Posts

Road Trip Rippin'

-
Image
 I make a point to stop at any local Walmarts or Targets whenever the family and I take a trip anywhere. I do so in the hope of finding some sealed retail cards that we don't get access to as frequently here in Southern California due to the sheer number of people that collect cards. To be honest, I've had pretty good luck pulling autographs from random places across the country, the most notable being the Julio Rodriguez prospect /99 auto you can read about again  here .  The family and I had to make an unfortunate trip to wetern Arizona due to a death in the family recently but during some down time I did still try a couple Walmarts and a Target. The Target had nothing that appealed to me and just one of the Walmarts did. I bought two Panini soccer boxes, one premier League Prizm and one Premier League Select. I hit nothing crazy and no numbered cards to speak of. However, I did hit a pretty good auto of former Manchester United defender Wes Brown. I checked with my bud...
Post a Comment
Read more

Recent Retail Hits

-
Image
There is nothing extremely special to share about any of the following three hits but as this is an autograph blog, I wanted to post them on here. I'll start by saying 2024-25 Mosaic basketball mega boxes have been absolutely loaded. I've bought five boxes and in those five boxes I've pulled three autographs. I've also pulled ten numbered cards and a couple Genesis short prints as well. You definitely get a lot of value out of these megas. I posted about the Mike Miller auto on my last post so the other two are Detlef Shrempf and a rookie auto of Cam Spencer. Shrempf in particular is a cool one for me because he is a 3x All Star that played when I was growing up. The Spencer is a rookie auto so you never really know what can happen with those. Either way, a 60% autograph pull rate is pretty high end for retail. Throwing in two numbered cards per box plus a high SP hit rate makes them slam dunk buys. If I see more, I'll probably indulge a bit more. I already sold one...
Post a Comment
Read more

Recent Adds

-
Image
 I'm going to start this post with a soccer legend auto, former Arsenal great Ian Wright. Some of these soccer legends still have insanely good value from a buying perspective as the US market is still slowly coming around to the sport. I do fully believe that someday in the not-too-distant future that soccer cards will be more valuable than they are, and they are already going up because of the Asian market as is. When the World Cup hits in 2026 there will be a lot of buy in. This Wright auto is a gold /50. Check out this cool little YouTube video from a few years back about Ian Wright and his former school teacher Mr. Pigden. I highly encourage you to look up the story behind it, especially in these crazy times we live in.  A couple more random autos I've pulled out of retail recently. I pulled an Anthony Gould rookie Select auto and a Mike Miller Mosaic auto. Each of these is worth about $5 tops but it's always fun to pull autos from retail when they aren't guarantee...
Post a Comment
Read more

Through the Mail-Dawn Staley

-
Image
 One of the last few pending through the mail autograph requests I had sent out came back yesterday for about a five week turnaround time. This time, the success came from former WNBA legend and current South Carolina women's basketball head coach Dawn Staley. Dawn is a deserved member of the Naismith Hall of Fame as she was a multi time gold medal winner for team USA, she was a 6x WNBA all-star and a member of the all-decade team and is now a championship winning head coach. That is quite the resume. I sent her a rookie Skybox WNBA card back at the end of July and was happy to see it come back in my mailbox on Saturday afternoon. Always remember you can check my  through the mail tracker  to keep up to date with my current and former requests to see which athletes send back and how long it takes. It can be an extremely useful tool. 
Post a Comment
Read more

Jerome Bettis Signing

-
Image
 Another one of the signings that took place during last month's National Sports Collector's convention was with Hall of Fame NFL running back Jerome Bettis. It was one of a few signings I participated in by sending to third parties via Sportscollectors.net. I sent in a 1993 Topps draft picks card that I pulled as a kid and somehow still had laying around. I think the result was good. 
Post a Comment
Read more

Front Row Card Show

-
Image
 Today I attended the Front Row Card Show down in San Diego for the second time in 2025. You can read my recap of my experience in May  here . This time, I went in with a plan of selling one of my two Cristiano Ronaldo autos so that I could turn that money into two big autos elsewhere. I feel that I accomplished this goal because I added Stephen Curry and Kylian Mbappe to my growing autograph collection. The Cristiano Ronaldo auto plus one Mosaic rookie card of Jared McCain (not signed) netted me just under $1000. I bought the Panini NBA Hoops Curry auto and the graded Kylian Mbappe Prizm auto for a bit over $900. 
Post a Comment
Read more

Through the Mail-Joy Fawcett

-
Image
 One of my last few through the mail requests that I still have pending came back to me signed yesterday, and it came with a bit of a bonus. Former US Women's National soccer team defender Joy Fawcett sent me a signed rookie card back (from 1994 Upper Deck). Joy was a member of both the 1991 and 1999 World Cup winning teams, with the '99 team in particular being a huge influence on the popularity of women's sports in America today. She also played a few seasons for the San Diego Spirit, which was a team that played in the early 2000's in the now defunct WUSA soccer league. As my experience with her former teammate Brandi Chastain went, Joy included a littler personal note in addition to the card she sent back signed.  I am excited to add this autograph to my collection because that 1999 World Cup team put women's soccer on the map and my daughter plays the sport now, so I am invested in women's sports being a success here. As you can see by the note above, we al...
Post a Comment
Read more