Sweet Spot Turns Sour

Just a quick little story today... 

I'm in the middle of putting together my big X-Mess Epic that will drop at some point in the next day or two, but I wanted to show off the most tragic baseball card I've had the opportunity to purchase...

But first, a brief summary...


Sweet Spot was a high-end baseball release from Upper Deck. You would only get 4 cards in a pack, with a retail price hovering around $10. Yeah, these are lottery tickets, simple as that...

Of course the draw was plenty of inserts! Game used jersey chunks a-plenty! Upper Deck would also get creative, gluing wood chunks to cardboard and calling them bat cards! But the signature gimmick (pun kinda intended) were the autographed "sweet spot" baseball cards...

Intended to mimmic a baseball signed across the sweet spot, the cards would house the removed autographed piece of leather. In most cases there never was a ball. Players just signed pieces of -maybe- leather, which were affixed to a very thick card. In very rare cases, Upper Deck destroyed an authentic autographed baseball, by cutting the autograph off of the ball, to then glue it to a very modern looking piece of cardboard.

Wouldn't it have been better to maybe have an instant win type promotion where you could redeem a card you pulled out of a pack, to then have Upper Deck send you the actual autographed baseball, instead of destroying a historical artifact of the game?

I don't know... If given a choice between owning a Babe Ruth autographed baseball, or a card with an actual Babe Ruth autograph ripped off a 1920's era baseball... I'm choosing the actual baseball...

But I guess I'm just stupid like that...

At Twins Fest 2004, I bought the remainder of a wax box of 2003 Upper Deck Sweet Spot Baseball from Ron of Coach's Corner Sports Card's booth on the Metrodome floor. I think there was about 5 packs left in the box, and he gave me a good deal on them.


Here is Ron at Twins Fest 2001. This was back when dealers made a ridiculous amount of money off selling Beanie Babies to middle aged housewives... Who were at Twins Fest while their husbands did baseball stuff. He said he made a killing with Beanie Babies during these years at Twins Fest...

Ron closed Coach's Corner in 2004. But that's another story for another day...


The reason I spent way too much on very little for cards was I really wanted an autograph from the Sweet Spot brand. Luckily, those five packs yielded this bat card of Adam Dunn. I really wanted the baseball chunk autographed, but this is still pretty damn cool.

I didn't buy any more Sweet Spot until late 2005, when I bought a few packs after moving to Colorado. My streak of Sweet (Spot) Luck continued with this...


Rockies star first baseman Todd Helton's jersey chunk, with barely visible purple pinstripe! As one of the rare Rockies collectors, I was very happy with this...

And then I pulled this from the next pack...


Still not a torn baseball, but a wedge of wood autographed by a (then) hot prospect, numbered 20 of 50 was something to really get excited by...

12 years later, it looks like Verlander is well on his way to a Hall of Fame career, and I have one of his higher end rookie cards.

So those packs were worth it!

Still, Sweet Spot was a pool that I rarely dabbled my toes in. If you didn't pull a decent card from a pack, you spent around $10 to get a dollar's worth of cards. Usually 4 from teams I don't collect....

When the 2006 cards came out, I set aside a little bit more of the card budget for Sweet Spot. Mike ordered a case for the shop, and I took a box from it for for the bargain price of ten $10 lottery tickets, with two extra thrown in for free!

I purchased a fake baseball piece autographed card (of Scott Kazmir) in 2005, just because I wanted one, and only seemed to pull wood out of packs.

Heheheheh... You said pull wood... 

I finally pulled my first autographed fake baseball piece from a pack with this box...


Hmmmm... Looking at Paul Maholm with today's eyes makes this card kind of a snoozer... 

Maholm did pitch in the major leagues for 10 seasons. They weren't particularly great, he went 77-100 in those ten seasons.... But he was a quality major leaguer with Pittsburgh, the Braves, Cubs and Dodgers.

But when I opened the pack that contained this, Maholm was a 23 year old rookie and former first round (8th overall) draft pick. He put up some decent numbers in a 6 start cameo to close out the 2005 season. He was a decent prospect, and despite playing for a team I didn't collect, this card had potential.

So why don't I try a box of Sweet Spot Series 2? 

Or Sweet Spot Update? 

Or whatever Upper Deck called their second Sweet Spot set of 2016, when it came out...

And what did that get me?


Steve Stemle...

Really?

No offense to Mr. Stemle, I'm sure he's a great guy.... But if I'm buying twelve $10 lottery tickets (for the price of 10!), I expect the top card drawn to not be of a 28 year old middle relief pitcher with control issues and a lack of strikeout pitches.

Again, no slight... But Steve Stemle's Major League Baseball career lasted a grand total of 11 games. 16 2/3 innings, with an 0-1 record and an 8.64 ERA...

This is not a player that should get a card in any high end set... 

Let alone a box hit from a very expensive box...

Nothing personal!

I was so disappointed by the Steve Stemle that I never bought another Sweet Spot pack or card again... 

Until last Tuesday night....

A few years ago, I read the final edition of Upper Deck Sweet Spot Baseball, that came out in 2008, had some of the higher end autographed cards go through some very unfortunate adverse chemical reactions...

The autographs faded or completely disappeared from the cards! 

The story I read featured an autographed baseball slice of Derek Jeter, that was serial numbered out of 4. The purchaser paid $400 for it (or something like that), and a year later, Jeter's autograph had completely vanished.

Upper Deck said there was a problem with the ink in some of the pens the players used, and how it reacted with the (fake) leather of the baseball swatches. Many autographs in the 2008 set have faded significantly, or simply no longer exist...

Way to go cheap Mr. McWilliam! 

I remember thinking after reading the story, that I wanted one of these self-destructive autographed cards... It would really suck to pull one from a pack and have it happen -or worse, like the guy who bought the Jeter- but I'd put down a couple of bucks for one if I ever found one for the right price...

Recently, I discussed my visit to Unfriendly's Dickish for penny sleeves. It was there and then that I first laid my eyes on this tragic beauty:


Tony Gwynn was one of the greatest hitters of all time, .338 lifetime in 20 years with the San Diego Padres. Gwynn was also another of my favorite players. One of many that don't have a featured place in my collection, but that I tried to keep their cards when I found them.

I'd also long desired to own a Tony Gwynn autograph.

Tony Gwynn died of cancer in 2014, so the amount of Gwynn autographs are going to be more limited than Hall of Famers that live into their 70's and 80's.

Which makes this card all the more tragic...


Unfriendly's Dickish had this card in the $3 box. I picked it up and looked at it that day, but for whatever reason I didn't buy it among the 10 for $20.

However, I did go home and regret not buying it... 


After a few days, I decided that for only $3, 
the ghost autograph of Tony Gwynn NEEDED to be in my collection!


So while I was out running Aaron's, I stopped by Unfriendly's Dickish, dropped the $3 and change and I finally have my Tony Gwynn autograph...

Kinda....

And none of this story ended up being brief or quick...

Sorry about that...


Back to working my Supa Awesome Exciting Epic X-Mess Story!

Comments

Post a Comment

Someone else liked these...

Abandoned Movie - Kitty's South (The Webber Theater) - Denver, CO

Image
When I first started this blog, with the intent of writing stories about abandoned buildings I’d photographed, Kitty’s South was one of the stories I most wanted to write. For whatever reasons, it took me nearly seven years to get around to it. Looking back at my early stuff from 2017 and 2018, I’m glad I let this story marinate for an additional six and half years. Kitty's South - March 22, 2015. Located at 119 S Broadway, Denver, Colorado. I drove past that building hundreds of times in my near 20 years of living around Denver. Any time I drove home from downtown, I had to pass by Kitty's. So it was rather shocking in the summer of 2016, when Kitty's stopped looking like Kitty's.  The Webber Theater - April 29, 2018. After a year and a half of work, inside and out, Kitty's South was brought back to a similar look of its days as The Webber Theater. The interior of the former theater was opened up with some of the space used by the Archetype Distillery. Archetype cl
Read some more »

Our Happy Birfday Fan Zone Fun Time Whatever - St. Cloud MN

Image
At the beginning of last month, Laura and I were trying to figure out a decent, low impact, day trip, just to get away from Crapids for a few hours. This would tie into both of our birthdays, since they are both in March. Maybe see something cool. Maybe eat something different. Hopefully find something to do that doesn't offend either of our mutual interests. How about St. Cloud? It's less than an hour away, we can get Burger Time and look for Justin Morneau cards at Fan Zone? Since that was agreeable to both parties, we made our way northwest, on Saturday March 2, 2024. Fan Zone, St. Cloud MN. But we aren't there yet... Have to leave the general Crapids/Anoka area first.  Leaving this area still remains one of my favorite things to this day! They're building a something, out where the old Anoka Pizza Hut was. The grave of Anoka Perkins next door, remains relatively undisturbed.  But I was saddened to see that another abandoned Burger King has disappeared. This time i
Read some more »

What Happened to Clark's Submarine Sandwich?

Image
Well, they went out of business! Yeah, that's the short answer.  But more importantly, what happened to each individual Clark's Submarine Sandwich store? Once there were 15 of them scattered around the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area, but they were all gone by 1991. Clark's still has a small but loyal following around town, and a reputation built off the bread, thinly sliced onions and most important, the sandwich oil that was it's signature. While the chain is long gone, I want to know just how gone is it?  For example, my hometown had a Clark's Submarine Sandwiches, and that building is still standing. Former Clark's Submarine Sandwich Location: 401 Northdale Blvd. Coon Rapids Back in October 2006, the building had long been sitting empty, but was still in good shape. Shortly after I took the picture of the abandoned Clarks/Cousins building, it was renovated and turned into a Dunn Bros. Coffee. But still standing! Clark&
Read some more »

Dinner Break! - Burger King - St. Cloud, MN

Image
When you want to go nowhere for breakfast... Although, I did go through the drive thru at this St. Cloud for breakfast, once. But I was just a spectator. It was far too early in the day to introduce Burger King to my system, without disastrous consequences. But someone driving needed a Croissanwich... I was sitting in the passenger seat of this white molester van. I wasn't drugged, I was just very tired. That van was owned by one Crazy Carl. Who was running Griffy's Old Town Bar & Grill, in Genola, MN, at the time. We closed the bar and cleaned up the place until 3am, the night before. But we were back at Griffy's to get the bar ready to open, the next day. After pounding a bunch of coffee and cigarettes, we were off on a morning supply run to Sam's Club, in St. Cloud. Wasted Quarter issue #58 - Crime Drama! - March 2006 I'd gone up to Genola a few times during 2004-05. Griffy's Old Town Bar & Grill served as a quick vacation away from Crapids, during th
Read some more »

Abandoned Mall: Villa Italia Mall - Lakewood, CO

Image
Villa Italia Mall in Lakewood, Colorado, opened in March 1967.  It closed for good on July 15th, 2001. I'm not going to get into the biography of the large shopping mall. My experiences there number a grand total of two. Once in June of 2000 (for a baseball card show), and the other in May, 2001, when I took these pictures. Since there was no emotional attachment on my behalf toward the place, I know next to nothing about it. There are a few good sites with real information and more pictures of Villa Italia. Both in it's heyday and in it's depressed run down state. I consulted these for this story. Deadmalls has a basic biography, that is a good starting point.  A link appears at the bottom of the page that takes you to another site with a nice selection of Villa Italia photos. Or you can just click here... So let me add my piece to that total! In May 2001, my mom was in town from Minnesota. She was in Denver visiting my sister (who lived in Lakewood)
Read some more »

Abandoned Retail - Brookdale Mall, Sears & Perkins!

Image
Visiting Minnesota in September 2011, my dad told me that Brookdale Shopping Mall was being demolished, and we should check it out. Brookdale opened in 1962, as one of the "Dales." A series of suburban metro area shopping malls designed to syphon retail dollars away from the traditional downtowns of major cities. In the Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area, Brookdale was in Brooklyn Center, Rosedale was in Roseville, Ridgedale in Minnetonka and Southdale in Edina. Back in the day, needed housewares, "important" clothes for school and other reasons, and whatever other supplies the family had to buy, usually came from the mall. Brookdale was a constant. Rosedale as well, but that mall is currently thriving today, and thus far off my radar. Northtown mall was the closest to us, but it was a second tier mall without the top drawing anchors. Northtown has seen a little hint of a resurgence after losing it's long string of anchors and a series of renovati
Read some more »

Grumpies... The Coolest Coon Rapids Has Ever Been!

Image
"Dood, this is the coolest Coon Rapids has ever been!" I'm most certainly not talking about this place...  Though I am talking about a specific event that took place inside it's walls. Today, the bar known as Willy's has been closed for over 6 months.  After numerous incidents with patron fights and gun violence, the owner called it quits on the bar and closed the doors for good. And the city is much better off for it! But we'll get to that soon enough... My absence in blogging lately is due to returning to my sleepy suburban hometown after a (give or take) 22 year absence. Where I have to deal with a lack of internet connection, and a whole lot less quiet me/writing time... (You can add Laura and I to that population now...) I was born in this town, grew up here and stayed to the age of 21. Then I packed the Vanilla Honksicle (second of three Fort Escorts I've owned) and headed west for Colorado. That was in 1996. Oth
Read some more »

Ghosts of Riverdale Past - Coon Rapids, MN

Image
Recently there’s been a lot of chatter amongst the townsfolk about the retail abomination known as Riverdale. Another round of store closures has people talking about what a massive failure this shopping cluster has always been, and why retail is the way it is, and who's to blame and all that kind of stuff. Bottom line being, more stores that people liked shopping at are gone. For whatever reason. Which made me wonder, how many former businesses in Riverdale did I manage to get pictures of over the years? As I started going through the Riverdale picture folder on my external drive, I found far more than I'd expected. This is by no means EVERY former business that didn't survive the ridiculous conditions of shopping in my hometown, but it's an interesting peek into some of what didn't work. I didn't live in Coon Rapids when Riverdale was built. When I moved back in 2003, I was horrified that the western sky now had a brilliant orange glow in the middle of the nig
Read some more »

Abandoned WalMarts over Apache Plaza

Image
Check out that sweet label scar!  WalMart closed their St. Anthony store on April 8, 2014. Hours later, the new WalMart Superstore in Roseville, less than three miles to the southeast, held their grand opening. WalMart decided they could get a much better deal from the City of Roseville. Less than a decade after opening the St. Anthony location, WalMart left a big empty building for the city to deal with. Breaking a 20 year lease in the process. For what it's worth, this is one of the nicer looking abandoned WalMarts I've seen in person. Originally signed on to anchor the south end of the new Silver Lake Village shopping complex. Which was to be built on the land previously occupied by the Apache Plaza shopping mall (1961-2004). This store opened in 2005, and did good numbers during it's life. Providing easily accessed wares to all the nearby residential neighborhoods, both old and new.  But it's location was also it's undoing... Silver Lake Village is anchored on t
Read some more »

Abandoned Retail - Target - Coon Rapids, MN

Image
Target T-42. The 42nd Target store in the world, was located in Coon Rapids, MN. Until it was replaced by Target T-1144, a mile or so to the north, 26 years later. Coon Rapids Target opened October 19, 1972, and closed October 6, 1998. Living on the north side of town in the 1970’s and 1980’s, big box retailers like Zayre and Kmart were more frequently visited, since they were closer to our house. Target was patronized less often, and usually paired with grocery shopping at Red Owl. Complete with video games while my mom shopped for food. And copies of Mad magazine slipped into the cart when no one was looking. Downtown Center, anchored by Festival Foods, opened in 1987. Sitting at the corner of Round Lake and Bunker Lake, in Andover, that shopping center was now more convenient for weekly groceries. Subsequently, Red Owl's visits started declining, just due to Festival. Riverdale WalMart opened November 14, 1990. For better or worse, that siphoned an even more significant chunk of
Read some more »