The next card is.... a Press Pass Rookie of the Sweetest QB.

My 1971 Marty Domres arrived today. It looks like it's probably a PSA 6 which is fine. I could have spent a little more money and gotten a slabbed PSA 7 or 8 but I don't think you can beat a 42 year old card in this shape for $1.60 including shipping. Turns out this is his rookie card too which I did not realize.

Since this arrived today I'm posting the next card that my eBay search turned up. This card I never would have bought were it not for this odd challenge simply because I've been lead to believe that Press Pass cards are inferior to the premium brands that I've been collecting. In many ways they are. These are printed on ultra thin card stock. They don't have NCAA licensing because Upper Deck paid an exorbitant amount of money to be the exclusive producers of college football cards. This means that Press Pass, Leaf, Sage, and all the card companies back in the day that used to be able to show college logos and reference the team name cannot do this. The team logos have been airbrushed out and on the back of the card, it states the year and the statistics only. If you look at this brand over the long term it actually did have some value for college only collectors. I am not sure if college collectors embrace these logoless cards like they did Press Pass of yesteryear. I see that Tom Brady Press Pass rookie cards typically sell in the 10-12 dollar range, much higher than I'd expect. Peyton Manning's 1998 base Press Pass rookie sells anywhere between 4-5 dollars, still not too bad. These cards in terms of value tend to hold about the same as the Score brand or back in the day UD Collector's Choice, one of the lower tiered brands aimed at the younger collector.

I have quite a few cards that are in my inventory as I not only collect cards but I sell on Ebay as well. I bought a very large lot last year at the beginning of the football season and sold most of the Robert Griffin III cards that I had because his value was through the roof last season. I am fairly sure that I sold this card along with a few others when his cards were hot. Looking through my inventory I saw all the rest of the cards from this set but not the Griffin. I drafted him for my Yahoo Fantasy Football (paid league) last season as a sleeper and I ended up starting him over my projected starter (Cam Newton) about 70% of the time. He put up some ridiculous stats and his abilities as a rusher were just staggering. I ended up getting 3rd place (and my money back at least) mostly because of this duo of dual threat QBs despite injuries and bad luck at the other positions.

This card may have long term value, especially if he returns from his ACL injury at any point next season. Adrian Peterson set the bar pretty high with his miraculous return so it's possible that RG3 might do it. Will he ever be as good as he was in 2012? Most naysayers say he won't but only time will tell. He's good for the hobby and great for the Redskins who have been searching for a top-flight QB for decades it seems. In the mean time, enjoy my first RGIII card!