Innholdsfortegnelse for April 1, 2024 i Sports Collectors Digest

Of all the Major League Baseball players whose career took place after World War II, Wade Boggs currently owns the highest lifetime batting average (.328 or .3278) of any living player with at least 1,000 at-bats and 1,000 games. Boggs, Hall of Fame Class of 2005, beats fellow Cooperstown inductee Rod Carew in this category by about the width of a stitch on a baseball (.3277). Boggs first appeared in the big leagues in 1982 with the Boston Red Sox, hitting .349 in just over a hundred games and placing third in American League Rookie of the Year voting. The next season he won the first of his five AL batting titles, hitting .361 and handily thwarting Carew’s second-place average of .339. At last summer’s Chantilly, Va. sports memorabilia…

If Joe Mauer didn’t make it in pro baseball, he had a backup plan—pro football. But when the Minnesota Twins made Mauer the No. 1 pick in the 2001 MLB Draft and he started playing in the Twins’ minor league system, it became clear that no Plan B was required. In fact, Plan A went so well that Mauer was recently elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. A native of St. Paul, Minn., Mauer was a born athlete. At Cretin-Derham Hall High School, Mauer was an outstanding football, basketball and baseball player. Those who know him best also say he played a mean game of ping-pong. He is arguably the best high school athlete ever to come out of Minnesota. In a storybook tale, Mauer was a football quarterback,…

There has always been a myriad of reasons to visit Europe’s biggest cities. From sightseeing to museums to restaurants, places like London and Paris are on many travelers’ bucket lists. Add card shows to that long list of reasons to visit Europe this year. Card shows—a hobby staple in North America for decades—have become a big deal across the Atlantic. The trend started in 2021 and has surged over the last three years. Like in the United States and Canada, these shows are packed with people looking to buy and sell cards and memorabilia. The marquee event for many collectors has been the London Card Show because of its location and size. The first London Card Show of the year, held over two days starting on Feb. 10 at Sandown…

Some people just get better with age. Take newly elected Baseball Hall of Famer Adrián Beltré, for example. He played his best major league baseball after age 31. He hit 30 or more home runs four times, batted .300 or better in six seasons, had four 100-plus RBI seasons, collected 1,466 hits, won three of his four Silver Slugger Awards and three of his five Gold Gloves—all after the age of 30, when most players are slowing down. He became an All-Star for the first time at 31, and followed it up with three more visits to the All-Star Game. He secured his place in Cooperstown during the twilight of his career, which, for Beltré, was his prime. Baseball fans and sportswriters compare Beltré to some of the best third…

(EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first in a two-part series on the emergence of new card shops in the hobby.) QR codes that show high-resolution images of the front and back and the population report of slabbed cards. On-site breaking rooms. Vertical display cases. Specific rooms to rip product. LED fixtures to illuminate the show floor. Flashy signage outside and inside the building. Interactive in-store activities. Cutting-edge ideas. The future for brick-and-mortar hobby shops is now. In this cutthroat industry, it’s survival of the fittest. And these days, hobby shops are opening around the country with a state-of-the-art, 21st century look that showcases some of the latest and greatest technological advances. Aaron Amarant and his dad, Mark, designed their AA Mint Cards shop to resemble an Apple Store with bright…

Imagine Mr. Rockie Todd Helton, one of the greatest Colorado Rockies players of all time, in a Boston Red Sox uniform. That almost happened before the start of the 2007 season. But the proposed trade—which would have sent Beantown’s Mike Lowell, Julián Tavárez, and a minor leaguer from Boston to Colorado for the Rockies’ popular first baseman—fell through. Helton, who was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame earlier this year, stayed with the Rockies and had a storybook season in 2007. When Helton retired in 2013, after 17 major league seasons (1997–2013)—all in the Mile High City—he had more hits (2,519), homers (369), and RBI (1,406) than any other player in Rockies history. As for the Red Sox, they ended up in the World Series in 2007, playing against…

I made it to 14 different sports card shows in 2023. They ranged from a small, 30-table show near my hometown in Tennessee, all the way to The National in Chicago. All the promoters that I was able to talk with throughout the year were excited about how the hobby just keeps continuing to grow. I enjoy browsing and looking for unique cards that catch my eye, and just talking to dealers and collectors. More often than not, I come away with a hobby-related story I can write about. One of the first shows I visited last year came pretty much by luck. While in Florida in early March, on my annual Spring Training trip, I saw a sign at the Holiday Inn in the Westshore area of Tampa that…

Former Chicago Bears great Steve McMichael was widely known as one of the toughest players in the NFL. A two-time Pro Bowler and five-time All-Pro, McMichael played in a franchise-record 191 consecutive games for Chicago from 1981-93 and anchored the dominant defensive line that led the Bears to the 1985 Super Bowl. With 95 career sacks, third most among defensive tackles, McMichael was so tough that teammate and Hall of Fame linebacker Mike Singletary once called him the NFL’s “John Wayne.” Following his illustrious football career, McMichael became a professional wrestler for the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling. Performing under his nickname, “Mongo,” he rose to stardom at WCW, becoming a popular personality as part of the famous Four Horsemen with wrestling legend Ric Flair. In the ring,…