I know there are horror stories all over this website ,but of course I never thought this would happen to me. There have been other documented instances of theft by this now former streamer, but i have fallen victim to @808picknpullz. I had the following Ohtani card stolen by gutter residing scumbag, Keigan Graham. If any of y'all ever see this card surface, I would be beyond grateful for the help.

UPDATE: He has gotten in touch with me and is claiming to put the card in the mail tonight. If true, a MASSIVE thank you to this community! Time will tell

Should I?

Topps Cosmic Chrome is my absolute favorite product in the Topps baseball line. (To each their own, I know). I bought three cases in 2022. Then in 2023 it jumped from $185 a box north of $275. I only got one case. Then last year it was $350 a box. I just bought two individual boxes.

Fast forward to 2025 and we’re now at $549 a box. Up 295% from its release pricing just three years ago.

For the first time, I won’t be buying any boxes at all.

Michael Rubin and Fanatics are a cancer on this hobby. They’ve gone full heel turn and taken on the villain role; and he doesn’t even pretend to give a shit.

He’s catering exclusively to breakers. He’s basically told me; and all the other average everyday buyers of wax, that we’re no longer needed.

Please. I’m asking you. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD.

STOP BUYING INTO BREAKS. STOP PAYING THE INSANE PRICES THAT FANATICS IS SELLING FOR.

If you all keep buying; they’ll keep raising prices higher and higher; with no end in sight.

SAVE THE HOBBY. STOP BUYING TOPPS/FANATICS.

And before all you “it’s free market economics blah blah blah” people chime in… no. It’s not.

The Hobby has become a casino. It’s gone from an industry who sold to fathers and sons; to one that uses every trick in the book to make you believe you’re one pack away from life changing money. The lights. The noise. The breaker screaming at the top of their lungs. The bullshit “that spot is paid” (when it’s def not). It’s all a psy-op to get you more addicted to the point you can’t stop.

The one and ONLY thing that will combat this; is to stop buying. Period.

oh, cool. cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool. no doubt, no doubt, no doubt

Is he trying to sell those to me?

Anyone? I'm an avid baseball fan and collector and had to look up who Shay Whitcomb was, .167 career batting average across 4 seasons, 57 games total.

Feels bad to get this as a "hit".

also, I believe this should be a rookie card. he only has 95 MLB at bats across his mlb seasons.

edit:I did just get a /10 Landen Roupp auto so I'm happy about that, doesn't have to be a big name.

edit2:for anyone wondering the mega boxes are 100% mappable so don't buy loose packs. I opened 4 boxes in the exact same order and the autos, numbered cards, mini diamonds, and inserts all came out of the same location in the box.

Just pathetic. Won this card fair and square. Some people shouldnt be allowed on Ebay.

Any thoughts one how much this should go for?

Ruining it for the average person.

What’s the worst autograph in your collection? Mine is Riley Greene. Looks like a toddler drew on it.

This fella (27robb on eBay) won the auction, didn’t submit payment, ghosted my messages, and then told me to keep it because of my messages and proceeded to insult me. Do not sell to this guy!

Luckily for me I’ve never ran into anybody doing this but also my targets and Walmarts in my area refuse to sell cards so 🤷🏻‍♂️.

Taking out the nonsense cards is so transparently lazy and makes the set unnecessary.

2 hits instead of 3 is lame too, but I could live with that as long as I got fun nonsense cards. If I wanted another Reggie Jackson, I’d buy archives.

Who's buying these?!??

This entire release should be boycotted tbh. First, Topps screwed every retail buyer over this morning with that bogus drop. I can't even count how many people I saw posting that they were "in line" for 17 minutes and then kicked out.

Retail price was nearly six dollars per card. And even then... most of you couldn't get a box.

"Sorry, too bad... thanks for trying. But next month we'll drop ANOTHER new series where you can hurry online, spend 20 minutes waiting for the PRIVILEGE of giving us all your money for a product that continues to get worse!" - Topps

Meanwhile retail shops, and eBay sellers, were already selling TONS of these boxes at huge markups. Some were nearly double the price.

So I watched a couple of these breaks from eBay live breakers. IT. IS. FREAKING. HILARIOUS.

I'm not exaggerating - I watched several breaks where people were paying $250 per team for 6-box delight breaks... and each time, about 10 of those teams didn't even have ONE CARD.

On one break I saw, the eBay breaker pulled in about $6,000 for a case of 6 delight boxes. They pulled maybe $200-$300 of cards total!!!

And for those buyers who picked the wrong teams... literally $2,500 of cash flowed to the breaker in return for ZERO CARDS.

The cards I did see?

80-90% worthless. No reputable names on any of the autos. No quality inserts.

So I ask again... what the hell is wrong with some of y'all?!?

I read it in posts every day, "just buy singles" as an alternative to overpriced boxes that many times over are near impossible to purchase at a reasonable MSRP price. And while I understand the concept it still annoys me to read.

Does no one else try to put sets together? Does no one enjoy getting cards they wouldnt purchase at a show? Is everyone just supposed to collect 1 player or one team and thats it?

Am I crazy to think that collecting is about enjoying the visuals, the photography, the stats or comments on the back of a card. Have we as a hobby just forgotten those things. Yes do i buy some singles and yes I enjoy cards of certain teams more then others, but to think thats the only thing in my collection seems so bland and boring to me. Its fun to find cards years after the fact that gained value that you didnt remember having.

I think its worse that we have accepted in many ways that this should just be the new direction. We should want to rip wax, demand that boxes are available to the average collector, how do we do that....no idea.

Ok rant over, buy singles for the cards you want, but that doesnt mean we should be forced to give up the love of ripping wax.

Back in 2022 at the Atlantic City National I went table to table trying to buy this card for $400, and no dealer would budge under $500. One even told me “deGrom rookies always bounce back when hes healthy.” 4 years later and you can buy 20 copies of this card in a PSA 10 for what that dealer wanted. deGroms cards are low pop, his fans loved him, and he seemed like a sure thing hall of famer, but a trade to the Rangers and a few bad years/injuries made them almost worthless.

They want an extra $1300 for the grading.

Edit: i’m an idiot, they did tell me the grade. I just missed it. It’s a 10/10.

Not really sure what the value would be, though that’s a hefty up charge

I've never been so proud to walk by available blasters at Target, rather than pay 40 bucks for one box of cards worth .75 cents.

$40 bucks for a Chrome blaster. It's absurd. How do kids buy cards today? 40 bucks for box of cards that aren't worth anything.

I'm officially done. Topps has gotten their last penny from me.

I'll buy singles and that's it. I hope other people follow - unfortunately they raise the prices like this because they know people will pay whatever they want. But it's not right.

I had the Montgomery club last year and it was the biggest waste of money ever. 200 bucks for two sets worth 120 total. I never got one email about any presales for anything.

I'm done.

I'm good with the downvotes.