After months of speculation and debate, the elusive Tiger Woods Autograph from the 2008 Upper Deck Exquisite Product has FINALLY surfaced!

The card, serial numbered 1/3 was put up for auction with a $1,000,000 Buy It Now/Best Offer price tag (yes, you read that right - 1 MILLION DOLLARS)...obviously to get the attention of ebayers - and it worked.  

It is unknown whether or not the lucky collector pulled it from a pack, or if it was inserted in the regular exquisite back or the bonus gold packs. (at least it didn't end up in one of Beckett's infamous box breaks!)

Unfortunately, the auction ended without a winner and the hobby is again left to wonder about the cards' status.  Did the owner sell the card off ebay?  Or is he going to make sure it never sees daylight every again?  Whatever the case, at least hobby collectors know the elusive Exquisite Tiger Auto does exist!

Despite losing their license to produce NBA licensed basketball cards, Upper Deck looks to be leaving the hobby with a bang with signed Lebron James basketball cards with unique inscriptions that will be randomly inserted into the company's final releases:

Fans of LeBron can find autograph cards of the NBA superstar exclusively in Upper Deck’s new 2008-09 NBA UD Black (releasing April 14), 2008-09 NBA Radiance (releasing April 29) and 2008-09 NBA Ultimate Collection (releasing May 12) trading card lines. Some versions of these cards will have rare inscriptions from LeBron like “08 USA Gold,” “08 Redeem Team,” and “King James.”

Source: UpperDeck.com

 

2008 Beckett Baseball Awards Playoff Prime Cuts was named Product of the Year for 2008 by the staff of Beckett Baseball. The last time the company held the prestigious award was in 2005, when Playoff Absolute held the title.

"One of baseball's most popular products of the decade when it was produced in 2004 and 2005, Prime Cuts returned from a three-year break in 2008 and delivered plenty of punch. What did the unlicensed product deliver? Each $200 box guaranteed four autograph or memorabilia cards, many of them being prime game-used pieces from some of baseball's biggest names. Want Lou Gehrig, Jackie Robinson, Hank Aaron, Pete Rose, Stan Musial, Nolan Ryan, Roberto Clemente, Willie Mays, Satchel Paige, Jim Thorpe, Ted Williams or "Shoeless" Joe Jackson? They're in there - sometimes paired together - and so were 500 Joe DiMaggio cut autographs along with cuts of guys like Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb and many more Hall of Famers. (Oh, and a solid crop of prospect autographs really doesn't hurt, either)."

- Beckett Baseball Staff

This week, the annual "Best of '08" issue of Beckett Baseball hit streets. A complete list of awards can be found in the April '09 issue of Beckett Baseball, now available at hobby shops, retailers or www.beckett.com.

Source: Donruss.com

Throughout the 2009 World Baseball Classic, Topps has announced the subjects for the 10-card WBC Redemption program. Each Topps Series 1 Hobby Box includes (1) WBC Redemption, which can be redeemed online at www.topps.com/redemptions/. Once collectors enter the pin code, they will be given a designated number that is assigned to a specific player.

The cards will be printed on Topps Chrome technology and shipped to collectors first week of June.

The complete WBC redemptions checklist:

1. Lee Jin Young, Korea
2. Derek Jeter, USA
3. Gift Ngoepe, South Africa
4. Ubaldo Jimenez, Dominican Republic
5. Sidney De Jong, Netherlands
6. Yoennis Cespedes, Cuba
7. Dae Ho Lee, Korea
8. Yu Darvish, Japan
9. Jung Keun Bong, Korea
10.Daisuke Matsuzaka, Japan

Source: Topps.com