2011 Topps Magic Football Break

I bought the maximum allowable amount of packs, 25, from shoptopps.com. They finally arrived today! The anticipation was killing me. I’m not gonna lie.

There have been some really cool cards coming out of this product. For the price, $20, I don’t think you can go wrong. You get 10 base cards per pack and an autograph. There are also SP variations of ten of the base cards to chase, including Cam Newton.

I will update this post later with the results of my break. I just wanted to share the picture for now.

2012 Topps Baseball – Let the Gold Rush Begin!

I love Topps Series 1. It comes at a time when spring training is almost here and collectors are starving for a new baseball product. I’m sure by now some of you have found it at retail. Some may already have their hobby shipments as well. Since I live in Arizona, no luck on either front. My HTA jumbo cases will not arrive until Thursday.

If you’ve been keeping up with Twitter, you know all of the gimmicks that are in Series 1. The Rally Squirrel card has garnered the most attention, but there are many other very cool short-prints in this year’s product. The folks over at Cardboard Connection did a great job of compiling all of them on one handy page. It looks like the Albert Pujols Angels SSP and Jose Reyes Marlins SSP are going to be very tough to hit.

I have 10 jumbo cases arriving Thursday. Don’t hesitate to contact me if you need sealed boxes, sets, singles or wrappers. You can reach me through Twitter (@boxesofcards) or email me (jhartman76_at_gmail.com). I’ll be updating this blog and Twitter as I start breaking.

8-box 2011 Topps Value Box Break

I’m sure no one wants to hear about another hit from a Topps Value Box at this point, but I’m going to show you one anyway. It’s not nearly as awesome as the Matt Moore or Eric Hosmer 2011 Bowman Chrome Superfractor Autographs pulled recently. It’s not even nearly as awesome as the Brett Lawrie 2011 Bowman Chrome Orange Refractor Autograph I pulled a couple months ago. However, it is another Orange Refractor.

Not pictured below are fifteen Topps Diamond Giveaway code cards, seven #BCE1 Bryce Harper Red and one #BCE1 Bryce Harper Silver. Pictured are a Koufax Cognac SP, Dimaggio Diamond Anniversary SP, Adam Wainwright Hope Diamond, Ricky Romero Diamond Anniversay All-Star Jersey /60 and a Keyvius Sampson Autographed Orange Refractor /25.

Like I said, the Sampson certainly isn’t a major hit like many of the others posted, but it’s still a very rare autographed parallel of a promising young prospect.

I’ve Obtained My Holy Grail of Baseball Cards

I still haven’t posted my collecting priorities for 2012, but if I had, the following card would have been #1 on the list. My holy grail of baseball cards is the 1955 Topps Roberto Clemente rookie card and I now own one. Sure, it’s only a PSA 1, but that doesn’t bother me at all. The card is complete and the colors are great. Most importantly, there aren’t any stains anywhere on the card.

My dad was raised just outside out of Pittsburgh, PA and grew up a Pirates fan. He raised me to be a Pirates fan and told me stories of the teams of his childhood. More often than not, the stories focused on the 1960 team. Their improbable victory over the New York Yankees in the 1960 World Series is something that any baseball fan from that era would remember, not just Pirates fans. When my dad wasn’t talking about that team, he was telling me about Roberto Clemente. A man that I had never seen play quickly became my favorite player and a mythical character that I only knew through baseball cards.

I had a chance as a kid in the 80′s to purchase this card from a local card shop for $100. I was going to buy it for my dad (and me) as a birthday present. The most I had ever spent on a single card at that point was $10 on a 1986 Donruss Jose Canseco rookie. When my dad caught wind of my plan, he quickly put an end to it. $100 was far too much to pay for any baseball card.

I’m not sure why it took me so long to purchase this card. I’ve surely spent more for other single cards than I spent for this one. I think I jut had it in my mind that this card was somehow unattainable. If anyone out there has a “holy grail” that’s affordable, I would urge you to purchase it. I cannot tell you how cool it is to finally own this card.

2011 Bowman Chrome Eric Hosmer Autographed Superfractor Has Been Pulled

In case you haven’t heard, the 2011 Bowman Chrome Eric Hosmer autographed superfractor was pulled from a Topps retail value box. You probably recall that the Matt Moore autographed superfractor was pulled from a value box a few weeks ago. Granted, the Bowman Chrome packs inside in the value boxes are hobby packs, but this is really defying the odds.

Don’t get me wrong, I love seeing big pulls come from retail products. Many collectors don’t have a hobby shop in their area and only have mail order as an option. It’s nice to see bigger hits coming from retail for that reason alone. People think this will take business away from hobby shops, but I sincerely doubt that. The reason that people shy away from most hobby shops is bad customer service and high prices. Period.

You can check out all the talk about it on the Blowout Forums. The card is a redemption.

2011 Bowman Draft Hobby Case Break

This post should be titled “How to pull a Superfractor, Printing Plate and Red Refractor from a 2011 Bowman Draft case and still lose money.” That being said, I don’t think I’ll lose that much money on the case because I got a good deal. However, the hits aren’t going to pay for this case. I’ll have to grind it out with complete sets and base player lots.

I will also mention that I was shorted an autograph in this case. One box had nothing. You’re supposed to receive 12 prospect autographs and at least one extra USA or Aflac autograph. As you’ll see from the scans below, I have 12 total autographs.

My big hits, as I mentioned before, were a Superfractor (Andrew Brown), printing plate (Madison Boer) and a red refractor (Lance Jeffries). It’s just too bad that I didn’t pull better players. I got a gold refractor autograph (Tyler Goeddel), blue USA autograph (Carson Sands), three refractor autographs (Archie Bradley, Kolten Wong and Brandon Martin) and seven base autographs (Archie Bradley, Kolten Wong, Robert Stephenson, Sonny Gray, Travis Harrison, Kevin Matthews and Brandon Martin). I did have some luck with the non-autographed colored refractors as you’ll see below.

This is the first superfractor that I’ve ever pulled. All the 1/1′s I’ve pulled to date have been printing plates. It really is quite a thrill to hold one for the first time, even though it is some guy named Andrew Brown. Apologies to Andrew Brown.

My 10 Favorite Card Purchases of 2011: Number 1

Card #1 on my list is a card that I’ve always wanted to add to my collection. When you think of iconic players in the history of baseball, who is more iconic than Babe Ruth? There’s plenty of stuff to choose from in the game used market from Ruth, but the first place I always think to look is Topps Triple Threads. The card here is his 2011 Topps Triple Threads Game Used Bat Unity Relic. I joined a group break on Blowout Cards earlier in the year and was lucky enough to get this from one of my slots.

We can debate all day long whether or not the piece of bat in this card was actually held and used by Babe Ruth. Topps certainly adds fuel to that fire with their “This piece of memorabilia is not from any particular game, event or season” message on the backs of their cards. My gut feeling is that it’s just another piece of wood, but a small piece of me hopes that’s not the case. I would really hope it’s not the case in a product that costs $180 per box. Especially when that box only has two packs and twelve total cards.

At any rate, I love adding this card to my collection and will always hold out hope that the tiny piece of wood in this card was from a bat that Babe Ruth used to crush one of his 714 career home runs.

My 10 Favorite Card Purchases of 2011: Number 2

Card #2 on my list should have been part of my 2011 collecting priorities, but I really was focused on vintage cards when I made that list. When you talk about iconic cards from the modern era, this card and the 1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr. rookie have to be near the top of every list. The card I’m talking about here is the 1993 Upper Deck SP Derek Jeter rookie card. I’ve always wanted this card and I’m thrilled to have such a nice mint copy in my collection now.

When you talk about condition sensitive cards from the modern era, nothing is tougher than a foil rookie from Upper Deck SP. That is why mint copies of this card command such a premium. Gem mint copies are incredibly rare and way out of the price range for most collectors. I’m quite happy with a mint copy and will never chase a gem mint copy of this card.

Jeter had already accomplished enough to be a sure-fire first ballot Hall of Famer, but added the cherry on top in 2011 with his 3,000th hit. He will go down as arguably the best shortstop of all time and one of the most clutch post-season players of all time. All this under the microscope of being a New York Yankee. He’s a special player that doesn’t come along often.

My 10 Favorite Card Purchases of 2011: Number 3

Card #3 on the list could end up being one of those iconic cards when all is said and done. It’s a 2011 Bowman #BP1 Bryce Harper Prospects Autograph graded PSA 10. This is Harper’s first certified autograph in his Washington Nationals uniform. Topps has cashed in on the Harper craze with lots of different autographed cards in 2011, but this will always be his first.

What else needs to be said about Harper at this point? He cruised through A and AA this season. He had a great month in the Arizona Fall League, which I saw him play in several times. To top it off, National officials were quoted as saying he will make the club out of spring training. This guy is the real deal and a great investment. If someone asked me what player would be the most solid investment to pay off in the next year, I would say Bryce Harper hands down. The Nats fast tracked him to the majors by moving him from catcher to outfield, his bat is doing the rest. I would not be surprised at all if he’s in the Nats’ Opening Day lineup.

If you’re going to purchase a copy of this particular card, I’d go with PSA graded versions. It seems that Harper used a bad pen when signing these, so it’s very hard to find copies that have a nice dark autograph. Most are streaked. BGS copies have 8 or 9 autograph grades most of the time, thus detracting from their value. I personally think the autograph grade is a crock and a money grab by Beckett, but some people like it. If you can find a gem mint BGS copy with a 10 autograph grade, it will command a premium.

My 10 Favorite Card Purchases of 2011: Number 4

Card #4 on the list is another one of those eBay purchases where you buy based on picture and description and hope that it comes as good as described. As you can see from the picture, it did, and it graded gem mint from BGS. The card is a 2010 Bowman Chrome Wrapper Redemption Bubba Starling USA Prospects Autograph.

I love the 2010 Bowman Chrome Wrapper Redemption autographs. I was lucky enough to pull a Bryce Harper from one of my wrapper redemption packs. I also pulled a Matt Barnes, Michael Choice and Bryce Brentz, so I was one of the lucky ones. I think these cards have so much room to grow in terms of value for all players included. No autographed card was numbered higher than 100 in this set. When you compare prices between these and similarly numbered autographs in other sets, these are undervalued. I’m always on the lookout for autographs from this set.

Bubba Starling is a freak athlete. The Royals gambled on drafting him fifth overall in the 2011 MLB Draft, hoping to lure him away from his football commitment at Nebraska. The gamble paid off. If there wasn’t a Bryce Harper attracting all the attention, I believe that Bubba Starling would be getting that attention. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying he’s going to be the player that Harper is. I don’t think there are many players that will be. I do think that Starling is going to be a perennial All-Star caliber player and an incredibly popular one at that. At his current prices, I think he’s a great buy.