New to GMA Grading, Baseball Stats and Football Stats !

GMA Grading is always looking for features to add to our website. Here I will explain to you what has been added recently that are customers are using to make them money online and to what new features are coming soon to GMA Grading!

1. Ebay Rookie list page: Our ebay rookie list page has been added to make our customers searches much easier so they can find the cards they are looking for with out wasting time. We have added one team a day and will be adding all 5 major sports to our categorize list. We will also be adding the top 10 rookie cards on each page for your convenience. This part of the stie hopefully will be finished by the end of the month and is already being used by many of the our customers with rave reviews. If you do not know what cards to buy or are looking for any ideas review this part of the site.

2. Baseball Stats and Football Stats are going to be added at the end of this month if not sooner. If you are a baseball or football enthusiast and want to research your favorite players or teams you will be able to find the information you are looking for here on the site for FREE! DO not pay other sites money for this information when you can get it here on GMA Grading for free.

3. Fantasy Sports news which will include Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Football, Fantasy Basketball, Fantasy Hockey, and even Fantasy NASCAR news. Again this feature will be available for free and be updated continuously through out the day it can be used it real time. This feature will also be added for FREE. Free Fantasy Baseball news and Updates !

Sports Card Price Guides

Sports Card Price Guides

Tuff Stuff Magazine

Krause publications has a magazine called Tuff Stuff which is monthly based price guide. This guide includes prices for all the majors sports cards plus includes some prices for sports figurines and sports autographs. You can purchase the Tuff Stuff at your local card store, Subscribe through the internet at Krause Publications, Or you can go to your local Barnes and Nobles or Border Books Store. Tuff Stuff has many interesting articles and press release from the card manufactures and interesting stories about the hobby itself. If you are a sports card collector you will truly enjoy this magazine.

Beckett BGS

Beckett is one of the main price guides that collectors use. It is issued monthly and is normally sold by each individual sport. Another words you will have too buy 4 different priced guides for each individual sport. They gather their information for the pricing buy speaking to select dealers that they have chosen and looking at ebay's ending auction. Beckett also has a new subscription called the Beckett card monthly that you can purchase which includes all the individual sports in one magazine. They have a wide variety of price Guides than can be beneficial to a collector who does not have access to ebay or the internet. You can purchase the beckett price guide at your local baseball card store, at Beckett.com or at your local Barnes and Nobles or Border Books Store.

Beckett also comes out with specialty Price Guides once a year called the Ultimate Rookie Card encyclopedia which details almost every baseball card ever made. They have the same publication released once a year for football card pricing. The problem with these publications are that they are very expensive and because they are only released once a year their prices are not up to date and can be very misleading on newer cards.

Sports Collectors Digest (SCD)

The Sports Collectors digest is another Price Guide released by Krause Publications. This price guide is used primarily for autographed merchandise and is used by the die-hard collector. This issue is shipped out weekly and has great articles and in depth stories of what is really going on in the baseball card industry. The magazine is full of dealers giving out different types of special pricing on autographs and other baseball card and football card bulk lots. This publication is great for the collector who is new too the industry and wants to understand a little how the card industry is run. Not much of a price guide but very informative.

Sports Card Market Report (SMR)

This publications is produced for graded cards. This guide will give you a ruff idea of what different graded baseball cards will sell for in different grades. Again this is only a guide and can be severely misunderstood based on the current market. Because it is back dated ebay is a much better source of what the going rate of graded cards are going for.

Ebay.com ( ebay )

Ebay is not meant to be a price guide but is actually the most accurate and most affordable price guide that exists. ITS FREE ! It is also the one place were all the other sports card price guide publications go to get their prices from. It is updated every day instead of once a month. All you have to do is go to the search on ebay's main page and type in the card you are looking for. If you are looking for a graded card just type in the grade of the card and name of the card you re looking for. It is really that easy. Did I mention that ITS FREE ! More than 98% of the sports cards bought and sold in the current market are bought and sold on ebay. Most card dealers go to shows, buy cards from collector;s and than run home and sell them on ebay. You have to learn ebay to make sure you know what the current prices are to make informed decisions. It dosnt matter whether you are buying rookie cards on ebay or selling rookie cards on ebay.

As of May 4th, 2007 Sportslizard.com has launched a sports collectibles and sports cards live price guide. Find prices on any sports card or collectible that's actively being sold. They are offering the ability to find prices on any sports card or collectible that's actively being sold on eBay, Naxcom, Beckett's marketplace, and hundreds of other sites. Free and premium ($4.99 per month).

Real time Price Guides.

Their are many current companies trying to create a new market trend of real-time pricing on the internet. These web sites take all of ebay's information and through some very intricate math calculations come up with the average prices of what different items have sold for. No company has developed a base strong enough to be a front runner but I believe soon enough one will emerge as a helpful solution too online on time prices.

GMA Grading

GMA Grading does not have a price guide because we believe it is a complete conflict of interest in the grading industry. We grade the cards as to what the cards deserve and we do not believe in the manipulation of prices for our benefit and too manipulate our customers. It just seems wrong to grade the cards and than create a price guide for what the cards are worth. GMA does have a section of the site which can be very helpful in searching ebay by showing you what the hottest rookie cards in the market are. The page is categorized into each individual team and too each individual player. You can see results by sport or player. Please feel free to browse.

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Investing in Baseball Cards as a business !

Baseball Cards or Sports Card collecting can be an asset and something you can leave to your heirs one day. Over the years baseball cards have withstood recessions and boom markets and have prevailed to be solid investments. You have to know what you are doing and not get caught up in hype but the results can be pretty spectacular. With this being the case the internet has provided different avenues for collectors to make this a part time or in some cases a full time business. With the ebay boom part time collectors have turned the baseball card business in to a full fledged career. Grading and sports card authentication have also helped in this process of liquidity. Now people can sell their cards one at a time on ebay and do not have to sell their whole collection as they once had to do. The Sports card Grading gives the individual a baseline of what cards are worth based on their condition and makes selling the cards much easier because the customer purchasing the card immediately know what they are getting based on the grade. If you have been collecting for awhile or you happened to stumble on grandpas old baseball cards, grading can help you protect your investments.

If you are looking too find out what your baseball cards are worth their are a few ways to do so. First their are publications such as the Beckett magazine or Tuff Stuff Magazine. These magazines can be great guides in finding out what your Baseball cards, Football cards, Basketball cards or even Hockey cards are worth. These publications have people in the market place that report back to them what certain cards are going for and what is hot or not. They also do product research on ebay and see what current auctions are ending for. You can save yourself the $5.99 a month and go to ebay yourself and do your own product research. All you have to do is have an ebay account. You can go to ebay and type in the card you are interesting in finding the value of and than click on the link on the left side bar that says completed auctions. This is valuable information for anybody in the industry for a few reason. First the information is fresh and you can go back up too 30 days The Beckett and the Tuff Stuff magazines are updated every month and they pull the same information that you can from ebay.com . You can also see how many bids a certain cards have and how many have sold to give you a good gauge of how Hot or how col a card is at a current time. AT GMA Grading we have a part of our site dedicated too the most popular Rookie card searches. this guide we display for free to our customers and can be very helpful for brainstorming and research. You can click on the link and see the page. Once you have done your research you might want too come up with a budget and give it a try.

Buying Baseball Cards on a Budget

Whether you buy baseball cards for fun or to make money you will have to establish a budget. Baseball cards can get pretty addictive and I have seen one marriage on the brink of divorce do to a man's pack ripping addiction. You can blow thousands of dollars a month by ripping packs of cards. I would tell you that you are better off buying a case of cards than buying packs of cards. When buying a case you know how much you are investing and how much you need to return. Your odds are better when averaged out over the case. Most people I know just buy the cards they want and take the gambling out of the equation. Even though pack ripping is fun, so is casino gambling, and we all know Las Vegas has beautiful Hotels because of this. If you can control your spending and purchase items at affordable prices you will be able to keep track of what you are buying and selling a lot easier. This will keep your profits solid and make it less of a guessing game.

Buying Sports cards on Ebay

When buying cards on ebay.com make sure you are buying cards from people with good feedback. If the seller has strong feedback 300 or more rating in my opinion it will help you sleep a little easier. Try to diversify the cards that you are purchasing for resale. The larger array of players and cards that you buy the more of a market you can hit. This will keep your money turnaround at a more frequent rate which will keep profits up. Their will be instances when you will be purchasing a card and by the time you receive the card the player might be headed for the disabled list or has been traded to another team. Be Patient ! If the player was good before he got hurt he will be just as good when he returns from the DL. Another bit of advise is buy what you know. If you are a Football fanatic and have stats spewing out of your mouth when you are hanging out with your buddies stick to the football cards. You can always dabble in other things but sticking to what you know will keep the odds in you favor. Once you have built up a nice inventory Let the Selling Begin! Just remember if you stick too quality players your investments are pretty safe.

Baseball Cards
Rookie Cards
Football Cards

Rookie Card Checklist for EBAY !

Here is a link to our Rookie Card Checklist Database. Please use this Rookie Card section as a guide to what is hot and what are good cards that people are grading. The Rookie Card list is broken down to each individual team in each individual sport and is updated at least once every week. This page has been created by GMA to help our customers stay up to date of what cards are moving in the card business. If you have any input on cards that you would like to the rookie card database please let us know. We are always looking for ways to improve our product and help our customers.

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Who will Draft Matt Ryan in the 2008 NFL Draft ?

Who will Draft Matt Ryan in the 2008 NFL Draft ?

Matt Ryan can definitely be a franchise quarterback for any team that takes him. If Matt Ryan is taken with one of the first 10 picks he might be asked to play sooner than later. Matt Ryan is built much like Dan Marino, with a good size and big frame. He is extremely smart and knows how to read defenses very well. He displays great mechanics and great poise. Matt is not a great runner but is amazing at buying himself time in the pocket to find his open receiver.
In Boston College Matt Ryan was used to run a pro-style offense which will also be a great attribute in making a transition to the NFL. With the NFL draft just around the corner Matt will be wondering which team will make him their first pick. My belief is the team that gets this great young Quarterback will be the Baltimore Ravens. With the Atlanta Falcons picking in front of the Ravens and the Chicago Bears in desperate need of a Quarterback the Ravens will have to consider trading up to get him. The real question is who will be willing to pull the trigger. The Ravens have been in need of a Quarterback for the past 7 years and if he is available they will not pass him up. With Willis Mcgahee and a strong defense Matt Ryan might be the final piece of the puzzle to put the Ravens back in the Playoff hunt. Another team that might take a shot at Matt Ryan is the Minnesota Vikings. They currently have Tavares Jackson at the helm but I do not believe they are so sure he is the leaders they are looking for. The Vikings proved last year that they will take the best available player in the Draft. They had a large contract with Chester Taylor and than drafted Adrian Peterson. With a running game already in place Matt Ryan might be in the best position to excel. The Vikings have invested in their offensive line in the last few years which will allow Matt the time to throw and utilize the play action passing game. The only problem the Vikings have is that they are picking behind Baltimore and will definitely need to trade up to get him. Even though I believe the Vikings will be making the right move to get him i do not think they will be able to make the move. They cannot afford to lose any draft picks to trade up to get him. If they are lucky and he falls in the draft to them they will not pass him up. Look what happened with Brady Quinn last year. By the way the Miami Dolphins screwed that one up! Wayne Huizenga made a good move in Getting Parcells in there to call the shots. No disrespect to Ted Ginn Jr. but Quinn was the better fit for the team. Especially with them having Chris Chambers on their team already until they decided to give him away as well.

Back to Matt Ryan. The only flaws that seemed to be in question about Matt was his Armed strength on the long ball. Some scouts believe it is fine but others believe with his frame and size he could be much better. He also lacked the accuracy in college that many NFL teams would like. He scored very well in the interviews at the combine and the buss around the teams is that he is a born leader. This is definitely a quality that is needed when drafting a quarterback.

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Derek Jeter New York Yankees SS and Captain

Derek Jeter New York Yankees SS and Captain

Derek Jeter has been the face of the New York Yankees for the past 15 years. Derek Jeter will hopefully be the face of the Yankees for the next 10 years to come. With amazing effort and die hard play, Derek will be a role model for the Yankee fans of the future. Their has not been a player like Derek Jeter to were the pinstripes with such honor since Don Mattingly. Even though his statistics might not match up with Alex Rodriguez his gritty play and no let up attitude make him one of the best players in New York Yankees history. Derek Jeter was born on June 26, 1974 in Pequannock, NJ. Derek Jeter spent much of his life growing up less than 30 miles away from Yankee Stadium. His favorite player growing up was Yankees OF Dave Winfield. Jeter played High School baseball as well as High School Basketball at Kalamazoo High. After batting .557 with seven homers as a junior, Derek hit.508 (30-59) with 4 HR, 23 RBIs, 21 BB and only one strikeout in 23 games his senior year. He got on base 63.7 percent of the time and tallied an impressive .831 slugging percentage. Derek collected several awards at season's end, including the Kalamazoo Area B'nai B'rith Award for Scholar Athlete, the 1992 High School Player of the Year by the American Baseball Coaches Association, the 1992 Gatorade High School Athlete of the Year and USA Today's High School Player of the Year. The Yankees drafted Derek sixth overall in the June 1992 draft. He was only the third shortstop selected in Yankees history with a first round pick. Jeter also attended the university of Michigan on scholarship. In 1993, Derek was voted the "Most Outstanding Major League Prospect" by South Atlantic League managers after hitting .295 with 5 HR, 71 RBIs and 18 stolen bases at Class-A Greensboro. He was named to the All-Star Team after finishing second in the league in triples (11), third in hits (152) and 11th in batting average. Derek was also voted by Baseball America as the South Atlantic League's Best Defensive Shortstop, Most Exciting Player and Best Infield Arm. Derek Jeter was named the 1994 Minor League Player of the Year by Baseball America, The Sporting News, USA Today Baseball Weekly and Topps/NAPBL after hitting .344 with 5 HR, 68 RBIs and 50 stolen bases combined at Triple-A Columbus, Double-A Albany and Class-A Tampa. He was also named the MVP of the Florida State League. Derek Jeter had his big league debut in Seattle and started at shortstop alongside All-Star infielders Don Mattingly and Wade Boggs. The following day, Derek collected his first two Major League hits and scored his first career run.

Baseball Cards
Rookie Cards

Miami Dolphins will take Chris Long #1 in the 2008 NFL Draft

Miami Dolphins will take Chris Long #1 in the 2008 NFL Draft

Chris Long will be the first player taken in the 2008 NFL Draft. Wayne Huizenga has stated at the NFL winter meetings that he will not be trading the number one pick in the draft. Chris Long is the best option for the Dolphins to rebuild. With Chris Long the Dolphins will get the best all round player with the least amount of risk. Unless they get a great trade offer to trade down, which does not look like that will happen, I dont not see a better option. They are strong or good enough at Running Back to get through the season so there is no need for them to take a risk on Darren McFadden. Even though Darren Mcfadden might be the Homerun hitter in this draft he also might strike out with all of his off the field issues. I don’t believe the Dolphins could afford to take this type of risk. Consider the fact that Bill Parcells is a defensive guy and he hired a defensive coordinator to run his team. This might also open the door for a possible trade of Jason Taylor for more draft picks. Even though they do not have any takers to trade the pick they can take Long, get younger on defense, and trade Taylor for more picks. Taylor will have a lot of people interested in him and Parcells has no problem cleaning house. Chris Long makes the most sense.

Chris Long is a 6?4? 284lbs. senior out of University of Virginia and is the son of Hall of Fame Defensive End Howie Long. Chris Long had a great coach in Howie Long and it definetly looks like it paid off. It turns out that Chris Long is the real deal much like his father. Long played 6 games his freshman year and had 6 tackles and 1 sack. In his sophomore year he got into some more games and ended up recording 46 tackles 10 for a loss and and 2 sacks. Last year he bettered his numbers with 57 tackles 12 of them coming as a loss and 4 of them sacks even though he was doubled teamed on nearly every play. Long is continuing his success this year and has 50 tackles 13 for a loss of yards and a huge increase in sacks with 10 so far. Chris Long is a hybrid Defensive End that can be just as effective as a dropping LB in a 3-4 scheme or very effective in zone blitzes. He will fit in well with any team that takes him.

Football Cards
Rookie Cards
2008 NFL Draft

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Should Darren McFadden go #1 in the 2008 NFL Draft?

Should Darren McFadden go #1 in the 2008 NFL Draft?

With Darren Mcfadden finishing runner up in the Heisman voting, not many people seem to be talking about Darren McFadden going number one overall. This talented Arkansas running back finished second in Heisman voting for the past two consecutive years. Arkansas Coach Houston Nutt, incorporated the Single Wing into his offense. This Arkansas "Wildcat" offense formation was used to confuse opposing defense and putting the versatile Mcfadden at the Quarterback position.

Arkansas Uses Darren Mcfadden in their Single Wing Jet Series formation

Below you see the Offensive Coordinator for Arkansas discussing the base formation and how it works. These football plays sure look like a lot of the stuff we and other Single Wing teams have been running for decades. This formation helped Darren Mcfadden take advantage of his overall speed to beet defenders in the open. This one on one match up creates a huge advantage for any speed runner. Arkansas ran their "Quarterback", Darren McFadden very heavily out of this series, whereas most Single Wing teams typically spread the ball around quite a bit more. Arkansas realized that having Mcfadden in this formation would force defense to react and change their blitz formations.

The downside of drafting Darren Mcfadden over Jake Long

Darren Mcfadden has definitely had some off the field problems. He has 3 different children with three different women. You might ask the question how does this relate in anyway to football? Well the answer is pretty simple when you look at a teams franchise from a money point of view. When drafting a player in the first 5 pick of the NFL Draft a team must make sure that the player will hopefully be around for a while. With the salary cap playing such a major roll in a teams success, the team must take everything into consideration. Michael Vicks off the field debacle not only cost him two years in prison but helped cause the complete rebuilding of the Atlanta Falcons Franchise. A team does not want and nor can they afford a franchise player that has these type of off the field problems. Bill Belichick has stated over and over that chemistry is the most important part of a teams success and he has the super Bowl rings to prove it. Chris Long has been clean on and off the field and even though he might not have the sudden impact that Darren Mcfadden might have he will surly help whichever team drafts him. He might be classified as the safe pick but many people were questioning the Texans of drafting Mario Williams over Reggie Bush. It looks like Texans might have made the right decision. Mario Williams was an amazing force and an important element to the success of the Houston Texans. Reggie Bush is still trying to find his place in the Saints offensive scheme.

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