Blog Bat Around, Mystery RAK, and a Franchise Farewell

Our resident Diamond Jester Matt started a Blog Bat Around last week, giving us all the opportunity to discuss our greatest pack-pulled cards. I was reluctant to list mine because I've sold many of them so long ago that I don't even have a saved scan, but here's my top ten anyhow:

honorable mention - Grant Fuhr 2005-06 The Cup Scripted Swatch patch/auto

In terms of value, this would rank as one of my all-time top-ten pack pulls. However, I'm calling it an 'honorable mention' because it was the best card I pulled from a tin of The Cup, which I was lucky enough to purchase for a mere $450 in 2006. At that price you'd better pull at least one $100 card lol.

10. Carson Palmer 2003 Finest RC Auto #d/399

There was a mini-box of 2003 Finest in my Christmas stocking courtesy of my mom. Autographs were one per box IIRC, and I somehow pulled the #1 overall pick. I sold it for about $150 shortly after.

9. Chris Osgood 1988-99 Upper Deck Game Jersey

This was my first memorabilia hit, way back when jersey cards were tough pulls (1:288 hobby packs per TCDB). Even a semi-star like Osgood sold for well over $100 on an upstart auction site called eBay. It was a nightmare transaction; I sold it to a guy in Nova Scotia who had to send a wire transfer to my girlfriend. I don't have a scan of the card but I think I still have her note, "here's the $140 from that weirdo in NS :P "

8. Eli Manning 2004 Topps Chrome RC Refractor

Bought a bunch of 2004 Topps Chrome at Target in a futile attempt at completing the set. I pulled Larry Fitzgerald and Philip Rivers but gave up when I couldn't land a Big Ben RC. It didn't help the set build that my Manning was a refractor - but I was able to sell it for about $80 well before he won two Super Bowls. (They sell for $200+ these days.)

7. Mario Lemieux 2000-01 Upper Deck Return to Excellence jersey #d/66

Upper Deck made a special set of Lemieux relics where every card was hand-numbered to 66 and inserted into various late-season products. This was my first major superstar swatch pull, and likely my first with a print run under 100. I sold this one in another disastrous eBay transaction that made me want to leave the site forever (I managed to stay away for about a year.)

6. Aaron Judge 2017 Topps Heritage RC photo variation

5. Carlos Correa 2017 Topps Heritage Real One Auto red ink #d 19/68

Now we're getting to more recent pulls, where I actually have scanned evidence. The recent release of 2024 Topps Heritage reminded me of the 5-box break I revealed in the early years of this blog. Judge (which I later submitted to PSA) and Correa basically covered the price of that break.

4. Mike Trout 2011 Bowman Chrome RC

I never pulled a Topps Traded Trout RC despite buying several packs and hangers, yet I got this Bowman Chrome RC from a blaster box purchased during a Dave & Adam's Black Friday sale. This and my all-time greatest pack-pulled hit were submitted to BGS via COMC. I got more money for this card, because I was smart enough to sell it at peak value (unlike the top two...)

3. Marian Gaborik 2005-06 Black Diamond Gemography Onyx Auto 1/1

Once the lockout ended and the much-hyped Crosby/Ovechkin rookie class hit shelves, I gobbled up all the cards I could. Even though I was a poor college student living in a cruddy apartment I managed to buy one hobby box of Black Diamond. The quad diamond SPs (one per box) were more interesting to me, but it was cool to pull an autograph. Only when I sorted the cards by number did I notice the serial numbering on the back. It was my first (and only) one of one pull. I sold it in yet another nightmare eBay transaction.

2. Connor McDavid 2015-16 Upper Deck Young Guns RC

Pulled the big kahuna out of a retail blaster at Target and squealed with glee. I sold it a few months after, for a very good reason: COMC had gem mint copies for rock-bottom prices. An almost free upgrade to a slabbed copy was one of the few smart decisions I made with an all-time top ten pull.

1. Aaron Judge 2013 Bowman Chrome Gold Refractor Auto #d/50

I've told the story here before but if you're new to the blog, here it is... back in my prospecting days I would buy one Jumbo box of Bowman Draft every Black Friday or Christmas. One of the jumbo packs had some gold shine and when I saw the card I was... nonplussed. Aaron Judge? Okay. It's a Yankee, so that's something. Wow, this kid is huge. Let's see how he did last year.. oh, he was injured. Great.

Once he climbed up the ladder and made it to the Bronx I sent this to COMC for grading, along with a few others:

If I'd sold it after his record-breaking rookie season, or his American League-record 62 home run season, I 'd have had enough cash to buy a car - even after feeBay took their 22%. But I did not sell it at the right time. I sold it when I was making minimum wage and there was a family matter that drained the budget. Another major family issue is gathering steam, but I'm in a better financial position to weather the storm. Which is good, because if I let another 20k card slip though my fingers at less than full value, I'd...

Moving on... it seems that a wave of mystery PWEs has been circulating, with few clues other than "TCDB" and a Hartford postmark. This kind stranger sent six Packers and six Devils over this way (no Whalers though?)

I don't watch Pat McAfee; is A.J. Hawk as bland as everyone says? Or would anyone look like an NPC compared to Patty McCaffeine?

The three best ever Devils are represented here, along with the second-best goalie in Cory Schneider. Mystery person, if you're reading this... thank you!

Last night the Arizona Coyotes closed out their 28th - and final - season in Arizona with a 5-2 win over the Oilers. As someone who lost my hometown hockey team as a teenager, I felt a kinship with the Coyotes. That franchise had somehow survived so many awful decisions from ownership and management -- and just when it seemed like they were on the right track, they couldn't secure an arena. It was Atlanta all over again, and it sucks.

I could write a whole essay on this topic, but I'll spare you my thoughts on the matter except to say that when any franchise has to relocate it's heartbreaking. What that fan base lacked in raw numbers they made up for in resiliency. Who among us would stand by a team through two decades of incompetence, relocation rumors, and scores of insults from snickering, gatekeeping out-of-towners who claim that their favorite team shouldn't exist? Congrats, bullies. You got your wish. The Coyotes are no more.

But! There is an arrangement being discussed to possibly bring them back. If the now-former owner can secure a building within five years, the Coyotes may one day rise from the ashes like... some type of bird.

That said, the players definitely deserve to play for a team with stable ownership and a permanent home. I'd be interested to see how far this young squad can go in the coming years. Good luck in Salt Lake, boys.

Thanks for the memories... even though they weren't so great.

Thanks for reading!




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