Tales from the Bargain Bin – Jake Peavy

Name: Jake Peavy

Position: P – Starter

Team: San Diego Paders

Age: 27 years old

Best Season: 2007 – When he went 19-6/2.54/1.061 and he won the Cy Young award, was 7th in MVP voting and an All Star (2nd time).

Set it’s from: 2008 Upper Deck Series One.

How obtained: eBay auction

Why this Card?: Believe it or not it’s quite difficult to find relic cards of Peavy for under $2.  This card comes at a time when I had tried unsuccessfully for almost 2 months to find a Peavy game used that cheap.  Overall I still had to pay $2.25 for the card, but it was probably because at the time, he was cruising in the second half od last season.  Jake is one of those pitchers, where you wonder why he hasn’t gotten more accolades in his life.  His average season over the 7 years in the MLB is 15-10/3.25/1.18.  I find it mazing that he has only had 2 All Star appearances  This season his team is so bad that even though he has an 8-6 record, he is posting a 2.67 ERA and a WHIP of 1.14.  Makes you wonder what his record would be on a solid team that has some run support.  With a sub 3 ERA you know he’s losing a lot of 2-1 or 1-0 games.

But What About the Set?: I think that Upper Deck really mailed it in this year as far as their set is concerned.  It’s that same old wall the wall picture with foil writing on it.  Very bland and fairly tough to read the names of the players (you have to tilt it into the light to read it sometimes).  They mad way too many relics this year and might be the single reason relic cards are seeing a huge downturn in their popularity.  I still go after them, but not with the fever I used to just because the market is so flooded.  The y took a good thing and made it crappy.

Beckett’s Value: $10.00

eBay Value: I got it for $2.25.

Will it ever be worth more?: I don’t know, with the way relic cards are going of late, I would be inclined to say no.  But if he continues to string on year after year of 10 win seasons, then maybe it’s possible. He would have to become an elite pitcher though.  I think he just might be capable of that.