Strasburg Card Sells For $16,403
On eBay sales Stephen Strasburg's baseball card is living up to the hype. Strasburg's one-of-a-kind 2010 Bowman Chrome SuperFractor rookie card sold on Ebay Inc's auction website, sold for $16,403 after opening at 99 cents. Strasburg, the No. 1 pick in Major League Baseball's 2009 first-year player draft by the Washington Nationals, is in Triple-A and is scheduled to make his major-league debut during a series with the Pittsburgh Pirates on June 8. Since joining Triple-A Syracuse on May 4, Strasburg has gone 3-0 with a 0.39 earned run average in four starts, striking out 27 batters while walking just four.
The equivalent card for Nationals rookie pitcher Drew Storen, who has a 1.69 ERA after being picked nine places behind Strasburg, is being sold on eBay with a "Buy It Now" asking price of $4,999.
From Scott Fragile's 7th Inning Sketch at TuffStuff.com
Although my share of watching sports history unfold live is modest at best compared to some of the more seasoned sports fans I know, I've never been tempted to add to my list unnaturally. I appreciate having been at the various events because of the thrill and excitement they provided at the time and because of the great memories they provide all these years later. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for many other collectors. In fact, the list of "fake attendees" of a recent game is growing by the thousands as I write this. The reason behind the increase is because the Florida Marlins are currently selling the 11,000 or so unused tickets from the Marlins-Phillies game on May 29. That was the day Phillies pitcher Roy Halladay tossed MLB's 20th Perfect Game. The reason the tickets are now on sale more than 48 hours after the 27th out was recorded is because the Marlins are hoping to cash in on the speculative nature of fans and collectors. The team is selling the remaining tickets at face value and my guess is they will sell at a much quicker rate than the attendance-challenged Marlins typically see them leave their box office. So, for under $20 you can purchase a piece of history and tell your grandchildren you were in attendance the day Halladay made history. While some will cherish the tickets and add them to their respective collections, others will undoubtedly look to flip them on eBay and make a quick buck. The White Sox and Athletics did something similar for the perfect games pitched by Mark Buehrle and Dallas Braden, respectively. Collectors looking to make a quick buck after Braden's gem earlier this year shelled out anywhere from $15-$75 for after-the-fact ticket purchases on eBay, but considering Halladay's resume is far better than Braden's, collectors looking to scoop up a piece of history can expect to pay more than that if they go the eBay route. I guess I don't have a problem with the premise of making the unused (used, whatever you call them) tickets available, but I know I'd be bumming if I was one of the original 25,000 in attendance and my limited-edition collectible just morphed into a 1-of-36,000. To me, buying a ticket after the fact is like saying you were at the game because you saw the highlights on Sportscenter. The bandwagon-jumping "fans" who purchase the tickets in the next few days will have to live with themselves and the rest of the 250,000 people who will claim to have been at the game 30 years from now. For me, I'll just keeping attending sporting events for all the right reasons and hoping history evolves right before my eyes.
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