SoCal Autograph Odysses

 A few months ago, I sent a card in for a signing with Julius "Dr. J" Erving. I have actually met Mr. Erving before at a public appearance he did along side Shaq ten plus years ago. You can recap that  here . This time, I wanted a card signed and I am happy with the way it came out.  This signing was actually delayed a few times from the original date I signed up for so I am glad it actually came to fruition. I've got another card out there for a James Worthy signing that kept getting postponed until it was eventually canceled altogether. Of course I'll get refunded but what a bummer that is. Sometimes it is the nature of the hobby though. 

 I watch YouTube videos of people opening sports cards because it allows for a couple of things. One, I get to live vicariously through them as there is little chance I'll open some of the high end stuff they do. And two, sometimes I come upon a good tip that I get to act upon. One such occurrence happened last week when one of the content creators was opening 2025 Panini Revolution Football Premium boxes. To say these boxes are loaded is an understatement. You get one guaranteed autograph (numbered no higher than /299) plus multiple numbered cards in each box. The numbered cards are pretty consitently low numbered, as the worst is /99. That means this product has a low print run. These are technically retail products but they feel much more like hobby boxes in my opinion. In fact, I'd argue that you get more value in one of these for $130 than you would out of a $400 hobby box. To wit; My haul from the two boxes combined was as follows: Rome Odunze auto /50 Treveyon Henderson ...

 For some years, Panini has controlled the card market when it comes to NBA and NFL products. That means that anything produced by Topps in those two sports would not have any team names or logos. For many, that is a no go for collecting those types of cards because in all honesty, the cards do look a bit weird when they say Los Angeles instead of Los Angeles Lakers and only have purple and gold jerseys without the name 'Lakers' splashed across the front. Last month, that all changed for Topps as they were able to release their first licensed NBA cards in a long time. I bought a mega box of their flagship set, and ended up pulling a rather big hit, Charlotte Hornets rookie Kon Knueppel. What makes this hit even better is that it is also an on-card autograph, meaning it's not on a sticker and then placed onto the card. Knueppel has gotten his career off to a rather good start as well, so the long-term value of this card might be on a steady incline for the foreseeable future...

 Opening packs is fun. I can't deny that in any way, shape, or form. It makes much more financial sense to purchase singles of cards you want, or if you're trying to make money on a player long term, to speculate on players with upside. However, it is a high to open a pack of cards sealed with the unknown and then pulling a huge card. That's why people participate in breaks and buy hobby boxes and retail. The chase of the unknown is a lot of the fun. Of course, there is much more downside to buying sealed product, as most of the time you don't come close to the value that you spent on the box. Last weekend I experienced another one of the downsides, the fact that my guaranteed auto ended up being of a player I already had an autograph of.  In my hobby box of 2024-25 Topps Chrome UEFA Competitions, I ended up pulling another Harvey Elliott autograph. Last time, it was numbered /75 while this one is /250. So I ended up getting a lower version of the same card I already ha...