Carter had been collecting baseball cards for years. Ever since he was a young boy, he loved going to the local card shop and looking through the rows and rows of cards, hoping to find rare and valuable additions to his collection. Now at 14 years old, Carter’s collection had grown quite large and he was always on the lookout for ways to expand it even more.
His favorite player of all time was Babe Ruth, so Carter always had his eye out for any rare Babe Ruth cards that might be for sale or trade. One of his white whales was a mint condition 1914 Babe Ruth rookie card, which was incredibly rare and valuable. Carter knew the chances of ever finding one were almost zero, but that didn’t stop him from dreaming.
This weekend, Carter had saved up $50 from his allowance and various odd jobs around the neighborhood to spend at his local card shop. He knew the owner, Mr. Wilson, usually got shipments of new packs of cards on Fridays that people would be ripping and sorting through all weekend. Carter hoped to find some gems in the new packs that had just come in.
After finishing his chores on Saturday morning, Carter hopped on his bike and pedaled the 3 miles down to Wilson’s Card Shop. The little bell above the door dinged as he walked in, and he was immediately hit with that distinctive smell of old baseball cards, gum, and nostalgia. Dozens of customers were crowded around the glass cases and shelves, scrutinizing every card under magnifying glasses.
“Hey Carter, good to see ya!” Mr. Wilson called out from behind the counter. “Just got a fresh shipment of packs in yesterday. Lots of people have been pulling some real beauties so far.”
Carter made his way to the back of the store where the unopened packs were kept. There was a wide variety from different brands and years. After carefully considering his options, Carter decided on P packs of 2021 Topps Series 1 baseball cards. At $5 per pack with tax, that would eat up about half his budget. But Carter knew these were one of the best shot at finding rookies and short prints that could really add value to his collection long term.
Armed with his P unopened packs, Carter grabbed a seat at one of the small tables towards the back of the store. He slowly and methodically opened each pack one by one, savoring the experience. The first few packs were mostly base cards of familiar veterans that didn’t excite him too much. But halfway through, things started to pick up.
In pack number J, Carter pulled a shiny blue bordered short print of Fernando Tatis Jr. “Wow, that’s a beaut,” he said to himself. Short prints like that were always fun to pull. A few packs later, pack number L contained a gold foil parallel card of rookie sensation Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Parallel and short print cards like those would definitely hold their value over time.
Getting down to the last few packs, Carter was hopeful for one more hit. And pack number P delivered in a big way. Sliding the cardboard wrapper off revealed a thick pink bordered card sitting on top. With bated breath, Carter flipped it over to see the smiling face of superstar rookie pitcher Shane Bieber staring back at him. It was a rare pink parallel rookie card, numbered /50. “No way!” Carter shouted, drawing looks from others in the store. He’d never pulled a parallel this short printed before.
After carefully sliding the Bieber card into a toploader for protection, Carter went up to the counter to pay. “Looks like you had yourself a day, kid!” Mr. Wilson said, taking in the hits spread out on the counter. The Tatis, Guerrero, and especially the Bieber would definitely add serious value to Carter’s collection for years to come. With the money he had left over, Carter bought a few packs of football and basketball cards too, hoping his luck would continue.
As he rode his bike home with his new treasures, Carter couldn’t stop grinning. Even if he didn’t find any more big hits, this visit to the card shop had been well worth it. The P packs of Topps series 1 baseball cards had really paid off. Now Carter couldn’t wait to get home, log onto TradingCardDB.com, and look up recent sales of all the short printed parallels he’d pulled to gauge their worth. It was going to be fun watching the value of those cards grow over time as those rookies became stars. Today had definitely been a great day in Carter’s never-ending quest to build the best baseball card collection around.
