Sports Cards Mania

Green (Tongued) Monster

Member
SoSH Member
Jun 2, 2016
1,005
Hanover, PA
They are 2021 Topps Series 1

Still have 12 to go. Best card so far is a Casey Mize Short Print variation rookie or maybe the Andres Gimenez rookie #’d to 50.

Really liking the 86 Topps inserts and the 52 Topps inserts.
Hit pretty much two-three of every key rookie so far except Pasche (1)

No good parallels of Bohm yet sadly.
PM me if you are interested in trading any of these.
 

NJ_Sox_Fan

Member
SoSH Member
Jan 2, 2006
10,736
NJ
Oh not bad!

Won auctions for Manny’s horizontal Bowman rookie (in the stupid green striped shirt). 3.09 shipped. And the JoseCanseco 86 Donruss Rookie - another card I always saw in Beckett as a kid.
Nice! Side not, the big 3 83 Rookies are starting to really jump in price with PSA 10’s.

Finally pulled a decent royal blue parallel out of these blasters.

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LogansDad

Member
SoSH Member
Nov 15, 2006
29,053
Alamogordo
Wow! Is that a red ice? What’s it numbered to?

Actually guessing an orange /299?
It's a Red #/199. It's beautiful card. Also got a Pete Alonso Orange #/299, which I will post later. Luis Robert/Gavin Lux Rated Rookies.

The holiday box netted me a Luis Robert Metallic Snowflake, and a pretty awesome and hilarious Kershaw short print in which his cleat is replaced with an ice skate.
 

NJ_Sox_Fan

Member
SoSH Member
Jan 2, 2006
10,736
NJ
It's a Red #/199. It's beautiful card. Also got a Pete Alonso Orange #/299, which I will post later. Luis Robert/Gavin Lux Rated Rookies.

The holiday box netted me a Luis Robert Metallic Snowflake, and a pretty awesome and hilarious Kershaw short print in which his cleat is replaced with an ice skate.
Wow even better. Congrats. One sold on eBay for $304.50
 

brandonchristensen

Loves Aaron Judge
SoSH Member
Feb 4, 2012
38,144
Yeeeeee

I got my Rickey Henderson!

Next in my queue...

- 1987 Donruss Mike Greenwell (had this as a kid, tons of nostalgia to it)
- 1983 Topps Tony Gwynn
- 1982 Topps Traded Cal Ripken Jr. (long shot here)
- 1960 Topps Carl Yastrzemski (long shot)
- 1985 Topps Tiffany Roger Clemens (Didn’t know this variant existed until recently)
- 1987 Leaf Barry Bonds (Same as the Donruss, but for whatever reason the Leaf one is more memorable)
- 1985 Donruss Roger Clemens (this is one I always admired but never owned - I’d love to find a good one of these without breaking the bank)

Have 7 cards en route in the mail right now...

- 1990 Topps Frank Thomas
- 1992 Topps Nomar Garciaparra
- 1983 Donruss Wade Boggs
- 1985 Topps Mark McGwire
- 1986 Donruss Jose Canseco
- 1992 Bowman Manny Ramirez
- 1980 Topps Rickey Henderson

Stoked!
 

Mugsy's Jock

Eli apologist
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 28, 2000
15,069
UWS, NYC
The handful of times I’ve checked the NYC Wal-Mart for 2021 Series 1 Blaster Boxes, they’ve been out of stock. What’s a good price to reasonably hope to find on eBay?
 

Deathofthebambino

Drive Carefully
SoSH Member
Apr 12, 2005
41,946
I’m looking on Dave & Adams and baseball actually isn’t that bad, outside of Bowman.
Many of the Topps products aren’t too insane comparative to a year or two ago.
I suppose it’s because they appeal more toward collectors than investors, but the irony is I’ve always done better with something like a base Topps or Allen & Ginter than a comparative Panini football or basketball product where you need a huge hit to avoid disaster.

Speaking of which, I think it was the recent release of Panini Playbook that had me extra cynical. Watching breaks of that is what had me questioning how the hobby can sustain itself...it just makes no sense to me.
People are paying $400 + for 4 cards. One which is a small single color Jersey swatch, one a late round rookie auto, so you’re basically paying for two cards. And the big selling point is the playbook rc, which isn’t even a necessarily desirable rookie card.
People are paying $400+ and a base Herbert auto sold for under $200. The Gold /99 Burrow sells for less than a box.
it’s like a whole wave of collectors came in and have no idea that the gamble was already priced in to the msrp. Playbook was a crap break when it was $160, now it’s a perfect illustration of why I was saying that things currently don’t make sense to me.
You're posts are 10000% spot on. I'm a lifetime collector (and in the past 5 years, a seller as well). I still have a collection of over 2,000,000 cards dating back to the 1950's. I took quite a while off from collecting from around 1994-2014, and then got back in, got very involved in breaks and selling on Ebay. I've bought and sold probably a million dollars worth of cards from 2014-2019, but then I hit a wall again. Someday, I see myself getting back into it, I have hundreds of cards that I need to eventually get graded (not to mention a ludicrous collection of memorabilia that needs COA's/grades, etc. But for now, I'm content sitting on the sidelines and letting other folks basically gamble, because that's all it is. I was very into the high end stuff (Flawless, National Treasures, etc.) and even though I hit some big ones (1/1 Dak Prescott RPA from Flawless, and so many others that went for 5k plus), it felt like I was just throwing money down at a casino than enjoying the hobby anymore.
 

Ale Xander

Hamilton
SoSH Member
Oct 31, 2013
72,430
The grading system seems to have a lot of potential for corruption. One of the reasons I stopped collecting 20-ish years ago.
 

brandonchristensen

Loves Aaron Judge
SoSH Member
Feb 4, 2012
38,144
The grading system seems to have a lot of potential for corruption. One of the reasons I stopped collecting 20-ish years ago.
Yah seriously. I have zero desire to get any of my cards graded. I'm actually looking at 7's and 8's to buy and just pull from the grading case because a good 7 and 8 can be really beautiful still.
 

Ale Xander

Hamilton
SoSH Member
Oct 31, 2013
72,430
If I had to grade, I would certainly do BCG, not PSA. At least you get the 4 categories so it's a little harder to be corrupt.
 

brandonchristensen

Loves Aaron Judge
SoSH Member
Feb 4, 2012
38,144
If I had to grade, I would certainly do BCG, not PSA. At least you get the 4 categories so it's a little harder to be corrupt.
Yeah for sure. I much prefer just a one-touch or screw down holder vs the graded ones. A nice card is a nice card.

Grading is good for authenticating. But the grading culture is a big turn off.
 

Bongorific

Thinks he’s clever
SoSH Member
Jul 16, 2005
8,433
Balboa Towers
I pulled out the boxes of cards from the basement today. I bought packs regularly as a kid in the 80s 90s of stuff that’s worth nothing. A friend of mine is really into the hobby. I went with him to a local card show in probably 2014 for fun and spent $50 or so on stuff that looked nice. All Sox and Patriots. Going through all my stuff today I didn’t remember that I bought these. Probably paid $15-20 total?
3881938820
 

LogansDad

Member
SoSH Member
Nov 15, 2006
29,053
Alamogordo
I pulled out the boxes of cards from the basement today. I bought packs regularly as a kid in the 80s 90s of stuff that’s worth nothing. A friend of mine is really into the hobby. I went with him to a local card show in probably 2014 for fun and spent $50 or so on stuff that looked nice. All Sox and Patriots. Going through all my stuff today I didn’t remember that I bought these. Probably paid $15-20 total?
View attachment 38819View attachment 38820
Oh, goodness.
 

Fishercat

Svelte and sexy!
SoSH Member
May 18, 2007
8,265
Manchester, N.H.
The grading game is really challenging to reconcile with reality. Like I honestly don't think 95% of collectors, without the number, could guess the grade of an actual card on site within a range. A current day 9 and 10 are really minimally different and, once you go between brands and card types, are drastically different. Like you have people who handle tens of thousands of cards as part of their day to day job who get surprised by grades where a smidge of centering being off brings a grade down or just a feeling of a corner that won't break skin. This isn't even thinking of cards that saw the light of day, so many cards go from pack -> sleeve -> grader and still have no shot. It's weird.

I'm looking at those two Betts above, admittedly in sleeves so harder to tell and I wouldn't even know where to begin guessing a grade on it.

I don't have the money/time/effort to really go for it but I feel like if you're collecting to keep as opposed to re-sell later, the real value seems like it's in those cards getting lower grades that still look decent to the naked eye.

Edit: To be clear, I put this more on the speculators/collectors than the company in general. It's kind of insane to me that people will pay that much of a premium for score differentials. Like go for condition that's fine, but a BGS9 can be 10 Centering, 9.5 Edges, 8.5 Corners, 9 Surface where a BGS9.5 all 9.5's (so slightly better surface and edges, slightly worse centering) or even 9-9.5-9.5-9.5, so basically .5 difference between four scores. I know you need those lines but that feels like it can be a difference between a grader who got mayo on his egg salad sandwich and one who didn't.
 
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NJ_Sox_Fan

Member
SoSH Member
Jan 2, 2006
10,736
NJ
So, where are the flaws? Edges and corners look sharp, they’re reasonably well-centered. Are there creases in there? Faded color? Problem with the back?
No creases at all. Backs are fine. Mantle's got some white dots/print dots, which lower the grade. Grading in general though is subjective, total BS, and basically just a way to make money/a scam IMO. I generally will only buy lower graded, nicely centered cards that present well (IE, the picture is clear, colors are nice, etc). I never send cards in to grade, unless it is something I want to protect usually. If I am buying modern stuff, I will buy a PSA 10, just because I know that card is generally not going to have any issues. Plus half the time with modern, I change my focus anyhow, so at least I know PSA 10 will keep its value.
 

NJ_Sox_Fan

Member
SoSH Member
Jan 2, 2006
10,736
NJ
Also, while looking for something yesterday I came across some of my 90s Nomar and Pedro cards. And now of course I want to buy so many more.
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Fishercat

Svelte and sexy!
SoSH Member
May 18, 2007
8,265
Manchester, N.H.
That was incredibly depressing and why I will probably never send any cards in to grade. There is way too much risk for the the price.
I feel like that, if the collecting bubble does die down, we're gonna get a lot of people who put their toes in and lost money in it despite feeling good at the time about it with the grading aspect. There's just an ocean of cards on Ebay, even a year or two later, that cost more to grade than they are worth period, even at 10s and 9.5s, nevermind the 9s. Even excluding the mind boggling stuff like that Griffey video above, even the more normal scenarios make it hard

Like, a mini anecdote on the the grading deal. I pulled an Austin Hays out of 2017 Bowman Chrome HTA, purple to 250 signed, out of a break in ye olde days. I think I paid $30 for a random spot and got that and a couple other insignificant signatures (Cody Sedlock still has a pulse at least). The BGS submission as a bulk cost $20, so I was $50 in and a two+ month wait for it to come back. Felt pretty good: this is a guy who was a Top 50ish prospect (BA had him Top 25, other rankers Top 75) near the big leagues. At the time, the Ebay listings were probably $100-150 for a 9.5 of this card. For Bowman Chrome, pulled out of the pack, into a sleeve, by a well respected breaker, a 9.5 was pretty common as it's a very gradable card. Came back a 9. (8.5 centering, 9.5 or 10 on everything else with a 10 signature). The breaker who sent it in said he should have caught the centering but it looks fine to me still (certainly not an off centering that would bother me as a buyer of a single). Three years later, Austin Hays is an oft-injured but still somewhat promising OF (first Orioles prospect outside of the Top 100), a decent buy low candidate if he stays healthy. The card at a 9.5 is currently going for 60ish on Ebay despite the boom in the market, so I assume if I put up my BGS 9 I may make my entry to the break back ($30-40). In short, the grading ate up the profit and probably would have unless it came back a Gem Mint 10

I still had fun with the break and still have that Hays, it's a very pretty card and I have good memories - it's also the nature of theb east. But I think we'll see a lot of people wait 8 months for their PSA to come back not only to have card values drop hard (forbid if Tatis Jr. has a terrible year or Acuna gets injured seriously) but also to a grade that torpedoes the value. In many cases I think a nice looking "raw" card is better than even a graded NM/Mint card.

Of course, the whole thing here is that the right player/card makes up for a LOT of losses like this if you hold it right. Like, go three ranks down that prospect list, if I pulled a Royce Lewis even a BGS9 makes me a nice profit. A few ranks down, a PSA 9 Mackenzie Gore sold for 210 the other day. That set also had Ronald Acuna and a base auto at PSA9 is still a four figure card, so some ways you win regardless. That's the thing though, like I think you need A LOT to go right with the grading to really get that jackpot and it's not a transparent or quick process. I got the best prospect available to my team in a limited print run who isn't washed out and it's a technical loss (again, I'm still happy with how it turned out).
 

Deathofthebambino

Drive Carefully
SoSH Member
Apr 12, 2005
41,946
Like, a mini anecdote on the the grading deal. I pulled an Austin Hays out of 2017 Bowman Chrome HTA, purple to 250 signed, out of a break in ye olde days. I think I paid $30 for a random spot and got that and a couple other insignificant signatures (Cody Sedlock still has a pulse at least). The BGS submission as a bulk cost $20, so I was $50 in and a two+ month wait for it to come back. Felt pretty good: this is a guy who was a Top 50ish prospect (BA had him Top 25, other rankers Top 75) near the big leagues. At the time, the Ebay listings were probably $100-150 for a 9.5 of this card. For Bowman Chrome, pulled out of the pack, into a sleeve, by a well respected breaker, a 9.5 was pretty common as it's a very gradable card. Came back a 9. (8.5 centering, 9.5 or 10 on everything else with a 10 signature). The breaker who sent it in said he should have caught the centering but it looks fine to me still (certainly not an off centering that would bother me as a buyer of a single). Three years later, Austin Hays is an oft-injured but still somewhat promising OF (first Orioles prospect outside of the Top 100), a decent buy low candidate if he stays healthy. The card at a 9.5 is currently going for 60ish on Ebay despite the boom in the market, so I assume if I put up my BGS 9 I may make my entry to the break back ($30-40). In short, the grading ate up the profit and probably would have unless it came back a Gem Mint 10
When I got back into collecting, one of the things that completely turned me off again and IMO, is the biggest scam in card collecting, and should be a class action suit, is the companies putting redemptions in their packs. For those that don't know, and haven't collected for a while, when a player hasn't signed their autographs yet, they'll basically put an IOU in the pack, that you have to submit to Topps/Panini/Upper Deck, and wait for them to send it to you.

There are so many problems with this that I don't even know where to begin. I still have over 100 redemptions, all a minimum of 3 years old, that never came in. I haven't even received a card in over a year, while they just sit there pending. Technically, you can request a replacement if you can actually get in touch with anyone, but the values are almost never comparable, and the time it takes drags down the value.

For example, I hit a 1/1 Logoman Demarre Carroll from National Treasures basketball a few years back. It was a redemption. I probably could have sold the redemption for about half the value of the card when I hit it (the card probably would have gotten close to $1,000 if it went on Ebay immediately and shortly after the product dropped). I decided to wait for the card, still have never received it, and even if I did, I'd probably be lucky to get 20% of that now.

When Amari Cooper was a rookie, Panini Immaculate had redemptions in that set for about half of the rookie class. Amari Cooper was a huge name, but if you waited years later to receive the actual card, you got fleeced.

I truly do not understand how they continue to get away with this, especially on the high end products. Some rookies never amount to anything, so you're left with a choice to sell the redemption for whatever you can get, or sit on it, hope you receive the card and hope the player becomes a stud in the interim. Otherwise, that rookie card that probably would have gotten $100 is now worth less than a soda.
 

Traut

lost his degree
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Jul 20, 2005
12,750
My Desk
This thread has inspired me to get back into the collecting game. Just bought this for $6. It’s hard to imagine anything that I could buy for $6 that could bring me more joy.
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