SoCal Autograph Odysses

 A few days back I covered what has become an annual tradition where I discuss what my favorite autograph pulls from sealed product were over the course of the year. Today's list is an altered version of that (though there will be some overlap) as I want to go over my 15 favorite adds to my collection over the course of 2025. There is usually some added weight to the provenance of obtaining specific items which is used as tie breakers quite often. Starting with 15... 15. JJ Wehterholt I'm going with this card at 15 over bigger historical names strictly due to the fact I feel like I purchased this card for a cost that will soon be far surpassed in value. This is a 1st Bowman /150 auto of one of the best prospects in baseball, and as mentioned multiple times on this blog, Bowman cards can go for big money. I had to put this card on my 2025 top 15 list strictly to me thinking it was a smart business move if I ever I tend to sell. This is similar to when I bought a Lamine Yamal Roo...

 I've got a quick housekeeping post to make here about the other boxes I opened on Christmas Day, as my wife hooked me up with some great product. The big hit was clearly the Patrick Mahomes auto I discussed back on the 26th but I did decently well with the World Cup Prizm hobby box and the La Liga Select hobby boxes she also got me.  As mentioned on the Mahomes post, those two Revolution boxes yielded three total autographs, one being the Mahomes /15 and the other two being Carl Eller and Kayshon Boutte, both of which were to /199.  On the soccer side of things, I ended up with a few more autographs as well. The Prizm club world cup box netted a pretty solid autograph in Real Madrid and French national team midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni. This autograph was /99 and while it's not an end game autograph, it's a solid one because Tchouameni is a very good player and there are far worse names on the checklist.  My La Liga box wasn't as good from an autograph perspective...

 Rogie Vachon is a Hall of Fame hockey goalie that plied his trade for four teams, most notably my favorite team, the LA Kings, but the Montreal Canadiens as well. I'd actually tried doing a through the mail request for Rogie a couple years back but never received a return, so tried again a couple of months ago. I was excited to find this in the mail... As you can see, the card turned out great and I am happy to add another hockey (and Kings) legend to my collection. Rogie has his number retired in LA, so now I have autographs from all of the Kinbgs retired numbers. 

 This is probably my favorite post to write about every year. This top 10 consists of my favorite pulls from sealed product in 2025. It doesn't necessarily mean the ten most valuable, though that kind of thing does tend to push a card up my favorites list. Let's get started with 10 and work our way to one, then list out a handful of honorable mentions.  10. Rainiel Rodriguez  Bowman cards have a tendency to be high on these lists since I usually have pretty good luck with them. This one in particular is a 1st Bowman mojo on card auto. What made this card cool for me was the fact I didn't realize I had pulled one of the uber prospects from the set when I first saw the card in my pack. It was only upon further research did I realize that Rainiel is one of the chase prospects from this checklist. This card has the potential to skyrocket in monetary value, but it also has the potential to crater. That's the thing about baseball prospects. For now, this card comfortably fits...

Anyone that has read my blog before probably figured that I'd be posting about some product I ripped over Christmas, and they'd be correct in their assumption. I mentioned a few weeks ago that Panini Revolution had "premium" boxes only available through Walmart.com. I also mentioned at the time that, for me, it was the product of the year. These boxes were absolutely loaded with numbered cards /99 or better, and you're guaranteed one auto pee box. They were essentially hobby boxes masquerading as retail, but for half the cost. My wife took advantage before they sold out and ordered me a couple more of them for Christmas. Neither box was particularly spectacular like the first two until out of nowhere I hit arguably my biggest autograph pull to date in second box.  As you can see, I pulled a Patrick Mahomes autograph, and it is really low numbered /15. It is just a ginormous card to get, arguably the biggest chase card in the entire set. Not only does this card cle...

 I've been taking advantage of some of the recent Black Friday/Cyber Monday/Thanksgiving week deals that pop up this time of year before the holiday rush. As such, I wanted to post a few of the hits I've pulled in various products. The first two hits came from a 2025 Panini Prizm Club World Cup blaster case. Meaning, I found a big deal on a case of blasters and the auto I pulled was Brazil international, defender Thiago Silva. A good, well-known player is a pull I'll always be happy with. The better pull was not even an autograph but a huge case hit, a Kaboom. These are insanely hard to pull so I was stoked to finally get one. I wish it was a bigger name, but I can't be unhappy with either of these two hits. The Kaboom alone pretty much covered the cost of the case.  I added this CWC Prizm auto of former Uruguayan star Diego Forlan. Again, I am a sucker for the blue shimmer autograph parallels as this one is below. When I saw this one for cheap, I jumped on it. Blue shi...