The 1998 Topps Tek Thread

[chippercards.com]

I hate to break up all the break talk but I had this little guy waiting for me when I got home...
View attachment 86571

And in an irritating way it came with a bonus, the seller originally sent me a base pattern...that I needed...but quickly corrected the error and mailed the right one and didn't ask me to send the other one back, even when I asked.

The same thing happened to me with that seller. They sent a base instead of the diffractor and then let me keep the wrong base too

 

[MetalAndy]

Down to needing these four Burks base cards - 4,42,60,83

 

[theplasticman]

Is this set 20 years old already? Wow.

Not sure I'll ever complete my Erstad run... at the pace of landing one per year. I'm down to 9 cards and a crapload of diffractors (not even bothering to keep a list, I just check the pile).

Erstad base needed
4, 29, 30, 60, 68, 71, 81, 83, 86

 

[chris19978]

Is this set 20 years old already? Wow.

Not sure I'll ever complete my Erstad run... at the pace of landing one per year. I'm down to 9 cards and a crapload of diffractors (not even bothering to keep a list, I just check the pile).

Erstad base needed
4, 29, 30, 60, 68, 71, 81, 83, 86

I stopped worrying about the Difractors long ago. The fact I own 2 and they were free in most aspects as I bought my first for $5.00 around 3 years ago. The other came in a lot with a base and a difractor with a bunch of other stuff for $50.00 around 16 months ago. Where I sold the other stuff for around $70.00, traded the one diffractor for a different diffractor and 3 base cards I needed put me where I paid nothing for my 2 I own. I believe I am missing 28 for the base set that is one of my hit list items as I would like to finish that up since it shouldn’t cost me more than $20.00 a piece when I find them. It is a hard set to put together though that will take years in most cases to do.


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[brian26]

Worth it when it's all done though. I page through my 90 cards and it looks amazing. Hang in there.

 

[joey12508]

Worth it when it's all done though. I page through my 90 cards and it looks amazing. Hang in there.

Ditto

 

[banjar]

Bargain!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1998-Topps...h=item28756e5653:g:ppkAAOSwEJ1cUQlK:rk:1:pf:0

 

[chippercards.com]

Haha, the price doubled from the prior time he listed it. Although I guess the stock market is up 50% from that time so go figure...

From my saved searches in March 2014:
1998 Topps Tek Roberto Alomar Complete Set. All Patterns 1-90 Card Lot
Current bid: $600.00
Shipping: $10.00

 

[banjar]

Well, I think overall interest in 98 Tek may have gone up since 2014, but maybe not double. I've bought a good number of cards from him and the prices were fairly reasonable, but this lot is definitely high.

 

[RiceBondsMntna2Young]

so...what's going on the break?

 

[bstanwood]

so...what's going on the break?

Rich said he'd be doing it on Wednesday the 6th, so nothing is going on with it until tomorrow.

 

[MansGame]

It was a Belle hot box... all Belle diffractors... sorry everyone haha


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[RiceBondsMntna2Young]

Ok, I just didn’t know if there was some critical mass we need to achieve in buying player spots, etc before moving forward. Check in withdrawn...

 

[bstanwood]

Ok, I just didn’t know if there was some critical mass we need to achieve in buying player spots, etc before moving forward. Check in withdrawn...

I was just messing around. I don't think Rich cared how many he sold, he's a 98 Tek hoarder, I'm pretty pumped to read tomorrow's break results myself.

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[RiceBondsMntna2Young]

I was just messing around. I don't think Rich cared how many he sold, he's a 98 Tek hoarder, I'm pretty pumped to read tomorrow's break results myself.

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I am so very excited. Pack-fresh cards of my fave players in my fave 90s base set, with a shot at Diffractor. I wish I could see it all on video. Probably going to be the highlight of my week. Does that sound sad?

 

[bstanwood]

As far as I'm concerned it's a 20 year old product seeing light for the first time, there's a flimsy historical argument there. I refuse to say sad.

 

[banjar]

Damnit! That was the one thing I was afraid of.

It was a Belle hot box... all Belle diffractors... sorry everyone haha

 

[MansGame]

Damnit! That was the one thing I was afraid of.

Don't be afraid... embrace the Albert Belle Hot Box... it is okay... it will all be okay

 

[onionring9]

I'm hoping he has a hotbox of pattern #46 diffractors!

 

[rinkrat38]

Here goes with the 98 Tek box break: Not a 'hot box' as there were four diffractor patterns, and only one was a selected player--Clemens p.77. Other diffractors pulled were #15 Garciaparra p. 16, #16 Brady Anderson p. 81, and #59 Travis Lee p. 26 -- none of which were selected. (Still better than just three diffractors which is common.) The quality was good overall. Didn't see any significant spotting. Distribution was poor with no base cards for thirty-one different players but with two base patterns for eleven players and three base patterns for McGwire, Griffey, and Caminiti.

Big winner was RiceBondsMntna2Young with 1 Bonds, 2 A-Rod, 1 Clemens, and 3 Griffey base cards and 1 Clemens diffractor. Chippercards.com scored 1 Chipper, 1 Lofton, and 2 Mussina base cards. Onionring9 got 3 McGwire base cards. Letch77 got 2 Frank Thomas and 1 Jeter base cards. Banjar will have 2 Robbie Alomar base cards waiting on his return from Africa. BStanwood gets 1 Mo Vaughn and 1 Biggio base cards. 1 base card for westusmc, nosterbor, TimTom, Brian26 and Gracecollector. Postage refunds coming for Joey12508, MansGame, and Bigunitcards who were shut out, as was Gwynn545.

I'll try to get the cards mailed today, by tomorrow for sure, but I'm in a rural area with very slow mail service. Give it to early next week before panicking. I'll enclose a souvenir checklist that came in each pack. I put all cards in UltraPro sleeves as I opened the packs. The cards will be mailed protected by top loader(s) and in a bubble-pack mailer. Any complaints, open your window and yell real loud toward the North East! Back to watching Super Bowl replays.


Rich Roth
29 Lee Rd
South Deerfield, MA 01373