Chat! culturecrossfire.slack.com

Sports Cards Hobby Thread

Status
Not open for further replies.

Baby Shoes

Baby Shoes
Messages
25,399
Reaction score
2,222
Points
293
Thanks for the head's up! I just picked up a 2003 Ruthless Aggression card signed by Victoria in-person in California for $14.99 (raw). I just love the card photo itself with Victoria choking out Trish with the Kendo Stick + her autograph over it in silver sharpie.
That Aggression set is super nice so I’ll have to look into that. Have some signed from that set when I did through the mail autographs years back. I’ll have to find which cards I had Victoria sign when I met her at the TNA event. I feel like I got one Victora card and one Tara. Maybe I’ll dig that binder out this weekend.
 

HarleyQuinn

Laugh This Off... Puddin'!
Staff member
Messages
22,077
Reaction score
1,990
Points
313
That's a pretty sweet Kliff auto! I like the Hexagonal pattern too and think Topps Finest was a pretty underrated product. Here's the Victoria card I ordered below. Also below are the Fronts/Backs of my recent Ebay purchases of my other Tom Glavine GMA 10, Wade Boggs GMA 9, and Larry Walker GMA 9. The Glavine is super sharp. Boggs is pretty off-center on the back thus the 9 (but really sharp on the front), and the Walker has a white corner on the back otherwise it's damned good looking.

s-l500.jpg
y8Q5tJb.jpg
rukRupp.jpg
 

Baby Shoes

Baby Shoes
Messages
25,399
Reaction score
2,222
Points
293
Very nice haul, @HarleyQuinn ! I don’t know if I’ve seen the Larry Walker card before but that card is really cool.

That Victoria card may be the ideal image to sum up the peak of her WWE run.
 

Baby Shoes

Baby Shoes
Messages
25,399
Reaction score
2,222
Points
293
42FF7663-44DA-4D33-BB78-12583980F4A5.jpegMy hits from my Absolute Football box.

Got a lot of rookies but my familiarity with NFL, the only name I really recognized was CeeDee Lamb. My buddy told me a couple others are good when I sent him the list. Got some decent vets too and I like the look of the set but without my coupons/deal I got, this works out about $1 and same price as the Donruss Complete set, so I can’t see myself getting another box.
 

HarleyQuinn

Laugh This Off... Puddin'!
Staff member
Messages
22,077
Reaction score
1,990
Points
313
I saw CardDojo ripping some Absolute on his YT channel and it looks like there's a ton of rookies to be had, which is partly why I like Absolute as a product in & of itself in comparison to say Donruss or some others out there.

Still find it awesome that the women's wrestlers tend to garner a higher premium in the sports card market.
 

Baby Shoes

Baby Shoes
Messages
25,399
Reaction score
2,222
Points
293
One upside with the Absolute was I think in the ten card packs, each pack was about 5 rookies, if that’s the focus. For people looking for football, Target currently has the Donruss football complete $400 card set in stock. It is $39.99 but there is a Target cartwheel coupon for 15% Toys that works on most cards sold by Target, so really you get the set for $33.99, which last I checked the Burrow card in that box is going for around $15 in most eBay listings I see.
 

Baby Shoes

Baby Shoes
Messages
25,399
Reaction score
2,222
Points
293
I was excited to find my eBay preorder of a hobby box of WWE Chrome 2020 showed up today. I did not enjoy opening this as much as I did Undisputed or as I hoped. These boxes are 24 packs of 4 cards, 2 guaranteed autographs.

Within my first few packs I got my first autograph, the base/common /199 Seth Rollins.
A13CF228-0A2F-4512-96E0-0E27E2A7F871.jpeg

Not the best rarity but a top guy.

I was getting frustrated because I was not getting any refractors, all base, inserts. Some image variations, which are more clearly marked on these than baseball, but they aren’t that rare.

I got toward the end and saw an Orange border, which is the /25 rarity. My next autograph...
3D69A606-50E0-47F5-9319-86F8E75FDE05.jpeg

Also Seth Rollins.

A little deflating to get two of the same person but not an awful person to get two of, and one of a lower rarity.

I did not get any other refractors or variants in the box. I have the cheaper boxes coming directly from Topps but this first break makes me feel this product is not great for breaking.

I also had a recent box of Undisputed where I got the same person autograph variants twice in the box so this is feeling like a trend with current Topps WWE.
 

HarleyQuinn

Laugh This Off... Puddin'!
Staff member
Messages
22,077
Reaction score
1,990
Points
313
Yeah, it seems that because WWE products have such a smaller checklist, there's a ton of duplicates and the parallels/alternatives are just far lesser than in other sports.
 

HarleyQuinn

Laugh This Off... Puddin'!
Staff member
Messages
22,077
Reaction score
1,990
Points
313
Just some interesting random notes as I go down a Baseball Card rabbit hole... No real "order" per se

- 1978 Topps featured more cards per pack, 14, than in previous years where it was normally 10
- 1980 Topps is the final year they had a monopoly over the baseball card market
- 1981 Topps introduced SLG/BB/K as stats for hitters and the return of SB, not seen since 1971
- 1982 Donruss introduced the somewhat iconic 'Diamond Kings' card design
- 1984 Donruss supposedly had lower production than prior year's sets. It also introduced the 'Rated Rookie' card design
- 1984 Topps introduced the Topps Tiffany Glossy parallel
- It's believed/suggested 1985 Fleer was less produced than Donruss or Topps, which could make their RCs of Dwight Gooden, Roger Clemens, Bret Saberhagen, Kirby Puckett, and Orel Hershiser scarcer
- 1986 Fleer is credited with introducing the first modern 'Inserts' series with "All-Stars" and "Future Hall of Famers"
- 1988 Donruss features SP Cards in the low 600s including #628 Matt Williams & #640 David Wells as well as SSP in the mid 600s including #651 Roger McDowell, #652 Mookie Wilson, #653 David Cone, #657 Gregg Jefferies, #658 Todd Stottlemyre, and #659 Geronimo Berroa
- 1989 Bowman was set to resemble 1953 Bowman and was a quarter-inch longer than the post-1957 standard trading card size, causing lower sales since collectors couldn't put them in the sleeves in binders
- 1989 Topps is the first year they included previous year's draft picks into their set
- 1991 Topps is estimated to have 4,000,000 to 5,000,000 of each card printed [Prime Junk Wax Era]
- 1992 Bowman cemented what was started in 1991 with a heavy inclusion/emphasis on Rookie Cards. By 1997, Topps was advertising Bowman as boxes as the 'Home of the Rookie Card'
- 1992 Donruss was "severely curtailing production," presumably lowest since 1987 levels
- 1992's Fleer "Rookie Sensations" Insert (1:35 Jumbo Packs Exclusive) was a big factor in the 'Insert' explosion of the early and mid-90s with packs selling for far above suggested retail prices [Sound familiar?]
- 1993 Bowman has the only RC of Andy Pettitte
- 1993 Donruss introduced the 'Cracked Ice' background with their The Elite insert. The design would be more popular in the late 90s thanks to the Bowman's Best Atomic Refractors
- 1994 Bowman was the last baseball product to be released without any inserts until 1999's Victory
- 1994 Donruss baseball production was supposedly the lowest since 1985
- 1995 Fleer had "Hot Packs" which were nothing but Inserts. 1995 Donruss would immediately follow suit with their own Hot Packs which were The Elite inserts only
- 1997 Bowman Chrome was introduced as a 'deluxe' version of Bowman. Think Donruss & Donruss Optic today.
 

Baby Shoes

Baby Shoes
Messages
25,399
Reaction score
2,222
Points
293
Very interesting stuff. Thanks for sharing. I actually remember being frustrated with those 89 Bowman as a kid due to how they didn’t fit in with everything else in my collection and they get damaged. Definitely ahead of their time recreating a past era and making a niche product that would become so popular twenty or so years later.
 

Baby Shoes

Baby Shoes
Messages
25,399
Reaction score
2,222
Points
293
I’m usually superstitious about posting purchases before they arrive in case they have an issue but I just got an interesting little mix of auctions. Won some low number WWE Chrome at decent prices and brought the price down getting a couple baseball and football singles no one paid attention to, then combined shipping.

$19.59 including shipping and tax got me

2020 Topps Chrome WWE Orange Refractor (/25) Joaquin Wilde RC

2020 Topps Chrome WWE Gold Refractor (/50) Isaiah “Swerve” Scott RC

2020 Topps Stadium Club Bo Bichette RC (I’ve admired this card and didn’t get it in any of the Stadium Club I bought this summer)

2020 Panini Mosaic Green Prizm Refractor Cole Kmet NFL Debut RC

2020 Panini Mosaic Green Prizm Refractor Drew Brees (won if for .99 cents @SFH )

I actually had won a Bayley Chrome Orange Refractor at a good price yesterday and the seller had free shipping on additional items and had the Mosaic base Tua Tagovailoa RC so I snagged that ahead of his nice game today, which got me more excited for the arrival.
 

SFH

Integral Poster
Messages
7,035
Reaction score
1,153
Points
218
Location
over there
I *just* won a /49 Brees base parallel National Treasures card for $.99 plus like $4ish shipping. I'm surprised at both how low you got your Prizm and how low I got my NT. Especially during a SNF broadcast.
 

HarleyQuinn

Laugh This Off... Puddin'!
Staff member
Messages
22,077
Reaction score
1,990
Points
313
My worry in entering auctions and winning cards that cheap is always that the seller will pull the card or refuse to ship it because it sold at such a cheap price.

One thing I'm thinking of doing is targeting 2020 baseball products on Beckett and picking up serial numbered cards on the cheap. Some of the Inserts of solid names can be had on the cheap for $2.50 or less, are serial numbered, and could make up a very solid collection down the road. ThoseBackPages comes to mind here from his binders of specific players in raw card purchases on the cheap that were picked up over a period of 2-3 years and you look now and are like, "Holy Shit." I think you can kind of zig-zag with guys like Soto, Tatis Jr, Robert, etc. in this manner without overpaying for the Bowman Chrome Autos, etc.
 

Baby Shoes

Baby Shoes
Messages
25,399
Reaction score
2,222
Points
293
@HarleyQuinn What you cited is exactly why I don’t like posting stuff til I have it in hand though. With how much I get through eBay, it hasn’t happened much. The excuses are typically interesting - won a lot of multiple Jaylen Brown rookies for less than one was selling and the seller claimed they sent it to the wrong address. Possible but fishy. Then a couple weeks ago I had snapped up a Buy it Now price that seemed too good to be try on a serial numbered Roderick Strong dual relic auto. Within minutes of the purchase the guy said “I forgot this card was damaged and I threw it away. Refund is coming”.

I think that’s a really good idea and there are some cool numbered editions out there. I really like the Independence Day ones from different years that I believe are number to 76.

Another lower cost gamble on that front are the Topps Baseball Complete sets. Although since Topps Update has been released since, they aren’t even complete anymore. If you haven’t looked at those, there are four different box color variations, some being retailer exclusive and each with a couple different extra cards under a gimmick. The green boxes from Walmart are the most sought after because along with the exclusive variants, you have a chance to get the entire set /299, /99 or /1, with each card in the set having a unique look and number.
 

HarleyQuinn

Laugh This Off... Puddin'!
Staff member
Messages
22,077
Reaction score
1,990
Points
313
One thing I'm thinking of doing is targeting 2020 baseball products on Beckett and picking up serial numbered cards on the cheap. Some of the Inserts of solid names can be had on the cheap for $2.50 or less, are serial numbered, and could make up a very solid collection down the road.
Yeah, I've thought about the complete sets but I tend to be picky about the guys I get and while I'd enjoy having a whole set, there'd be way too many guys I just wouldn't care for overall.

Did my order for about $191. Picked up a ton of 2017-2020: Bowman, Diamond Kings, Donruss, Donruss Optic, Finest, Topps, and Topps Archive

Mostly went for 'lower' numbered stuff e.g. Stat Lines or /299, /999, etc. but got the following modern-day players: Jose Abreu, Jose Altuve, Tim Anderson, Nolan Arenado, Trevor Bauer, Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts, Jackie Bradley Jr, Alex Bregman, Kris Bryant, Walker Buehler, Matt Chapman, Jacob deGrom, Vladimir Guerrero Jr, Bryce Harper, Clayton Kershaw, Corey Kluber, Francisco Lindor, Yoan Moncada, Matt Olson, Jose Ramirez, Franmil Reyes, Anthony Rizzo, Victor Robles, Max Scherzer, Kyle Seager, Blake Snell, Juan Soto, Dansby Swanson, Noah Syndergaard, Trea Turner, Justin Verlander, Christian Yelich

I got just 6 cards for $4 or more. I picked up 70 cards in total, all serial #'d.
 

Baby Shoes

Baby Shoes
Messages
25,399
Reaction score
2,222
Points
293
Quite a nice haul. Few guys that seem destined to be Hall of Famers and some guys that have very high ceilings. I was looking at some JBJ because his values aren’t too crazy for an All-Star level Red Sox player but I’ve kinda been waiting to see what happens with him given the recent contract mess.
 

HarleyQuinn

Laugh This Off... Puddin'!
Staff member
Messages
22,077
Reaction score
1,990
Points
313
Quite a nice haul. Few guys that seem destined to be Hall of Famers and some guys that have very high ceilings. I was looking at some JBJ because his values aren’t too crazy for an All-Star level Red Sox player but I’ve kinda been waiting to see what happens with him given the recent contract mess.
Yeah, I tried to really vary my guys so that I was hitting on some of the "hot" names (Betts, Lindor, Robles, Soto) while getting some veterans who are probably future locks for the HOF (Harper, Kershaw, Verlander). Then there is a lot of middle ground players who could get great career numbers or flame out after 7-9 great seasons like Johan Santana or Felix Hernandez.

I think what's gonna be interesting is seeing where some of these guys end up at career totals wise. The introduction of pitch counts, heavy reliance on shifts, power over contact, openers... does that lower the barometer for what a HOFer's "totals" are? It used to be that 300 Wins or 3,000 Hits or 500 HR made you pretty much a lock for the most part. Say Jose Altuve ends his career as a better power hitting Robert Alomar with around 2,700 hits + 300 HR? Is that enough for the push or will it all end up being emphasized more through WAR and that side of it?

With Jackie Bradley Jr, I picked him up 90% because of the homer side and 10% that I think he has a great career. Best case scenario, he stays in Boston and finds himself as a consistent 2016 year hitter with 140 Hits + 25 HR a year or gets traded ala Mookie and goes nuts. Realistically, I think he's kind of like a healthier Nomar or ends his career like Mike Cameron: A few Gold Gloves, gets close to 1,800 hits, and several seasons with 20-25 HR.
 

HarleyQuinn

Laugh This Off... Puddin'!
Staff member
Messages
22,077
Reaction score
1,990
Points
313
One of the biggest things that appeal to me for Beckett, aside from the $$ savings you can get 'hunting' a product rather than actually breaking it, is the following 2 scenarios... let's say you're an avid Albert Pujols collector.

2004 Donruss: Diamond Kings Studio Insert #DK3 /250 = $4.50, Donruss Elite Career Black /100 = $4.50, Donruss Elite Career Best Gold /130 = $4.00, Donruss Elite Extra Edition Round Numbers /500 = $2.50, Donruss Elite Passing the Torch Green /500 = $2.55, Donruss Elite Turn of the Century /750 = $1.40, Master Craftsmen /150 = $6.50, Power Alley Red Die Cut /250 = $4.00, Production Line Average /359 = $3.60, Production Line OPS Black /125 = $4.50, State Line Career /381 = $3.25
Total = 11 Cards for $41.30

Topps Gold: 2020 = $2, 2019 = $2.20, 2018 = $1.98, 2017 = $2, 2016 = $2.60, 2015 = $4, 2013 = $3.20 & $2.80, 2012 World Series Highlights = $1.47, 2011 = $2.10, 2010 = $3.24, 2010 National League MVP = $3, 2009 = $3, 2008 = $4, 2005 All-Star = $8, 2004 with Ichiro = $6.90
Total = 16 Cards for $49.49

So you'd have amassed 27 Cards for your Pujols collection for $90.79, averaging $3.36 per card, and had a pretty good completion of an annual Topps Gold set going too without spending literal hundreds breaking boxes to chase the above cards.
 

Baby Shoes

Baby Shoes
Messages
25,399
Reaction score
2,222
Points
293
That‘s some really good analysis.

It’s always interesting where people gravitate with the brands too. I mean, there’s such a large contingent out there that only seek out Prizm or Chrome cards, making those the primary card to have of someone. While they looked nice, years back I skipped many of the Chrome things because one of my primary collecting interests was autographs and those cards were awful to get signed.

While all people are getting hyped on certain cards, I always find value in the serial numbered cards. For instance, I recently got two of the /10 Mia Yim Undisputed card. Retribution changed her name and may be tanking her value but I am pretty tickled that I own 20% of the population of that card in the entire world.
 

HarleyQuinn

Laugh This Off... Puddin'!
Staff member
Messages
22,077
Reaction score
1,990
Points
313
That‘s some really good analysis.

It’s always interesting where people gravitate with the brands too. I mean, there’s such a large contingent out there that only seek out Prizm or Chrome cards, making those the primary card to have of someone. While they looked nice, years back I skipped many of the Chrome things because one of my primary collecting interests was autographs and those cards were awful to get signed.

While all people are getting hyped on certain cards, I always find value in the serial numbered cards. For instance, I recently got two of the /10 Mia Yim Undisputed card. Retribution changed her name and may be tanking her value but I am pretty tickled that I own 20% of the population of that card in the entire world.
Absolutely. Serial #'d cards are great because even /99, /199, /299 are pretty scarce in general. If you got it graded with a Gem Mint 10 and a typical gem rate was 50%, you know that the competition is also much lessened. For Ja Morant, there are currently 758 Gem 10 Silver Prizms at PSA nevermind BGS, SGC, GMA, CGC. Why would you opt to buy a Silver Prizm over a Ja Morant Red Prizm /299 or Blue Prizm /199?

I grew up primarily being a Donruss & Fleer kid in the late 80s/early 90s baseball and then getting into Collector's Choice from 1994-1997 or so, thus I tend to gravitate towards the "paper" products over the shinier Optics/Prizms/Chromes/Selects. If forced, I prefer the Optics because they don't feel as over the top in their shine and they carry the Donruss name.

140-233Fr.jpg
138-14793244Fr.jpg
152-234Fr.jpg
466-99Fr.jpg
466-507Fr.jpg
 

Baby Shoes

Baby Shoes
Messages
25,399
Reaction score
2,222
Points
293
I remember how awesome getting a Diamond Kings card felt as a kid. Also being the most affordable, I got a lot of Collector’s Choice and used to love the Silver Signatures variants. I recently found a graded 10 Gold Signatures Keith Jennings card that I had to have. The Gold was basically one per box hits and Jennings was one of my favorite Warriors during the time I lived in the Bay Area and watched all the Warriors games as a kid.
 

HarleyQuinn

Laugh This Off... Puddin'!
Staff member
Messages
22,077
Reaction score
1,990
Points
313
Totally, Diamond Kings always felt like a very important get if you were collecting as a kid in that time period. That John Smiley was one of the most distinctive cards of my childhood.

2020 Diamond Kings 1 Hobby Box is roughly $82 for 12 Packs x 8 Cards each.

You could easily do another 8 Card 'Pack' of just the base SP for around $12.49 if you opted for Mike Trout. Just picking & choosing the SPs, you could get yourself 3 maybe 4 additional 'Packs' for a much higher quality "Hobby Box" of your own creation. It may only be 5-6 'Packs' for around $82 but the names/hits could be way higher. That's ignoring if you go for the Autos/higher-end hits.

Self Chosen Sample '8 Card Pack'
- 4 Cards: All-Time Diamond Kings Artist Proof Gold /49 Larry Walker at $3, Ted Williams at $5, Albert Pujols SP at $6, and Babe Ruth at $12.
- 1 Card: Aficianado Holo Blue /99 Ichiro at $4.50
- 1 Card: DK 206 Holo Blue /99 Frank Thomas at $4
- 1 Card: In the Zone Holo Blue /99 Roger Maris at $5
- 1 Card: Litho Proof /25 Ty Cobb at $6
Total = $45.50
 
Last edited:

SFH

Integral Poster
Messages
7,035
Reaction score
1,153
Points
218
Location
over there
Per my Facebook grading guy, BGS is changing their terminology/prices and eliminating Non-Guaranteed.

Shame on me, but I already had my next 6 order sheets packaged and sealed with a 4x 30 day and a 10x NG in each box with postage already paid and printed.
 

Baby Shoes

Baby Shoes
Messages
25,399
Reaction score
2,222
Points
293
Per my Facebook grading guy, BGS is changing their terminology/prices and eliminating Non-Guaranteed.

Shame on me, but I already had my next 6 order sheets packaged and sealed with a 4x 30 day and a 10x NG in each box with postage already paid and printed.
Hopefully they will honor them. I remember seeing on a card board people advising to get submissions in to PSA the night before they took away the Economy level and raised the bulk prices but I figured it wasn’t going to impact anything on my radar. I was wrong. Would‘ve saved around $2 a card for Modern and $3 for Ultra.

The good news is starting in 2021 the Ultra Modern shifts to 2018 to current, so any 2017 stuff I was looking at grading I’m putting to the side until January to save a few bucks.
 

SFH

Integral Poster
Messages
7,035
Reaction score
1,153
Points
218
Location
over there
They basically got rid of annoying things like numbers and replaced them with adjectives, similar to what PSA did. I'm going to figure it out, I always do, but damn it's discouraging at times.
 

HarleyQuinn

Laugh This Off... Puddin'!
Staff member
Messages
22,077
Reaction score
1,990
Points
313
Really crazy how quickly in the span of 4-5 months everything changed for these grading companies from hiking prices to taking out certain $$ levels, etc.

The one nice thing was that Allen at GMA did honor the $5/Card pricing for those submissions already in prior to the $8/Card raise. Would've been easy for him (and something I'd expect from a PSA type) to say, "We raised the prices so we're gonna charge you more."
 

Baby Shoes

Baby Shoes
Messages
25,399
Reaction score
2,222
Points
293
To your point on raising the price, one thing I am, not nervous about but keeping in mind, is PSA’s ability to change price on you depending on their value. I’m not crazy that you have to guess what service level is required and can get charged more if you go under. This meant I went over on my Lebron rookie but had I gone under - I wouldn’t know yet and then wait forever for the results. I sent in a Kobe rookies but since I can’t see them getting 10s, I put them in a lower priced submission. I’d be a little frustrated if they sit there for months and months and then hit a grade where they would’ve been back to me with a higher service.
 

HarleyQuinn

Laugh This Off... Puddin'!
Staff member
Messages
22,077
Reaction score
1,990
Points
313
To your point on raising the price, one thing I am, not nervous about but keeping in mind, is PSA’s ability to change price on you depending on their value. I’m not crazy that you have to guess what service level is required and can get charged more if you go under. This meant I went over on my Lebron rookie but had I gone under - I wouldn’t know yet and then wait forever for the results. I sent in a Kobe rookies but since I can’t see them getting 10s, I put them in a lower priced submission. I’d be a little frustrated if they sit there for months and months and then hit a grade where they would’ve been back to me with a higher service.
That's the thing. It's intended for 'Insurance' purposes when they ship cards back because obviously you'd want to be reimbursed $800 for an $800 card if lost or whatever but when you're having to predict it off literal future months, in a market that could drastically go up or down, seems really hard and somewhat money grabbing.
 

HarleyQuinn

Laugh This Off... Puddin'!
Staff member
Messages
22,077
Reaction score
1,990
Points
313
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top