Break of a Different Kind

About a year ago, I gave up on group breaks.  You lose more than you win and don't even get the joy of opening cards.  The final straw for me was paying $50 for the Blackhawks in a break where they had the most hits in the set.  I walked away with 0 cards.  For $50.

I have done a few vintage set breaks with Burl's Sports and will do more in the future.  No matter what, you still at least come away with a vintage card in every spot.

LINK: 1956 Topps Baseball Set Break from BurlsSports.com

While searching eBay for Stephen Johns items, I came across a seller (collect_edition_montreal  on eBay) that was doing breaks by player.  I'd heard of them before, but had never participated.  The one that intrigued me was a half-case break, the starting bid was just 99 cents and shipping was free.

I ended up winning the auction for Johns (for $2.01) and Stan Mikita (for 99 cents).  With the free shipping, my total was $3 and it was coming from Canada.  If I had walked away empty-handed, I wasn't going to be upset at that low of a price.  

A half case should yield 36 Young Guns.  There are 50 in series 2, so odds were around 65% that a Stephen Johns would come out.  One did.

2016-17 Upper Deck #481 Stephen Johns

It wasn't a UD Exclusives (/100) or a High Gloss (/10), but for $3, I am thrilled.

To be honest, I didn't even know what Stan Mikita card was in the set.  I figured it was a stick card of some sort and odds would be long.  It was worth a 99 cent shot.  It paid off.

2016-17 Upper Deck Canvas #C255 Stan Mikita

I was watching the live stream and did a double take on this one.  The breaker was in Canada and had a French accent, so I thought maybe my ears were playing tricks on me.  Nope.  The Retired players Canvas are 1:192 packs (1:8 boxes) and there are 15 players in the set, making the odds on this 1:120 boxes.

For me, that was $3 well spent.