When can someone that doesn't authentic autographs whatsoever clearly determine that an autograph is fake? Here's an example with no guesswork involved. I saw a Ty Cobb autograph being sold on eBay recently. It's his signature on a baseball envelope and being sold as genuine.

The problem? It has a Lou Gehrig commemorative stamp on it. Cobb died in 1961. The Gehrig stamps came out in 1989. You gotta wonder why is only sold for $102.50. Or maybe we have to wonder who would pay $102.50 for it.

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The first night of Mastro's Classic Collector Auction finished last night, with other half ending tonight. I now own game-used bats from Carl Yastrzemski and Rod Carew. I'm also still in disbelief that the Barack Obama single-signed PSA 9.5 baseball sold for $2,100.

First, if you didn't see it yet, Mastro Auctions has pushed back its Classic Collector auction. The auction was supposed to end tonight and tomorrow, but has been pushed to July 1 and 2 due to server problems. Here's the text from an email I received last night:

"We are currently running the auction using our backup system, which can handle ordinary traffic like viewing lots and placing bids. However, because we do not want to take any chances closing the auction with our backup system and risk any service gaps at crucial closing times, we have chosen to extend the bidding until next Tuesday and Wednesday, July 1st and 2nd.

Bidding for lots 1-863 will end on Tuesday, July 1st, and bidding for lots 864-2174 will end on Wednesday, July 2nd. We apologize for any inconvenience this delay may cause, but we felt it was necessary to ensure a satisfying conclusion to the auction process."

To discuss or comment on the auction in our forums, click here.

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Brandon Rush, who is projected to go in the middle of the first round of the NBA Draft tomorrow night, has signed with a memorabilia company, according to Rivals.com. The company is paying Rush $4,000 to autograph 800 trading cards by the end of the summer.

According to the article, last night he made it through 75 before his eyelids got heavy. Today he's hoping to knock out 100 more.

"I've got nothing better to do right now," Rush says, "and it's easy money."

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Finally, Dreams Inc. continues to grow quickly. According to a press release I recieved saying:

"Dreams Retail, a wholly owned subsidiary of Dreams, Inc., (AMEX:DRJ), a vertically integrated leader in the licensed sports products industry, announced today it will relocate its operations from Niles to Northbrook, Illinois, effective June 27, 2008. The move will accommodate the exponential growth the company is continuing to experience. 
 
Owner of FansEdge® and other top industry brands, Dreams Retail will occupy the former Crate & Barrel headquarters building at 725 Landwehr Road, a 207,000 sq. ft. facility that provides warehouse space equal to more than three times that of the company’s current location."

The Finals is done, but the NBA Draft is just a week away. I've said from two seconds after the lottery was determined that Bulls will take Derrick Rose. At first, most people were predicting Michael Beasley, but now most are saying Rose. Much like last year, this draft is pretty clear on the top two players, but it's not clear on which team will take them.

The Heat have the No. 2 pick, but don't seem sold on Beasley so someone could trade into that spot. O.J. Mayo appears to be the consensus No. 3 pick and after that it's a mess. Jerryd Bayless, Kevin Love, Russell Westbrook, Brook Lopez, Anthony Randolph, D.J. Augustin, Joe Alexander, Eric Gordon and Danillo Gallinari appear to be the next nine players drafted but this year could be filled with trades so it's tough to determine what team will draft where.

I like Mayo a lot and think he'll be an excellent pro. He's not Kobe or LeBron, but he works as hard as anyone, is a great shooter and I think he can play point guard or shooting guard. I'm also a Love fan because of his great fundamentals, rebounding, shooting touch and outlet passing. It's like he's Mehmet Okur already and should be a lot better. As for the guards, I'm not sold Bayless being point guard since all I've ever seen him do is shoot the ball. Just because he's short (by NBA standards) doesn't mean he's a point guard. Augustin, to me, bears a striking resemblance to Damon Stoudamire and will be a defensive mismatch since he's not even 6-feet tall. I like Westbrook a lot for his defensive presence and I think Gordon is much better suited to play in the NBA than in college.

As for the bigs, Lopez doesn't impress me. He's 7-feet tall and doesn't play under the basket that much because he's too skinny, but does have a great shooting touch. Randolph has major upside, but is skin and bones at this point so he'll need a few years in the weight room before contributing. Alexander is tough, athletic and a good shooter so he could be very good. And everyone talks about Gallinari's offense, but nobody mentions that he probably couldn't guard me in a pickup game.

If you haven't been keeping track of those NBA Finals jerseys, the Kobe jerseys have both topped the $8,000 mark. The road purple one is at $8520, with the home gold at $8020. The Garnett jerseys are also smoking hot, with the home white jersey at $5,480 and the road green jersey at $1,580. The Game 3 jerseys have had very little time to sell since the game was Tuesday, which makes the totals even more impressive.

Even the Paul Pierce Game 1 jersey is over $5,000. And my hopes of picking up an Odom Finals jersey are diminishing quickly since his home gold jersey from Game 3 is at $570 already. I'm not sure if I want that one anyway since foul trouble limited him to four points.

As for the card market, the NBA Finals hasn't had that much of an impact. No Lakers player besides Kobe has stood out that much. Many have had their moments, but cards aren't increasing. Kobe's Topps Chrome rookie still books at $250 and it's a very solid $250. It had a great chance of rising beyond that mark with a championship, but down 3-1 I'm not holding my breath.

As for the Celtics, Garnett rookies are very solid, but he really hasn't blown anyone away in the Finals. Pierce and Ray Allen have benefitted the most and I would expect their cards to peak after (if) they've locked up their first championship. Rondo had a great chance to climb, but his ankle injury has hurt (pardon the pun) him, while Perkins looked good through most of the playoffs but has been a no-show during the Finals.

Want to own the jersey Paul Pierce was wearing in Game 1 when he went down in excruciating pain, needed to be taken off the court in a wheelchair only to return a couple minutes later, bouncing down the tunnel and leading the Celtics to victory (sorry, I'm a Lakers fan and that was just too Dwyane Wade-ish for me to handle)? You'll have that chance.

Fans will have the chance to own the actual jerseys worn by players competing in this year’s NBA Finals. For the first time ever, fans can visit NBA.com while Games 1 and 3 are being played to bid on the jerseys each player is wearing on the court. A jersey for every active player from the Celtics and Lakers will be available, giving fans the choice to own either the player’s home or away jersey. The Game 1 auction will run from June 5-24 and the Game 3 auction will run from June 10-26.

MeiGray, the official game-worn source of the NBA, will oversee the auction on NBA.com, and authenticate the jerseys via a special code, tag and security number placed on the jersey prior to the games. After the games are played, the jerseys will be securely stored until they are delivered to the winners.

“This is unique way to bring our fans closer to The Finals,” said Lisa Goldberg, NBA senior director of trading cards and memorabilia. “Giving fans the chance to bid on jerseys while the games are in progress is a whole new way to get exclusive memorabilia from the NBA’s premier event of the season.”

Personally, I think this is pretty cool and will definitely have http://auctions.nba.com bookmarked in my browser for the duration. Currently, Garnett is currently selling for $4,280 and Kobe is up to $8,040 with 15 days left.

I don't know how many of my readers actually stayed up last night for Game 4 of the West Finals, but the Lakers took a 3-1 lead in the series. They have to win one of the next three games, including two at home in order to advance to the finals. The reason I'm blogging about this is because if you watched the end, you saw a bunch of blown calls at the end. I'm criticize referees a lot as a fan and firmly believe the refs are the biggest reason why home teams are nearly invincible this season in the playoffs, but I've never seen that many blown calls right at the end.

Now, if you read my blog, you know that I'm a Lamar Odom fan and cheering for whoever he's playing for. I even had to cheer for the Clippers for four years. And yes, I think the final play of the game probably should have been a foul and sent Brent Barry to the line, but Barry did one of the worst jobs in NBA history at selling the foul. He also traveled before the contact so maybe that's why they didn't give him the call. Here's the clip of his feet moving all over just in case you don't believe me.

But the game should have never reached that point. First, Odom came up with an incredible block on a Tony Parker layup with about 30 seconds left and the refs called goaltending. You can see very clearly in this clip that the block was clean and Odom got it before it hit the backboard. You can also see the ball going to a Lakers player so the Spurs would have had to foul.

Then, with around six seconds left, Derek Fisher's shot HIT THE RIM (can't find a clip, but if you see the play, it's pretty obvious it hit the rim), bounced off Robert Horry's leg and out of bounce. The result should have been a reset of the 24-second shot clock and the Spurs again forced to foul. Instead, the refs missed it (although they had a full timout to review it), which left the Lakers two seconds on the shot clock and Kobe was forced to throw up an impossible fallaway instead of getting fouled and icing the game at the line. Three huge blown calls in the last 30 seconds. The Lakers get a chance to finish them off Thursday night at home.

In other news, a Goodwin & Co. auction ends tomorrow night. I don't have the energy to mention too much, but it has one of the coolest wire photos I've ever seen. The photo features Shoeless Joe Jackson holding up two trophies and it's currently up to $1,650.

There's been a very interesting thread on the PSA message boards recently so I thought I'd mention it here and get some more opinions. A collector purchased a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle that was colored/altered a long time ago and has asked for advice from the board members on what they would do with it. Here's a link to the thread: Thread.

The options appear to be: 1) Keep it as is (the collector is trying to complete a low-grade 1952 Topps set), 2) Have it restored. If it were restored, the card would then be sold and hopefully finance another low-grade Mantle along with a bunch of other singles to help complete the set.

As far as grading is concerned, PSA would grade it as "Authentic". Whether it was restored at this point or not does not influence that. The card is authentic, but has obviously been altered so it would never get a numberical grade. There is a very strong market for altered cards, especially one of this value since most collectors could never even consider owning a nice 1952 Mantle unless it were restored. Here's a couple of examples of recent altered versions of this card: Example 1, Example 2.

The board suggested several restoration experts, but the catch is you won't find one that will guarantee their work. This is completely fair since they never know completely what they are getting into and you shop according to their reputation. But looking at the closing prices of the restored cards above ($6,500 and $7,500 if you didn't click on the links above), it's worth the trouble.

My take on it: The only decision I would be making is which restoration expert to send it to. Since I talked to the owner of this card over the weekend and know what he paid for it, I'm willing to bet the cost of the card and cost of restoration aren't going to come close to the potential price once it's done. There's also no ethical issue involved here either since the only thing a collector could do with a card like this to make sure nobody ever tried to deceive anyone with it in the future would be to burn it immediately. And I don't think that's going to happen.

Did you notice the Julius Erving jersey that sold in Grey Flannel last week? Wow. It finished at $188,321, which is the highest price I've seen a basketball jersey sell for. It was directly linked to the 1976 NBA All-Star Game and Slam Dunk Contest and included the entire uniform. It also arrived with a letter of authenticity from the ballboy, as well as video and photo matching.

In the same auction, a late 1960s Oscar Robertson Cincinnati Royals game-used and autographed road jersey sold for $66,734, a 1984-85 Michael Jordan rookie Bulls home jersey (with a team LOA included) sold for $55,152 and a 1973-74 Pete Maravich Atlanta Hawks game-used home jersey with a team LOA hit $36,716.

Where do these rank in the pecking order for all-time basketball jerseys? The highest price I have seen before this was in a Sept. 2006 Grey Flannel sale with a circa 1973-74 Erving Nets home jersey selling for $141,927, followed by a 1947-48 George Mikan Lakers home jersey selling for $110,400 in Sept. 2007, also in Grey Flannel.

Beyond that, most of the next ranking jerseys come from the Sotheby's with SCP Auctions sale I attended in NYC last June. That sale included a 1969-70 Willis Reed Knicks home jersey from that historic Final Game of the Championship where he wasn't supposed to play, but did. It sold for $90,000. Also in that sale, a 1957-58 Wilt Chamberlain Kansas Jayhawks home jersey from Chamberlain's estate finished at $72,000, with a 1967 Robertson Royals home uniform ($66,000), Mikan 1947-48 Lakers road jersey ($60,000) and a 1967-68 Bill Russell Celtics home jersey ($60,000) also in that sale. It should also be noted that a 1984 Jordan Bulls road uniform sold for $70,500 in Robert Edward Auctions' 2007 sale.

I'm not much of a racing fan, but I'm a really like to collect cool, signed baseballs. Oddly enough, those two worlds collide in Press Pass Premium Racing, which hit at the end of April.

Press Pass is offering redemptions for team-signed OML baseballs from NASCAR's top drivers and team. The list is highlighed by Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing and Roush-Fenway Racing.

“I would venture to say that there aren’t too many NASCAR fans, or baseball fans for that matter, that have a baseball signed by Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jimmie Johnson,” said Tom Farrell, Director of Marketing for Press Pass.

Premium also includes a baseball-themed subset, called Opening Day, featuring top drivers in baseball poses, with bats and gloves. The same can be said for the packaging of the product.

“When we had our annual photo shoot in Daytona this year, we handed the drivers a glove or a bat, and their eyes lit up.  It was a natural fit, and I think they enjoyed being ball players for a few minutes” Farrell said.

It's not often that you see one sport's products involve another sport, but this opens the door for that long-awaiting basketball-tennis release or maybe a football-figure skating subset. Joking aside, I thought it was pretty cool and done very well. I'm also interested to see what collectors are willing to pay for the signed baseballs. My guess is racing fans are going to love this.

I'm a huge basketball fan and I'm very into the playoffs at this time of year. I'm also cheering for the Lakers since my favorite player is Lamar Odom and if you know me at all, you already knew that tidbit of information. I simply shake my head in disbelief every time I read a new headline that "despite back injury, Kobe will play in Game 5." C'mon, did anyone on the planet actually think he'd miss Game 5? The series is tied 2-2. I'm not a huge Kobe fan either way, but the one thing you know about him is he could have a compound fracture with his femur sticking out and he'd still try to suit up tonight. Hopefully, he's good enough to help them win and Odom and Pau Gasol come up with big games because I really don't like the Jazz.

Is it possible to impress us more than David West and Chris Paul have in the Hornets/Spurs series? The playoff-tested, defending champs were supposed to knock the young Hornets out, but they continue to blow out the Spurs in the second half when they are in their own building. Paul is incredible every game, but West was an animal last night and just couldn't miss. I still expect it to go to Game 7 and I still expect the Spurs to win, but I'll be cheering for the Hornets.

The East is wide open too. We knew the Pistons would beat the Magic, but I didn't think it would be that easy once Chauncey Billups got hurt. Rodney Stuckey is going to be really good.

I'm also excited for Game 5 in the Celtics/Cavs series. The Celtics are tough to figure out since they play one way at home and completely different on the road and they are being coached differently with different rotations than they used in the regular season. Kevin Garnett has to step up because we know LeBron will. I'm cheering for the Celtics although I'm really enjoying watching Ray Allen look like a mediocre role player.

Every year, Upper Deck, Donruss and Topps give collectors some very cool freebies at the Hawaii Trade Conference, which was held in Phoenix this year. I wrote about what was given away in a recent blog and promised I'd update some of the values after more items hit the market.

While Topps didn't give anything away during its Meet the Industry segment, the Allen & Ginter cards given away at the Topps retailer party are arguably the hottest items from the conference. Remember, this set features Hall of Famers and the cards are sequentially numbered to just 30. A Walter Johnson sold for $132.50, while a Ty Cobb sold for $70, with Thurman Munson, Jimmie Foxx, Lou Gehrig, Honus Wagner, Jackie Robinson, Cy Young, Christy Mathewson, Tris Speaker, Mel Ott and George Sisler and Rogers Hornsby and Roy Campanella all selling in the $40-$50 range. The only semi-duds from the set appear to be Pee Wee Reese and Johnny Mize and they are selling for $30. Not bad for something that was given out as a three-card pack just for showing up.

Donruss' Black Boxes are always one of the most sought-after items at the conference and this year is no different. The boxes have seven cards, all of which are 1-of-1 printing plates, with two autographs per box. Even several weeks after the conference, only roughly 20 of these appear in the closed auctions on eBay, which tells us how tough they are to get sealed. The bust was strong enough that most people opened their boxes to see what autographs were inside so this will be a scarce sealed box in the future. Boxes started out right around the $200 level and have settled slightly to around $175. I would expect these prices could rise a little in the near future since there will be very few available (only six currently listed in the active items). There haven't been a lot of the signed printing plates listed individually, but a Tony Romo sold for $218 a week ago.

Upper Deck gave away a ton of sealed boxes at its Retailer Reception, but that's impossible to track since they are identical to other wax boxes. The Meet the Industry boxes included three cards, including a multi–signed card in the middle. The highest signed card I've seen was a Carl Yastrzemski/Bobby Orr single, which sold for $169. There are ton of very cool combinations with these and many are selling in the $80-$100 range, including Peyton Manning/Danny Granger, Ken Griffey Jr./Chad Johnson and Kevin Durant/Felix Hernandez. I've also seen a Patrick Kane/Joakim Noah and a Al Horford/Mark Teixeira/Kovalchuk triple autograph, which both sold in the $60 range.

Unless you were asleep or out of the country all weekend, you noticed the NFL Draft was this past weekend. It's so well-covered at this point that we are generally pretty familiar with the top players going into the draft, but there are still a ton of sleepers out there. And with guys like Tom Brady drafted in the sixth round, nobody really knows for sure whether Matt Ryan will be the best quarterback or Alex Brink (17th round, 223rd overall).

Quarterbacks: The cream of the crop is definitely Matt Ryan and he should get a chance to start right away for Atlanta. Baltimore obviously liked Joe Flacco a lot to move up to get him, but it's tough to figure out how his skills translate from Delaware to the NFL. Long term, I like Brian Brohm a lot and think he wound up in a perfect system for his skills. I'm also a Colt Brennan fan, but he may not even make Washington's team. Andre Woodson is another guy worth mentioning since he has all the skills and if he can clean up those couple of poor decisions he seems to have every game, and his delivery, he could be a great sleeper.

Running Backs: This was a great class for RBs. Darren McFadden steals the headlines, but he's got a lot of competition in Oakland. Two guys that will be very popular in the collecting world (behind McFadden, of course) are Jonathan Stewart and Rashard Mendenhall. Both should split carries as rookies and become very solid running backs. There are a ton of sleepers too, led by Matt Forte, who could start over Cedric Benson in Chicago, and Kevin Smith, who will probably be the opening day starter in Detroit. I also really like Ray Rice, Jamaal Charles and even Mike Hart, although all are behind some big name backs (Willis McGahee, Larry Johnson and Joseph Addai, respectively).

Wide Receivers: This was a bizarre year for wide receivers with none selected in the first round and a  whopping 10 in Round 2. What that means is that really nobody is going to be huge in the hobby until they start performing on the field. My favorite picks to make an impact early in their pro careers are: Devin Thomas (Washington, should get a chance to start right away); Limas Sweed (Pittsburgh, big play ability and should be the third guy in Pitt's receiving core); Early Doucet (Arizona, should be the slot receiver for Arizona and will always have a good matchup with Fitzgerald and Boldin on the outside); Jordy Nelson (Green Bay, because Ted Thompson's last two receiver choices were Greg Jennings and James Jones); Mario Manningham (NY Giants, should have a chip on his shoulder after falling to the third round and has major big play ability); Marcus Monk (Chicago, huge guy, who played in Arkansas' passing-challenged offense...think Colston).

I'm sure I'll be proven completely wrong in a few years, but at least I'm trying. It's not like Todd McShay and Mel Kiper aren't wrong all the time either and nobody really has a clue about this draft for a couple of years anyway. By then, you'll have forgotten you read this blog.

How far has Vince Carter fallen in this hobby? If you still own a bunch of his rookies, I hope you are sitting down. Carter was on top of the basketball world during his first two seasons in the league. He won Rookie of the Year and then dominated the 2000 NBA Slam Dunk competition during the All-Star Game in Oakland. He had the most impressive array of dunks anyone had ever seen (maybe until Dwight Howard this year) and everyone loved him and wanted his rookies.

His 1998-99 SP Authentic rookie was selling for $3,500 on eBay in a PSA 10 case, while most of his others were also at ridiculously high levels. I even remember someone grading his second-year Bowman's Best card in a PSA 10 and selling it for around $200. Not since Shaq in 1992-93 had I ever witnessed hobby domination like this.

Back to the present time, Carter is resting after ankle surgery and isn't even one of the top 20 players in the league. My opinion is he might not even be top 50. His numbers aren't really down that much, but he's no longer the dynamic athlete he used to be and his acrobatic dunking show that led ESPN every night turned into a bunch of fallaway jumpers and selfish play. Carter is now one of those guys with a huge contract that nobody even really wants on their team.

His cards? All I need to do is show one closed eBay auction for that same 1998-99 SP Authentic rookie in a PSA 10 case to tell the story. It sold for $92.88. That paints a pretty clear picture. I think you would have been better off investing in Enron stock.