price Final Value Fees for the most part staying the same
- New low Auction-style Insertion Fees
- Auction-style Final Value Fees significantly reduced over the new standard rate
- FREE pictures—up to 12 per listing
- FREE Selling Manager Pro with Premium and Anchor subscriptions
- Plus all the other great marketing tools you get with an eBay Stores subscription, including your own customizable store front and Markdown Manager.

New PowerSeller discounts and seller requirements coming in mid-April – the new PowerSeller requirements (originally announced in July 2009) will be in effect for all PowerSellers, not just Top-rated sellers. And with the new PowerSeller discount schedule (also announced in July), only eBay Top-rated sellers will receive 20% fee discounts. All other PowerSellers will receive 5% discounts. PowerSellers will see this change reflected on their statements starting May 1, 2010.

[charts courtesy of auctionbytes.com]