Is this a legitimate card?

Simple question.

Is this a legitimate card? 

A few of these cards from 2003 have turned up on e-Bay ranging from the $99 price range to $9.

The $99 card does little to explain the pedigree except to say it is 'extremely rare' and it is 'Jacoby's first rookie card from summer ball in Alaska'. 

The $9 card explains in greater detail, and there are 10 available. 

'This is Jacoby Ellsbury amateur baseball card. The Alaska Summer League is a amateur only league for young college players on the west coast to play in all summer. ITS NOT AFFILIATED WITH ANY PRO-LEAGUE.   All the players don't (sic)get paid. This was made by the team it appears. This is NOT a mainstream issued card. The team had them made in town and they are on card stock.'

 However the picture is terrible and it is possible that anyone with decent scanner/printer and equipment could whip up their own.  The seller, although has a few negative feedbacks, appears to be legit.
It would be a nice addition to the collection but is it the real thing?

Back in the Saddle

well almost....

The building work on my house is very close to completion. It has taken a ridiculously long time because we 'fell out' with our builders. The work was off to a promising start in May, started to turn sour in September, when it should have been completed(and nothing was). Then really went pear shaped in late November, 25 weeks into what should have been a 16 week job. It was then we came to gut wrenching decision of asking the builders not to return. That was difficult, as we had no kitchen- no oven or hob. We had a makeshift sink and a microwave. No electricity in the new loft conversion, making it uninhabitable, so neither of the two projects were completed. But the single most disappointing thing, and this was what the build was about, our twin daughters (who had now turned 11years old) still shared a room with my wife and I.  

The other annoying by-product of the building work is that all my baseball cards are tucked away in boxes in the shed and in a cupboard that is blocked by ovens, which are waiting to be installed. In all honesty I shouldn't complain. As I have explained to my mother-in-law ( a glass half empty sort of person), we are healthy, happy, a little stressed maybe but when it is finally finished the house will be lovely. Plus I will have my own little study, a baseball card room all to myself. She understood all this but my mother-in-law couldn't see the importance of the baseball card room!

All this upheaval has made 2013 and the beginning of 2014 very lean times in relation to baseball products in the Arnold household. There has been great excitement amongst the UK baseball card collecting fraternity about 2014 Topps Heritage. I stood by as boxes of the stuff were opened and sets completed, while thoughts then  moved onto what product next to collect, Allen and Ginter or Goodwin's. Jealous...too right.

I did set myself some goals while on this enforced baseball card vacation. 

Firstly to collect an autographed Jacoby Ellsbury card, a Jacoby Ellsbury booklet and Jacoby Ellsbury printing plate, in no particular order.

Secondly, to complete the 2013 Topps Heritage base set plus a relic card, autograph and an oversized box loader.

Thirdly, to complete the Lenticular insert sets I had started  recently, Lineage 3D, Archives 3D and Opening Day Stars...1970 Kellogg's.

Finally to keep up to date with the latest Jacoby Ellsbury cards.

I can report some progress towards these goals.

1. Collected a Jacoby Ellsbury printing plate and 2 booklets.

2. Completed 2013 Topps thanks to the amazing generosity of a UK collector called Glenn,

3. Completed Lineage, Archives and Opening Day, made a big dent in 1970's Kellogg's

4. This is really old news now but it was sadly announced that Jacoby Ellsbury no longer played baseball... for a decent team... and although I tried, I just could bring myself to collect Jacoby in a Yankees uniform. It wasn't right. It is with a heavy heart I must say that my 'Pursuit of Jacoby' stops at the 2014 Heritage, Tribute and the Upper Class insert.  Although I will still chip away at the older cards.

Hopefully in a few weeks my vigour for collecting will be renewed and I can start writing (and trading) again.

In the meantime I was given 6 packs of 2014 Topps Series One by my friend and boss. Something about a gift for my 50th birthday, which is in a few days. I will share them at 'Pursuit of Red Sox'

Thank you for your patience.   

Do these cards exist? Or am I going mad?

The cards I am talking about are the Topps Target variation of the Topps base set.

In 2009, 2010 and 2011 Target and Wal-Mart offered their own variations of the Topps  cards.

From 2009, the Wal-Mart version were much easier to notice, naturally, as it was the front of the card that was changed to a more dramatic black border, whereas Target went for the retro styling. They changed the logo on the front and produced the card on a heritage type stock and called it ‘retro’. Hence the back of the card showed the more noticeable difference.

I can find the Wal-Mart variations of Jacoby Ellsbury, they regularly appear on e-bay and COMC as the pictures below demonstrate. But can I find the Target version?

No.

They don’t appear on e-bay or COMC. I know, because from 2009 I have checked regularly enough, even to the point of an ebay e-mail alert for anything vaguely describing the words, ‘Ellsbury’ and ‘Target’.

Why is this case?

I submit evidence for the brief using available Internet images.

2009 Topps Target #660 Jacoby Ellsbury

 ?

2009 Topps Wal-Mart Black Border #660 Jacoby Ellsbury

2009 Topps Update Target #UH15 Jacoby Ellsbury

?

2009 Topps Update Wal-Mart Black Border #UH15 Jacoby Ellsbury

 

2010 Topps Target #569 Jacoby Ellsbury

? 

2010 Topps Wal-Mart Black Border #569 Jacoby Ellsbury

2011 Topps Target #351 Jacoby Ellsbury

? 

2011 Topps Wal-Mart Black Border #351 Jacoby Ellsbury

 2011 Topps Update Target Red Border #278 Jacoby Ellsbury

2011 Topps Update Wal-Mart Blue Border #278 Jacoby Ellsbury

Were the Target variations produced in smaller print runs and are therefore rarer?

Is it something simpler. That being, the front of the card is less noticeably different and therefore collectors presume the card is an ordinary base card? So I'm guessing they just see the front and don't look at the back?

Or do the Target variations of the Jacoby Ellsbury cards in fact really exist at all?

A quick glance at my Jacoby Ellsbury collection.

I am taking my 8 year old twin girls on a trip to Australia for a few weeks to spend some time with my parents and the rest of the Arnold clan. The last time they saw them was when they were six months old. It is very exciting and a little nerve racking. That not only means no DIY for three weeks(and our house needs it) but my wife asked me very politely to 'straighten up' all the baseball cards laying around the house. In other words 'you won't be here so put them all away'. One of the many stacks of cards that are 'laying around' is my Jacoby Ellsbury collection. I have been trying to collect all the Ellsbury cards, that have no print run, for about three-four years now and have amassed around 170 cards. So before they disappear into my collecting cupboard, I thought I would sort and Topload them all. Here they are in all their glory.

Jacoby Ellsbury Wishlist

For a number of years I have been a Jacoby Ellsbury player collector. I don't mean attempting to collect every possible card ever produced that has his moniker on it, just the non-print run cards. If a few serial numbered cards come my way or a relic, I will not looked that gift horse in the mouth.
By my calculations (or Beckett actually) there are 164 cards since 2005 that fit into this collecting remit.
So far I have collected;

5 of a possible 10 cards from 2005,

1 of 5 cards from 2006

7 of 17 cards from 2007,

38 of 41 cards from 2008,

49 of 52 cards from 2009,

24 of 39 cards from 2010

making that 124/164 collected so far.

To view my progress see Pursuit of Jacoby.

My current top tens Jacoby Ellsbury pursuits are:

2005 Lowell Spinners Choice #5

2006 Wilmington Blue Rocks Choice #1
2007 Tristar Autothentics #67
2007 Tristar Autothentics Blue #67
2007 Tristar Elegance #46
2008 Topps Red Sox Gift Set #20
2008 Topps Chrome Blue Refractors #124
2009 Topps Target #660
2009 Topps 206 Old Mill #195
2009 Topps 206 Polar Bear #195

I am essentially a trading whore but realise that winning these when(and if ) they arrive on e-bay may be my only option.

Jacoby Ellsbury card Number 100

In a pursuit to capture all the Jacoby Ellsbury cards that have no specific print run, today I achieved a milestone of 100 cards. Although some are not from the designated 'No Print Run' category. It is just really hard not to pass-up those numbered or relic cards when they appear at a price that wouldn't lead to divorce.
So when this particular card, that I had seen before, came up for sale on e-bay I leapt on the very reasonable $1.50 price. I knew only of the National Sports Card Convention through the posts that Ross does over at one of my regular haunts Sports Card Info. There is a whole slew of celebrity signers, so I am unsure whether this card was produced to commemorate or perhaps advertise the convention.
Either way I am the proud owner of a 2008 Topps Chrome #124 Jacoby Ellsbury National Card convention card which brings me to 108 Jacoby Ellsbury cards.

2005 Topps Draft Pick #UH317

So a little birthday money came my way and what better way to spend it than on baseball cards. While packs of baseball cards would have been nice, I have neglected my player collection Pursuit of Jacoby, to conclude some of the various other sets in my repertoire. So I decided to use this unforseen windfall on some earlier Jacoby's that have escaped me. This 2005 Topps Update #UH317 is the first card to arrive.
I am surprised that it arrived from the USA so soon. If you haven't heard an Icelandic Volcano called Eyjafjallajökull, (my son commented 'It looks like someone just typed random letters on the keyboard) erupted bringing all European air travel to a halt. No outbound or inbound air traffic for 6 days now. The Easter school holidays were just finishing, so millions of people (by estimate) trying to get home were left stranded all over the world, and until today I presumed there would be no airmail.

The idea of an unexpected holiday extension sounds brilliant but I think the reality of sleeping on the floor of an airport departure lounge is harrowing. As fresh eruptions continue spewing a towering wall of ash, dust and steam high into the air it is thought that chaos it has caused will continue for many months.

Jacoby Ellsbury

As I get closer to collecting the 1980's Topps set I decided to try and concentrate on one of my other pursuits Jacoby Ellsbury. I have received some cards in trade recently so I hit e-bay to try and knock off some of the 'older' cards but as luck would have it I won some 2009 cards as well. Rod from Padographs asked 'Why would a guy in the UK collect a college player from Oregon State?' Why? Well...
One of the TV stations in the UK called Channel 4 had a baseball program that ran for a few years, it was cancelled in 2007 but we were lucky enough to have the 2007 World Series televised live. I spent a few late nights and early mornings dozing on the couch watching as much as I could. In between quick eye lid checks Jacoby Ellsbury took an amazing catch, which, if memory serves me correctly was in Game 4. I have been unable to find it on you tube but that catch stayed with me. Shortly after my wife bought me a Red Sox shirt for my birthday and it had Ellsbury 46 on the back and the rest as they say 'was history'. As I picked up one or two of his cards a pursuit was born. There are a number of pricey cards but I decided to stick to cards with no print run. Most of the cards I receive are in trades and from e-bay, only one Ellsbury card has ever arrived on e-bayUK a 2008 Green Co-Signers and it became mine.

The Pursuit of Jacoby

Jacoby Ellsbury.
Boston Red Sox centre fielder.
A quick search through Beckett tells me that there are 257 cards depicting Jacoby Ellsbury from 2005 to 2008.
A refinement of the search tells me that 96 of these cards are 1 of 1's.
Wait a second... 96?
There are 96 cards that a collector like myself never has a slightest chance of seeing, let alone owning. What is the point?
There are a further 55 cards limited from 5 to 100 and another 43 cards that are limited anywhere from 100 to 2008.
So in reality there are only 62 cards without a specific print run that I have a real chance of collecting.
Sounds like an achievable goal.

Trading cards 1

I traded some cards with a collector in the UK called Matt.

He is trying to collect and fair play to him, the Upper Deck Yankee Legacy cards. I had about 6 of these, some Road to 5oo A-Rod cards and about 4 Mickey Mantle inserts.

He sent me a pile of Red Sox cards including these two Jacoby Ellsbury's.

He included these as well:

2008 UD USA Baseball Robbie Grossman Relic,

2008 Allen+Ginter Jeff Francis Auto,

2008 Allen+Ginter Brad Hawke Relic,

2007 Topps Turkey Red Marcus Giles Jersey,

2008 Goudey Hanley Ramirez Jersey,

2008 Topps David Ortiz numbered 1902/2008.

2008 UD Series 1 Curt Schilling Jersey,

A great first trade here in the UK.