Stop me if you’ve heard this before: My son had an epic pull last night.
For the second time in as many weeks, my son added a big pull to his fledgling collection and this time it’s one that has big upside.
Late Friday afternoon we made a run to the LCS because it was the only time we had available this week. My boy wanted to buy something and he purchased a blaster of NBA Hoops, which contained all of the good rookies except THE top rookie. For the record he was happy and he loves this year’s design.
After his purchase, I told him I wanted to check the Walgreens around the corner to see if they had the 2019 Topps Update Hanger packs with the exclusive yellow parallels. So we went in and they had three. I told him I’d buy all three and he could choose one for his collection. My treat.
Of the three hangers, one had a massive dent in the side. The cards looked safe inside but it was the type of damage that would likely turn some folks away. Of course my boy grabbed that one from the stack. I warned him about the damage but told him the cards were probably fine. He didn’t care. He wanted that one.
As we walked to the register I explained to him what we were hoping to pull (Vlad Jr or other top rookies) and told him how the yellows were exclusive to this chain of stores and on the grand scale they were much rarer than most of the other parallels.
We got to the car and I showed him how to open the hanger from the bottom of the box. He ripped the box, and opened the inner plastic wrap on his own. He could instantly see there was something thick (a relic) inside the pack so I instantly knew he was going to be happy with his decision.
He thumbed through the first 30 cards with typical reception (a few good rookie debuts, big name all stars) and got to the inserts and found a Vlad Jr. 1984 design — already a winner — and then uncovered a Max Muncy ASG relic. As he picked up the relic to read the back, the next card was revealed.
It was a damn Vlad Guerrero yellow, a parallel of his real rookie card!
I let out an expletive because I knew this was at least a $100 Card, easily my son’s most expensive card. His next card was no slouch – it was a Mike Trout yellow, which is probably another $10-$20 card.
I was shocked, he was stunned and could not stop smiling. We then darted back around the corner to the card shop to pick up a magnetic holder for his new addition.
I’m happy for my son. Way happier for him, than I would be for myself if I pulled it. Because I am at the point in my collecting career where I want my kids to have these wins, because it’s an experience they’ll never forget. Myself? I’m a jaded veteran collecting curmudgeon who has had nice pulls and at this point an somewhat jaded by dollar signs. Each nice pull is fuel to continue down the rabbit hole.
The Vlad pull comes on the heels of my boy beating the odds Last week when he pulled his first 1/1 (a DJ LeMahieu ASG printing plate) from a Topps Chrome Update Mega Box. (Here).
I was checking COMC this morning for various Clayton Kershaw cards and I noticed something I figured I’d document here.
Back in February I noted here that mock ups of Kershaw’s flagship card showed the lefty’s zipper being down. And sure enough when the card went live it was indeed down on the base and all parallels.
When Topps produced Chrome the issue was fixed via editing software and all Topps Chrome base and parallels showed Kershaw with his Zipper completely up.
So today I was looking at the Topps Chrome Sapphire set and noticed the issue was not corrected for that set — the zipper is down.
What does this mean? It could mean that Topps Chrome Sapphire was actually produced before Chrome and not released until after. But it also could mean the wrong file was used when they produced Sapphire.
There’s no premium for any of this. I just found it interesting.
Real quick hitter today. I had about an hour to spare on Wednesday between drop off time at school and an award assembly in which my son and nephew were receiving accolades in math so I make a quick run to a Goodwill I hadn’t been to in several months.
As I scoured the shelves, the word “Donruss” entered my brain. I admittedly bypassed it for about two seconds then I retraced my steps and lo and behold stuff between a various board games was this Boxes 1990 Donruss “The Best of the American League” set.The set isn’t rare, but its surely not as common as basic Donruss. The set was clearly unwrapped, but the box was taped shut. For $5 I figured ai’d take a shot. Sure enough the set was complete.
The blue is actually quite pleasing to the eye, not quite the eyesore that 1990 Donruss became.
Topps Chrome Update Mega Boxes are all the rage right now. And on Thursday night during a stop at Target to get groceries I lucked into a group of four boxes that were tucked behind some blasters.
This is my third time seeing them “in the wild” since their release. And even though I told myself I was done with them after buying a few last week, the fact that they were 10% off This week made me grab the remaining four.
I opened two in car — pulled a Vlad Jr. rookie and a green Refractor Hunter Pence /99 — and decided to keep the other two sealed until I picked up my kids. I figured I’d let me son pick one and open it if he decided to buy one with his birthday money.
I presented the option to him and of course he opted in at the $18 price tag. He looked at the two sealed boxes I had on the kitchen table and held one in his hand, looking at the odds. And then at the last second he switched the boxes with me … which I didn’t mind. This was about HIM, not me.
He used my keys to pierce the cellophane wrapper and then unboxed the seven packs. He grabbed the first one and ripped the back. It was at that moment — at about 8:50 pm Pacific on 11/5/19 — he had a monumental experience.
“Oh yeah! I got a 1-of-1!” he exclaimed as he pulled off the wrapper.
I was shocked. I stood up to get a better look — it was a yellow printing plate for Yankees second baseman DJ LeMahieu’s All Star Game card, #70 in the set. My son puts his cards in binders, sorted by team. Because that’s what you do when you’re new to the hobby — he’s only been actively involved for about a year.
“That’ll go in a holder,” he said as he looked at the metal card.
The moment got be excited, and damn near made my cry. Parenthood will do that.
We high-fived. We hugged. We talked about how hard it is to get one.
And not once — not even to this moment — did we talk about value, worth, resell price, etc.
I was 18 when I pulled my first 1-of-1. It, too, was a printing plate. It was a plate for a 1998 Topps Gallery Nomar Garciaparra that literally fell out of a pack I opened at the register at R&K Comics in Sunnyvale, Calif. I was in college at the time and sold it a few weeks later when I realized the card could net me enough to pay for a semester of books.
The market has certainly shifted over the last two decades — printing plates aren’t nearly as desirable, and more people than before argue against their 1-of-1 status since there are typically four plates for each card, even though they are in different colors thereby making them unique as the card states in the rear.
But the experience is what makes this a huge deal, and it’s these father-son moments of bonding that keep me excited about this hobby.
On a side note, I came home last week with a Mega Box of the same product for him. He opened it and also hit an autograph of Yankees pitcher Chance Adams. He was excited do that pull, but nowhere near as excited as he was in this night with his first 1-of-1.
The other day a friend pointed out an item on eBay where a new seller was offering several lots of Medium Flat Rate boxes filled with 1991 Stadium Club packs for the mere price of 99 cents plus like $15 shipping.For a guy who collected when the product was brand new, and a person who loves the TSC line, you know I had to take a chance.
The box of packs arrived Monday night and the outer shipping box felt like it contained a load of bricks. And in a sense it did seeing as how many of these ultra premium, high-gloss full-bleed photo cards we’re stuck together.
No, literally, look …
There was very low expectation given the price point. And no, I’m not upset — the cards were practically free. Sure, it’d be great to build a high-quality set from the 200-plus packs inside the box (split almost evenly between the two series) but this was a cheap, fun way to experience a bit of my childhood that was ridiculously expensive at the time.
It took about four minutes to open and peel apart the contents of two packs. The first pack had a Nolan Ryan Tuxedo and I hit my first Frank Thomas only a few packs into it. But as I was reliving some of these memories, I decided to also have some fun.
First I stuck some packs in front of a space heater hoping that’d help loosen them up.
Nope. Didn’t work.
How about the old freezer truck?
Nope. That didn’t work either.
At this point I have opened about 30 packs of series one and have pulled two Nolan Ryan’s and four Frank Thomas cards, one of which came in an monster pack that also contained a classic Bo Jackson and a second-year Juan Gonzalez. Hell, such a pack in 1991 would have had about $50 worth of singles — remember, the Thomas was $25-$30, and Ryan wasn’t too far behind.
I plan to open the rest at some point this week. I still have low expectations, but if you’re so inclined you can follow the hashtag #91TSCBrickedBreak on Twitter to see some fun stuff. Perhaps I can build a set (albeit not even close to mint) and pull a half-dozen of each classic card from this iconic release.
We’re coming up on about a year since my son has decided to follow in my footsteps and join the hobby.
On Thursday night before heading out the door to do some trick or treating, he sorted some more of his cards, including a blaster of 2019 Panini Chronicles he recently purchased. As he removed the cards from the packaging, I noticed he had a small stash of blaster boxes I’d grown immune to seeing.
I asked if the boxes were empty and he confirmed that they were. I then made a comment that he must really like them since he still had three boxes in the house. That’s when he made his proclamation:
“It’s probably my favorite brand this year,” he said proudly.
These three empty blaster boxes probably represent half of how many he has opened for HIS collection — some of them paid for by him, the others subsidized by me.
But it made me happy to hear him have such an opinion, and it wasn’t like he chose it because it’s the newest product on the shelf, or because he pulled an autograph from the packs.
I asked a follow up question: WHY do you like this brand?
His response is great:
“Because you don’t know which designs you’re going to get, or even how many. I like the variety. it’s not just base cards and autographs.”
Absolutely love his response. The cards don’t have logos and that will hurt long term value, but this hobby is about so much more than money. It’s about fun and personal enjoyment of a product which are contributing factors to perceived value.
With this product, every time he opens a blaster he’s getting 2-6 cards of top rookies, multiple parallels, and often a serial numbered card. And because of the configuration, the checklist is ripe with rookies of the game’s top stars.
I’ve watched my son actively pass on blasters with guaranteed hits in favor of Chronicles solely because he gets a bunch of enjoyment from the product. I personally enjoy the product a lot as well, mainly because of the variety and its a teaser as to what could be if Panini had a full license.
I kind of got a kick out of something today and it was a reminder to me that I am indeed jaded.
I ran into a freshly stocked shelf at Target today, one consisting of the new Topps Update Chrome Mega Boxes. I grabbed a few for me, and one for my son. I opened mine and got some decent looking cards but nothing to really show off.
Then when my son got home from school he opened his Mega Box. And there in the last pack was an autograph of … Yankees rookie pitcher Chance Adams.
My son was enamored. There in his 9-year-Old hands was a rookie autograph of a Major League Player. It instantly became one of his favorite cards, even though it’s far from his best card. But all this kid knows is that from the box he opened he got himself an autograph card … and I wasn’t going to sully his thinking by telling him he could probably buy 15 of those autos for the cost of the Mega Box.
The joy on his face and in his voice when he announced it and showed it off to his sister is what the hobby is all about. It’s something that I and many others miss because we’ve all been jaded — whether we want to believe it or not — by the cost of products; the incessant complaining about lack of creativity, and the feeling that we need to get our money back in our breaks for any of this to make sense.
I’m sure I’m preaching to the choir. And I’m also sure there are some of you laughing that my kid is excited about a Chance Adams auto. But fact remains that we are all chasing that joy; we are all trying to recreate those fabulous feelings we all had whenever we pulled something that made us smile.
We don’t all collect the same. Hell, not all of us even participate in this hobby the same way. But whenever anyone is feeling joy about whatever they’re doing in this hobby, it is a great reminder of why some of us got into it in the first place, and I wish we — I — could feel more of that.
Kiddo has an epic Walgreens Update hanger
Posted in Box / Pack Break, Collecting With Kids, Commentary, Misc. with tags baseball, baseball cards, rookie cards, sports, Topps, Topps Update? Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Walgreens on November 16, 2019 by Cardboard IconsStop me if you’ve heard this before: My son had an epic pull last night.
For the second time in as many weeks, my son added a big pull to his fledgling collection and this time it’s one that has big upside.
Late Friday afternoon we made a run to the LCS because it was the only time we had available this week. My boy wanted to buy something and he purchased a blaster of NBA Hoops, which contained all of the good rookies except THE top rookie. For the record he was happy and he loves this year’s design.
After his purchase, I told him I wanted to check the Walgreens around the corner to see if they had the 2019 Topps Update Hanger packs with the exclusive yellow parallels. So we went in and they had three. I told him I’d buy all three and he could choose one for his collection. My treat.
Of the three hangers, one had a massive dent in the side. The cards looked safe inside but it was the type of damage that would likely turn some folks away. Of course my boy grabbed that one from the stack. I warned him about the damage but told him the cards were probably fine. He didn’t care. He wanted that one.
As we walked to the register I explained to him what we were hoping to pull (Vlad Jr or other top rookies) and told him how the yellows were exclusive to this chain of stores and on the grand scale they were much rarer than most of the other parallels.
We got to the car and I showed him how to open the hanger from the bottom of the box. He ripped the box, and opened the inner plastic wrap on his own. He could instantly see there was something thick (a relic) inside the pack so I instantly knew he was going to be happy with his decision.
He thumbed through the first 30 cards with typical reception (a few good rookie debuts, big name all stars) and got to the inserts and found a Vlad Jr. 1984 design — already a winner — and then uncovered a Max Muncy ASG relic. As he picked up the relic to read the back, the next card was revealed.
It was a damn Vlad Guerrero yellow, a parallel of his real rookie card!
I let out an expletive because I knew this was at least a $100 Card, easily my son’s most expensive card. His next card was no slouch – it was a Mike Trout yellow, which is probably another $10-$20 card.
I was shocked, he was stunned and could not stop smiling. We then darted back around the corner to the card shop to pick up a magnetic holder for his new addition.
I’m happy for my son. Way happier for him, than I would be for myself if I pulled it. Because I am at the point in my collecting career where I want my kids to have these wins, because it’s an experience they’ll never forget. Myself? I’m a jaded veteran collecting curmudgeon who has had nice pulls and at this point an somewhat jaded by dollar signs. Each nice pull is fuel to continue down the rabbit hole.
The Vlad pull comes on the heels of my boy beating the odds Last week when he pulled his first 1/1 (a DJ LeMahieu ASG printing plate) from a Topps Chrome Update Mega Box. (Here).
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