Finding Out Print Runs

[petMonster]

I'm trying to find print run information for 2007 SP Rookie Edition Autographs (baseball), but I don't believe this info was ever made available. I don't even know if Upper Deck keeps this kind of information for all of its releases, but I decided to contact them anyway.

I emailed their customer service center and asked if they could provide a name/number/email of someone who might be able to assist me in this, and I received an auto-reply with FAQ's and info for their different departments. In that email, it said to contact the "Hobby Talk Inbox" for all hobby inquiries, which could be checklist questions, questions relating to older releases, or questions relating to product structure, etc. So I sent an email to this Hobby Talk Inbox explaining my situation, and I am waiting for a reply.

Does anybody have any experience with this kind of thing? Do I have a realistic chance of obtaining this kind of info? If so, does it sound like I've started down the right path? Or should I be going a different route?

Thanks.

[TurdFerguson]

It looks like the print runs are between 20-120.

[petMonster]

It looks like the print runs are between 20-120.

Is that based on something released by Upper Deck? Or is that your guess based on what you've seen so far?

I've seen enough of the 2007 version autos and the 1995 version autos (with the exception of the actual short-printed cards) that I would guess those have a print run of 800+. The 1996 and 1993 version autos seem to be far less common, but based on what I've seen, I would put a lot of those (again, with the exception of the short-prints) closer to the 100 or less range you just suggested.

The ones I'm really curious about are all the short-prints. I've been trying to track these for years now. The short-printed 2007/1995's seem to show up every couple months, many of which show up more frequently than the non-SP'd 93/96's. The short-printed 1993's and 1996's are a whole different story. There are quite a few that I still haven't seen.....ever. I can't even find old, past sales.

One such player is Daisuke Matsuzaka. Upper Deck has said that Okajima is the only player who did not have an auto in the set. So Dice-K has at least 4 autos out there for this set (one for each variation). My best guess is that there are only 5 of each Dice-K auto. Lincecum is another one. I've seen a few of his 2007 versions (I was lucky enough to pull one from my first box), a few of the 1995's, and one past sale of a 1993, but I still haven't seen his 1996 yet.

I could chalk up the lack of Lincecum autos on the market to the fact that he's a stud and nobody wants to part with these for investment purposes. But I figure I would've seen a 1993 Brandon Wood, or a 1993 Ryan Sweeney by now. I'm guessing a lot of these are super SP'd.

[TurdFerguson]

I must have misunderstood then. I thought you were talking about the rookie autographs that were #'s 101-158 in the 2007 SP Authentic set.

[pwaldo]

Unless the companies tell Beckett the print runs on cards that are not serial numbered then it is almost impossible to get an answer.

Before you might have gotten a response from Upper Deck but they have had massive lay offs and most of the people still working there probably weren't even with the company in 2007 so with them trying to survive as a company the chance of them responding to you is about 0% sadly.

[petMonster]

:( Ok, well thanks for the info.

[MarcusMaximus06]

I also have a question...I've seen some people's signatures show how far along they are on a specific player's collection. For example, "Joe Smith 186/1234 15%". Do you guys know where you can find out how many cards an individual player has? I've been wanting to find out on some players I have tons of.

[petMonster]

I also have a question...I've seen some people's signatures show how far along they are on a specific player's collection. For example, "Joe Smith 186/1234 15%". Do you guys know where you can find out how many cards an individual player has? I've been wanting to find out on some players I have tons of.

The best place I know of where you can find pretty good player checklists is through Beckett's online price guide. I hate to endorse Beckett because their pricing information is way off the mark, but as far as ckecklists are concerned, their online price guide is great. If you subscribe to a whole sport, say baseball for instance, you can search a baseball player by name and it will bring up a pretty extensive list of that players baseball cards.

Or, you can subscribe to a particular player as well, which is good because it will show cards of that player that fall in other sports as well. For instance, if you subscribe to Bo Jackson pricing info, then you will get a checklist of his baseball and football cards, without having to purchase the baseball and football subscriptions (which are more expensive).

As far as the percentages are concerned, you would have to see how many cards that player has, then count up your cards of that player, and do the math yourself.

There might be another site these people are using to get there info and figure out their percentages, but this is the only way I know of.

[TurdFerguson]

You don't have to subscribe to Beckett's online price guide to be able to view a list of card for any certain player. You just need to subscribe to get their pricing along with the list.

[MarcusMaximus06]

Thanks! I never thought of doing that.