A $100 gamble

 Anyone that denies that opening cards is essentially gambling is wrong.  It is gambling.  Most unopened cards cost quite a bit of money, and even if you're guaranteed one autographed card, there is a good chance it will be a player that hardly covers the cost of one pack.  My mom asked me what I wanted for Christmas a few weeks back so I told her I wanted a Hobby Box of the 2019 Panini Diamond Kings.  She gave me a budget to spend so I couldn't go picking Bowman and cards at that level.  Plus, as I have mentioned before I do kind of like the DK cards since I'm a fan of the artwork.  A DK Hobby Box guarantees one auto card and one memorabilia card per box.  A few packs into the opening, I found my auto "hit". 

Luis Ortiz of the Baltimore Orioles?  I literally had no idea who this guy was and he actually came up as the second Luis Ortiz listed when I Googled him.  It is very, very rare for me not to know the name of a player.  My mom was watching me open the cards and I had to break it to her that this box was a dud.  We have been had!

The memorabilia card hit was definitely cooler, though again not a very valuable card from a monetary sense. It was a piece of game used bat from Ken Griffey Sr.

 

I have to say, my mom was unimpressed by the money she dropped on this box of cards, and for my birthday has already given me parameters on what I can ask for, with boxes of cards making the exclusion list.  The disappointing part was that I didn't even get any numbered cards or good rookie cards either.  The total value of the box was probably between $10-15. When it comes to looking for autographs in sealed baseball cards you win some, but you lose more.