The box you thought about but never bought....

brouthercard · Feb 25, 2010

You know what i'm talking about. It's that box that sits on the shelf for a while. The one that everyone thinks about purchasing but never gets around to it.

I had been buying a good number of 2009 sweet spot baseball since it came out. Every time the shop got a new box in, I would crack it. Did pretty decent, hit a jumbo patch of Reggie Jackson, and some decent autos.

But then 2009 Ultimate came out. And it was an incredible product. I mean, $135 for a box of sweet spot versus a pack of ultimate at $90 - I finally stopped getting sweet spot, for the thrill had run out, the price was way too high for the yield, and the next new thing was incredible. Ultimate had everything you wanted in a great higher end baseball product, without the disappoint most of the time like sweet spot.

Well today at the shop, someone finally bought that box. The one I was proud to finally say,"hey, I can control myself. I'm 'done' with that sweet spot product".

Pujols game used Bat Barrell numbered 2/2. (no scans).

Yah, I congratulated the guy. Me and another customer had probably purchased about two cases worth without hitting the big one, and the guy buys one box.

I'm sure it's happened to everyone before.

Let's hear what you've missed out on, even though you kind of had a hunch.

Mr.Whipple · Feb 25, 2010

My story is like yours, But i was the one who pulled the big card... 03 sweet spot was out for a month or so, Shop had about 3 packs left and the box was dead according to the owner. Another guy in the shop with me is thinking about just ripping them for like 3 bucks a pack. He says no and has a pack in his hand and puts it back in the box. I grab the pack he put back in and bought it.. well........ It was a Ichrio bat barrel /3, The guy actually had tears in his eyes and called me every name in the book over it. I even asked him if he was sure before, I paid for the pack and he said, no. Guy is a dealer and wont even sell me cards at shows over it still to this day. I sold it for 3300 or 3500 a few weeks later.

But as for losing out on cards, I watched a guy put a pack of sp chiography football back and the next guy bought it and pulled a triple auto 1/1 of Sanders, Emmitt and Franco Harris hahaha.

MallCopKJ · Feb 25, 2010

That stinks man! You must have been steaming lol.

I can remember a few years ago when Tom Brady was selling HUGE. Any rookie of him, really any limited card from any year was selling for over $100. A shop I used to go to a bunch of times a year had 1 box of 2000 SP Authentic sitting on a shelf FOREVER. I went in one day and it was gone, someone bought it and opened it in the store and pulled a mint Brady rookie. It was probably selling for $1200 at the time. I always thought about maybe hitting one in that box but never took a shot.

Another time (and this isnt really the same thing) I was buying a bunch of packs of Upper Deck World Series Heroes. There was 1 hit in the box, 24 packs and I think I bought 18 packs until I had no more money. I was contemplating grabbing some more money from the ATM and buying the last 6 packs when a friend of mine decides to start ripping them. He buys 1 pack, 1 freaking pack and hits a Honus Wagner/Ty Cobb w/ Cobb jersey (may have been pants?). This was in 2002 so GU was still very hot. I believe he sold it for around $200.

brouthercard · Feb 25, 2010

Yah, I've been on the other side of the story as well before. I'm glad the guy pulled the Pujols- he cracks a lot of stuff.

I arrived at the card show late last October. The dealer still had his three cases of exquisite at his table. Another dealer was thinking about buying them to open for himself, but he told the wax dealer that there was "no way" he would sell any of the cases at the show.

That's when I pulled the Tiger/Lebron. I'm sure the other guy didn't feel too great about it, but he was cool about it too.

011873 · Feb 26, 2010

A couple that happened in my store:

1. Back in 2001, a MASSIVE investor customer of mine must have bought 30-50 boxes of SPX looking for the Ichiro auto rookie. Never got it.

So at the end of the year, I managed to pick up one last box at a discount and offered it to him. He took the box and jokingly dropped it in the garbage saying he will never buy another box. Another customer did and got the Ichiro from that box.

2. A customer's wife bought a box of 2002 UD around Christmas time and called me shortly after asking if she could bring it back because she thought it was 2003. I said sure since her husband was a regular. So she brought it back around FIVE MONTHS LATER.

Figured I couldnt move it as a box so I opened it for packs. Some time later, a kid walked in and got a Ripken auto patch from that box. I had told him the story and he said if the guy walks in hes going to rub it in his face. I told him thats not going to happen because I hadnt seen him in five months and as I said that, he walked in the door. So the kid shows it to him and the guy replies "that came from the box my wife returned?" Found out Cal is his favorite player.

striderboi · Feb 26, 2010

brouthercard said:
Yah, I've been on the other side of the story as well before. I'm glad the guy pulled the Pujols- he cracks a lot of stuff.

I arrived at the card show late last October. The dealer still had his three cases of exquisite at his table. Another dealer was thinking about buying them to open for himself, but he told the wax dealer that there was "no way" he would sell any of the cases at the show.

That's when I pulled the Tiger/Lebron. I'm sure the other guy didn't feel too great about it, but he was cool about it too.

Did you get this from Greg? Your the doctor right?

brouthercard · Feb 26, 2010

011873 said:
A couple that happened in my store:

1. Back in 2001, a MASSIVE investor customer of mine must have bought 30-50 boxes of SPX looking for the Ichiro auto rookie. Never got it.

So at the end of the year, I managed to pick up one last box at a discount and offered it to him. He took the box and jokingly dropped it in the garbage saying he will never buy another box. Another customer did and got the Ichiro from that box.

2. A customer's wife bought a box of 2002 UD around Christmas time and called me shortly after asking if she could bring it back because she thought it was 2003. I said sure since her husband was a regular. So she brought it back around FIVE MONTHS LATER.

Figured I couldnt move it as a box so I opened it for packs. Some time later, a kid walked in and got a Ripken auto patch from that box. I had told him the story and he said if the guy walks in hes going to rub it in his face. I told him thats not going to happen because I hadnt seen him in five months and as I said that, he walked in the door. So the kid shows it to him and the guy replies "that came from the box my wife returned?" Found out Cal is his favorite player.

I love that garbage can story! It can be frustrating trying to pull any one specific card from a product. It has been known to drive some people mad.

jswaykos · Feb 26, 2010

I was kinda on the other end once. A guy in my shop was ripping pack after pack of 09 Sweet Spot (within a week of it being released)... nothing. Kid came in and bought a box... nothing. I decided I'd try ONE pack - pulled a BJ Upton bat barrel 1/1.

Nothing that anyone would really lose sleep over, but it was still cool.

JackLondon · Feb 26, 2010

Sorta related:

Our lcs has some leftover packs in his case from past years. Usually they sit there and sit there and sit there.

Was in the shop once when a guy took a flyer on an older UD pack for .99. He opened it up and pulled one of the old baseball heroes headers signed by Johnny Bench and Joe Morgan. Was pretty exciting to see the look on his face. He just asked for the pack on top of the UD stack. It actually had a layer of dust on it, too! :lol:

Liberate Baltimore · Feb 26, 2010

Happened to me this week actually! I've always had the worst luck at packs. This week I was severely tempted to buy a box of Topps Sterling and 2009 Ultimate. It was there, staring me in the face. I ALMOST bit the bullet....but decided not to. Guy comes in and buys both boxes with some of his tax return money. The results

2009 Topps Sterling: Larry Doby cut auto #2/3, Musial game-used, Ryan game-used
2009 Ultimate Collection: Brian McCann auto

I think I made the right decision

James

ChasHawk · Feb 26, 2010

I actually had a similar occurance to Liberate.

My LCS had a box of 2006 Sterling sitting on the shelf FOREVER at like $265.

This was before I had my daughter, and was still in my wax-busting phase, so money wasn't
an issue. Even my wife said "go for it". :lol: I just kept mulling it over, and never decided
to pull the trigger, then one day the box was gone. Shop owner said someone finally bit the
bullet, and ended up with a Yaz non-auto game used /10. SOOO glad I never bought that box.

Although I came to find out last year that another board member who lives near me was the one who did.
We had a good laugh about it. I'll let him claim ownership if he decides to. :lol:

RZimm11 · Feb 26, 2010

About 5 or 6 years ago, my one friend had a card shop. I bought the whole left half of the box of some Fleer product that just came in. 12 packs in all. Got nothing of note. My other friend decides to buy the top pack of the right side of the box and gets some Derek Jeter Rookie of the Year Jersey Auto card that he proceeds to sell for $300.

I love busting wax!

smapdi · Feb 26, 2010

I think there is a Heisenberg Principle of Baseball Card Packs, where if I leave a pack, there's something awesome in it. If I open it, there's nothing in it. I'm not a believe in magic or anything like that, but I wonder if the contents of a pack aren't somehow determined the instant someone picks it up to open it, according to some undefinable karmic odds.

I do believe in "chick luck" and "non-collector" luck, though. At the games shop where I play Magic, when I win packs as prizes and the girl is working that night, I say,"Give me the best pack in the box" and I almost always get something good out of it. "Good" in Magic terms being a card that is worth as much or more than the price of the pack, which is I guess the same in sportscard terms, but often quite a bit more. And a friend of mine decided to start collecting football cards back in 1999, even though he (still) barely understands the game and the hobby less (he collects comics). He bought a box of UD, and pulled a Tim Couch auto/jersey card. I think it booked for $300 at the time. I had pulled squat out of my box, not even a decent RC.

brouthercard · Feb 26, 2010

I always try not to leave any packs/boxes if I can avoid it. And stories like this is why.

I remember 2002-3 sp game used basketball. The shop had 4 boxes left. I opened three and didn't get any huge hits. I'm not sure why I left the last one. But the next guy who walked into the shop opened the box and pulled a jordan jersey autograph. I was pissed at myself for a few days after that.

Granted, most of the time, the pain just adds on when I "clean out" a product.

Mudcatsfan · Feb 26, 2010

I had always wanted a Soriano Topps Traded RC Auto.

My LCS FOUND two sets in his back room he had forgotten about back in 2002 (i think), i paid 35 each for them and hit the Soriano in the very first box set.

It was epic because those sets had sat around for 3 years forgotten about and had (at the time) one of the hottest possible cards just sitting in it.

Still have the card and love it.

notjomommasclint · Feb 26, 2010

my old shop owner had an 08 ud heroes box just sitting for months and months. i had kicked around opening it several times and even had it in my hand once or twice. i always passed since i had a few big hits out of that stuff and figured why drop the dime when my luck is probably done... so one thursday we were just watching cops telling jokes and busting balls when a football collector asked what heroes was for baseball... shop owner told him and the cat said nothing new in football why not.

an albert pujols auto patch /10 later i was kicking myself. great to see his reaction and i am sure he could feel the pain in the room as everyone in the shop had multiple chances to bust that box... the next week there wasnt a person who wanted to let one sit...

xcantgobackx · Feb 26, 2010

brouthercard said:
You know what i'm talking about. It's that box that sits on the shelf for a while. The one that everyone thinks about purchasing but never gets around to it.

I had been buying a good number of 2009 sweet spot baseball since it came out. Every time the shop got a new box in, I would crack it. Did pretty decent, hit a jumbo patch of Reggie Jackson, and some decent autos.

But then 2009 Ultimate came out. And it was an incredible product. I mean, $135 for a box of sweet spot versus a pack of ultimate at $90 - I finally stopped getting sweet spot, for the thrill had run out, the price was way too high for the yield, and the next new thing was incredible. Ultimate had everything you wanted in a great higher end baseball product, without the disappoint most of the time like sweet spot.

Well today at the shop, someone finally bought that box. The one I was proud to finally say,"hey, I can control myself. I'm 'done' with that sweet spot product".

Pujols game used Bat Barrell numbered 2/2. (no scans).

Yah, I congratulated the guy. Me and another customer had probably purchased about two cases worth without hitting the big one, and the guy buys one box.

I'm sure it's happened to everyone before.

Let's hear what you've missed out on, even though you kind of had a hunch.

Great story! Not great in that I'm glad that it happened to you. Great cause it's something most of us can relate to. We've all been there. Freakin wax, man.

jetsmets150 · Feb 26, 2010

Bought a case of 2009 Bowman Chrome Baseball... got about $150 worth of cards. My friend goes into the store the next day... in one box pulls a Hanson gold refractor auto /50 and a Mauer superfractor 1/1.

lisu · Feb 26, 2010

all this talk about boxes makes me want to go to the LCS and rip wax....

Weimer · Feb 26, 2010

lisu said:
all this talk about boxes makes me want to go to the LCS and rip wax....

You and me both. Wish I had the money.

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