PackGeek.com - latest rip - Quest for a Gem Mint 1983 OPC Gwynn

Big80s

Hey guys,
I wanted to start a thread and get feedback from you guys on a website I recently put together. The site can be found at PackGeek.com It's basically a forum where I can post videos of live wax and box breaks to share with fellow collectors. For me, opening older wax packs is kind of a poor man's version of treasure hunting - I absolutely love it. I've been enjoying similar videos on YouTube for quite some time now and I figured it was about time for me to give back. The quality of the videos I've posted needs to be improved and I'm hoping to increase my production value a bit (at the moment I've got my poor wife shooting them with a flip video recorder). It's been a fun little side project so far and I hope others will enjoy it as well. Pack break videos are super boring by nature - unless you're ripping really high dollar product or you're pulling some amazing hits. Because of this, I've decided to doctor up the videos with some sound effects.

My question to you guys - what sort of pack/box breaks do you enjoy watching most? I don't have a huge budget behind me, as I just got married recently - so I'm trying to be conservative, yet interesting with my choice of products. I'm planning to focus on 70's & 80's product for the most part, as they're still somewhat affordable and those are the years that I collect.

Thank you guys for letting me introduce my site and I look forward to your feedback.

Jeff

Dboneesq

Jeff ... watched it yesterday ... it was fun. Keep it up. Let us know when you RIP a '52 Hi # pack! LOL

Big80s

<< <i>Jeff ... watched it yesterday ... it was fun. Keep it up. Let us know when you RIP a '52 Hi # pack! LOL >>



Thank you, Doug - I really appreciate it! And it's funny you mention it - PackGeek Rip #5,732 is slated to be a fresh pack of '52 Hi #

BTW - here's a pic of my latest victims - some 80's rack packs I just got in the mail.

jeffcbay

I actually really like watching your rips. The opening "Pack Geek" sound effect is my favorite. Keep it up!

jeffcbay

I really wanted to record my National BBCE Group Rip packs being opened, but once I get those things in my hand, I want them opened like right now. I decided to open them on my couch while watching True Blood on Sunday night. My (5) 1976 BB wax packs and the vampires had something in common that night... they sucked!!

Big80s

Haha - that's too bad about the '76s. Being a Brett collector, I definitely have some of those in my sights. And thank you for the kind words, Jeff. I was on the fence about the opening sound effect, because I assumed some people would be viewing them at work and I honestly didn't want to get anyone in trouble with the intro. However, I wanted these rip videos to be unique and that was the way I chose to set them apart from the others I've seen on the web.

vladguerrero

Great idea for a site, you look familiar, were you involved in the beckett box break rant posts?

Big80s

Thank you, Vlad. I'm not familiar with the Beckett box break rant posts, but I'd be interested in checking them out if you have a link.
Jeff

lwehlers

i really enjoyed you pulling a yount. opening 70's packs is boom or bust most of the time. keep opening they are fun to watch.

stevek

It should be against the law to purchase an unopened pack and not bust it.

Big80s

I appreciate the positive feedback, friends. I know there are a lot of pack collectors out there, and I completely appreciate the idea behind that focus. However, I'm with the rest of you - I've never been able to hang onto unopened material for longer than a few months (at the very most). There's something about opening these packs that brings me back to my childhood.

Let me run a few ideas by you guys. How do you feel about box breaks? Do these videos usually lose your attention after awhile? To break a full box on camera could take a good half hour or so - which IMHO might be a little too long for your audience to hang in there. And secondly, how do you feel about the idea of doing a vending break live? I love vending boxes and they yield some great cards - but is the fun in the breaking of packs?

I'm not trying to turn this into a scientific pack-breaking discussion, just trying to figure out what content you guys would find most interesting.

jswieton

Jeff,

Great website! I loved watching all the rips. I think it would be cool to watch a box break if it is anything from the 70's or early 80's.

MeteoriteGuy

<< <i>Thank you, Vlad. I'm not familiar with the Beckett box break rant posts, but I'd be interested in checking them out if you have a link.
Jeff >>



Googling "youtube beckett box break scam" brings up a couple of beckettites (or maybe beckettese) commentors.

Big80s

<< <i>Jeff,

Great website! I loved watching all the rips. I think it would be cool to watch a box break if it is anything from the 70's or early 80's. >>



Thank you for the feedback! There's one vote for full box breaks.

vladguerrero

<< <i>

<< <i>Thank you, Vlad. I'm not familiar with the Beckett box break rant posts, but I'd be interested in checking them out if you have a link.
Jeff >>



Googling "youtube beckett box break scam" brings up a couple of beckettites (or maybe beckettese) commentors. >>



yeah, couldn't find the guy i was thinking of though, i pm'd him the story and resulting upper deck scandal...

Dboneesq

Hey Jeff ... I have a couple of packs (MANTLE Series) you can buy ... Image the following you would have if you had a LIVE RIP????

grote15

Great site...very entertaining...would love to see more 70s packs as they relatively reasonably priced but can yield so real high end cards!

Big80s

<< <i>Hey Jeff ... I have a couple of packs (MANTLE Series) you can buy ... Image the following you would have if you had a LIVE RIP???? >>



Those packs are amazing!! I'd could offer you about $20 each at the moment. Deal? But seriously - those packs are incredible. Did you pick them up from BBCE?

Grote: I'm on the same page with you - I'm probably going to shoot for as much 70's material as possible.

kingnascar

Great site ! Those 75 Topps packs take me back to when I was 15 and opened a case of 1975 Topps baseball.
I knew every card as you went through each pack Thanks for reliving my memories.
I love the site.

Logan

Big80s

<< <i>Great site ! Those 75 Topps packs take me back to when I was 15 and opened a case of 1975 Topps baseball.
I knew every card as you went through each pack Thanks for reliving my memories.
I love the site.

Logan
>>



Much appreciated, Logan. I still have yet to pull a Brett rookie (my #1 Pull Goal), so there will be more '75 baseball rips to come. Stay tuned.

ThoseBackPages

Dont forget about the other sports!

divecchia

site...

Would love to see more rips.

Keep up the good work...Donato

Big80s

<< <i>Dont forget about the other sports! >>



Not to worry - I'll be opening a little of everything. On the page titled "Geek Mission" I list my pull goals which are as follows:
1. George Brett rookie
2. Jordan rookie
3. Gretzky rookie (OPC)
4. Jerry Rice rookie
5. Mickey Mantle (any regular issue cards)

I plan to open lots of other stuff, but I at least needed some goals.

Big80s

New videos posted:

1982 & 1983 Donruss Baseball grocery packs

1982, 1983 & 1984 Fleer grocery rack packs

Enjoy!

Big80s

Busted a 1985 Topps Baseball vending box earlier and put it on video. However, the box appeared to be searched and yielded very few decent cards (the best of which I've posted a scan of below). Watch out for the searched vending product out there.

hammered

It was probably searched during the McGwire craze of a decade ago

beef316

if it was searched, I'm not sure why that fine looking Clemens was in there...

jeffcbay

I can't really tell by the picture of the opened box to see if it looks tampered-with, but I've learned not to expect every star card out of one vending box. I opened four '85 Topps Vending Boxes in our BBCE March Group Rip this year, and out of those four boxes, here are my results:

(2) McGwire - subbed both, 8 & 7
(3) Clemens - subbed two of them, both 8
(2) Puckett - subbed both, 8 & 7
(3) Ryan - all OC really bad... none worth subbing
(4) Ripken - all are 80/20 t/b

Your Clemens looks better than mine did. Honestly, I really wouldn't jump to the conclusion that it was searched.

Big80s

<< <i>I can't really tell by the picture of the opened box to see if it looks tampered-with, but I've learned not to expect every star card out of one vending box. I opened four '85 Topps Vending Boxes in our BBCE March Group Rip this year, and out of those four boxes, here are my results:

(2) McGwire - subbed both, 8 & 7
(3) Clemens - subbed two of them, both 8
(2) Puckett - subbed both, 8 & 7
(3) Ryan - all OC really bad... none worth subbing
(4) Ripken - all are 80/20 t/b

Your Clemens looks better than mine did. Honestly, I really wouldn't jump to the conclusion that it was searched. >>



Thanks Jeff - that actually makes me feel a lot better about this one. It is a big set afterall, I can't expect to pull all the big hits out of one vending. I was just frustrated to not pull a single McGuire, Puckett, Brett, Ryan, Mattingly, Gwynn or Ripken out of the whole box. It seems like the odds would be stacked highly in favor of me at least pulling a few of those.

jeffcbay

With the quality (or lack there of) of vending boxes, I'm really starting to believe people when they say the order of "where to pull nice cards from" is Rack, Wax, Cello, then Vending. (wax and cello can be interchangeable, in my opinion)

grote15

Wax is definitely a better option than cello if you're looking for gradable cards..

Big80s

All of this said, I cracked a box of '85 OPC Baseball yesterday and it was awesome! Tons of hits (nearly every pack) and lots of gradeables. Of course the OPC set is less than 400 cards, while the Topps counterpart is nearly 800 strong.

Big80s

The latest pick ups...



And here's my dilemma...



I will definitely rip the rest of the packs, because afterall - what is a pack-ripping website without some rips. However, do I hang on to the '77 rack with the Sutter rookie showing? There's a dig on the center of the bottom border of the card, but it appears that the Sutter card is the only one with that damage. I'd love to get your opinions on this.

Thanks.

jeffcbay

Leave it sealed, sell to a person interested in star RCs on top, use that money to buy another rack, and rip away!

Big80s

Charlie9

Sorry I missed this the first time around. Great site and nice job on the videos. I run a similiar site although mine is for group breaks which right now means newer issued products with all the chase cards of Autos and GU. I have found that anything over 5 minutes will usually lose the audience so I keep the rips to boxes that are usually 6 packs or less so it can be done in that short time frame. After watching your videos I may need to spice mine up a bit more! We break mostly FB but dabble in the other sports as well with a Multi-Sport group. I love what your doing though and have wanted to put together a Vintage Wax Busters group for years now but I can never garner quite enough interest as most of my regulars are modern collectors. I have a 72 and 75 pack rip on my site but it's mostly the new stuff. I don't mean to hijack the thread but wouldn't mind if you took a look at my site and offered suggestions as well but in the mean time keep up the good work as it's always fun to watch a vintage bust. In case you're interested, here's my site;

Boxbreakers Group Breaks

Big80s

Hey Charlie!
Thanks for checking out PackGeek. I look forward to watching some of you videos! I agree - the five minute mark is a good threshold for internet videos. It's unfortunate, because I love a good box break - but it just doesn't go well with the format of my site.

Charlie9

Thanks, I'd appreciate the look. Check out the Topps Sterling BB rip from the June Multi-Sport break...gorgeous 8 piece memorabilia card of Babe Ruth!

Big80s

Hey Charlie!
Checked out the site and I really enjoyed it. You've got a lot of material on there!

ThoseBackPages

<< <i>The latest pick ups...



And here's my dilemma...



I will definitely rip the rest of the packs, because afterall - what is a pack-ripping website without some rips. However, do I hang on to the '77 rack with the Sutter rookie showing? There's a dig on the center of the bottom border of the card, but it appears that the Sutter card is the only one with that damage. I'd love to get your opinions on this.

Thanks. >>



VERY nice!

did you buy the Sutter rack knowing he was on it? Do you shop at BBCE?

Big80s

<< <i>

VERY nice!

did you buy the Sutter rack knowing he was on it? Do you shop at BBCE? >>



I didn't. I would never order a pack with a star showing - with intentions of opening it. I think they make really cool collectibles. I ordered a rack of '77s with no stars showing and ended up getting the Sutter pack. Two of the cards showing had dings on their bottom borders and I was really worried about selling it and the buyer being unhappy with the condition of the star card (Sutter). So I pulled the BST thread down where I was trying to sell it and against my better judgment - opened the pack. And yes - I only buy material from BBCE for the PackGeek blog.

grote15

Time to bust that 75 rack!

ThoseBackPages

Very cool of Steve to send that type of pack out as a "regular" pack

Big80s

Steve is definitely a class act. And Grote - the packs are open and I'm editing the videos today. I hope to have something to post for you all soon.

kingbeeswax

Great page!

Big80s

Hope to finish editing the new videos today, but for now - a little taste (SPOILER ALERT)...
















Bought ten packs of '86 Topps Football - and pulled these two. I probably should have stopped opening after that, but I can't help myself around a bunch of unopened packs.

ThoseBackPages

<< <i>Hope to finish editing the new videos today, but for now - a little taste (SPOILER ALERT)...
















Bought ten packs of '86 Topps Football - and pulled these two. I probably should have stopped opening after that, but I can't help myself around a bunch of unopened packs. >>



the one on the left seems to have good centering for that card

Big80s

It's the best centered Rice rookie that I've ever owned. The other one is sharp, but the centering isn't nearly as nice.

Big80s

Here's a better shot of the card...



It looks like the two left corners might both have a touch on them.

kingbeeswax

Nice! I have 2 packs of 86 Football(along with more packs and boxes) coming to me tomorrow from BBCE...hope I get one!!

Big80s

Good luck! They're fun packs to open.