A Rare Find
I don’t remember who said it, but a fellow card blogger mentioned he was sticking strictly to Hobby Packs (Update: It was Mario at Wax Heaven). After a string of some really horrible retail busts, I’m agreeing with him. It’s just not worth it. If I’m going to put down my hard earned cash, I want the odds tipped (however slightly) in my favor.
My resolve has already been tested and I have already given in to temptation. While doing some fatherly shopping (picking up diapers) at the local Meijer (a Midwest Walmart Clone), I came across this:
Huh? I was immediately attracted to the recognizable “SP” logo and the Upper Deck logo all over the outer plastic wrapper, but something didn’t seem right. I had never seen a box of “SP” before. No “SP Authentic” or “SPx”, just “SP”. I was intrigued, so I threw one in the cart and kept shopping. Since I want all the chances at getting some LeBron James cards, Upper Deck is my only chance. You’ve got to go with what you’ve got.
When I got home, I checked Upper Deck’s site, which was most unhelpful. No mention of a “SP”. The Checklist site was even worse. As far as I could tell, Upper Deck doesn’t claim ownership to this line. Very strange.
Finally, after a little more sleuthing and searching, I came across 2007 Basic SP. This is a SP Authentic parallel, it appears. Having been out of the hobby for a while, I’m still a little fuzzy on what that means, but I’ve now got 8 Basic SP packs to break. I’ll probably jump the queue to post one or two of these soon. They cards don’t look bad, but they’re certainly not on the level of SPx or Authentic. A poor-man’s version, I guess.
5 Responses to “A Rare Find”
By Joey on Feb 29, 2008 | Reply
These had me baffled too. When I went to Sportlots to put the singles on the site I expected them to have them listed similar to the 2007 Fleer Ultra Baseball cards with the retail versions listed as Retail. But instead they apparently haven’t added this retail only series to the site yet.
By the way I just subscribed to your feed.
By Tony on Mar 4, 2008 | Reply
@Joey – I was a bit disappointed when I got these home. I thought I hit the SP/retail jack pot, but I was denied! I’ve had a couple nice pulls from my box, though.
Thanks for subscribing, too!
By kevin on Apr 1, 2008 | Reply
good post…i found it via googling “sp NOT spx” after my wal-mart impulse too proved stronger than my resolve…any idea on where to find price guide? not in basketball beckett or tuff stuff…
By Tony on Apr 2, 2008 | Reply
@Kevin – Thanks for the comment. I couldn’t resist the impulse, either. Now I’m seeing these “SP” boxes show up everywhere. I haven’t seen any prices yet, either. But if I find anything, I’ll let you know.
By horn on Dec 2, 2008 | Reply
I bot 3 boxes of these and got Durant auto’d to 399 just like the SP-A set. Funny.