It’s hot outside (yes, even at 5,400 feet above sea level) and it’s still crazy hot inside the shop as well. It seemed like some of the sports card world took a few weeks off, but collectors are back almost as strong as they were back in February and March. I just tried to restock some 2020 NFL and found that one distributor was above every sell price on Dealernet which might be an indicator of things to come.
I am really excited to be part of helping host the largest card show that Denver has seen. I’ve help put together a ~200 table show with autograph signers and more. It’s set for this weekend at the National Western Complex. After seeing so many larger shows happening, it was important to me to give Colorado collectors the same experience that so many others have enjoyed. I was inspired by my first visit to The National two years ago and a May trip to Dallas gave me more motivation to make sure the collectors here could enjoy what so many other cities and states have been for some time.
Should you be visiting town for the MLB All-Star game or looking for a good reason to cross Denver off your places to visit list, we’d be happy to have you learn more.
Of course the shop is going to be open for you to enjoy as well while you are in town and we’ll have the Topps truck parked outside the shop on Friday from 10-3 for prizes and surprises.
Beyond this shameless self-promotion, I’ve also been helping collectors enjoy oodles of boxes at the same time. As always, here’s a list of the current top 5 selling products at the shop:
1) 2021 Topps Stadium Club MLB
When Stadium Club landed, I wanted to offer my collectors a bit of a reward. I went live at $99 per box when it seemed that most sellers were in the $129 range. It helped that I had over 100 boxes to work with, but it meant more to me to be a little more competitive than the online guys. Clearly collectors can find a good deal since I am down to 4 or 5 boxes at the shop.
Boxes still offer 2 autographs per and while it seems that pulling big name veterans isn’t exactly the easiest thing to do, there are loads of desirable players to hunt like Trout, Acuna, Chipper, Ichiro, Mattingly, Ripken, Ryan and more. For me to restock them, I’ll have to be at $119 or more so if you live up the street, feel free to enjoy one of my last few.
2) 2021 Panini Select MLB
When Select landed, I pretty much did what I did with Stadium Club. I saw boxes running for $229 or so online and I went with first day pricing of $179 to my regulars. Clearly they liked the price and these boxes delivered 2 autos per and 2 relics along with oodles of individually numbered parallels.
For the most part, I have also seen rookie autos emerge from hobby b0xes, but there are veteran autos possible of Judge, Ortiz, Piazza, Chipper (man he gets around), McGwire, Hoskins, Sosa and more for those of you who don’t live and die on every rookie. Boxes have softened a bit and I’m glad that nobody who shopped with me has to say they spent $200+ on a box.
3) 2020 Leaf Trinity MLB
So let me get this right…2020 Trinity MLB released on June 25, 2021? I’m thinking of the scene from Animal House where Jim Belushi goes on the rant and yells about Germany bombing Pearl Harbor and they let it go because he’s on a roll. All good since once my collectors got a glimpse of Trinity, they fell for it head over heels.
Boxes contain 6 autographs and the signed patch cards rival any high end release ever made. Seriously, most patches are 1/1 worthy in any other release with monster pieces of letters or OMG pieces of logo materials.
In addition to tomorrow’s stars today, there are autographs of well-known players like Acuna, Tatis, Dominguez, Franco, Torkelson and more to appease those who do not consume Baseball Digest from front to back.
Boxes started off at $149 at the shop and were the highlight of tonight’s You Call It as even more collectors had their first chance to see some for themselves.
4) 2021 Panini Legacy NFL
I completely expected to be talking about 2021 Panini Prizm Draft NFL at this point, but at my shop at least, Legacy is selling at a better clip. After debuting last year and making us feel better about Classics not being a release anymore, Legacy offers 2 autographs per hobby box instead of perhaps 2 autos and collectors are digging the 16 pack format.
Each pack seems to offer a great mix of rookies, the signatures, inserts and parallels. Also inspiring shredding are the low numbered dual autographed cards as well as the Dare To Tear insert cards. Throw in the lightning chance or pulling a Tom Brady signed card and yes, I’m moving more boxes of this than 2021 Contenders Draft, Prizm or Score.
5) 20/21 Panini Impeccable NBA
This is an interesting one for sure. With 20/21 NBA releases performing well, but not quite making us forget about 19/20 NBA releases, Impeccable was a strong surprise to hobby shops and to collectors. It was no surprise that boxes offer 5 hits and the hope for a cool metal card with either silver or possibly gold on them.
When Impeccable hit, I was happy to roll out of mine for market price since the last few NBA releases had hit and softened slightly. Impeccable has not only held its own, but it has done so well that I regret moving off my direct allocation at what I did.
So I have a few more days of burning the candle at both ends even more than usual before enjoying Shohei Ohtani hitting bombs in the Home Run Challenge and elevating himself even more than he recently has. I’m also looking forward to taking my son to see his first All-Star Game and watching him get into sports more than he already is. It’s a chance to make a memory that will hopefully stick with him as only the game of baseball can.
Now to make sure the show doors open on time, the vendors have a killer weekend and the collectors of Colorado also have a chance to make some memories that last a lifetime as well.
Mike Fruitman owns Mike’s Stadium Sportscards in Aurora, CO. His column normally focuses on what products are selling best in hobby shops. He’s got thousands of cards for sale on COMC.com under the ID cardmn5150. You can email him at cardmn5150@aol.com.