Tyrell was very excited to get his allowance from his parents on Friday evening. He had been doing extra chores around the house and saving up his money so he could buy some new baseball cards. Tyrell was a huge baseball fan and had amassed a collection of hundreds of cards over the past couple years from packs he had purchased at the corner store and cards he had traded with his friends.
On this particular week, the local convenience store had advertisements up promoting a sale on packs of baseball cards from Topps and Upper Deck. Normally the packs sold for $1 each, but this weekend only they were buy 2 get 1 free. Tyrell knew right away that with his $10 allowance he could get 3 packs for $6 with the deal, so early Saturday morning he begged his mom to take him to the store before his little league baseball game.
When they arrived, Tyrell rushed over to the trading card display. The shelves were fully stocked with various series from the current season of both Topps and Upper Deck cards. After pondering his options for a few minutes, weighing the likelihood of pulling star players or rare cards from each set, Tyrell ultimately selected one pack each of Topps Series 1, Topps Heritage, and Upper Deck Series 2. He had heard great reviews of the photographic reproductions and retro designs in the Heritage set and was hoping for autographs or memorabilia cards in the Upper Deck pack.
As Tyrell and his mom made their way to the checkout counter, he began gleefully shuffling through the random assortment of gum and advertisements included in each pack to tease himself on the cards hidden within. His mom chuckled at his palpable excitement and reminded him he shouldn’t open the packs until after his game so he didn’t get distracted during play. Tyrell begrudgingly agreed but continued fidgeting with the cellophane wrappers all the way out to the car.
After arriving at the ballfield, Tyrell raced through warmups and into the batting cage, driven by focus but also an eagerness to finish the game so he could rip into his new packs. Throughout the next few innings of play, as Tyrell stood in the outfield occasionally daydreaming about potential hits awaiting discovery between the glossy cardboard, his teammates would joke about him “looking for fly balls or flies [insert player name].” Tyrell smiled and laughed along with them but his mind was only half in the game.
When the final out was recorded in their victory, Tyrell scrambled to pack up his gear so fast that the coach had to gently remind him to clean the equipment first. As soon as he was released, Tyrell hopped on his bike with his baseball cards safety tucked into his jersey pocket and sped all the way home. He rushed inside, ignoring his mom’s request to wash up before digging in, and tore eagerly into the first pack on his bedroom floor.
Slowly flipping through the assortment of Reds, Cubs, and Brewers commons, Tyrell was admittedly a bit disappointed. But as he approached the final few cards, a glint of color caught his eye through the plastic wrapping. He slid it from the pack carefully and was thrilled to see the familiar smiling face of his favorite player, Yankees shortstop Didi Gregorius, staring back at him from an Independence Day parallel photo variation. Tyrell hollered with glee, savoring the hit, before moving hurriedly onto the next packages.
The second Topps Heritage pack provided some fun throwbacks of vintage players like Reggie Jackson and Fernando Valenzuela but nothing too exciting. Tyrell was starting to think his luck may have run dry until the very last card stopped him in his tracks. Staring back through the plastic was a beautiful embossed foil parallel of Hall of Famer Tom Seaver, one of only 50 printed. Tyrell was ecstatic, having pulled two highly sought after vintage-style short prints back to back. His collection was really growing.
By this point, Tyrell had built up such anticipation for the final Upper Deck pack that he worried it may not live up to the high bar set by the Topps packs. But as he tore it open and began flipping, card by colorful card, he slowly realized this one may top them all. Sprinkled throughout were stars like Mookie Betts, Ronald Acuña Jr., and Juan Soto. But the real prize was buried sixth from the back – a thick, glossy green border caught his eye and he slid it free to see an autograph of Brewers ace Brandon Woodruff staring back at him on a strip of sticker authentication. Tyrell could hardly believe his luck, having pulled an on-card autograph, something he had never managed before.
He spent the next couple hours admiring and safely storing his new prizes in protective plastic sheets before showing off his impressive haul to his parents and little brother at dinner. Even they were wowed by Tyrell’s luck in scoring three rare and valuable cards among the many commons in just three packs. It was a day Tyrell would remember for a long time, having turned a decent starting allowance into a true windfall for his collection with some savvy shopping and a heavy dose of beginner’s luck. He couldn’t wait to show off his new treasures to his friends at school and baseball practice, and start trading up for even more stars to add to his ever-growing collection. It was safe to say Tyrell’s passion for the hobby had been reinvigorated tenfold after his wildly successful pack-busting Saturday.
