Justin had been collecting baseball cards for the past 5 years, ever since his uncle first took him to a baseball game at Fenway Park when he was 8 years old. That day sparked a lifelong love of America’s pastime for Justin. Every year on his birthday and for holidays, his parents and grandparents would get him boxes of baseball cards to add to his ever-growing collection.

Justin’s favorite player was David Ortiz, known affectionately to Red Sox Nation as “Big Papi”. He had posters of Ortiz lining the walls of his bedroom and his prized possession was a signed baseball from Ortiz that his Uncle got for him the year the Red Sox won the World Series in 2013. With Ortiz now retired, Justin was on the hunt for new players to focus his collection on.

This year, for his 13th birthday in late June, Justin’s parents said they would take him to the local card shop and he could pick out any 40 packs of cards that he wanted. Justin could barely contain his excitement in the weeks leading up to his birthday. All he talked about with his friends was the new players and rare cards he hoped to pull from the packs.

The big day finally arrived and after opening presents from his family in the morning, Justin’s parents took him to Mike’s Baseball Card Shop in the afternoon. Mike’s had been around for decades and was stacked floor to ceiling with boxes upon boxes of cards. The strong aroma of sports cards and bubble gum hit Justin as he walked in the door, putting a huge smile on his face.

“Alright buddy, you’ve got $40 to spend. Choose your packs wisely!” said Justin’s dad. He handed Justin the $40 in cash and Justin wandered up and down the aisles, inspecting all of the latest series and promotional packs before making his selections. He wanted to maximize his chances of pulling hit cards by getting a variety of products.

After carefully deliberating, Justin decided on the following pack assortment:

10 packs of Topps Series 1 baseball cards
8 packs of Topps Heritage baseball cards
6 packs of Topps Big League inserts
8 packs of Bowman baseball cards
4 packs of Topps Chrome Refractors
2 packs of Topps Golden Moments
2 packs of Allen & Ginter worldwide baseball inserts

Justin took his bounty up to the register to pay. Mike, the friendly owner, wished Justin luck in finding some star rookies and autographed treasures in his haul.

Justin couldn’t wait to get home to tear into the packs. In the car on the way home, he read the stats and bios on the wrappers, hoping to learn about some potential new favorite players. When they arrived, Justin rushed to his room and barricaded the door. He dumped all 40 packs out onto his bed and got to work.

The first few packs yielded some solid veterans like Clayton Kershaw, Jacob deGrom and Manny Machado but no real standouts. A few packs in, Justin hit the jackpot – a gold framed Luis Robert rookie card from Topps Big League. He excitedly showed his parents, who were equally impressed by the pull. It was a sign of more hits to come.

As Justin powered through more packs, he started amassing stacks of rookies like Gavin Lux, Bo Bichette and Jesus Luzardo. He also pulled base cards of budding stars like Ronald Acuña Jr., Fernando Tatis Jr. and Juan Soto. Amidst the stacks of commons, Justin unearthed a handful of numbered parallels and a couple of autographed prospects.

With only a few packs left, Justin’s hits were slowing down but the thrill of the hunt remained. In his second to last pack of Allen & Ginter worldwide baseball cards, a glittering gold card peeked out at him – it was a golden moment autograph card of none other than David Ortiz! Justin let out a howl of joy and showed the prized card to his waiting parents. It was truly the icing on the birthday cake pull.

Justin eagerly tore into his final pack, a Topps Chrome Refractor, hoping to end his opening on a high note. Lo and behold, nestled inside was a beautiful pink refractor parallel of rookie sensation Fernando Tatis Jr.! Justin pumped his fist in triumph – it didn’t get any better than pulling two huge hit cards, including his favorite player Ortiz, from his last few packs.

As Justin sorted and evaluated all the cards from his haul, looking through piles of rookies, parallels and hits, he felt overwhelmed with excitement and gratitude. It had been his most successful card opening ever. He couldn’t wait to show off his new cards to his friends at school and start tracking the progress of all the rookies. Justin’s love of the game and passion for collecting had been reignited – he was already plotting his next card shop visit. It was a birthday he would never forget.