Four Baggers and Foreclosures

I was in Minnesota when I read that the former Dead Beat Club, at 4040 East Evans Avenue in Denver, Colorado, had been destroyed by fire. According to reports, the fire broke out on a late Friday afternoon, on September 25, 2015. Firefighters arrived on scene at 4:25pm, and smoke was already billowing out of the roof, on both the north and south ends of the building. I never once went there. I have very little emotional attachment to it either. I likely wouldn't have noticed it without the murals painted on the walls. However, I did know about it. The girl that I was kinda on and off seeing in 1996 and early 1997, was a big fan off that place, and asked me to go a couple of times... Me?  Go to a dance club?  Yeah, that'll happen... Coincidentally, she was mutual friends with Laura, who did go to the Dead Beat Club with her in 1996. When I told Laura about the fire, she showed me this empty box of matches that she took from that visit. After this blurry ph...

When 1993 Topps Finest first hit the Hobby Shops, I missed the whole 5 minute window where it was still affordable. Topps debut the product as the first baseball card release at the $5/pack level. 1993 was deep into the Junk Wax Era, and it was questionable weather the hobby would support such a product. As The Becketts were showing even at that time, card prices were falling for the once hot sets of recent years. 1989 Upper Deck, 1990 Leaf, 1991 Stadium Club, 1992 Bowman... All releases that were red hot in the market had cooled significantly. Product was still over saturating the market. There was simply still too much of everything, if you were looking for stuff to hold a decent resale value. In a bold move for the day, Topps severely cut the production on 1993 Topps Finest Baseball to an unheard of 4000 cases. 12 boxes in each case. 18 packs in each box. 6 cards in each pack.  Topps did create scarcity.  Quickly. 1993 Topps Finest was THE topic of co...