What's the Greatest Pull You Ever Got From a Pack/Box?

[Ben Grimm]

I love when somebody hits the lottery - and let's face it, that's what the ballcard industry has turned into once the calendar clicked to 2000.

Upper Deck went with an expansion series of all their product and I ended up with (2) Barry Zito auto'd rookies. I sold them both for about $100-$125 each.

I got a "bat" card of Babe Ruth. Traded it straight up for a PSA8 ARod '94 SP rookie.

Got in one box... Sammy Sosa twin Jersey/Auto and Ernie Banks twin Jersey/Auto from one of those "historic" boxes that popped up in the early '00s. The store I got the Sosa offered me $300 and I took it. Banks was moved on Ebay for about $350.

So, the best baseball pull was for about $350. Football's a better money maker, but baseball carries some pop.

[Zito75]

My best pulls are not baseball related. I have pulled 84 Topps Elway and Marinos from wax packs. My best pull ever is an 86 Fleer Jordan rookie. I bought the pack for $.25 (yes that's cents!) at a drugstore that had the cards on clearance in about 1987. As far as baseball goes, it has to be a few 89 Fleer Ripken error cards that I sold for about $500 total back in the day. I used to make some serious cash back then and I was only 14-15 years old...

[Ben Grimm]

My best pull ever is an 86 Fleer Jordan rookie. I bought the pack for $.25...

That's just sick.

[Zito75]

That's just sick.

Yeah it's crazy - the thing is, those cards were worthless from 1987 to about 1989. Then they went through the roof! I sold most of them in the mid 90's. I kept one Jordan plus the Malone, Barkley and Ewings.

Back to baseball, I remember pulling an 89 UD Dale Murphy reversed negative - it booked for around $200 at the time. I think I sold it for less than $100.

[ConnieMack]

Pulled a lot of Arod rookie cards and sold them all when He peaked, some of them went for ridiculous prices, the cheapest retail cards were from the Upper Deck Collector Choice packs.........they were maybe 99 cent packs, made for kids to afford......Arod had a gold Signature rookie in those that was a parallel of his base rookie card # 647.
They are still pretty rare today, but when He was peaking, I sold 2 on e-bay for close to $ 500.00 a piece........


2004 Bowman Chrome Felix Hernandez X-fractor.

Bought half a dozen packs, pulled this , went on e-bay and sold in a week for $ 375.00

Dual Ozzie/Cal 2005 Sweet Spot Autograph card, had to wait about 2 years to get it from Upper Deck. Sold on e-bay for $ 275.00.

You'll like this one Ben.

Stopped at a yard sale in my neighborhood, saw a large roll of cardboard rolled up, turned out to be a near complete set of 1987 Fleer Uncut sheets, was missing one sheet, but had a Mint Barry Bonds rookie on a sheet on the inside. The guy had no clue where He got it, had no clue what it was, wanted 2 bucks for it. No haggle there.
Waited till Bonds was ready to break the HR record and e-bayed it.......sold the sheets for $ around $ 300.00.......not bad for a $ 2.00 buy.



Mostly I deal in 1956 thru 1970 material, but once in a while buy some of these type to see if there are any " Lottery " cards to be pulled.

[Ben Grimm]

Unfortunately for me, I have very few hoops cards. In fact I have exactly 2. A '61 or '62 (can't remember the year they were out) Oscar Robertson and a Reggie Lewis. I got the Robertson because (purely my opinion of course) I feel he's a top 3-5 player of all time and Wilts & Jordans were already too expensive. The Lewis - I loved watching him play and I liked his commercials - Nike I think they were for prior to his passing.

I've seen the Murphy and of course the Billy Ripkens. I never got into error cards, though my friend spent tons on boxes when the Frank Thomas error was found out. He never got one.

I used to like speculating on players too. Most never pan out, but if you find a lesser player who blows up, you feel like a genius. I probably still have over 75 Brad Wilkerson rookies. Same goes for Chad Hermansen. Great potential but neither came close to reaching theirs. Now I can use them as coasters on my coffee table. I have over 50 ARods including die-cuts, but that market really took a hit when the steriod issue popped up. Haven't checked lately where it's at, but not where it was when I was buying. That's a big loss.

My friend ran a shop (when shops were actually plentiful back in the 90s/early 00s) and I used to go there and maybe buy a box or two and open them in the store. '95 Bowman's best had some really great star rookies in it - though it was getting pricey. He had 2 boxes of it and I spent a full paycheck buying them at packs at a time over the course of 3 hours. This was back in the AOL days. I used to go on a trade board there and since I had all the stars, I'd rotate common dupes I had to 3-4 others via mail to fill commons I'd need to complete multiple sets. That was a lot of fun. Nothing like getting excited over a Brooks Kieschnick card to fill that hole.

[Ben Grimm]

Pulled a lot of Arod rookie cards and sold them all when He peaked, some of them went for ridiculous prices..

Gotta love timing. I was probably one of the knuckleheads buying them from you.

I dig the uncut sheet - $2 is nuts. That's wild. I had a few as a kid as my mom worked at Fleer part time to supplement some income. That was long ago, and I'm not sure what I had as they've long been thrown in the trash.

[Zito75]

Gotta love timing. I was probably one of the knuckleheads buying them from you.

I dig the uncut sheet - $2 is nuts. That's wild. I had a few as a kid as my mom worked at Fleer part time to supplement some income. That was long ago, and I'm not sure what I had as they've long been thrown in the trash.

Now that be an awesome part time job - working for Fleer, UD or Topps!

[chicagowhitesox1173]

Gotta love timing. I was probably one of the knuckleheads buying them from you.

I dig the uncut sheet - $2 is nuts. That's wild. I had a few as a kid as my mom worked at Fleer part time to supplement some income. That was long ago, and I'm not sure what I had as they've long been thrown in the trash.

Thats right Fleer was in or around Philadelphia. I think if my mom worked at Fleer as a kid, I would have old buddys probably figuring out ways to rob Fleer. I'd probably get beat up for not giving away free baseball card packs too.

I collected cards from 1980 till around 1988 and I doubt I have any cards worth much. Probably the worst time to collect cards was when I grew up.

[chicagowhitesox1173]

Now that be an awesome part time job - working for Fleer, UD or Topps!

Is Donruss still around?

[Ben Grimm]

Thats right Fleer was in or around Philadelphia. I think if my mom worked at Fleer as a kid, I would have old buddys probably figuring out ways to rob Fleer. I'd probably get beat up for not giving away free baseball card packs too.

I collected cards from 1980 till around 1988 and I doubt I have any cards worth much. Probably the worst time to collect cards was when I grew up.

Sadly, the 80s ended up bad simply because of the market getting overflooded with repetetive product. Three major companies solely with a base brand. There was also Leaf out of Canada that produced cards for a couple of years. It probably helped that in '89 Upper Deck came out becuause they were more creative in producing product.

It wasn't bad having mom work there. She hated it though and used to come home with burn marks from the chambers that I guess were used to make the gum? Can't remember since it's so long ago.

Another local company/cannery in town was Canada Dry (makers of Ginger Ale). My next door neighbor worked there and brought me back all kinds of stuff. I know the Flyers wouldn't interest you, but CD would work with them in promotions. After they won their Stanley Cups in the 70s, CD made commemorative cans both years with each can having a different players picture and bio on it. I had them stacked like a pyramid in my bedroom. Good times.

[Ben Grimm]

Is Donruss still around?

I think both Donruss and Fleer got out of the baseball card business back in the mid-00s when there was a "rookie" designation brought in. IIRC, only Topps and Upper Deck had rights to produce baseball cards - but I could be wrong.

[Ben Grimm]

Now that be an awesome part time job - working for Fleer, UD or Topps!

One of the greatest innovations Topps did IMO, was to bring back the old-school baseball card packs. They released a set called Heritage back around 2000 or 2001 and it was very succcessful - and like the days of my youth, it had the same stick of gum (with the same smell) that makes me think of springtime when I was little. Worst gum ever, but what it represented made it taste oh so good.

[chicagowhitesox1173]

I think both Donruss and Fleer got out of the baseball card business back in the mid-00s when there was a "rookie" designation brought in. IIRC, only Topps and Upper Deck had rights to produce baseball cards - but I could be wrong.

Wow yeah I thought for sure the big 3 of the 80's would stick around. Topps, Fleer and Donruss. I gotta admit the Upper Decks came out at the tail end of my collecting days but they were some nice cards. Now Score they were pretty ugly except if I got a Gregg Jefferies rookie.

[Ben Grimm]

Wow yeah I thought for sure the big 3 of the 80's would stick around. Topps, Fleer and Donruss. I gotta admit the Upper Decks came out at the tail end of my collecting days but they were some nice cards. Now Score they were pretty ugly except if I got a Gregg Jefferies rookie.

I straddled your collecting years. I started in grade school in '74. Stopped in '77 or so because I was too involved in playing sports. Didn't get back into it until I bought an apartment back in '92. I was bored one day and while in a drug store, saw a complete set of '93 Topps. It was so long since I bought any type of card, I picked it up. After that I started slowly buying packs here and there at sports outfitter shops - many of them had card packs as impulse items at the register. By '95 I was making weekly visits to my local dealer (my friend's store) and buying 3-4 boxes. This was my Thursday night routine. Grab a 6-pack of my favorite brew, some dinner - and break open 100 packs of cards in an evening... can you say loser?