O/T a bit. This really upsets me.

[GrayGhost]

I know we talk bout forged autographs, doctored cards, etc, but this REALLY pisses me off. Especially in todays economy, and the way it is w people who buy the new product.

http://www.sportscollectorsdaily.com...or-free-cards/

Great article and sadly, been true, for a long time...

[vintagetoppsguy]

I remember going to the department stores as a kid and searching the rack packs and cellos for stars/rookies on top or back. I really didn't think much of it back then and really don't today. After all, everybody had the same advantage - all things were equal. It was just a matter of who made it to the department stores first.

I look at pack searching a lot differently. They're taking the advantage away from kids with tools such as digital scales. Come on, that's ridiculous. Things like this only drive the kids away from the hobby. It's really sad what some people will do.

[timzcardz]

It is not limited to just reasealing packs with older commons.

I now of someone a few years ago that picked up a blaster box at Target or similar type store and when opening it at home found a bar of soap inside instead of cards. Plus, it had the manufacturer's shrink wrap on it too.

Some can take Topps or UD, etc., shrink wrap from a larger box, such as a hobby box, and re-use it to cleanly re-shrinkwrap a smaller box.

[vintagetoppsguy]

I'm glad I don't buy the shiny crap.

[GrayGhost]

True David, but many people do, and this is really sad. So much garbage to deal with in what IMO is the world's greatest hobby.

[novakjr]

I remember back in 1993(I was only 13), at Kmart I'd always con my mom into getting me a pack or two. Well, apparently someone had been opening all the packs right there in the store, and taking what they wanted. Maybe 8-10 packs worth were open... So I went to an employee and asked him about buying the pile, thinking I could get a lot of cards for less that way. They said that since they were opened they'd probably have to throw 'em out and that I could just have the opened ones.... Midway through the pile was a '93 stadium club first day issue of Cal Ripken. I was happy as hell.

[slidekellyslide]

Are kids really buying these $3-$4 packs of cards? I don't see any...ever.

[Tabe]

Originally Posted by vintagetoppsguy

I'm glad I don't buy the shiny crap.

Yeah, at least you're safe with the older stuff. No fraud or rewrapped packs/boxes of cards at all.



Tabe

[bbcard1]

Originally Posted by Tabe

Yeah, at least you're safe with the older stuff. No fraud or rewrapped packs/boxes of cards at all.



Tabe

Yes, and no need to worry about trimming, alterations, crooked grading companies, etc.....

[T206Collector]

I spent many hours in stores as a kid in the mid-1980's searching through rack packs without opening them. All you have to do is slide the cards to the top of the segmented baggy and then you can with your fingernail slide each card down, one at a time, and read the names on the back. Then you just buy the ones with Canseco in them!

[vintagetoppsguy]

Originally Posted by T206Collector

Then you just buy the ones with Canseco in them!

Do you still have them? You must be sitting on a gold mine!

[bh3443]

Originally Posted by slidekellyslide

Are kids really buying these $3-$4 packs of cards? I don't see any...ever.

I never see any kids buying them these days at my Target. However, my wife, our adult children, and many of my friends buy them for me religiously. Ever time I go to Target I buy a blaster box or more.
I've seen pack searchers and they are dealers that used to set up at my shows. These guys have been doing it for decades. (Fast Eddie and the boys)
Speaking of shows, one of my old customers was busted for drugs a while ago and the police found a digital scale and a shrink wrap machine. The guy was quoted in the news saying they were for searching BB card packs.
I don't care if people want to smoke weed but searching packs and re-sealing boxes is something I despise. I not a fan of snitching, but I warned a few pack searchers to stay out of MY TARGET. So, if you are near my house I can say that my Target's wax is pretty 'virgin".
Thanks for sharing this thread. I wonder where this happened?
Regards,
Bill Hedin

[Tabe]

Originally Posted by T206Collector

I spent many hours in stores as a kid in the mid-1980's searching through rack packs without opening them. All you have to do is slide the cards to the top of the segmented baggy and then you can with your fingernail slide each card down, one at a time, and read the names on the back. Then you just buy the ones with Canseco in them!

One of my favorite memories from card collecting as a kid was going to Meijer's one night and discovering they'd just put out '87 Donruss rack packs. '87 Donruss was tough enough to find let alone rack packs. So I started looking through them for various stars. Anyway, my mom came by and asked what I was doing. I told her - and she sat down on the floor with me as we looked through the packs for a good 20 minutes to find all the superstars. My mom was cool like that. One summer when I was complaining about not having anybody to catch for me, she went out and bought a glove so I could pitch to her.

And then I went home and OPENED them.

Mark McGwire wasn't yet on the radar so I ended up with a lot of Wade Boggs and Roger Clemens and "superstars" rather than hot rookies. I bought a ton of '87 Donruss and somehow never got a McGwire. WTF.

Tabe

[steve B]

The Target near me is fairly clean. I've seen a guy searching packs, but it was weird. He'd feel the pack then set some aside. he set aside about 10 while I was watching. Actually outright staring at one point, which didn't seen to bother him even though he was making an effort to hide what he was doing. He then put back all of them and took 3 others that he hadn't felt.
Very strange.

I've gotten some good stuff from the packs and blaster boxes, so he may not be any good at the searching.
Best pull was a Pujols, Howard, some other guy triple autograph/equipment fragment card from a Gypsy Queen blaster.
I also bought a whole box of Gypsy Queen they'd put out but not opened. I had to tell them to ring it in as 24 packs since the box UPC code rang in as 1 pack. (Plus it had a "not a box sale" sticker, still had to tell them)

I'm now having my wife pick the packs as often as possible. She's beaten the published odds by a wide margin.... 2 packs 2 game used cards... Blaster, game used, auto, and a 3-4 more special cards. And I'm very certian she's not checkingin any way. Yes, I know statistics, but when things are going well it can't hurt to just go along.

Steve B

[xdrx]

It seems like new baseball card sales should be regulated like the lottery or any other form of gambling. I'm down to my last $5. Should I try to pick the winning lotto numbers tonight or buy a pack of cards and hope to hit the jackpot with a swatch of game-used Josh Hamilton shirt with some tobacco juice spittle on it?

[bh3443]

That's the way to do it, Steve! The best packs I've opened are the one's my wife picks out. I'm glad to see you have the same theory! Hoping you and your family are well!
Bill Hedin

I'm now having my wife pick the packs as often as possible. She's beaten the published odds by a wide margin.... 2 packs 2 game used cards... Blaster, game used, auto, and a 3-4 more special cards. And I'm very certian she's not checkingin any way. Yes, I know statistics, but when things are going well it can't hurt to just go along.

Steve B[/QUOTE]

[Cardboard Junkie]

Hey Guys!! Anybody got a wife I can borrow? (for card pack selection) get your mind out of the gutter.. Hey Bill! I dig it! I'd rather burn some herb than go to targets anyday! hee hee! dave.

[kcohen]

These shenanigans are a logical result of the emphasis on inserts and chase cards and a general coarsening of society. As the modern card industry has turned into a version of legalized gambling, is it not to be expected that there are those who will try to game the "house?" Kind of like cards counters at the black jack table.

If such "collectors" are the future of the hobby, maybe it's time to get out.

[majordanby]

ive had this happen to me once. bought a pack back in the mid 2000's from a Target. Came back home, opened it up and found a couple of 1986 Topps cards mixed in. And they werent even mint.

As a kid, my local grocery store kept all the boxes and packs in a glass case behind a counter. You had to get a clerk to open up the case and he hands you the box or pack you want. They also did this at my local Coscto.

[GrayGhost]

My buddy has a hobby store and if someone wants a pack, he holds the box out and they pick one by pointing. and he gives it to them. He has had MANY top pulls of the newer stuff due to this and the fact that HE doesn't mess w stuff.

[HOF Yankees]

i agree singles for me, and i will never spend money on shiny modern garbage