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Sports Cards Hobby Thread 2.0

The big story the past couple days has been Rattler Pokemon's 1st Video and 2nd Video and 3rd Video covering the recent $3.5 Million acquisition made by Logan Paul from MeelyPops in regards to a BBCE (Baseball Card Exchange) "authenticated" 1st Edition Base Pokemon Case. Pretty damning evidence that the contents may be fake/repacks (from the wrong text on the STOP seal to wrong barcodes used) and presumably, now the situation has gotten mainstream enough that the box will be opened live at BBCE next week.

No surprise that the MeelyPop crew sellers, who staked their names to this being real & got $3.5 Million from Logan Paul, are in full-on panic mode/denial and doubling down that the box itself is real because it was authenticated by BBCE. The original seller who sold it to the MeelyPops crew gave at least 3 radically different stories relating to the origins of the box itself (from an estate sale to it being a 12th Birthday gift to being found in the attic... yeah) and refused to hand it over in person. Now, it seems like with deeper digging that there could be a connection to a scamming "card shop" from back in the day based on an e-mail used that was different from the person's actual name they used.

Worth noting that BBCE didn't seem to even open the box to confirm the contents, just that the STOP seal was not tampered with. BBCE is known for grading packs/boxes for PSA but the owner has admitted to having little to no knowledge on Pokemon products themselves as recently as mid-2020 (and said this was the 1st case he'd ever authenticated meaning there was no other case to compare it to) and Rattler's 3rd Video even shows a broken-out slabbed pack being opened and the BBCE "authenticated" pack was a resealed pack with cards from a completely different set inside.

Really fascinating/interesting story to follow. I hope the contents are real for all the parties involved but I'm highly suspicious right now and it'll be refund city (and a black asterisk to BBCE) if the $3.5 Million Case is indeed proven to be faked.
 
snuffbox said:
Not a big surprise but Fanatics is buying Topps.
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I'm really curious how this also affects the rapidly growing F1 Market (and Soccer Markets too): "Fanatics will also obtain rights for Major League Soccer, UEFA, Bundesliga, and Formula 1. Those leagues also have active agreements with Topps."

So now Panini basically controls the NBA/NFL/Some Soccer, Fanatics has MLB/F1/Some Soccer, and Upper Deck has NHL.
 
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Interesting info in this IG post by Gem Rate. No surprise that SGC dominates the 1950s/Pre-1950 stuff. Interesting that PSA dominates the 1960s-1980s and then BGS dominates the 1990s-2010s.

www.instagram.com

GemRate - Grading Analytics on Instagram: "Detailed Breakdown of All Time Grades and Gem Rates for PSA, Beckett, and SGC (by decade/era) Had lots of requests for this one. Please keep them coming. The % of items graded data is specific to each comp

182 likes, 25 comments - gemrate on January 6, 2022: "Detailed Breakdown of All Time Grades and Gem Rates for PSA, Beckett, and SGC (by decade/era) Had lots of requests for this one. Please keep them coming. The % of items graded data is specific to each company. Eg, 3.9% of all items PSA has...
www.instagram.com www.instagram.com
 
SFH said:
HQ I tagged you in a post to maybe win a sealed Topps hobby football box.
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I saw. Not too interested in the product itself so I didn't bother but appreciated the shout out and dug your comment :)
 
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Lots of rumblings that the Logan Paul $3.5 Million box is indeed fake. Apparently, Paul is going to be posting a Youtube video today at some point with the box opening having happened last night (off-camera presumably).
 
I added a few things the last couple weeks:

2019 Topps Chrome Luis Urias RC blue wave refractor auto /150 PSA 10
2019 Topps Silver Pack Chrome Luis Urias RC 1984 version PSA 10

2021 Leaf Ultimate Sports triple auto Robin Yount/Paul Molitor/Ted Simmons 1/1

1939 Play Ball Joe DiMaggio RC SGC A
 
snuffbox said:
I added a few things the last couple weeks:

2019 Topps Chrome Luis Urias RC blue wave refractor auto /150 PSA 10
2019 Topps Silver Pack Chrome Luis Urias RC 1984 version PSA 10

2021 Leaf Ultimate Sports triple auto Robin Yount/Paul Molitor/Ted Simmons 1/1

1939 Play Ball Joe DiMaggio RC SGC A
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Robin Yount is so underrated as a player and in the hobby, IMO because a lot of those Brewers teams sucked and he was not a prodigious home run hitter in an era when that was coming more to the forefront by the late 1980s.
 
I completely agree, @HarleyQuinn . Two MVP awards at short and centerfield is incredible. I'm also a little biased because, as I've probably posted here several times already, Yount got his 3000th hit on my 9th birthday, 9/9/92
 
The $3.5 Million Case was indeed filled with FAKE 1st Edition boxes. Steve Hart aka BBCE Guy who authenticated it tried real quick to wash his hands and say they were "all" duped but it's pretty clear he was not only duped by just authenticating the outside of the case (e.g. he never fucking opened it to inspect the contents and was on record as not knowing much about Pokemon in general so who knows if he'd still have authenticated it as legit) but this definitely damages his reputation.

 
Discovered this 2003 Topps All-Time Fan Favorites set while card hunting that apparently followed the 2001/2002 Topps Archives but instead of reprints, this set (through 2005 I believe) did cards in, "the style of classic Topps sets but with new, never before seen photographs." The setlists on BaseballCardPedia also show what year the cards mimic, making this a cool very early version of the current Topps Archives set.
 
Picked up a ton of base cards (the horror!) from the Topps All-Time Fan Favorites and Topps Archives sets. About 65 cards for just $39.50. Nothing super expensive, I think a few of the RCs were $1.25 to $2.50 tops (Alec Bohm IIRC). I'll post the full "pick up" checklist later today after work but I'm a sucker for the throwback card designs.
 
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HarleyQuinn said:
Picked up a ton of base cards (the horror!) from the Topps All-Time Fan Favorites and Topps Archives sets. About 65 cards for just $39.50. Nothing super expensive, I think a few of the RCs were $1.25 to $2.50 tops (Alec Bohm IIRC). I'll post the full "pick up" checklist later today after work but I'm a sucker for the throwback card designs.
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Almost all of these cards were $0.50 outside of the few highlighted. I'm especially partial to the throwback designs of the late 1980s/early 1990s as that's what I collected as a kid so I mainly targeted those but I'm also just a sucker for seeing a player's entire career stats on the back of a card (in case the Internet ever dies!)

Fun Note: A 2021 Topps Archives Hobby Box is going for $115. 2020 Topps Archives = $125. 2016 Topps Archives = $199 at Amazon(!)

The "True" Rookie Cards
2020 Topps Archives: Bo Bichette ($2.50), Anthony Kay, Jesus Lazardo, Brendan McKay, A.J. Puk
2021 Topps Archives: Joey Bart, Alec Bohm ($2.00), Spencer Howard, Triston McKenzie, Casey Mize ($1.50), Cristian Pache ($0.90), Sixto Sanchez, Evan White

The Boston Red Sox Homer Pick Ups
2006 Topps Heritage: Keith Foulke
2012 Topps Archives: Wade Boggs, Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis (Gold Foil)
2013 Topps Archives: Wade Boggs, David Ortiz
2015 Topps Archives: Xander Bogaerts
2016 Topps Archives: Xander Bogaerts, Mookie Betts, David Ortiz, Jim Rice, Carl Yastrzemski, Ted Williams
2017 Topps Archives: David Ortiz
2018 Topps Archives: Jimmie Foxx, Nomar Garciaparra, Chris Sale
2019 Topps Archives: Michael Chavis RC
2020 Topps Archives: Pedro Martinez (Short Print)
2021 Topps Archives: Bobby Dalbec RC ($1.50)

Legends/Young Studs Base Cards
2003 Topps All-Time Fan Favorites: Ernie Banks ($0.75), Paul Molitor
2004 Topps All-Time Fan Favorites: Johnny Bench, Willie Mays ($1.25), Buck O'Neil, Brooks Robinson, Lou Whitaker
2012 Topps Archives: Todd Helton, Jimmy Rollins
2013 Topps Archives: Rod Carew, Tony Gwynn, Joe Mauer, Joe Morgan, Buster Posey, Tom Seaver, Giancarlo Stanton
2014 Topps Archives: Randy Johnson
2016 Topps Archives: Hank Aaron, Roberto Clemente, Francisco Lindor, Roger Maris, Mark McGwire, Willie Mays, Satchel Paige, Nolan Ryan ($0.60), Ozzie Smith
2017 Archives: Jacob deGrom, Dennis Eckersley, Andy Pettitte, Justin Verlander, Honus Wagner
2021 Topps Archives: Lou Gehrig
 
Bud and I are doing a joint GMA sub. He doesn't want to send 20 cards at once so I'm helping him by sending ten of mine. Five of mine are tryout cards from different eras. Tobacco era, 1960s tea era, the same Danish card that SGC rejected, an unlicensed Joe Burrow that I've seen in GMA holders already, and then just a handful of flip/PC pieces.

My Facebook bulk sub guy didn't realize I finally caught up on the money I owed him so he is just now today printing my shipping label. There's hardly anything of mine in the BGS pop report, still, so my best guess is the $1000 I owed him is the one 2020 BGS I can track down in the pop and at least 8 2021 CSG subs when crunching numbers. I'm very leery to start sending him cards again out of fear another 5+ orders will pop at the same time again and I'll be right back to installment payment plan. Thankfully I joined his group early in the inception so I have credibility for him that I'm trying very hard to maintain.
 
SFH said:
My Facebook bulk sub guy didn't realize I finally caught up on the money I owed him so he is just now today printing my shipping label. There's hardly anything of mine in the BGS pop report, still, so my best guess is the $1000 I owed him is the one 2020 BGS I can track down in the pop and at least 8 2021 CSG subs when crunching numbers. I'm very leery to start sending him cards again out of fear another 5+ orders will pop at the same time again and I'll be right back to installment payment plan. Thankfully I joined his group early in the inception so I have credibility for him that I'm trying very hard to maintain.
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Yeah, I'd be careful about sending multiple subs within a short span. Maybe send 1 sub and wait on it to see how long it takes/when it pops, then send a 2nd sub and repeat the process to try and figure out a potential turnaround pattern while minimizing the overall $$ you'll need to pay (especially if something life related pops up).
 
It's definitely been a reminder that I'll never know everything and I'll never be as smart as I think I am. I could have gotten away with it when turnaround times were guaranteed. BGS would hold their stuff until 9pm on the due date in some cases for my personal subs. Now with things popping on a whim, yay drama and confusion.

USPS informed delivery has not been notifying me of my incoming packages nor tracking numbers, so if I am not tracking something via text update, I have no idea when stuff is arriving. And since the Facebook guy has 3,000 or so members, he doesn't have time to send individual tracking. So that's vexing me too.
 
eBay is going their own authentication practice (through CGC/CSG) for any cards over $750 and moving to $250 later.

Pokemon Sword & Shield Brilliant Stars has an upcoming release date but apparently, somebody stole boxes from their distribution area (or similar) and has been releasing them all over the market including eBay where boxes/singles are being listed. FBI gonna be cracking down hard especially as Pokemon is very diligent about stolen goods being sold pre-release. IIRC it can be up to 14 years in prison for selling stolen goods and states have their own prison sentences for possession of stolen goods. A lot of people are just asking to be arrested by promoting the cards/trying to sell them when they're gonna be worth a ton less in a month or two upon release. I've heard that this is pretty common in the sneaker market but these dudes gonna get hammered when it comes to trying to do it in the hobby card market world.
 
Literally the only "pro" for ebay (for me) is their reach and audience. Period. Facebook marketplace affords me the opportunity to speak to a person, not a username, generally with a profile photo. It's more casual conversation and I'm a lot more open to making a deal with Harley Quinn, Nashua card collector than I am with "margot_robbie_fan_69" on eBay who just sends me offers with zero text. The user base on Facebook probably exceeds that of eBay but the number of people using the marketplace aspect of the platform is drastically lower. With the right product, though, I've literally flipped things within ten minutes of listing. And the dialogue on ebay that you do get is always eye roll inducing bullshit, whereas Facebook I can only really point to ONE situation where I think I was being spun some lies and that was a seller trying to increase the volume of my purchase.

I still love the low fees of Myslabs but god damn my perception is the sellers out number the buyers most days. The facebook group for both sides is all sellers advertising or "hey to the buyer that offered $x.xx on the 1987 Canseco, I accidentally declined you, please resubmit." I can take or leave the zero text communication aspect of the site. Admin is hardline on having no communication other than through financial offers and counteroffers, so I'm accepting of that.

But yeah, right now, Facebook is where I'm at. Also, low key love doing cash deals with locals and not paying fees other than the gas money to go drive up to the safe meeting spot.
 
SFH said:
Literally the only "pro" for ebay (for me) is their reach and audience. Period. Facebook marketplace affords me the opportunity to speak to a person, not a username, generally with a profile photo. It's more casual conversation and I'm a lot more open to making a deal with Harley Quinn, Nashua card collector than I am with "margot_robbie_fan_69" on eBay who just sends me offers with zero text. The user base on Facebook probably exceeds that of eBay but the number of people using the marketplace aspect of the platform is drastically lower. With the right product, though, I've literally flipped things within ten minutes of listing. And the dialogue on ebay that you do get is always eye roll inducing bullshit, whereas Facebook I can only really point to ONE situation where I think I was being spun some lies and that was a seller trying to increase the volume of my purchase.

I still love the low fees of Myslabs but god damn my perception is the sellers out number the buyers most days. The facebook group for both sides is all sellers advertising or "hey to the buyer that offered $x.xx on the 1987 Canseco, I accidentally declined you, please resubmit." I can take or leave the zero text communication aspect of the site. Admin is hardline on having no communication other than through financial offers and counteroffers, so I'm accepting of that.

But yeah, right now, Facebook is where I'm at. Also, low key love doing cash deals with locals and not paying fees other than the gas money to go drive up to the safe meeting spot.
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Does New Orleans have any card shows that you could also attend and possibly trade/swap cards? I definitely support the "sell locally for $$" aspect as it saves a ton on shipping/hassle/fees/etc. One way of getting rid of excess inventory too is potentially throwing in a few "free" cards (especially if it's a local LSU/Saints fan) just for making the sale easier on you. You could even ask if they have a favorite player to see if you have any throw-ins available. Would make you come off as genuine/cool, makes the entire thing more personal and less business-y, and could develop a future buyer down the road who may try to hook up with you again if they want something specific you may have/be offering.
 
There's a Ramada in the NOLA metro area that hosts a show each month, generally falls when I'm tied up with work stuff. I know the show I attended at Nicholls State really made me feel discouraged as far as trade attempts go. It was "kid in candy store" for buying stuff, but trying to swap out my extras or non-pc stuff was almost ignored at each booth. To be fair, there were maybe 3 traditional shop owners there and 2 dozen guys like us that just rented a booth.

I was putting together my first GMA submission earlier and I definitely have a bunch of cards that would make great "freebies" for upcoming sales. I thought I moved most of the stuff I could "gift" already, but I always seem to turn up more.

The GMA sub is 10 cards for me, 10 cards for an old friend who just got back in the hobby. He wanted to slab some PC stuff, not worried about resale, but also didn't want to spend $200 so I threw in 10 to help him meet the minimum. Since I'm the more experienced collector, he asked me to please package and mail, so I worked on that.

We also were able to send two cards, one each, to BGS via my "secret" hook up on the inside. I'm limited to three a month right now so I have to make it count.

My Facebook group sub guy has sent me back three packages Monday through Thursday. Seems like with patience we could have reduced our carbon footprint, but at least things are freeing up at CSG (2021) and BGS (2020). The order that popped late November, I had to pay him in installments because it was 32 CSG and 26 BGS 30 day with subs for a total of $1,085 with shipping and fees. He mailed it first. The tracking has it at his post office. It is still there since Monday. The other 2 have already reached the New Orleans sort facility. I'm a bit annoyed, I was hoping to have some Burrow cards listed before Sunday.
 
Love those old 90s cards. As a kid, I really got into sports with stuff like 1990 Topps (MLB), 1991 Upper Deck (NFL), and 1993-94 Upper Deck (NBA). I particularly remember being ecstatic pulling rookie cards of Warren Sapp and J.J. Stokes in 1995 & 1996 Topps NFL products but even back then, I preferred pulling the actual stars of the game.

I was always more partial as a kid to Collector's Choice, Fleer, Topps, Score, and Upper Deck. I think that's a big reason why I just don't get the appeal in the Hobby around the Bowman products, Prizm, SP, Topps Chrome, etc. It's also baffling (to me) because the refractors themselves aren't that rare... 1996 = 1:12 Packs and the people who try to claim super low print runs for such products clearly: #1 - Didn't live through the 1990s as card collectors, #2 - Are basing them off pop reports, which is super flawed as a way to guess print runs, and #3 - Just aren't doing simple/logical math given the era because they think modern-day print runs = late 80s/early to mid-90s too.

I'll take a "worthless" 1996 Fleer Marvin Harrison base RC over a Hobby in-demand Finest Refractor RC. Back in 2001, that Fleer in NM was $0.75 vs. $4.00 for a base Finest RC vs. $8-$20 for a base Refractor RC.
 
Now that Brady officially retired(?), jumped on a lot of inserts from Three Stars Sportscards before they all skyrocketed/disappeared, lol. Nothing fancy, just base cards/cool inserts to add to my collection. Most were still around $3-$5 but some had definitely risen over the past year. Made me really glad I jumped on the Brady inserts/#d cards back when I did too.

2004 Topps Chrome Ring of Honor ($8)
2007 Topps Hobby Masters
2008 Score Player Decals
2011 Panini Threads Star Factor
2011 Score Millenium Men
2012 Contenders MVP Contenders
2013 Topps Legends In the Making
2016 Donruss Production Line Yards
2017 Classics Super Bowl Heroes LIX
2017 Illusions Steve Grogan/Tom Brady ($5)
2017 Playoff Star Gazing
2017 Score Standout Numbers ($5)
2018 Classics Composers
2018 Illusions Living Legends ($7.20)
2019 Certified Raising the Banner ($5)

Also snagged: 2014 Exquisite Collection - Lawrence Taylor /75, 1999 Donruss Stat Line Career - Troy Aikman /141, 1999 Playoff Prestige EXP Reflections Gold - Steve Young /1000, and 2005 Playoff Prestige Super Bowl Heroes Foil - Mike Vrabel /100
 
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Subbed July 2020. Received back in Mail January 28, 2022. This return and another return that I've videoed this weekend highlights the piss poor QC/QA in the production of National Treasures both under the umbrella of Donruss/Playoff and then Panini. It also illustrates how shitty I am at prescreening my cards before sending them to grading.

 
Cool cards but what are you doing to the surfaces?!? LOL ... Getting some 8.5s to 9s as grades are pretty damn good though as NT is notorious for chipped corners/surface issues.
 
Just saw a BIN on Ebay I couldn't pass up. 2020 Leaf Wrestling quad auto, Powers of Pain and Demolition! Wanted one of those for a while and saw this one under $60.
 
HarleyQuinn said:
Cool cards but what are you doing to the surfaces?!? LOL ... Getting some 8.5s to 9s as grades are pretty damn good though as NT is notorious for chipped corners/surface issues.
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It's an epidemic. I had another package with 4 CSGs and (not sure exact #) a few BGS pops in Friday's mail. And once again, National Treasures got hammered:

 
Out of curiosity, I decided to look at some NT from PSA just to see the "truth" in if they are harder grades to get a 9 even in. It's pretty noticeable that 2016-onwards has represented a decent drop in gem mint grades. That could be partly quality control (as we've seen with a ton of 2019/2020 product, QC has arguably nosedived) and partly that PSA tends to just be mostly tougher on 2016+ products in general.

2020 NT: 275 graded. 28% 10s, 41% 9s, 19-20% 8s
2019 NT: 325 graded. 19% 10s, 50% 9s, 23% 8s
2018 NT: 680 graded. 30% 10s, 51% 9s, 13% 8s (19 half grades too)
2017 NT: 603 graded. 41% 10s, 41% 9s, 13% 8s (9 half grades too)
2016 NT: 253 graded. 32% 10s, 23-24% 9s, 18% 8s
2015 NT: 317 graded. 56% 10s, 28% 9s, 13% 8s (11 half grades too)
2014 NT: 459 graded. 54% 10s, 32% 9s, 8% 8s
2013 NT: 331 graded. 54% 10s, 28% 9s, 11% 8s
2012 NT: 411 graded. 41% 10s, 38% 9s, 15% 8s
 
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