Sports Cards Mania

Deathofthebambino

Drive Carefully
SoSH Member
Apr 12, 2005
41,947
I’m speechless. This stuff is incredible
For investment purposes, the ones that truly hurt are the Lebron card, the Tatums (I don't even want to know what that rookie auto /25 is going for now), the Mahomes, the Judges, etc.

The Koufax/Aaron card, the Gretzky with the awesome ticket stub, those things hurt to even look at in pictures now...

I obviously posted heavily Boston stuff for you guys, and grabbed whatever hockey I had scrolling through the gallery on my phone, but there is a lot more.
 

Deathofthebambino

Drive Carefully
SoSH Member
Apr 12, 2005
41,947
So are you buying these individually or from breaks?
None of them were individually. Everything I bought was from breaks or boxes/cases from my local card shop or directly from breakers. It was gambling basically. Probably lost a bit overall, but had I known the pandemic was coming, and sat on everything, I would have probably made 4-5xs my money. Win some, lose some. Of course, for every Tatum, there's a Justin Patton, for every Mahomes, there's a Mitch Trubisky, etc., so you're always normally gonna have winners and losers over the long term, but the pandemic was the tide that lifted all boats.
 

Deathofthebambino

Drive Carefully
SoSH Member
Apr 12, 2005
41,947
I have a lot more stuff, this is what's in one closet in the basement, and one cabinet in the family room. I've got a quarter of my boiler room full too, but the photo is too large to upload. Unfortunately, most of the really good stuff is gone now. Ton of vintage and 80s stuff that wouldn't bring much without grading, but I'm just not into that effort and risking the grades being terrible.
 

NJ_Sox_Fan

Member
SoSH Member
Jan 2, 2006
10,736
NJ
I hadn't seen the Favorites for Fenway set til recently when I saw a cheap A-Rod on there as part of a different card buy and grabbed it - it's a very slick looking card I wish modern cards stole design elements of (as opposed to the generic ASG '22 stuff, it's layered and of the moment). That gem mint Skylines card POPS.
They looks great graded imo. My only other graded one is this Chipper

62574
 

Green (Tongued) Monster

Member
SoSH Member
Jun 2, 2016
1,007
Hanover, PA
Every single one of them. And honestly, this is probably 1% of what I sold. It is some of the best stuff, but I don't even know where to look for the stuff that isn't on this phone, etc. I was deep into breaks and buying cases, etc.
Any specific strategy for buying into breaks? I have been tentative to buy into one on ebay as I usually buy packs or singles, but have been wanting to try. Do you target player breaks or team breaks, and is there a certain product you recommend? Assume you also go the auction route as opposed to pick your team/price? I tend to prefer the patch/relic cards, but man are there too many options! Also prefer baseball & hockey.
 

saintnick912

GINO!
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Oct 30, 2004
4,968
Somerville, MA
Nice, I need to dig up my Yaz ball. Went to a charity event at Fenway in 2008 or 2009 called "Yaz Day". Got to meet Yaz and (Walpole) Joe Morgan, fielded some balls off the Monster, hit in the cage until they tossed me for hitting the machine. Great time overall.

Sadly TB was in first place at the time.
62603
 

JoePoulson

Well-Known Member
Gold Supporter
SoSH Member
Feb 28, 2006
2,755
Orlando, FL
Hey does anyone know...Stadium Club Chrome comes out on the 29th. There were already Chrome version in the regular SC product that came out in December. Are those Chrome cards separate from the upcoming SC Chrome release? I assumed they were the same but thinking about it, I am not so sure. It would just be weird-ish to have a SC Chrome standard version then a new SC Chrome 2 version.
 

Deathofthebambino

Drive Carefully
SoSH Member
Apr 12, 2005
41,947
Any specific strategy for buying into breaks? I have been tentative to buy into one on ebay as I usually buy packs or singles, but have been wanting to try. Do you target player breaks or team breaks, and is there a certain product you recommend? Assume you also go the auction route as opposed to pick your team/price? I tend to prefer the patch/relic cards, but man are there too many options! Also prefer baseball & hockey.
I probably won't have time to respond to this fully this weekend. I could write a book on these questions. If you've never done a break, I would highly recommend watching a bunch of them first. They are almost all on YouTube. IMO, one of the most reputable breakers in the business is Firehand cards. It's owned by a guy named Chad Redfern. Him, and Ryan are the only two guys that break cards. Chad was one of the original breakers online in the industry, and while he is not a massive breaker like Layton, backyard, platinum, everyone respects him. His father, Pete Redfern, was a major league pitcher for the Twins among other teams and Chad was a good player himself, college, minors.

To be clear, I don't know him personally, have never met him, have never talked to him outside of a chat during a break. I haven't done a break personally outside of Sosh, since early 2019. But, I still watch them from time time live and zip through them on YouTube. For beginners, one if the Bice things about Chad's stuff is that they are not all high end. He'll break whatever his clientele wants and whatever he can get. He also is one if the few breakers that puts the teams and the "owner" in a box on the screen while he's breaking. So if the Sox hit a monster, you can simply look up, see who has them and congratulate them during a live chat. After a while, it becomes a community and you root for each other.

These breaks are not sold via Ebay. Forehand will post their breaks on their website at a set time every day. You buy your team, in a pick your team (PYT) or your spot in a random team (like we are doing here on sosh) through the website. You get credits from Chad (think reward points), etc. that can be used towards future breaks. They also have jackpot type stuff. For example, every time a basketball product case that has a logo man possibility gets broken, he'll put money into the logo man jackpot. It builds until someone hits a logoman. This can get up to 5k over the course of a couple months, and if you hot it, you get 5k towards buying into breaks or buying personal boxes or cases from him. I've bought cases and him break them on his stream so people can root for you. It's fun.

I will add a ton more to this, but for now, I would check out Firehand cards on YouTube, click on videos and watch the break. Another thing they do is try always do a hit recap after each break, so if you dont want to spend an hour watching a Bowman Chrome break, you can watch the last 5 minutes and just see the good pulls.


Laytonsportscards is another one I trust. But they are very high end focused. However, on I think Mondays, they only break personal boxes so you'll see the video on Facebook and it will say "3 boxes of national treasure basketball for Bob." That's not a true break, Bob bought 3 boxes through their website and chose to let them break it publicly, but every card that comes out gets sent to Bob.

That's a crash course, but start there by just watching old videos or live streams. Firehand is on the west coast so they usually go live around 9-10 eastern. Layton has multiple channels,breaks all day. You literally buy into their breaks days in advance whereas Firehand may have teams that don't sell in 3-4 breaks and he'll set up a drawing to fill them.
 

YTF

Member
SoSH Member
Been living vicariously through these card threads. I mentioned up thread that I've been picking up a few cards here and there. I'm not sure how much of a get this would be considered by y'all, but was happy to get this Mayer 3/3 for $50 plus shipping. I don't have the card in hand yet, but should be here on Monday. Please tell me that I did OK
.
s-l500.jpgs-l500 (1).jpg
 

Deathofthebambino

Drive Carefully
SoSH Member
Apr 12, 2005
41,947
Been living vicariously through these card threads. I mentioned up thread that I've been picking up a few cards here and there. I'm not sure how much of a get this would be considered by y'all, but was happy to get this Mayer 3/3 for $50 plus shipping. I don't have the card in hand yet, but should be here on Monday. Please tell me that I did OK
.
View attachment 62633View attachment 62634
Really depends on what you want to do with it. If you're looking to flip it for a profit, you might make a few bucks. His 2022 Leaf Metal Auto to /10 just old for $39.99 in February. Another one to /10, that graded a PSA 10 sold for $57. Another one numbered to /7 sold for $47.

If you're just collecting and think it's a cool card, and have no interest in selling it you did perfectly fine, and if he turns out to be a stud, there may be profit down the road.
 

YTF

Member
SoSH Member
Really depends on what you want to do with it. If you're looking to flip it for a profit, you might make a few bucks. His 2022 Leaf Metal Auto to /10 just old for $39.99 in February. Another one to /10, that graded a PSA 10 sold for $57. Another one numbered to /7 sold for $47.

If you're just collecting and think it's a cool card, and have no interest in selling it you did perfectly fine, and if he turns out to be a stud, there may be profit down the road.
I literally read your thoughts on Leaf in the other thread right after posting here. TBH, I'm not really sure of my intentions for the card. As far as making big $$$ goes, I never planned on that being anything more than a reach, but figured if Mayer pans out as hoped and the card seems worthy of grading I might realize some profit or have something cool to pass along.
 

Deathofthebambino

Drive Carefully
SoSH Member
Apr 12, 2005
41,947
I literally read your thoughts on Leaf in the other thread right after posting here. TBH, I'm not really sure of my intentions for the card. As far as making big $$$ goes, I never planned on that being anything more than a reach, but figured if Mayer pans out as hoped and the card seems worthy of grading I might realize some profit or have something cool to pass along.
It's a card I'd personally hold onto for the long term. Not sure I'd spend the money to get it graded, as I'm not sure it really moves the needle that much. An ungraded auto /10 sells for $40, while a pristine PSA 10 sells for $57. I'm not even sure what PSA is charging at this point, but between shipping costs, and the cost to get it graded, I'd be surprised if you came out ahead even if graded a 10.

If Mayer is a dud, you've got a downside risk of about $35-$40 (it won't go to zero due to how low numbered it is), but if he's a good/great player, there is certainly upside to double your money, if not more.
 

Green (Tongued) Monster

Member
SoSH Member
Jun 2, 2016
1,007
Hanover, PA
I probably won't have time to respond to this fully this weekend. I could write a book on these questions. If you've never done a break, I would highly recommend watching a bunch of them first. They are almost all on YouTube. IMO, one of the most reputable breakers in the business is Firehand cards. It's owned by a guy named Chad Redfern. Him, and Ryan are the only two guys that break cards. Chad was one of the original breakers online in the industry, and while he is not a massive breaker like Layton, backyard, platinum, everyone respects him. His father, Pete Redfern, was a major league pitcher for the Twins among other teams and Chad was a good player himself, college, minors.

To be clear, I don't know him personally, have never met him, have never talked to him outside of a chat during a break. I haven't done a break personally outside of Sosh, since early 2019. But, I still watch them from time time live and zip through them on YouTube. For beginners, one if the Bice things about Chad's stuff is that they are not all high end. He'll break whatever his clientele wants and whatever he can get. He also is one if the few breakers that puts the teams and the "owner" in a box on the screen while he's breaking. So if the Sox hit a monster, you can simply look up, see who has them and congratulate them during a live chat. After a while, it becomes a community and you root for each other.

These breaks are not sold via Ebay. Forehand will post their breaks on their website at a set time every day. You buy your team, in a pick your team (PYT) or your spot in a random team (like we are doing here on sosh) through the website. You get credits from Chad (think reward points), etc. that can be used towards future breaks. They also have jackpot type stuff. For example, every time a basketball product case that has a logo man possibility gets broken, he'll put money into the logo man jackpot. It builds until someone hits a logoman. This can get up to 5k over the course of a couple months, and if you hot it, you get 5k towards buying into breaks or buying personal boxes or cases from him. I've bought cases and him break them on his stream so people can root for you. It's fun.

I will add a ton more to this, but for now, I would check out Firehand cards on YouTube, click on videos and watch the break. Another thing they do is try always do a hit recap after each break, so if you dont want to spend an hour watching a Bowman Chrome break, you can watch the last 5 minutes and just see the good pulls.


Laytonsportscards is another one I trust. But they are very high end focused. However, on I think Mondays, they only break personal boxes so you'll see the video on Facebook and it will say "3 boxes of national treasure basketball for Bob." That's not a true break, Bob bought 3 boxes through their website and chose to let them break it publicly, but every card that comes out gets sent to Bob.

That's a crash course, but start there by just watching old videos or live streams. Firehand is on the west coast so they usually go live around 9-10 eastern. Layton has multiple channels,breaks all day. You literally buy into their breaks days in advance whereas Firehand may have teams that don't sell in 3-4 breaks and he'll set up a drawing to fill them.
Thank you very much for this. I will check out their site. I can obviously check out the checklists and the pack/box odds myself, but are there baseball or hockey products that you recommend from past experience? I love the high end Topps sets (Triple Threads, Museum Collection, Tier One, Definitive) and also the Leaf In The Game and Lumber relic cards, but don't like that cannot show logos on their cards. Upper Deck variations seem like the way to go for Hockey collectors. Like @YTF, I have also stepped away from the hobby after 25 years and started collecting again, but find myself overwhelmed at all of the options.
 

Deathofthebambino

Drive Carefully
SoSH Member
Apr 12, 2005
41,947
Thank you very much for this. I will check out their site. I can obviously check out the checklists and the pack/box odds myself, but are there baseball or hockey products that you recommend from past experience? I love the high end Topps sets (Triple Threads, Museum Collection, Tier One, Definitive) and also the Leaf In The Game and Lumber relic cards, but don't like that cannot show logos on their cards. Upper Deck variations seem like the way to go for Hockey collectors. Like @YTF, I have also stepped away from the hobby after 25 years and started collecting again, but find myself overwhelmed at all of the options.
The high end stuff from Topps in addition to the ones you've noted are Diamond Icons, Transcendant, Dynasty and then you obviously have the Bowman Chrome (prospects mainly) and Bowman Sterling products. Bowman is owned by Topps, so they have licensing.

For Hockey, there is basically Upper Deck and then nobody else. They have the licensing, and I'm not even sure Panini and Topps are even releasing hockey cards. Upper Deck, IMO, is the best of the companies, both from a product standpoint, but also redemptions, and even price points. Their highest end product, at least a few years ago, was Upper Deck "The Cup," which is what most of the cards I've posted are from. They also have a few other high end products that release, like their "Ultimate Collection" product (awesome product), SPauthentic stuff, Black Diamond, etc. For their base set stuff (think Topps Series 1 for baseball), their "Young Guns" inserts are treated as THE rookie cards of the sport (non autoed cards) and can go for real money when a guy like McDavid shows up.

This is a PSA 10 for McDavid that sold recently.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/125686658962?hash=item1d43823792:g:5XIAAOSwWGVjrNsc&amdata=enc:AQAHAAAAwEBkV3gkRZvrTWGd7qnALcdOAAIRPwZBFIKcnwdEyI3fWG0IIwaC8ttoUXW2G0pLTyqH8JUpin+QuOp0DLY0bNdgglNwxqwU8l6J26JJw0CQ81IPoPdtmdVLFBQN1/Zwt0npeoH1HC+JAVqxKwpJk6mFw4t9lrSmHYYLxi92kg2oty/XfFyuKLFMap9GB1+Ec15eoG40eFZevnvPkxQMEeyHOlLRYZK7m1z4uOFldcmY1XPCbkRi/NjK7uOVv49//w==|tkp:Bk9SR4Dr6rfkYQ

Here are a couple of cards from "The Cup."

https://www.ebay.com/itm/404177412735?hash=item5e1ad9e27f:g:p0UAAOSwiKdj-SPu&amdata=enc:AQAHAAAA0DHJ8CGNxFEfJ6WaTVSy1CrTnVg92Lj54r1KhQoDYOv7pAsdU8GjRs8XKvKWB4fhDxNM8y1d5Ns7lINCPw6NM0FvOZyKmbOCPIMDI6cM7tWd1wm+6BjDkbM5FJRgGZi2MKTY35V9zPQtQGDOyK9j5zfU0uVYYD7ACEQZ2pkRvMRPLhezlAFLYwFK3AGgLY3RIgYuzvWHoY+S/8JxWZebrl97OAyXAXvZvfXDGAEnjyB5odgS5WEcTdF3fDqOLlS91ZSVYH9uGUC8VTkZVpVP1PU=|tkp:Bk9SR56yxLfkYQ

https://www.ebay.com/itm/144975299223?hash=item21c1338297:g:qyIAAOSww~VkBfT8&amdata=enc:AQAHAAAA0A4lvIEFwTOrWXHM0OFcq06w3OUiQR1J8KOykxHUVZS9F8Zf3Dn8RzUOct7DXEtsAUdlb8eSWMIOBXIt27N5K585oAB9PEgtOSe1vwUh2FEEkv9zjOtsFUbX16arTkiS+H2iF6a4TJ9jAkmooEIKdbobocdUNyDKeZh2+hQhEQ8ItoA/QKjRQfPRprq7tDjWd7CtP3qxHCMZgocAknBlH6iLim9b3ndxdlLk9hB7eS4rFRrC82TCpOShsSKREjVFWk+dNEcuQaweefSaeerTkbI=|tkp:Bk9SR4Dr6rfkYQ


The only issue I can tell right now is that Upper Deck, while always a little behind on releasing products than most, the pandemic really slowed them to a crawl. I don't think they've released a Cup product since the 2020-21 set. They released 2021-22 black diamond either in late 22/early 23. These were their anticipated release dates in 2022 for various products, not sure which ones they hit or didn't:

https://bsportscards.com/2022-nhl-hockey-card-release-dates/
 

bradcote

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 27, 2005
3,150
Keepin' it real in Maine
Thank you very much for this. I will check out their site. I can obviously check out the checklists and the pack/box odds myself, but are there baseball or hockey products that you recommend from past experience? I love the high end Topps sets (Triple Threads, Museum Collection, Tier One, Definitive) and also the Leaf In The Game and Lumber relic cards, but don't like that cannot show logos on their cards. Upper Deck variations seem like the way to go for Hockey collectors. Like @YTF, I have also stepped away from the hobby after 25 years and started collecting again, but find myself overwhelmed at all of the options.
I get the Leaf hate because they can't show logos on their cards, but for someone that is interested in collecting on a budget, I have gone in that direction. I got a 2012 Leaf Best of Basketball Bill Russell auto for $350 where similar cards were going for $500+. I also picked up a 2020 Leaf In the Game KG Auto/Jersey Swatch (numbered 8 of 9) for $85.

I also purchased a 2010 Sage Rob Gronkowski Auto for $58. For someone that is looking to collect (and not trying to sell them off or make money), it is cool that I get to add these to my collection at a price point I can afford.

NOTE: I purchased a PSA 5 1980 Bird/Magic/Dr. J and I still haven't heard the end of it from my wife regarding how much I spent, so getting deals like this makes it more palatable to be able to grow my collection. :)
 

Deathofthebambino

Drive Carefully
SoSH Member
Apr 12, 2005
41,947
Thank you very much for this. I will check out their site. I can obviously check out the checklists and the pack/box odds myself, but are there baseball or hockey products that you recommend from past experience? I love the high end Topps sets (Triple Threads, Museum Collection, Tier One, Definitive) and also the Leaf In The Game and Lumber relic cards, but don't like that cannot show logos on their cards. Upper Deck variations seem like the way to go for Hockey collectors. Like @YTF, I have also stepped away from the hobby after 25 years and started collecting again, but find myself overwhelmed at all of the options.
Like you, I had stepped away from the hobby for about 20 years myself in the mid 90's. My son, who is now 15, started getting interested in my cards about 10 years ago, so I slowly started getting back into it, and then he quickly got bored, while I got really into breaks and the new products and then later, selling them on Ebay, etc. I truly can't recommend watching a ton of breaks before jumping into them enough. There are so many different types of breaks, types of products, and breakers that you really have to dig around and see what fits. For my money, Firehand does it right, but sometimes, their product choices didn't work for me (because he doesn't do a ton of business compared to the others, he doesn't get 100s of cases of National Treasures basketball or Flawless, for example), but he's so transparent. He even does videos shitting on the manufacturers, or discussing the relevant controversies in the industry (like the ones we've discussed here over the years) and he pulls no punches.

Honestly, pack/box odds are already taken into account in PYT breaks (pick your team). The Yankees might be $500 to buy, whereas the Rays might be $25 for example. There's some variation amongst the breakers, but the nickels and dimes I might save fishing around was never worth the time for me. The price per spot breaks for random teams or random numbers or random divisions are just based on what the breaker spends to buy the case(s) and what they want to make for profit. Again, some fluctuations between breakers, but not usually a lot.

Random numbers is a cool way to do a break, couple different ways it's done. For a product like Flawless, every card is /25 or less and there are no redemptions, so they sell 25 spots (you can buy as many spots as you want or can get). Then randomize the numbers. The guy who gets #1 will get every card with a #1 on the left side of the number. So 1/25 goes to them, 1/22 goes to them, 1/1 goes to them. If you get 12, you get every 12, 12/15, 12/25. Obviously, the one spot is the best, and 24 is probably the worst, because 25/25 at least has some value. Another way is if a product has every card is numbered and there are redemptions, they'll sell 10 spots. You get a number 1-10. If the card comes out numbered 11/99, that goes to the one spot, if it's 22/99, that goes to the 2 spot, the person that gets 0 also gets the redemptions. Etc.

Random divisions in football, only 8 spots sold, and every card from the division goes to you. These get very expensive per spot in higher end stuff like NT.
 

Deathofthebambino

Drive Carefully
SoSH Member
Apr 12, 2005
41,947
I get the Leaf hate because they can't show logos on their cards, but for someone that is interested in collecting on a budget, I have gone in that direction. I got a 2012 Leaf Best of Basketball Bill Russell auto for $350 where similar cards were going for $500+. I also picked up a 2020 Leaf In the Game KG Auto/Jersey Swatch (numbered 8 of 9) for $85.

I also purchased a 2010 Sage Rob Gronkowski Auto for $58. For someone that is looking to collect (and not trying to sell them off or make money), it is cool that I get to add these to my collection at a price point I can afford.

NOTE: I purchased a PSA 5 1980 Bird/Magic/Dr. J and I still haven't heard the end of it from my wife regarding how much I spent, so getting deals like this makes it more palatable to be able to grow my collection. :)
Absolutely, Leaf is a great product for this. They've really gone into the soccer stuff hard to, usually with sticker autos, but putting some of the games greats on cards together. From their 2022 Leaf Decadent, this 1/1 with autos from Messi, Ronaldo, Pele and Nozario just sent for over $7,500.00.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/234866902670?hash=item36af28868e:g:JuIAAOSw4fNjyiJL&amdata=enc:AQAHAAAAwALW32WppCp6mqDT9Fu1O52d735qVHvlgXzaZR0OBElnvd47iHpeFSPJLrgJygWxGPiTKk3DT7/g73C4n2ZHsivg7pxH2bJY0s/BXS3r2gBE97BQ1/a8muKtelRq2Vkk2VJV9EAbtRb70c2MwuYLBgDEdduIFRoE0rD//OMElmjnGQBW/4DVxq80F2l/e1kUK3HINsnK4Y/Scehj1zlJrp5lF1AK5lI3mXc5PNaJS8Te77maBTmKiEGqxNX8e14OIw==|tkp:Bk9SR77-w7nkYQ

Then they also put together cards with players from multiple sports. This card is crazy cool, only downside is that their are signatures on both sides of the card, making it hard to display, but a card with Messi, Steph Curry, Floyd Mayweather, Ohtani, Aaron Rodgers, Haaland, Bryson and Lillard is something you'll only really see from Leaf:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/295460611678?hash=item44cad3265e:g:mZAAAOSwO71juar~&amdata=enc:AQAHAAAA4GsCjd2EmjyO4/n26bX9n4490Bf7dKlJ8Akjc4tbN1j5VZcC2OBR06YyRT0s2Kql4s4o8e97wIaDvrKN1188w/JcMB7SpuflSuBv8DcQlUNIaO+KbXUdwz0ANE0FQKQN4fL9649g+37isAvb4HyrGQUL27SJrnvtfFT7ke/QymXe0nXzrtP+tvHb3RItQPFz2ruNR8TX77A5ev591qgfKovs42yyM5Ao7c6JmfdArn8bItE608UlY7QN2tiGgWUrHmrxtDgjpEnPvGtSCBCKYygseoblCsy+VoyfualcZQsP|tkp:Bk9SR8D-w7nkYQ&nma=true&si=LtvBfoYq7%2FqZwPGa0gN2%2FSC4rok%3D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557
 

Green (Tongued) Monster

Member
SoSH Member
Jun 2, 2016
1,007
Hanover, PA
Like you, I had stepped away from the hobby for about 20 years myself in the mid 90's. My son, who is now 15, started getting interested in my cards about 10 years ago, so I slowly started getting back into it, and then he quickly got bored, while I got really into breaks and the new products and then later, selling them on Ebay, etc. I truly can't recommend watching a ton of breaks before jumping into them enough. There are so many different types of breaks, types of products, and breakers that you really have to dig around and see what fits. For my money, Firehand does it right, but sometimes, their product choices didn't work for me (because he doesn't do a ton of business compared to the others, he doesn't get 100s of cases of National Treasures basketball or Flawless, for example), but he's so transparent. He even does videos shitting on the manufacturers, or discussing the relevant controversies in the industry (like the ones we've discussed here over the years) and he pulls no punches.

Honestly, pack/box odds are already taken into account in PYT breaks (pick your team). The Yankees might be $500 to buy, whereas the Rays might be $25 for example. There's some variation amongst the breakers, but the nickels and dimes I might save fishing around was never worth the time for me. The price per spot breaks for random teams or random numbers or random divisions are just based on what the breaker spends to buy the case(s) and what they want to make for profit. Again, some fluctuations between breakers, but not usually a lot.

Random numbers is a cool way to do a break, couple different ways it's done. For a product like Flawless, every card is /25 or less and there are no redemptions, so they sell 25 spots (you can buy as many spots as you want or can get). Then randomize the numbers. The guy who gets #1 will get every card with a #1 on the left side of the number. So 1/25 goes to them, 1/22 goes to them, 1/1 goes to them. If you get 12, you get every 12, 12/15, 12/25. Obviously, the one spot is the best, and 24 is probably the worst, because 25/25 at least has some value. Another way is if a product has every card is numbered and there are redemptions, they'll sell 10 spots. You get a number 1-10. If the card comes out numbered 11/99, that goes to the one spot, if it's 22/99, that goes to the 2 spot, the person that gets 0 also gets the redemptions. Etc.

Random divisions in football, only 8 spots sold, and every card from the division goes to you. These get very expensive per spot in higher end stuff like NT.
After checking out their site, the Monday Night Baseball Mixer sounds amazing. I am also quite intrigued by the 17/18 Upper Deck The Cup break, but I cannot see buying into a break where there is about a 4 in 5 chance that you walk away with zero cards.
 

Deathofthebambino

Drive Carefully
SoSH Member
Apr 12, 2005
41,947
After checking out their site, the Monday Night Baseball Mixer sounds amazing. I am also quite intrigued by the 17/18 Upper Deck The Cup break, but I cannot see buying into a break where there is about a 4 in 5 chance that you walk away with zero cards.
Yeah, the Mixers are very cool. For those who aren't checking, there are 28 spots in the break with 2 spots getting double teams (TBD what those are, but like ours, it'll be the worst teams). It's $109.95 per spot. Each of the following has one box in the break (except 2 boxes of Gold Label). The fact that there are a couple boxes from 2021 and 2020 makes it more intriguing because teams that are bad in 2022, may have been good in those years:

2022 Topps Gilded Collection
2022 Topps Tier One
2022 Topps Tribute
2022 Topps Inception
2022 Donruss Optic Choice
(2) 2022 Topps Gold Label
2022 Museum
2022 Finest
2022 Clearly Authentic
2022 Bowman’s Best
2022 Onyx Premium
2021 Immaculate
2020 Five Star

Every breaker does mixers, but again, you have to be careful, because you don't know if they've already swept through some boxes, hit the big ones, and then threw the remaining boxes into their mixers. I don't worry about this stuff with Firehand.

Probably not a Yankees or Rays fan, but those are the only 2 spots left in their Tier One break. Rays at $149 and Yankees at $249.00. You hit a Wander auto, and you should be making money. With the Yankees, you hit one of Jeter/Rivera/Judge, and you should be making money. Low money autos, and you could make real money on either. Of course, you could get skunked, nature of the beast. The other thing is Tier One has the "bounty" so if you hit a bat knob or bat barrel, you get the bounty. Not sure what they are.

If you do buy into Firehand, you can expect that it will break that night. As soon as something fills, he breaks it that night. Tier One will probably go tonight, the Mixer will go tonight, etc. Remember, times are pacific, so they break from 3:00 p.m. EST to 1:00 a.m. on Mondays typically. Hours are below:

  • FIREHAND BREAKS (PST)
    • MONDAY:12PM – 10PM
    • TUESDAY:9PM – 12AM
    • WEDNESDAY:8AM – 12AM
    • THURSDAY:9PM – 12AM
    • FRIDAY:8AM – 12AM
    • SATURDAY:8AM – 12AM
    • SUNDAY:10AM – 8
And yeah, the Cup is tough. The 2017-18 boxes are selling for like $1,500 each on Ebay, so the only way for a guy like Firehand to fill those is to do one box at a time, and make it like $55/spot. So huge chance you get skunked, but you'll see guys buy like 5-10 spots in the break, and hope to hit a McDavid/Gretzky/Tage Thompson, etc.
 

Fishercat

Svelte and sexy!
SoSH Member
May 18, 2007
8,266
Manchester, N.H.
I get the Leaf hate because they can't show logos on their cards, but for someone that is interested in collecting on a budget, I have gone in that direction. I got a 2012 Leaf Best of Basketball Bill Russell auto for $350 where similar cards were going for $500+. I also picked up a 2020 Leaf In the Game KG Auto/Jersey Swatch (numbered 8 of 9) for $85.

I also purchased a 2010 Sage Rob Gronkowski Auto for $58. For someone that is looking to collect (and not trying to sell them off or make money), it is cool that I get to add these to my collection at a price point I can afford.

NOTE: I purchased a PSA 5 1980 Bird/Magic/Dr. J and I still haven't heard the end of it from my wife regarding how much I spent, so getting deals like this makes it more palatable to be able to grow my collection. :)
Honestly, I'm growing increasingly fond of Leaf in a sense that, price wise, it's SO much more reasonable to both rip or pick up singles where the main difference is lack of team branding and probably a less refined design, but the odds of hitting someone you actually want (if ripping) is so much better or you can buy the player you want at a big discount.

My main breaker opened up a case of Leaf Metal Jumbo yesterday - they are about $230 on EBay which is a tick under Topps Series 1 Jumbo, about $120 less than Bowman's Best. You get 10 autos per box and the checklist is mostly high end prospects and hall of famers with a smattering of current stars. Just one random box (last one in the break) had this breakout - and this isn't out of the ordinary. (Note: All cards numbered to 10 or less but a bajillion parallels, I think the numbers are fairly meaningless, there was like two 1/1s and two proofs and a plate in this box alone)

  • Jace Jung (#83 prospect)
  • Jordan Lawlar Plate (#10 prospect)
  • Dylan Lesko (#100 prospect)
  • Royber Salinas (Outside Top 100 - #20 A's Prospect)
  • Jett Williams (Outside Top 100 - #5 Mets Prospect)
  • Gabriel Hughes (Outside Top 100, #6 Rockies Prospect)
  • Pedro Martinez (That Pedro)
  • Prelander Berroa (Outside Top 100, #14 M's prospect)
  • Francisco Alvarez (#3 Prospect)
  • Joey Wiemer (#90 prospect)

Another box

  • James Triantos (Outside Top 100 - #12 Cubs Prospect) )
  • Dwight Gooden (That Doc)
  • Cade Horton Redemption (Outside Top 100, #4 Cubs Prospect)
  • Joey Wiemer (#90 Prospect)
  • Brooks Lee (#31 Prospect)
  • Dylan Beavers (Outside Top 100, #11 Orioles Prospect)
  • Ronald Acuna Jr (That Acuna)
  • Zack Qin (Outside Top 100, Outside Top 30 in Padres system, their first Chinese prospect)
  • Jordan Lawlar (#10 Prospect)
  • Luis Gonzalez (Not that Luis Gonzalez, SF MLB player)

At least eight of these autos would be among the better autos available in equivalent products and while Leaf has some outright ugly cards, some of these are lookers to boot (Leaf tends to be too bold for my tastes, UD and Panini trounces them in simplicity and I even feel like Topps does it better, but there are some nice cards).

To DotB's point - it's a pure PC brand or cheap prospecting for cheap results. The lack of branding and current status in the hobby will cap it there. There's a reason we ripped Bowman Chrome and not like...Prizm Draft Picks or Leaf Draft and it's because money wise the market cares so much more about Bowman with the branding and on-card autos (didn't realize how much more til after that break...). The single best card out of Leaf is probably not going to sell for the Top 3-4 cards we pulled in that break. But like, these boxes above is probably around average for the product and if you bought them from a store you'd walk out with a legend, 4-5 Top 100 prospect autos, and 4-5 intriguing prospects for $230. Not gonna argue you could sell that right now for $230 (you probably couldn't) but like...it's a better floor than something like Bowman's Best where your best card might be a Jett Williams auto (admitteldly the ceiling there is a four figure card and that's what people are hunting, it's just a riskier gamble)
 

bradcote

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 27, 2005
3,150
Keepin' it real in Maine
Honestly, I'm growing increasingly fond of Leaf in a sense that, price wise, it's SO much more reasonable to both rip or pick up singles where the main difference is lack of team branding and probably a less refined design, but the odds of hitting someone you actually want (if ripping) is so much better or you can buy the player you want at a big discount.

My main breaker opened up a case of Leaf Metal Jumbo yesterday - they are about $230 on EBay which is a tick under Topps Series 1 Jumbo, about $120 less than Bowman's Best. You get 10 autos per box and the checklist is mostly high end prospects and hall of famers with a smattering of current stars. Just one random box (last one in the break) had this breakout - and this isn't out of the ordinary. (Note: All cards numbered to 10 or less but a bajillion parallels, I think the numbers are fairly meaningless, there was like two 1/1s and two proofs and a plate in this box alone)

  • Jace Jung (#83 prospect)
  • Jordan Lawlar Plate (#10 prospect)
  • Dylan Lesko (#100 prospect)
  • Royber Salinas (Outside Top 100 - #20 A's Prospect)
  • Jett Williams (Outside Top 100 - #5 Mets Prospect)
  • Gabriel Hughes (Outside Top 100, #6 Rockies Prospect)
  • Pedro Martinez (That Pedro)
  • Prelander Berroa (Outside Top 100, #14 M's prospect)
  • Francisco Alvarez (#3 Prospect)
  • Joey Wiemer (#90 prospect)

Another box

  • James Triantos (Outside Top 100 - #12 Cubs Prospect) )
  • Dwight Gooden (That Doc)
  • Cade Horton Redemption (Outside Top 100, #4 Cubs Prospect)
  • Joey Wiemer (#90 Prospect)
  • Brooks Lee (#31 Prospect)
  • Dylan Beavers (Outside Top 100, #11 Orioles Prospect)
  • Ronald Acuna Jr (That Acuna)
  • Zack Qin (Outside Top 100, Outside Top 30 in Padres system, their first Chinese prospect)
  • Jordan Lawlar (#10 Prospect)
  • Luis Gonzalez (Not that Luis Gonzalez, SF MLB player)

At least eight of these autos would be among the better autos available in equivalent products and while Leaf has some outright ugly cards, some of these are lookers to boot (Leaf tends to be too bold for my tastes, UD and Panini trounces them in simplicity and I even feel like Topps does it better, but there are some nice cards).

To DotB's point - it's a pure PC brand or cheap prospecting for cheap results. The lack of branding and current status in the hobby will cap it there. There's a reason we ripped Bowman Chrome and not like...Prizm Draft Picks or Leaf Draft and it's because money wise the market cares so much more about Bowman with the branding and on-card autos (didn't realize how much more til after that break...). The single best card out of Leaf is probably not going to sell for the Top 3-4 cards we pulled in that break. But like, these boxes above is probably around average for the product and if you bought them from a store you'd walk out with a legend, 4-5 Top 100 prospect autos, and 4-5 intriguing prospects for $230. Not gonna argue you could sell that right now for $230 (you probably couldn't) but like...it's a better floor than something like Bowman's Best where your best card might be a Jett Williams auto (admitteldly the ceiling there is a four figure card and that's what people are hunting, it's just a riskier gamble)

For what I paid for them, these look DAMN good. :)


6270362704
 

Fishercat

Svelte and sexy!
SoSH Member
May 18, 2007
8,266
Manchester, N.H.
Hey does anyone know...Stadium Club Chrome comes out on the 29th. There were already Chrome version in the regular SC product that came out in December. Are those Chrome cards separate from the upcoming SC Chrome release? I assumed they were the same but thinking about it, I am not so sure. It would just be weird-ish to have a SC Chrome standard version then a new SC Chrome 2 version.
It's a different product. So the SC Chrome in regular SC should be treated as an insert (like Bowman Chrome cards in paper Bowman) and these are a standalone, separate set. Likely different photos and checklists.
 

Fishercat

Svelte and sexy!
SoSH Member
May 18, 2007
8,266
Manchester, N.H.
Any specific strategy for buying into breaks? I have been tentative to buy into one on ebay as I usually buy packs or singles, but have been wanting to try. Do you target player breaks or team breaks, and is there a certain product you recommend? Assume you also go the auction route as opposed to pick your team/price? I tend to prefer the patch/relic cards, but man are there too many options! Also prefer baseball & hockey.

@Green (Tongued) Monster

The DotB posts are are great for anyone looking at breaks outside of the site or something they want to do more often. I hope DoTB doesn't mind if I add on a few additional things to his three posts

  • If possible - and it's not always possible - I'd recommend watching videos of product being broken by any breaker you don't have experience with OR any product you aren't familiar with in addition to watch a bunch before you jump in in general.
    • For the breaker - there's a WIDE gap in breaker quality and if you spend some time finding a breaker who treats the cards with respect and who you can enjoy watching it'll make it a lot more fun. There is a very minor group that has some, well, outright criminals, but even among the big group of legit breakers there's a range of experiences. There's a good Reddit thread on the topic and beyond personality, you also probably want to look for sealed cases (for non mixers), general history of output, pricing, etc.
    • For the product, it's tough because if a product is really good, the first day might be the cheapest or easiest you'll get in on a break. If a product sucks, you're paying to find out. For instance, Topps Gold Label came out last week. I watched a few cases of it and quickly came to the conclusion that if those chase cards are present, they are very under printed compared to others. I bought into a cheap team slot (Guardians) and hit a few nice cards (a couple low end framed autos and a parallel that would likely pay for the spot or get close if I sold) and then stopped when that didn't even feel good. Bowman's Best was very evident really quickly that some guys would have 1-2 autos a case and other guys would have one auto every 3-4 cases, and a lot of people paid $150-$300 for 3 cases for a player to find that out. I don't think I bought the Sox one time - I stuck with a handful of players I thought were undervalued and did one random break where I got the Yankees who stink in Best and traded out)
  • Breakers will absolutely price teams to available players, market demand, etc. but breakers are also guessing. I would tend to agree with DotB that it's probably not worth hunting for bargains between breakers but it is worth looking at the checklists and markets yourself to see if you feel like it's right relative to the price of the product and what you have a chance of ending up with.
    • Speaking of Gold Label. Boston was $75 on a case on my preferred site. Boston had a great base set, and an impressive slate of potential one-per-case relics...and NO base framed autos except Connor Seabold. The two cases I watched had Boston relics to salvage some of the value in those spots (a Ted Williams bat and Nomar jersey) but it was a severe overprice. Similarly , for A&G Chrome this year, they had Boston overpriced from the start. I took a beating on a case of that before I realized it was probably 50% higher than what that sold for with other breakers. Use your judgment.
  • If you're thinking of breaking to chase a certain card or card type, do yourself a favor and look at the singles prices for the cards AND some breaks to see how often this shows up in any format. One of my more recent goals was to get every Red Sox Bowman Best auto from this year's set. Three of them (Paulino, Romero, and Kavadas) had multi case break slots in the $15-$20 range at a point and Paulino and Kavadas were all over it. It would've been a bit cheaper to just buy the single card but the chance of a parallel or multiples was a worthwhile gamble to me. The Mayer slot was $200 or so and you generally saw one every few cases and it needed to be a low numbered parallel to bring that cash back. The Devers slot was $15-$20 usually, but his insert auto was TOUGH - usually saw one of that insert auto every 4-5 cases and there's no guarantee it was him (I eventually saw one pulled in a teams break...the card is worth less than the team slot). Even worse, Blaze Jordan was often 25-40 and his auto was an insert like Devers
  • On average, unless a slot is errantly priced, it's just more focused gambling with a premium paid due to lack of volume. By which I'm saying you're probably paying a higher per card rate than you would even ripping your own wax, you just get the benefits of focusing on what you want (player break, team breaks) and/or paying less than the base price to get in on a product you couldn't otherwise justify. Just know going in and it makes it less annoying when you drop a chunk of cash on a slot to get nothing you want.
  • On things like Random Hit, Random Numbers, etc. - DotB nailed it. It's high end products and odds are extremely high you'll get skunked or get something that doesn't even pay back the slot. That's fine, the point of them is the big hunt. Last week a breaker I follow did a mixer of Immaculate (high end) boxes - WWE, UFC, and NFL - $19 a slot for 99 slots, #1-#99. You hit one card you probably can make most or all of your money back...but you have a 15% chance per slot to do that per slot and even the odds within that of getting something you care about is minimal or something truly impressive is low. More often they do four slots for 4x the cost so everyone gets something in the 1-25 slots. In that mixer, the most expensive WWE card was probably like...$40. UFC was about $70. NFL was about $160. All the sets have four figure cards potentially, just didn't happen here. If they "random hit" that break I'd have to guess slots would be about $150 or so and exactly one person would win.
Generally, I'd say, before you buy anything of substance know why you're doing it and focus on that. I think DotB or Traut said it in a breaks thread - it's gambling with the positive end result being pulling something really cool. That really cool thing could be sold or kept or traded or whatever. Alternatively, I think breaks are a pretty good way to just get the rush of opening packs and only getting things you'd personally want. Just know going in so you don't get too sucked in and find yourself shoving money into something you wouldn't love to get back.

In terms of finding breakers, eBay is a way, I know a lot of the better breakers tend to not go to Ebay as Ebay will suck away 15% of their revenue with no remorse and they are subjected to the bidding gods. I'd almost say find a reputable breaker and if the following situation occurs, give it a try to see how it feels

  • A team or player you like or want to hunt for
  • A product you like
  • A price point you like
Has to be all three - don't settle for less IMO unless it's like, breaking with friends or for fun.
 

Deathofthebambino

Drive Carefully
SoSH Member
Apr 12, 2005
41,947
After checking out their site, the Monday Night Baseball Mixer sounds amazing. I am also quite intrigued by the 17/18 Upper Deck The Cup break, but I cannot see buying into a break where there is about a 4 in 5 chance that you walk away with zero cards.
If folks are interested, here is the video from the Monday Night Mixer that GM was talking about:

The breaker on this video is Ryan, not Chad Redfern (the owner of Firehand). Ryan spends more time explaining stuff than Chad does. Video will always open with rolling a dice. That's to see how many times they run the random generator for teams, spots. They then run the generator 7 times to put each person that brought into a break into a slot. Then they do it 7 more times to randomize the teams, and then match the teams with the buyer in the slots. In mixers like this, teams like the Angels/Yankees are always the cream of the crop, followed by whoever has high worth rookies in that year.

After they match up, you'll see a couple folks that bought multiple spots. Tsabal ends up with Yankees and Orioles. The break then starts, but one of things I really enjoy is how they put the teams/owners on the left side of the screen so you can follow along in the chat with the folks that hit, give them congrats. After a while, you get to know some of the regulars. Anyway, here's the break:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTS6A0vsFb4


Not too many big hits in this one. A Julio Auto redemption, and a Jackson Holliday auto low #'ed came out, but you can skip to the last 5 minutes also, and just see the numbered parallels, relic and auto hits, as they always do a recap.
 

Green (Tongued) Monster

Member
SoSH Member
Jun 2, 2016
1,007
Hanover, PA
@Green (Tongued) Monster

The DotB posts are are great for anyone looking at breaks outside of the site or something they want to do more often. I hope DoTB doesn't mind if I add on a few additional things to his three posts

  • If possible - and it's not always possible - I'd recommend watching videos of product being broken by any breaker you don't have experience with OR any product you aren't familiar with in addition to watch a bunch before you jump in in general.
    • For the breaker - there's a WIDE gap in breaker quality and if you spend some time finding a breaker who treats the cards with respect and who you can enjoy watching it'll make it a lot more fun. There is a very minor group that has some, well, outright criminals, but even among the big group of legit breakers there's a range of experiences. There's a good Reddit thread on the topic and beyond personality, you also probably want to look for sealed cases (for non mixers), general history of output, pricing, etc.
    • For the product, it's tough because if a product is really good, the first day might be the cheapest or easiest you'll get in on a break. If a product sucks, you're paying to find out. For instance, Topps Gold Label came out last week. I watched a few cases of it and quickly came to the conclusion that if those chase cards are present, they are very under printed compared to others. I bought into a cheap team slot (Guardians) and hit a few nice cards (a couple low end framed autos and a parallel that would likely pay for the spot or get close if I sold) and then stopped when that didn't even feel good. Bowman's Best was very evident really quickly that some guys would have 1-2 autos a case and other guys would have one auto every 3-4 cases, and a lot of people paid $150-$300 for 3 cases for a player to find that out. I don't think I bought the Sox one time - I stuck with a handful of players I thought were undervalued and did one random break where I got the Yankees who stink in Best and traded out)
  • Breakers will absolutely price teams to available players, market demand, etc. but breakers are also guessing. I would tend to agree with DotB that it's probably not worth hunting for bargains between breakers but it is worth looking at the checklists and markets yourself to see if you feel like it's right relative to the price of the product and what you have a chance of ending up with.
    • Speaking of Gold Label. Boston was $75 on a case on my preferred site. Boston had a great base set, and an impressive slate of potential one-per-case relics...and NO base framed autos except Connor Seabold. The two cases I watched had Boston relics to salvage some of the value in those spots (a Ted Williams bat and Nomar jersey) but it was a severe overprice. Similarly , for A&G Chrome this year, they had Boston overpriced from the start. I took a beating on a case of that before I realized it was probably 50% higher than what that sold for with other breakers. Use your judgment.
  • If you're thinking of breaking to chase a certain card or card type, do yourself a favor and look at the singles prices for the cards AND some breaks to see how often this shows up in any format. One of my more recent goals was to get every Red Sox Bowman Best auto from this year's set. Three of them (Paulino, Romero, and Kavadas) had multi case break slots in the $15-$20 range at a point and Paulino and Kavadas were all over it. It would've been a bit cheaper to just buy the single card but the chance of a parallel or multiples was a worthwhile gamble to me. The Mayer slot was $200 or so and you generally saw one every few cases and it needed to be a low numbered parallel to bring that cash back. The Devers slot was $15-$20 usually, but his insert auto was TOUGH - usually saw one of that insert auto every 4-5 cases and there's no guarantee it was him (I eventually saw one pulled in a teams break...the card is worth less than the team slot). Even worse, Blaze Jordan was often 25-40 and his auto was an insert like Devers
  • On average, unless a slot is errantly priced, it's just more focused gambling with a premium paid due to lack of volume. By which I'm saying you're probably paying a higher per card rate than you would even ripping your own wax, you just get the benefits of focusing on what you want (player break, team breaks) and/or paying less than the base price to get in on a product you couldn't otherwise justify. Just know going in and it makes it less annoying when you drop a chunk of cash on a slot to get nothing you want.
  • On things like Random Hit, Random Numbers, etc. - DotB nailed it. It's high end products and odds are extremely high you'll get skunked or get something that doesn't even pay back the slot. That's fine, the point of them is the big hunt. Last week a breaker I follow did a mixer of Immaculate (high end) boxes - WWE, UFC, and NFL - $19 a slot for 99 slots, #1-#99. You hit one card you probably can make most or all of your money back...but you have a 15% chance per slot to do that per slot and even the odds within that of getting something you care about is minimal or something truly impressive is low. More often they do four slots for 4x the cost so everyone gets something in the 1-25 slots. In that mixer, the most expensive WWE card was probably like...$40. UFC was about $70. NFL was about $160. All the sets have four figure cards potentially, just didn't happen here. If they "random hit" that break I'd have to guess slots would be about $150 or so and exactly one person would win.
Generally, I'd say, before you buy anything of substance know why you're doing it and focus on that. I think DotB or Traut said it in a breaks thread - it's gambling with the positive end result being pulling something really cool. That really cool thing could be sold or kept or traded or whatever. Alternatively, I think breaks are a pretty good way to just get the rush of opening packs and only getting things you'd personally want. Just know going in so you don't get too sucked in and find yourself shoving money into something you wouldn't love to get back.

In terms of finding breakers, eBay is a way, I know a lot of the better breakers tend to not go to Ebay as Ebay will suck away 15% of their revenue with no remorse and they are subjected to the bidding gods. I'd almost say find a reputable breaker and if the following situation occurs, give it a try to see how it feels

  • A team or player you like or want to hunt for
  • A product you like
  • A price point you like
Has to be all three - don't settle for less IMO unless it's like, breaking with friends or for fun.
Great info - thanks for your time in pulling this together. I am intrigued because you still get the fun and anticipation of opening packs, as well as an arguably better shot at something high end than just buying a hobby or jumbo box of Series 1, Heritage, A&G, and maybe even Bowman. Obvious downsides as well, but definitely a fun alternative in collecting.
 

Green (Tongued) Monster

Member
SoSH Member
Jun 2, 2016
1,007
Hanover, PA
If folks are interested, here is the video from the Monday Night Mixer that GM was talking about:

The breaker on this video is Ryan, not Chad Redfern (the owner of Firehand). Ryan spends more time explaining stuff than Chad does. Video will always open with rolling a dice. That's to see how many times they run the random generator for teams, spots. They then run the generator 7 times to put each person that brought into a break into a slot. Then they do it 7 more times to randomize the teams, and then match the teams with the buyer in the slots. In mixers like this, teams like the Angels/Yankees are always the cream of the crop, followed by whoever has high worth rookies in that year.

After they match up, you'll see a couple folks that bought multiple spots. Tsabal ends up with Yankees and Orioles. The break then starts, but one of things I really enjoy is how they put the teams/owners on the left side of the screen so you can follow along in the chat with the folks that hit, give them congrats. After a while, you get to know some of the regulars. Anyway, here's the break:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTS6A0vsFb4


Not too many big hits in this one. A Julio Auto redemption, and a Jackson Holliday auto low #'ed came out, but you can skip to the last 5 minutes also, and just see the numbered parallels, relic and auto hits, as they always do a recap.
That was not too rewarding other than maybe 3-4 team slots, but that seems to be the norm even with our SoSH breaks. The Julio redemption is valued at around $450. It's definitely a gamble, but with a mixer break like this, there are some pretty cool cards being sent out even if you don't come close to recouping your investment.
 

Fishercat

Svelte and sexy!
SoSH Member
May 18, 2007
8,266
Manchester, N.H.
That was not too rewarding other than maybe 3-4 team slots, but that seems to be the norm even with our SoSH breaks. The Julio redemption is valued at around $450. It's definitely a gamble, but with a mixer break like this, there are some pretty cool cards being sent out even if you don't come close to recouping your investment.
And really I think that's what a lot of it works out to. In the grand scheme, any box of cards is likely to produce less than what it cost to buy in the market even if you're able to sell every card at market price (if you're very patient and a hustler you could try and sell the base singles, unnumbered parallels, common inserts, etc and build it up). You'll probably have a handful of people who win by getting a single card or a few cards that they could flip right at the moment and make a profit. You'll then have a good number of people who either get cards that COULD become profitable in the future but aren't now or who get cards that don't make back the cost of the slot but could still be sold to recoup a reasonable amount of the cost. I mentally went through the break and I think two team slots were clear winners to 4-6x entry cost (Baltimore and Seattle), the COL/MIA combo slot was a surprise winner too with the 1/1 and the Dual Auto. You had a handful of teams that made back about half the entry - ATL, BOS, HOU, TOR, WAS. And then another five teams that made back about 25%. Only four teams got skunked but another bunch were under $20 in cards back. My estimates are below but it's kind of sobering. Also why I'm generally a bigger fan of pick your team for pro heavy products as opposed to randoms when a vendor has the capacity to support it. Like as a Sox fan I could walk away with that output and know I overpaid but be happy with my cards, whereas the same value on the other teams would be bummers.

ATL: Anderson Auto/ 49 (Immac), Freeman Auto /150 (Tribute) - $65
ARZ: Marte /300 (Finest) - $1
BAL: Kremer Auto /64 (Immac), Jackson Holliday Auto Gold /75 (Best) - $600
BOS: Devers /150 (GL - Class 1). Pedroia Auto (Finest), Duran RC /50 (Finest), Wong Auto (Clearly Authentic) - $40
CLE: Morgan Auto (Optic) - $3
CHC: Suzuki RC (Best), Suzuki Refractor RC (Best), Ian Happ Jersey Auto /399 (Museum) - $10
CHW: Burger /25 (Gilded), Thomas Jersey/249 (Tier 1), Sheets Auto /99 (Tribute) - $20
COL/MIA: Kris Bryant 1/1 (Museum), Bryant /250 (Finest), B. Rodgers Auto /99 (Immac), Neidery/Rogers Dual Auto /50 (Immac), Veen Auto /270 (Onyx) - $120? (This one was really hard on comps with a 1/1 and a dual with no Ebay history)
DET: Torkelson RC (Finest), Torkelson RC (Best), Baez Orange (Best) - $5
HOU: Pena RC (Finest), Ryan /50 (Gilded) - $70
KC: Witt RC (Museum), Witt Class 3 RC (GL), Witt RC (Finest), Perez /250 (Best), Perez/99 (Gilded), Soler Auto (5 Star) - $20
LA: Ruiz Jersey /10 (Immac), Betts 4 piece Jersey /25 (Museum) - $15
LAA: Marsh Auto (Gold Label) - $20
MIL: Frelick Auto /255 (Onyx) - $8
NYY: Gil RC Auto Gold (Finest), Aaron Judge /175 (Finest), , Kluber /199 Jersey (Tribute), Pettitte /199 Jersey (Tribute) - $20
NYM: Alonso /299 (Best), Stengel Jersey /10 (Immaculate) - $18
PIT: Cruz RC (Museum), Cruz RC (Finest), Contreras /88 Auto (Optic) - $10
SD: Tatis /99 (Diamond Kings Optic), Grisham Auto /25 (Five Star) - $25
OAK/ SF: Posey/99 (Tribute), Eckersley Auto /199 (Tier One), Arteraga Auto (Best) - $30
SEA: Julio Class 2 RC (GL), Brash/ 88 Auto (Optic), Julio Rodriguez Archival Auto /199 (Museum) - $430
TB: Shane Baz Auto (GL) - $20
TEX: Seager /25 (Diamond Kings Optic), Pozo Auto /299 (Inception), Danyer Cueva Auto and Refractor auto (Best) - $10
TOR: Guerrero Jersey /50 (Tribute), Guerrro Jersey w/ Pintstripe /35 (Museum), Lopez Auto (Tier 1), George Springer /75 (Gilded) - $40
WAS: Corbin Auto /199 (Tribute), Tim Raines /10 Auto (Gilded) - $45

Four slots had no hits - so those are full skunks
 
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Green (Tongued) Monster

Member
SoSH Member
Jun 2, 2016
1,007
Hanover, PA
And really I think that's what a lot of it works out to. In the grand scheme, any box of cards is likely to produce less than what it cost to buy in the market even if you're able to sell every card at market price (if you're very patient and a hustler you could try and sell the base singles, unnumbered parallels, common inserts, etc and build it up). You'll probably have a handful of people who win by getting a single card or a few cards that they could flip right at the moment and make a profit. You'll then have a good number of people who either get cards that COULD become profitable in the future but aren't now or who get cards that don't make back the cost of the slot but could still be sold to recoup a reasonable amount of the cost. I mentally went through the break and I think two team slots were clear winners to 4-6x entry cost (Baltimore and Seattle), the COL/MIA combo slot was a surprise winner too with the 1/1 and the Dual Auto. You had a handful of teams that made back about half the entry - ATL, BOS, HOU, TOR, WAS. And then another five teams that made back about 25%. Only four teams got skunked but another bunch were under $20 in cards back. My estimates are below but it's kind of sobering. Also why I'm generally a bigger fan of pick your team for pro heavy products as opposed to randoms when a vendor has the capacity to support it. Like as a Sox fan I could walk away with that output and know I overpaid but be hapy with my cards, whereas the same value on the other teams would be bummers.

ATL: Anderson Auto/ 49 (Immac), Freeman Auto /150 (Tribute) - $65
ARZ: Marte /300 (Finest) - $1
BAL: Kremer Auto /64 (Immac), Jackson Holliday Auto Gold /75 (Best) - $600
BOS: Devers /150 (GL - Class 1). Pedroia Auto (Finest), Duran RC /50 (Finest), Wong Auto (Clearly Authentic) - $40
CLE: Morgan Auto (Optic) - $3
CHC: Suzuki RC (Best), Suzuki Refractor RC (Best), Ian Happ Jersey Auto /399 (Museum) - $10
CHW: Burger /25 (Gilded), Thomas Jersey/249 (Tier 1), Sheets Auto /99 (Tribute) - $20
COL/MIA: Kris Bryant 1/1 (Museum), Bryant /250 (Finest), B. Rodgers Auto /99 (Immac), Neidery/Rogers Dual Auto /50 (Immac), Veen Auto /270 (Onyx) - $120? (This one was really hard on comps with a 1/1 and a dual with no Ebay history)
DET: Torkelson RC (Finest), Torkelson RC (Best), Baez Orange (Best) - $5
HOU: Pena RC (Finest), Ryan /50 (Gilded) - $70
KC: Witt RC (Museum), Witt Class 3 RC (GL), Witt RC (Finest), Perez /250 (Best), Perez/99 (Gilded), Soler Auto (5 Star) - $20
LA: Ruiz Jersey /10 (Immac), Betts 4 piece Jersey /25 (Museum) - $15
LAA: Marsh Auto (Gold Label) - $20
MIL: Frelick Auto /255 (Onyx) - $8
NYY: Gil RC Auto Gold (Finest), Aaron Judge /175 (Finest), , Kluber /199 Jersey (Tribute), Pettitte /199 Jersey (Tribute) - $20
NYM: Alonso /299 (Best), Stengel Jersey /10 (Immaculate) - $18
PIT: Cruz RC (Museum), Cruz RC (Finest), Contreras /88 Auto (Optic) - $10
SD: Tatis /99 (Diamond Kings Optic), Grisham Auto /25 (Five Star) - $25
OAK/ SF: Posey/99 (Tribute), Eckersley Auto /199 (Tier One), Arteraga Auto (Best) - $30
SEA: Julio Class 2 RC (GL), Brash/ 88 Auto (Optic), Julio Rodriguez Archival Auto /199 (Museum) - $430
TB: Shane Baz Auto (GL) - $20
TEX: Seager /25 (Diamond Kings Optic), Pozo Auto /299 (Inception), Danyer Cueva Auto and Refractor auto (Best) - $10
TOR: Guerrero Jersey /50 (Tribute), Guerrro Jersey w/ Pintstripe /35 (Museum), Lopez Auto (Tier 1), George Springer /75 (Gilded) - $40
WAS: Corbin Auto /199 (Tribute), Tim Raines /10 Auto (Gilded) - $45

Four slots had no hits - so those are full skunks
Imagine the emotional swing of pulling the Angels slot and then receiving no Ohtani or Trout cards of note.
 

Fishercat

Svelte and sexy!
SoSH Member
May 18, 2007
8,266
Manchester, N.H.
It happens a ton. Like, there's a reason some teams slots are so expensive but it's usually because if you hit, you hit big not necessarily because you're any more likely to do so. And it sucks for sure. I think it sucks less than randoming into a team that has no chance of making you anything (I'm not even talking like our Stadium Club break, at least some of those lower end teams had hits, there's products where there's literally nothing of any value for a team to get. But yeah, I've randomed into KC twice for 2022 products in two recent breaks and over 18 boxes of different product, I think I got one Witt of note. It's a bad, but fun, gamble.

My main breaker is doing some wild mixers for opening day. One is a four box Sapphire - two from 2020 and two from 2022 - random teams, all teams included, $80 a slot. So yeah, if you get STL you get a shot at a Jordan Walker first, Yankees you can get Volpe or Jasson, but you get like Toronto? Maybe a Vlad Jr. Base? Philly - maybe a good Stott rookie? Like, at least if you get NYY you get that endorphin rush until Volpe doesn't show up. They have a high end today dropping which I think will be $200 a slot if the past is any indication with 25slots that will be very, very easy to skunk on but also has a reasonable chance at some huge cards
 
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Bergs

funky and cold
SoSH Member
Jul 22, 2005
21,613
Paid too much for this on ebay ($30 + shipping), but I love this card. It was only available in 2006 Topps Wal-Mart blasters.


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