Full list of 2008 Gummie Winners.

Product of the Year, Set of the Year, and Best Retro-Themed Product: Topps Allen & Ginter.

All of these were runaway winners, and neither should come as a shock.

Card of the Year: Donruss Threads Bats #9, Shoeless Joe Jackson

This was the first surprise result. The smart money was on the Topps Obama, but it could only muster 25% of the vote. Meanwhile, the Shoeless Joe Bat card from Donruss Threads received 41% and won in an upset.

Rookie Card of the Year: Topps Heritage #650, Evan Longoria

It wasn't much of a shock to see Longoria get this award. What was a shock was that it wasn't the one with the cut/sticker autograph, swatch of jersey fabric, and serial numbering that won (SP Authentic); but just a humble base card (Heritage).

Best Insert Set: Topps Trading Card History

Trading Card History got 56% of the vote, easily defeating TA&G's Mini World Leaders.

Best Autogamer Set: Topps Allen & Ginter Framed Relics

The TA&G Framed Relics got 45%, while Stadium Club Beam Team beat out Topps Heritage A Real One for second by a single vote.

Also, Razor Signature Autographs did not receive a single vote.

Best High-End Product: Playoff Prime Cuts IV

This by far, was the most competitive category.

Topps Triple Threads 21.7%
Upper Deck Premier 14.5%
Topps Finest 20.5%
Topps Sterling 19.3%
Playoff Prime Cuts IV 24.1%

Best Prospect Themed Product: Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects.

If I were a betting man, I'd have placed my money on Razor to win, and BDP&P to finish last. As it turns out, BDP&P won and Razor got the wooden spoon.

Best Unlicensed Product: Playoff Prime Cuts IV

Donruss took the Win (Prime Cuts), Place (D'Russ Threads), and Show (DEEE) positions.

Worst Overall Product: Upper Deck X
Most Disappointing Product: Stadium Club
Most Meaningless Product: Upper Deck Documentary

All three were shoo-ins, and all three carried at least 40% of the vote in their respective categories.

Worst Gimmick: Topps #661, Johan Santana "No-Hitter"

I really thought it was going to be the fake Japanese ballplayer (Uzuki). But you chose the fake no-hitter.

Best Hobby Blog: Cardboard Junkie

This was a two-horse race between The Junkie and.....

Best Hobby News Source: Wax Heaven

Mario received over 65% of the vote.

Best Video Box Breaker: TomTheRipper407

I mean, come on! It's Tom the Ripper. Everyone else was competing for second place -- which, by the way, went to Dr. Wax Battle.

Hobby Rookie of the Year: Evan Longoria

77% of the vote. Nuff said.

Hobby MVP: Josh Hamilton

This was a battle between Hamilton and Albert Pujols, but in the end, Hamilton won with 39% to Pujols's 27%.

Hobby Top Prospect: David Price

Another no-brainer.

Jefferson Burdick Award for Contributions to The Hobby: Ben Henry

I thought you'd give it to Sy Berger, but Ben Henry pulled it out with his Casey at the Bat farewell.

2008 Gummie Awards: The Winners

And here they are, the best and worst of The Hobby as selected by YOU!

2008 Gummie Awards: Your Nominations Wanted!

NOTE: The is not the actual ballot, just your nominations. The final ballot will be issued sometime in January. Also, the Gummies are for BASEBALL CARDS ONLY.

---

Has it really been a year? Yes, sadly it has. 2008 is almost over and you all know what that means.

It's almost time for us, the members of The Baseball Card Writers Association of America (BCWAA), to honor the best (and worst) in The Hobby for 2008.

Send me your picks for each category below to chris.harris@stalegum.com by January 1, and stay tuned to this space sometime in the new year for the 47th Annual Gummie Awards and Beer Pong Tournament.

Categories:

Product of the Year
Card of the Year
Rookie Card of the Year
Best Base Set
Best Insert Set
Best Autogamer Set
Best Retro Themed Product
Best Hobby Idea/Innovation
Worst Overall Product
Worst Base Set
Most Meaningless Product
Most Disappointing Product
Worst Insert Set
Worst Gimmick
Best Cardblog (You can't vote for your own!)
Best Hobby News Source (Again, you can't vote for own.)
Hobby MVP
Hobby ROY
Hobby Top Prospect
Jefferson Burdick Award for Contributions to The Hobby (this goes to a person)

What Did We Learn Today?

So now that the Stale Gum year-by-year tribute to Fleer Baseball is (mercifully) over, what did you think?

Now that Fleer baseball is gone, what was its legacy to The Hobby?

What was the greatest Fleer/Fleer Tradition baseball card ever?

What was the worst Fleer/Fleer Tradition set ever?

I have my picks, and I'll be revealing them shortly. But for now, I yield the floor to you.

2007 Gummie Awards

Announcer: "And now, from the parking lot of the Topps plant in Duryea, PA; almost live -- it's the 37th Annual Gummie Awards."

"Ladies and Gentlemen, the President of the Baseball Card Writer's Association of America: Chris Harris."

CH: "Thank you very much. As many of you are aware, the ongoing Writers Guild of America strike has prohibited the Baseball Card Writers Association of America from our annual award ceremony, champagne dinner, and beer pong tournament. I know many of you were disappointed, not the least of which are myself and Pat Burrell as we were set to defend our Gummie Award beer pong title. But although our usual presentation spectacular will not commence this year, nonetheless, we are proud to announce the winners of the 37th Annual Gummie Awards."

"Right now, our staff is passing out to you, the assembled Hobby media, a list of the winners. If any of you need additional copies, there will be a stack of extra sheets on the table over by the Yuengling kegs."

"Again, thank you for coming. As I mentioned, we still have three kegs of Yuengling, and plenty of cocktail weenies for your enjoyment. If you have any questions or comments, I'll be available for comment in the green room. Thank you very much for coming out to Duryea."

---

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DURYEA, PA; JANUARY 14, 2008 -- Below is a list of the winners of the 37th Annual Gummie Awards.

Best Insert Set: Topps Distinguished Service

Worst Insert Set: Topps Generation Now

Best Retro-Themed Product: Topps Allen & Ginter

Worst Retro-Themed Product: Sportkings

Best Autogamer Set: Upper Deck Goudey Sports Royalty

Worst Idea: Upper Deck's insertion rookie redemption cards in Upper Deck Series One.

Best Quick Correction of a Bad Idea: Upper Deck fulfilling all Series One rookie redemptions for the entire 20-card set.

Most Short-Sighted, Boneheaded Decision: Converting Fleer Ultra into "Ultra SE," a "one-hit-per-pack" product.

Best Idea: Releasing the "real" Fleer Ultra to retail.

Most Meaningless Product: Bowman

Best Designed Set: UD Masterpieces

Worst Designed Set: Topps

Best Base Set: Topps Allen & Ginter

Worst Base Set: Topps Moments and Milestones

Best Baseball Card Blog: The Cardboard Junkie

Best Baseball Card News Site: The Brill Report

Jefferson Burdick Prize for Contributions to The Hobby: Michael O'Keeffe; author of The Card.

Card of the Year: Topps Allen & Ginter #261: Torri Hunter

Product of the Year: Topps Allen & Ginter

Worst Product (3-Way Tie (For Last)): Topps Moments and Milestones, UD Black, and Sportkings

Recipients of "The 37th Annual Gummie Awards" to be announced in Duryea press conference on Jan. 14

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BARRINGTON, NJ, January 10, 2008 – The Baseball Card Writers Association of America (BCWAA) today announced that the recipients of the 2007 Gummie Awards will be revealed during a press conference to take place in the parking lot of the Topps factory in Duryea, PA, on January 14. “The 37th Annual Gummie Awards” telecast, champagne dinner, and beer pong tournament is officially canceled.

"The Baseball Card Writers Association of America has been placed in an extremely difficult position with the ongoing Writers Guild strike," said BCWAA president Chris Harris. "We made every effort to work out a solution that will permit the Gummies to take place with The Hobby community present to participate."

“While we are all very disappointed that our traditional awards ceremony will not take place this year and that millions of baseball card collectors worldwide will be deprived of seeing many of their favorite products of 2007 honored for their outstanding achievements,” said Harris, “we take some comfort in knowing that this year’s Gummie Award recipients will be announced on the date originally scheduled.”

2007 Gummie Award Nominations

Yes, it's that time of year. 2007 is almost in the books, and with it, the presentation of the most prestigious award in The Hobby: The Gummies.

This year, The Gummies will be a little different. The Gummie Award Nomination Committee -- which consists of me -- is opening up the process to you the Stale Gum reader. What did you, the baseball card collector, think were the best and worst cards and products of 2007?

To refresh your memories, here's a list of the categories:

Best Overall Product
Best Retro Themed Product
Best Base Set
Best Insert Set
Best Autogamer Set
Best Card
Best Rookie Card
Best Hobby Idea/Innovation
Worst Overall Product
Worst Base Set
Most Meaningless Product
Worst Insert Set
Worst Idea/Innovation
Hobby MVP
Hobby ROY
Hobby Top Prospect

Send in your picks by January 1st, 2008. Winners will be chosen by a panel consisting of me. And stay tuned to Stale Gum as Dennis Miller and Ryan Howard co-host the 37th Annual Gummie Awards live from the parking lot of the Topps factory in Duryea, PA.

And if you have any ideas for any new categories, I'd be happy to listen to them.

I'm entitled to change my opinion, and I will.

Too account for some late season releases, I'm making two changes to my 2006 Gummie award selections.




Autogamer of the Year: 2006 Sweet Spot Update Sweet Spot Signatures #CB: Chris Berman

Yes folks, its Chris Berman... WITH LEATHER!!!! Need I say more.

Most Meaningless Product: Topps 52

Hundreds of crap "Rookie Cards" on a design we've already seen before -- twice! If you need any more evidence that "retro" has jumped-the-shark, this is it.

2006: The Year in Cards

Unlike a certain baseball card magazine (which shall remain nameless), I prefer to wait until the end of the year, to present some sort of "Year-in-Review" piece. So, here's mine. Enjoy.

2006 was a year of transition for The Hobby, and for the most part, the changes worked out pretty well. So, without further adieu, here are my picks for The Hobby's best and worst for 2006. The 2006 Gummie Awards.

Best Insert Set: Bowman Prospects (a.k.a. Blues)

It's the insert, that not really an "insert." Hamstrung by the MLBPA's new "Rookie Card" guidelines, Bowman did an end-run around the new rules by labeling all those scores of minor leaguers as inserts. But that's not why I honor the Bowman Prospects as best insert set. I do so because Topps had the good sense to print and seed the "Blues" in roughly the same quantity as the base set cards. Thereby making the set collectible for those who still consider the Blues part of the base set. Well, sort of, as we shall see later.

Best Autogamer Set: Topps Allen & Ginter Framed Relics/Autographs

Beckett gave TA&G it's overall "Product of the Year," and it was Topps' best offering of the season. Although it came up bit short (see below) in that category, I nonetheless give the two-per-box Framed Relics and Autographs the nod for best autogamer set of 2006. The simple fact that Topps got that Japanese guy who eats all those hot dogs to sign for this product, makes this the winner.

Best Retro Product: Flair Showcase

I know what you're thinking. Is this guy nuts? Flair Showcase? Best Retro product of 2006? Over Allen & Ginter? Who in their right mind thinks Flair Showcase is a Retro product anyway? Give me a paragraph to explain.

"Retro" isn't just about recycling old designs, it's about recycling old concepts as well. By that standard, 2006 Flair Showcase is a throwback to the multi-leveled, multi-fractured base sets of the mid-90s. Ergo, it's a retro product.

You do remember fractured base sets? Like, for example, 1997-99 Flair Showcase. Not every collector liked their base sets fractured, and the gimmick faded with the emergence of serial-numbered rookies and autogamers. But UpperFleerDeck resurrected the gimmick from the dead in 2006, and The Hobby is better for it.

Although not a perfect clone of its late-90s namesake, '06 Flair Showcase is, nonetheless, a nod to a distant, but familiar era. And if you still consider set design as part of the "Retro" criteria, well, is does kind of look like a late-90s-era premium base set. Doesn't it?

Best Rookie Card: 2006 Bowman #219: Kenji Johjima

With the new MLBPA guidelines, this year's rookie card crop was noticeably diminished. About the only "true rookie" that made any impact this year was Kenji Johjima, and much of that action was from overseas. Johjima's '06 Bowman RC wins this award by default.

Hobby MVP: Ryan Howard

Move over Mr. Pujols, there's a new king in town. Ryan Howard is now officially "The Man" in The Hobby. Its funny what a steroid-free (we think) 58 HR season will do to a man's rookie cards.

Hobby ROY: Kenji Johjima

Again, the MLBPA "ROOKIE CARD" rules give Johjima this category in a walkover.

Hobby Top Prospect (TIE): Cameron Maybin and Alex Gordon

On the other hand, these two guys (along with Daisuke Matsuzaka and Justin Upton) should make the rookie card class of 2007, the strongest since 2001.

Best Idea: MLBPA revoking Donruss' License.

See, that wasn't so bad now, was it? Donruss went away, and The Hobby somehow managed to survive -- even thrive -- without them.

Look, I understand that many were upset when the news came down that Donruss was out for '06. But give the MLBPA credit. They had the courage to step back, take a look the state of The Hobby, and took action when they didn't like what they saw. You don't go from being a $1.2 billion to a $260 million industry overnight -- actually it takes 13 years (1991-2004). The MLBPA took the long-run view and concluded that change needed to be made. And that meant Donruss had to go.

But why Donruss? You're not going to get rid of Topps, are you? Or Upper Deck? But that's not the only reason. Try this experiment. If you're like me, then you probably have friends you grew up with who collected baseball cards. But then, for whatever reason, they stopped. Now, try to explain to him the concept behind 2004 Diamond Kings Baseball -- with the 79 different versions of each base set card. Or try to explain base level products that have short-printed rookie cards (i.e. 2001 Donruss baseball).

Donruss was leading The Hobby in a direction that it didn't need to go: total oblivion and complete irrelevance. The MLBPA knew it, and to their credit, took action.

Worst Idea: The MLBPA's changing of the "ROOKIE CARD" definition in mid-season.

The second best idea was the MLBPA's cross-brand "ROOKIE CARD" icon. Unfortunately, it was muddled by a silly decision to change the criteria in mid-season.

Looking back in retrospect, I understand why the MLBPA did what it did. Topps, Upper Deck, and Hobby dealers wanted "Rookie Cards" of actual 2006 season rookies -- regardless of their true RC status. But it still doesn't mean I have to like it.

But what really bugged me, was the secretive manner in which the PA made the change. You didn't think that anyone in The Hobby wouldn't have noticed that strange foil stamped "ROOKIE CARD" logo on the front of Jonathan Papelbon's 2006 Topps card? I don't think I'm asking for much, but a little transparency on the PA's behalf would have gone a long way.

Most Short-Sighted, Boneheaded Decision: The inclusion of autographed base set cards in Bowman.

Words to live by: If it ain't broke don't fix it. Bowman wasn't broke, but Topps decided to fix it anyway with the inclusion of autographed base and autographed Prospect "insert" cards -- not to mention "bundling" Bowman with Bowman Chrome.

The inclusion of autographed cards in Bowman was a really stupid idea that, unfortunatley, looks like it's here to stay. So good-bye Bowman. You were that rarity, a product with a crapload of true rookie cards, that could actually be collected. Now, just like SP Authentic, SPx, and Finest before you, you're just another product with autographed rookie cards.

Worst Insert Sets (TIE): Topps Barry Bonds and Mickey Mantle Home Run Histories.

For those of you that don't know, I live in Southern New Jersey. As such, from time to time, I bump into the occasional Yankees fan at a card show. Now you would think that Yankees fans (who are amongst the most fanatical of card collectors) would be chomping at the bit to build the Mickey Mantle Home Run History insert set? Right?

You would be wrong. I have yet to meet a single hobbyist in my area who is even attempting to complete the Mantle Home Run History set. In fact, until I opened up page 17 of the February 2007 Beckett, I had no idea that anyone was actually even trying to collect either the Mantle or the Bonds sets. So congratulations to Greg Ashman of Sacramento, California. The only person in The Hobby gives a damn about Topps' Home Run History insert sets.

OBTW, as a post-script, 2007 Topps will add a similar Home Run History insert for Josh Gibson. Which makes perfect sense since that the exact number of homers Gibson hit is completely unknown.

Worst Base Set and Most Meaningless Product: Fleer Tradition

I'm still trying to think what the whole point of 2006 Fleer Tradition was. Wasn't this product made redundant with the re-introduction of Fleer baseball?

A bland, faux retro design, coupled with a skimpy 200-card checklist also makes it the worst base set of the year.

Worst Product: Topps Turkey Red

For everything that went well in The Hobby in 2006, there's still a lot of crap that needs to be weeded out. Crap like Turkey Red.

This set represented everything wrong with The Hobby before the MLBPA's purge of Donruss. The over reliance on "Retro" themed designs? Check. The random and arbitrary nature of short-prints? Check. And add to that rookie card back-logoing!

But Turkey Red took the BS one step further with the introduction of a new gimmick that, I think we all agree, should never, ever, be repeated again. That would be, of course, the concept of the "living" card set -- which make about as much sense as another paper-based "living" entity: the "living constitution."

and finally the awards you've been waiting for....

Card of the Year: Topps #297: Alex Gordon

The card that spawned 500 conspiracy theories -- which is about many copies of this card that made their way out of Duryea. Is it a really a true "Rookie Card?" Why did Topps pull it from the set? Why does this card seem to only be appearing in Wal-Mart blaster boxes? Why is the infamous, deplorable, Keith Olbermann seemingly cornering the market on this card? And why is he paying four times Beckett HI for this card on eBay? And hey, doesn't the infamous, deplorable Keith Olbermann do consulting work for Topps on the side?

Best Base Set and 2006 Product of the Year: Upper Deck

At over 1000 cards, split between two 500-card series, 2006 Upper Deck baseball was easily the most comprehensive base set of the year. And that was before UD tacked on an additional 250 card update set.

But comprehensiveness (if that's a word) wasn't just the only reason Upper Deck Baseball is being honored as the best base set. Just by opening up a few packs, and thumbing through the cards, it became obvious that Upper Deck put a lot of time, effort, and (dare I say) love, into their flagship brand. It was easily was the company's best baseball card set in over a decade, and over time, should take it's place alongside the landmark '89 set in Hobby history.

The competition for this award wasn't even close -- which is saying a lot since 2006 was a pretty good year for the set collector. But hands down, the best of them all was Upper Deck baseball.