A Mighty Flood No Longer – 2009 Elite
On the 28th of January I wrote a post titled "A Mighty Flood." The flood referred to in that post was the amount of 2009 Elite Extra cards currently on eBay. Additionally, I mentioned that if you were looking to buy "your guy," from 2009 Elite, the time might be at hand. I figured that it was probably time to evaluate that post and see if any of my assertions "hold water." In the original post, I ran a bunch of eBay searches and totaled results, I'll re-run them now, again, all confined to the baseball category. Here we go:
2009 Elite- Then: 4,591 results, Now: 3,357 results
2009 Elite AU*- Then: 2,406 results, Now: 1,162 results
Elite Aroldis Chapman-Then: 54 results, Now: 21 results
Elite Dustin Ackley- Then: 83 results, Now: 63 results
Elite Tate - Then: 57 results, Now: 49 results
I think the most notable drop-off in listings is in the "2009 Elite AU*" search. There will always be some Ackley, Tate and Chapmans listed. Those are the big names people busting packs are trying to sell to recoup their money. However, "your guy" that you were buying, there is probably a lot less of him on there and if there are still buyers, prices have jumped a bit. I know my buys certainly have.
Did you get all you wanted before things started to dry up? The mighty flood is now much more of a meandering river.
Straight out of left field – Elite Series Insert Set
I've been posting a lot lately about opening 3 cases of 2009 Donruss Elite Extra Edition. Much of this posting is for entertainment value alone, however, the analysis is also fascinating.
When analyzing an Elite Case Break several things should come to mind: low #'d autos, names like Ackley, Tate and Chapman, Hot Boxes, a Pujols Auto #'d /20 and so forth. During my consideration of opening 3 cases, all of these things ran through my head. One thing that didn't was inserts, no, not the autographs, just the inserts.
On a whim, I decided to sort my Elite Series inserts into player lots and auction them off, I started them at $.99 and ran them for 7 days. My results were as follows:
Tony Sanchez7 Elite Series Inserts $7.39
Donavan Tate 4 Elite Series Inserts $0.99
Nolan Ryan 8 Elite Series Inserts $1.25
Dustin Ackley 4 Elite Series Inserts $3.25
A.J. Pollock6 Elite Series Inserts $0.99
Mike Minor 7 Elite Series Inserts $1.54
Al Kaline8 Elite Series Inserts $3.54
Albert Pujols8 Elite Series Inserts $10.49
Will Clark8 Elite Series Inserts $0.99
Total sales for my 60 Elite Series cards were $30.43. Now, you may say, that really isn't that much and right you are. However, when you consider that Donavan Tate /999 Autos were a "big hit," in the product and sell for less than that, $30.43 isn't all too bad. When you are trying to recoup case moneys, anything works.
School Colors and College Ties inserts are now for sale in my auctions, I wonder if I'll have the same kind of luck.
2009 Elite Extra Edition – non-auto parallels
Non-auto Elite paralells are the pulls that you don't want to see. You see a little hint of gold...you start thinking, "this could be that Gold Status Autograph out of five I have been dreaming off, IT IS Aroldis Chapman
!!!!...but but but, it doesn't have an autograph, its /50, it's all over."
This sums up the range of emotions I went through when pulling the card above. An Aroldis Chapman Gold Status Auto would sell in the 100s, the card above sells in the 10s and by 10s I mean 10 
.
In my 3 cases of Elite, I pulled the following:
26 Gold Status Diecuts /50 - Chapman was the highlight
41 Red Status Diecuts /100 - Tate was the highlight
99 Blue Aspirations Diecuts /200 - Ackley was the highlight
The question is, how much value will these provide me in sales? I have ever non-auto parallel I haven't already sold up in my auctions. If you want to flip through the auctions to see who is being auctioned feel free.
Post your guess here on my total sales, both on and off eBay and the closest to the ending total will win a random card I pulled from Elite. No, it will not be a base card, it will be something worthwhile, the auctions end Tuesday, winner will be announced Wednesday. For your guessing information, I've sold about $30 worth of non-auto parallels offline so far.
Let me know what you think!
More 2009 Donruss Elite Extra Edition Print Run Information
2009 Donruss Elite Extra Edition is slowly leaking onto eBay. On one hand, this irritates me a little since I won't get my cases till later in the week. On the other hand, we are obliged more print run information due to this...speaking of which, here is an update on what we know. I collected this information off eBay, it has not yet been officially release by Panini.
Dustin Ackley - Base Auto /899 - on-card
Aroldis Chapman - Base Auto /695, TOTC Auto /149
Donavan Tate - Base Auto still uknown - on-card
Slade Heathcott - Base Auto /754 - on-card
Jenrry Mejia - Base Auto /844 - mention in Beckett's box break
Jacob Tuner - TOTC Auto /799 - no base auto, only TOTC
Brett Jackson - Base Auto /534 - on-card
Shelby Miller - TOTC Auto - still unknown
Grant Green - Base Auto - still unknown
Mychal Givens - Base Auto - still unknown, TOTC Auto /299
Kyle Gibson - Base Auto /654, TOTC Auto /99
Chad Jenkins - Base Auto /785
Aaron Miller - TOTC Auto /650
Trayce Thompson TOTC Auto /699
Jiovanni Mier TOTC Auto /825
Matt Bashore TOTC Auto /655
A.J. Pollock TOTC Auto /499
Tony Sanchez Auto /435 - On-card
D.J. Lemahieu Auto /645 - On-card
Rex Brothers Auto /699
Randal Grichuk Auto /770
Andrew Oliver Auto /710
Max Stassi TOTC Auto /810
Kentrail Davis Auto /655
There are of course more but I thought those were the most interesting, should you be inclined to see what is listed of any of the players above, click the links and right there you will be!
Top 10 Autos in Elite you won't find anywhere else
I wrote an article for freedomcardboard.com about the overlap between 2009 Bowman Chrome Draft and 2009 Elite Extra Edition. This article is about repeats; prospects who will have more than one 2009 prospect auto or prospect card.
Although these autographs will bring some attention and value to EEE, they clearly are not the major reason people are excited about this product. So what/who are those reasons? Here is my preliminary list of the top 10 autos in EEE that you won't find anywhere else. I'm also including a guess about what price their base autos will sell for upon release.
| Player | Price Estimate |
| 51 Dustin Ackley | $50 |
| 150 Aroldis Chapman | $50 |
| 52 Donavan Tate | $40 |
| 60 Slade Heathcott | $30 |
| 48 Jenrry Mejia | $30 |
| 9 Jacob Turner | $25 |
| 58 Brett Jackson | $23 |
| 13 Shelby Miller | $20 |
| 67 Grant Green | $20 |
| 66 Mychal Givens | $15 |
What do you think? Is this your top-10? If not, who would you move in or out? What about the prices? I look forward to your thoughts!
Its not long now — DEEE 2009, first break in a long time
Like most of you, I have really enjoyed following the pulls and sales of 2009 BDP and those breaking it.
To be quite honest, I think that there are some very good buys to be had at the current prices. Since I'm still buying, I'm not going to name names but you sure do have to love the times where the market is flooded, flooded with opportunity.
That being said, BDP does not excite me from a wax breaking perspective....Elite does. Getting some good prices and using the bing.com discount, I feel like I have purchased my two cases at nice buy-ins. I am so looking forward to breaking them and seeing what is inside. This is me rattling the Christmas presents under the tree to a factor of 10.
Elite is really just a far different product from BDP, although their are endless comparisons between the two, it probably doesn't make sense. Elite is probably more of a hybrid of BDP and Sterling. More autos per box, more expensive boxes, less valuable base cards and so on. Wax breakers will love the early big money for guys like Ackley, Tate, Meija, Chapman and so forth. Prospectors love that there are 150 guys to sort through and that they can stock up on their guys' autos for $4 each. From what I've seen thus far, I love it all...and I can't wait.
I usually try to offer information, an opinion, some humor, a unique observation or a combination thereof in my blog...not really in this case. This blog is more just a verbal picture of me waiting, with excitement...just like kids do when they open their gifts under the tree.
I will post a full breakdown of my entire two case bust, in what some might consider gory detail on the blog after I finish it. For now, well, you will have to drool along with me at the pictures.
The on-card autos look to have come out very clean and very clear.
This really just reminds me of a Simpsons' episode, as does much of life. Homer has started a business, Mr. Plow (if you know what I'm talking about you remember the jingle). As a result of that, he has purchased a 30 second block of advertising on late night TV. The family is crowded around the TV at midnight, waiting for the 3:30 a.m. ad, Homer then says "lets play the waiting game!" There is silence for about 15 seconds and Homer then says "oooooooooooh, the waiting game sucks, lets play Hungry Hungry Hippo." The point is, waiting does suck and in fact, Hungry Hungry Hippo isn't exactly the most interesting game either but it beats waiting by a long shot.
Tom Petty was no Socrates but he sure was right, "the waaaaaaiiiiting, is the haaaaarrdddest part."
