National Hobby Box: 2013 Topps Tribute World Baseball Classic Hits

Earlier this month in Chicago, I was invited to the Layton Sports Cards party at Rivers Casino in Rosemont. I've become friends with Rich, who owns the shop in Cape May, NJ, his wife Sara, and Brian, the shop manager.   I've done several group breaks with Rich so far, and he is the best in the business.  More on that in a later post.

What I have to show here are the hits from a World Baseball Classic box I won as a door prize at the LSC party.  This was a major score for a few reasons.  One, the cards are beautiful, there are several hits in the box, and it was one of the hottest boxes of the show due to it being the box you needed to redeem at the Topps booth for a Yasiel Puig Gypsy Queen redemption.  I already sold the Puig for $44 bucks.  Did I mention a box of this cost $145 at the show?  Yeah, big time score.

But it gets even bigger.  Here are the hits:

Nelson Cruz auto.  It's a shame he is steroid-tainted now.  These cards are quite thick and very shiny.

Salvador Perez auto, this one numbered /50.

Another Texas Ranger hit, this time Derek Holland for the good 'ole USA.

Here is a sweet three color patch of Yovani Gallardo.

The last hit I will show is one of the biggest I have ever pulled, and I didn't even know it at the time.  I pulled a logo patch relic card of a South Korean player named Dae Ho Lee.

What makes this so special is that it is a 1/1!!!  A very thick and crisp looking card with a beautiful WBC logo patch on the front.

I have to hand it to South Korean collectors: they have a lot of pride in their country.  This card was put on eBay for 5 days, with a starting bid of 9.99.  It received over 100 bids, and finished with the high bid being $579 dollars.  WOW.  Totally unexpected!

So all in all, this door prize win was super awesome, I'd say.