Baseball Card Nation

I've been in and out of the baseball card hobby since 2001. The main reason I got involved was because Ichiro was a rookie that year and I live in Washington state so naturally I became a fan the first year he showed up on the Mariners. I started out with the low end product buying Upper deck series 2 hobby boxes and Topps series 2 boxes trying to find Ichiro rookie cards. I pulled a handful of Ichiro rookies along with Albert Pujols rookie cards who was also a phenom rookie that year. To my surprise I pulled an Alex Rodriguez game used autograph card while hunting for Ichiro rookie cards. I looked at it and didn't know what it was at first since it was a piece of cardboard saying I pulled a redemption card. Now at first I didn't think anything of it because I never knew these kinds of cards existed but I mailed it into Upperdeck and a card was sent back to me a couple months later in the mail and it was an autograph game used card of A-Rod. I was in shock as to see these kinds of cards existed as I wasn't keeping up on the hobby when I bought my first few products as you can tell. After I pulled that card I immediately got hooked on the hobby of card collecting. I bought more expensive boxes like SP authentic, Upper deck Reserve, SP legendary cuts, and some of the other high end product. I pulled an Ichiro Rookie from Sp authentic, a Pujols Rookie from Upper deck Reserve and UD gold glove. The thrill of pulling a great card from a hobby box is exciting I msut say and can be addicting as well if you pull great cards often out of hobby boxes. The most exciting and rarest pull I've had to date is a 2004 leaf certified cuts Greg Maddux game used prime autograph card numbered 1/1. As you can probably imagine I was jumping up and down at this amazing pull from a very high end product. A lot of product even the higher end stuff is hit or miss meaning either you will pull a once in a lifetime card or get a bunch of cards that wouldnt end up being worth half as much as you paid for the box itself but thats the risk you run in this hobby and thats part of the thrill of the great pull. Every box now adays gives you the opportunity to pull atleast one autograph and game used card per box even in the low end product. However, those cards might be of common players or people who arent really collectible material. Therefore, I choose to open mostly all high end product to have a better chance to pull something amazing. I have come to the conclusion that if you enjoy building sets to go with the lower end product but if you enjoy collecting high end low serial numbered cards go with the higher end product as you spend more but have a better chance of pulling those cards that make you go wow! This is my first blog but in future blogs I will write about every box I open and what I pulled. Thank you for taking the time to read my blog!