The Story behind that PC find Part 1 - Jackie Robinson

Being a collect of HOF Baseball players, Jackie Robinson is one of my favorites. I think it might have started when I wrote a book report about him in high school. Only during the research for the report, was it the first time I read about the stories of the great legend.

This fondness carried over into collecting cards of Mr. Robinson. Two of my favorite pieces I own have simple stories of how I obtained them, but thought I would share them with you to kick start this series of "The Story Behind that PC find"

The first card up is a 2012 Topps Triple Threads Game Used Bat card #'d 33/36. I was searching through COMC one day and noticed some new cards being listed for Triple Threads. within a few minutes this Robinson card came up. The price of it was $35.00, I couldn't believe it. What an amazing price for a cool card. I should have just bought it outright as it was something I wanted and didn't want to take a chance on losing it. However sometime you feel as a collector to try and get a little less than the asking price. So I offered $25.00. I tried not to low ball the offer and put it in a good starting range. Thankfully the seller came back right away with a counter offer of $30.00. Again I thought about grabbing it for the $30, but instead I decided to try one more offer of $28.00. After I put through the offer I thought I was stupid to try it again, this was a card I really wanted and I shouldn't have put it on a hunch the seller would accept. The seller did come back fairly quickly and accepted the offer. I was ecstatic, to be able to grab a great memorabilia card of one of my favorite HOF players and for a great price. The card is in great shape and might be having it graded sometime down the road.

The next card was obtained in a trade through the Beckett trading forums about 3 or 4 years ago. At the time I was looking for older cards for my collection and looking for any of the HOF players. Trading through the Beckett forums/trading area is just like any other forum. There is a risk in regards to the person your dealing with and also your hopeful the cards show up in the condition that you have been advised of from the other person. This 1955 Topps Jackie Robinson was posted in a forum post along with other items for trade. I noticed it by chance while looking through the posts and contacted the trader right away. I asked about the condition and asked for other pictures of the card. The seller was more than happy to provide them to me so that I could see the shape of the card. It wasn't in the best condition and had visible creases on the front of the card. Regardless of the condition of the card I really wanted to have it, I had yet to see one up for trade in forums (at the time) and they were also scarce on eBay. After a number of e-mails back and fourth we decided on a trade value of $50.00. I was happy with this price. It was a card that was hard to find with a heavy BV cost even for lower end graded cards. I have never had a problem with trading in the BV range and even going over in order to get a card that I really wanted. He was happy also as he found $50.00 worth of cards from what I had in my trading list. I threw in a couple others as well to give him a little extra for working out a good BV price with me. When the card arrived it was a great day. As much as it's damaged it's one of the few cards in the center piece of my collection. Not sure what grade this would get but it will be another one for the list to have graded for the PC.

Part 2 of the series "The story behind that PC find" will be out next week.

Thank you for your support towards The Pack Gambler

Make sure to visit our storefront at www.packgambler.com, or our COMC account ThePackGambler 

If you have any similar stories about one of your PC cards or items please send us an e-mail and let us know at packgambler@gmail.com We might feature you in an upcoming story. 

MASSIVE BLOWOUT SALE ON www.packgambler.com December 30th - January 5th

To help move out of 2013 into 2014 we're having a Massive Blowout Sale starting tomorrow December 30th on www.packgambler.com 

Everything in our store will be heavily discounted to clear out our stock for new items coming in for 2014 on

www.packgambler.com

Be sure to get in early tomorrow morning and grab some amazing deals before their gone. Sale will end January 5^th but don’t wait to get in on these blowout deals

                                                  www.packgambler.com

New blog series about to start: "The Story behind that PC find"

Here at The Pack Gambler we are looking more in depth into hobby other than Product news, reviews and updates. A new series we have developed is called "The Story behind that PC find".

This series will look into the details of how we have obtained certain cards within our collection as well as collector stories who follow The Pack Gambler.

There isn't any guidelines as to the book value amount, sport, or players which we will profile. These stories are ones we thought might be interesting to our fellow collectors to read.

The series will start this week and continue throughout 2014. Be on the lookout for these blog stories.

If you'd like to participate, send us an e-mail: packgambler@gmail.com  and tell us a little bit about your story. If your story will fit in our series we'll let you know and look for more details to help write your PC find.

Thank you for your support towards The Pack Gambler

Make sure to visit our storefront at www.packgambler.com, or our COMC account ThePackGambler 

Expired Redemption Entry Update from: 2008-09 Upper Deck SPx Hockey

You might recall back in June we busted a Retro box of 08-09 Upper Deck SPx Hockey. From this break we pulled an expired redemption for a Autographed FlashBack Fabrics Ray Bourque (Expired 12/19/2010). We sent Upper Deck an e-mail a few days later and asked what they could do. The answer they provided was that "Unfortunately we do not honor expired redemption's and they were holding a raffle for expired redemption customers." One of these raffles was in Toronto at the Sports Card Expo.

I went on the Saturday and asked what I had to do with my expired redemption. Initially I was advised to just put my name on the redemption and that they had redemption hours at the show pulling some items from their showcases. I asked if I should put my address and e-mail on it and they said no. I thought this was a little strange and decided to do it anyways. I couldn't stay for the redemption hour on the Saturday so I figured worst case it would go back to California with them and maybe be pulled at a later date.

The other day I received a small package from Upper Deck. inside I found a letter stating that the redemption card entry was pulled as a winner. Not really sure if it was pulled at the show and I just wasn't there or back at the office. If it was pulled at the show it's a shame I wasn't around as it could have been something pretty good to take home. Never the less, having an expired redemption card replaced is a nice thing.

The replacement card was a 2008-09 SP Authentic Nikolai Kulemin Future Watch on-card Autograph /999. Not too bad of a card, not the same BV replacement but coming in from the same year so can't expect much. Maybe it's a Leafs card due to being at the Toronto Fall Expo? Or maybe was just in a pill of redemption replacements. Again, it is nice to have a replacement and to be happy with anything instead of an expired redemption card.

Thank you for your support towards The Pack Gambler

Make sure to visit our storefront at www.packgambler.com, or our COMC account ThePackGambler 

Why you should be excited to collect Baseball cards in 2014

When MLB decided to extend their relationship with Topps for the next 7 years back in March, collectors were upset. They missed the diversity, competition, and they didn't enjoy the way Topps recently has dealt with collectors. For those die-hard collectors (myself included), they were subjected to either stick it out or possibly leave the hobby. However a new possibility opened up for collectors, and this came with the name Panini.

It all started innocently in 2012 with Panini bringing releasing news of National Treasures Baseball. Collectors were a little stunned that they heard Panini was releasing a baseball product. How will they compete against Topps? How could they go against not having a MLB licence? Not only did they use their own established MLBPA licence to the fullest, but they pulled out all the stops from Hall of Fame players with Cut Autographs, Jumbo relics and a number of other goodies including Bat Knobs. Yes Panini went for a Home Run and hit a Grand slam with collectors. This was only the first of many small steps to come.

In 2013, Panini released Prizm Baseball and it was a hit with collectors. Panini again used it's MLBPA licence to the best of their ability to bring collectors an alternative to Topps. Using very creative photos and sharp designs, Prizm was able to attract collectors and have them jump on board for future releases. Going retro and bringing back Pinnacle this year was another brilliant move by Panini. Collectors love the look and sense of Retro products coming back into the market place and this was just as well received as Prizm was.

Mixed in with Golden Age, Cooperstown Collection and Hometown Heroes, Panini has created their own decent market share of Baseball collectors. The way they have done it over the last couple of years is truly amazing. No other company would even attempt to try this and if they would, none of them would come close to what Panini has accomplished.

Now as for a baseball collector what does this mean going forward? The game has changed, no longer will you be subjected to only one company holding all of the cards (had to throw that in somewhere in this piece). Bigger selection, greater number of choices, and a better opportunity to collect current stars and Hall of Famers. This is one of the best times to be collecting Baseball cards. It's exciting and interesting waiting to see what's next from either of the companies. Topps has to try and keep up the level of interest while not breaking their own business model and stance as the leader in MLB licensed cards. And Panini continues to bust out new and innovative ways to bring collectors closer to their baseball products using their own unique ways.

2014 products are already being worked on by both companies and for a collector of baseball I can't wait to see what they have in store for us. I'm more excited to hear from the Panini this coming year just because they have done a fabulous job on attracting hardcore baseball collectors away from Topps and also increased other sport collectors into trying baseball. A prediction for 2014 would be that Panini brings us another product like National Treasures that blows us away. Starting off with Select in December and Donruss in February is not too shabby of a way to start a great 2014 campaign.