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Evolution of a new collector's collection.

Hobby vs. Blaster vs. Hanger vs...

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Picking up from my last blog, I had started a collection of 2017 Donruss Football and 2018 Score Football...mainly because these were the first 2 products (and only 2 products) I had purchased to this point. In my mind, I was just going to become a set collector. Going down to my local wal mart, and buying boxes of donruss and score on occasion. But my research into the hobby led me to some terms. Hanger box? Blaster Box? HOBBY BOX??? What in the world...I thought every box was the same? I punched in these boxes on google...Blaster boxes of 2017 donruss for $15? Hanger boxes for $7? Hobby boxes for $80?? What is the difference? I thought I had the same odds of getting an autograph or mem card out of every configuration. This led me to my next lesson in collecting: Get up to speed on the collector's glossary of terms!

I immediately ran down to Wal Mart in search of a hobby box...no luck! I went to Target in search of a hobby box...no luck!!! I did some google-ing on 'Where do I find hobby boxes?'...ahhhhhhh, at the local card shop (LCS as I would soon learn)! Turns out my 'LCS' isn't so local...about 45 minutes away. So, off to baystate sports cards and memorabilia in Framingham MA I went! I walked in, and immediately was overwhelmed. The shelf was full of football, basketball, baseball, hockey cards, different years and different products...I took a mental note to go home and look up all of these products...so I ask the gentleman for a hobby box of 2017 Donruss and 2018 Score. He hands them to me, and I mentioned how I was a new collector and had never purchased a hobby box before. He gave me a brief rundown on the difference between the different formats, and then tossed me a pack of 2018 Classics for my first visit to the store (the completist in me mandated that now I must collect ALL of 2018 Classics, I'll elaborate in another blog post).

I couldn't get home fast enough. I started ripping pack of Donruss...all of the #'d cards! The parallels! The autograph! Man, I didn't know what I was missing!! I started ripping the 2018 Score...pulled what looked like an index card with a sticker on it..."What in the world is this?" I thought...sticker said something like 'Score Rookie Signatures' and had the name 'Baker Mayfield'. Did some research and learned that I had just pulled my first redemption: A Baker Mayfield auto!!! (I would eventually trade this for a Rob Gronkowski rookie auto).

So this was my lesson in hobby vs blaster vs hanger, and my introduction to the collector's glossary of terms. To sum it up, I have come to the conclusion that hobby boxes get you the best odds of a 'hit', while blaster boxes can be great to complete sets and possibly get a hit at a lower price, while hanger/gravity/fat packs are best at completing base sets. For my next blog, I'll write about the youtube channel that REALLY expanded my collecting knowledge!


A couple pics of my 2018 Score Hobby box hits (I ended up getting 3 total - even got the case hit in one of them, Brian Dawkins on card auto!).
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