Cards to Jump on Before They Skyrocket

Spring training is here. I truly have no idea yet on the Bowman 1sts I want to grab before jobs are won and prices skyrocket (despite my headline claim, sorry)…. But I have my eyes on one in particular — Brewer Hicklen. His autographed 1sts shouldn’t be this cheap — he can take lots of walks, hit lots of homers, and steal lots of bases. Last year in the minors he had a .363 OBP with 22 home runs and 44 steals, in just 115 games. 

He plays for the Brewers and his name is Brewer. Boom, value increase No. 1. He’s 29 years old and everyone loves an old rookie mashing the ball out of nowhere. Value increase No. 2. He could hit a bunch of homers in spring training and end up on fantasy baseball sleeper lists (there’s a clear path to playing time here! Sal Frelick can be platooned!!) — value bump No. 3. 

And if I’m wrong and he ends up in Nashville for half the season? An ungraded autographed 1st, numbered to 499, is $7. His Topps Chrome base autographed is under $2. You’ll be fine! 

Some more players/cards I’m eyeing before games get underway and the hype-cycle starts churning… 

1. I love Mariners minor league pitcher Brandyn Garcia. He, unfortunately, doesn’t have a card yet, unless you count the 2024 Everett AquaSox team set! I’d go as high as $1.99 on it, but I feel like Garcia makes some noise and gets a Bowman this season… and that poor AquaSox card is widely ignored. 

2. I thought the market would have cooled on Jasson Dominguez to a point where some of his autos would have cratered. People have short memories! … but they haven’t. You still have to pony up $75+ for ungraded non-rookies. And this video of an absolutely jacked Dominguez taking BP probably isn’t helping. Maybe you can jump on a foil Update SP rookie with Jack O’Lantern holograms behind him for $25, but there may also be a very small section of people who find that card attractive. I am one of them. I gave it the Watchlist Heart to see if I get a 20% offer from the seller. 

3. I do not know when the tide turned on Grayson Rodriguez (maybe right after a lat strain shut him down last year in August?), but I noticed his fantasy baseball Average Draft Position was 114 in early drafts. And so I went to cross-reference that with his cards and… wow. We’re talking $50 for a (take a deep breath, there’s a lot here) Chrome Update rookie Sapphire autographed green variation numbered to 99. Grayson Rodriguez is a 25 year-old stud who can strike out 240 batters in 200 innings. Maybe all the Paul Skenes-ness made people forget how good Rodriguez was just a few years ago. 

Anyways… this isn’t investment advice. Just some of what has me excited as Spring Training gets underway!

By the way, Mantel has a great giveaway going right now tied to their newsletter referral program. Subscribe to Above the Mantel and refer some friends to be entered to win a box of Pokemon Prismatic Evolutions! (Though not sure why THAT newsletter gets a cool giveaway and this one doesn’t… I need to speak to management).

I read this story on cllct a few weeks ago, about a $50 garage sale find possibly being worth millions. Every time I see something like this, my mind goes to two places:

1. This is a fake story. Not by cllct, but by the people involved in “finding” the priceless item. 

2. On the 0.00001% chance it isn’t, would I go back to the family who held the garage sale and say “hey look, I am going to cut you in on this because it’s the right thing to do”?

You would, too, right? Because otherwise, if I’m the guy who sold it, I would make sure someone in my family filed a suit saying I “stole” it from their room and sold it without their permission and stop the sale and all that. Has that ever happened? It seems like the logical (only?) step when you’re looking at $50 in crumpled bills from someone who just happened to be driving by and happened to spend $50 on a piece of art at a yard sale (which seems like an outrageous price in a sea of $3 t-shirts and $2 vinyl records and $10 coffee makers)…  or, you know, $12 million. 

Speaking of garage sales… I love them. But I have this thing where I see one, I want to stop… and then I never do. Does this happen to anyone else? All I want to do on a summer day is wake up, drive off by myself aimlessly,  and take that right turn — as directed by the neon green posterboard stapled to the corner telephone pole — to rifle through tables of old stuff. 

Lately I’ve been almost stopping at estate sales. They seem a lot more fun and less “junk”-ey, although — full disclosure — I’ve never actually gone to one. I see them on TV! They seem cool. But I still feel weird just poking my head into someone’s house and judging the prices they’ve put on their recently-deceased aunt’s ornate jewelry boxes. 

Is anyone out there an estate sale pro with tips? I started a post over on Mantel for any estate sale tips you can share. And not “make sure you negotiate!” Give me something good and make me confident enough to walk into a stranger’s house ready to buy old stuff!

I have searched high and low and NOBODY has made a Serena Williams dancing at halftime card. I don’t get it. That would’ve sold 50,000 copies, Topps Now!! 

Remember in Mail Day #1 when we urged you all to go buy Lauren Betts cards? She’s within striking distance of winning the Naismith and UCLA was undefeated until last week. Prices have gone up! They still may have some room to grow! And get on Paige Bueckers while you still can. She can have a string of 30-point games in the tourney and be the #1 pick in the WNBA Draft. 

Alright, I have to go watch more internet video of Jasson Dominguez and other strapping 22-year-old-men in tight t-shirts. Have a good week everyone! Thanks, as always, for reading along!!