Case Breaker of the Week: Cards Infinity

Case Breaker of the Week is a bi-monthly feature that focuses on case breakers throughout the Hobby. This week we spoke to Chris J. from Cards Infinity.

Case Breaker of the Week is brought to you by GTS Distribution, the Hobby’s leading supplier for sports and entertainment collectibles.

BM: How did you get involved in collecting?

CJ: I started collecting sports cards, like a ton of people, in the mid to late 80’s. I was in my early teens and just loved opening football and baseball packs from Topps. I would always love going to the local hobby store and buying packs of cards. The excitement of not knowing who was inside was always a thrill to me.

BM: What is your favorite all-time card?

CJ: That is a tough one. I would have to say the 1986 Donruss Jose Canseco Rookie. While that card has little value today, it meant the world to me as child. I always wanted that card for some reason. I remember is was hard to find those packs/boxes. It seemed every store had Topps only. Well for Christmas my parents broke down and bought me a box of 86 Donruss. Oh, it was so fun opening that box and you would know it, I pulled the Jose Canseco rookie card. A close second would be the Michael Jordan Fleer Rookie Card. Michael Jordan grew up in my hometown of Wilmington, so I always was a big fan of MJ.

BM: What lead you to case breaking?

CJ: I actually came up with the idea of breaking boxes online, for customers, back in early 2007. I thought that it would be so cool, if people would buy boxes from my hobby store and let me open them on video and upload the video for all to see on YouTube. Everyone said that it wouldn’t work. They told me that all the fun is people opening their own packs of cards and no one would let me open their boxes. Well 12 years later, people still do enjoy it. It has changed a bit since I started back in 2007. Back then I would break and upload the videos, but today everything is done LIVE on YouTube, Breakers, etc.

BM: How long have you been breaking?

CJ: I have been breaking personal boxes and group breaks since 2007. I started my website in August, 2007.

BM: What’s your favorite part of being a case breaker?

CJ: There are several “Favorite” parts to being a case breaker. One is all the people you chat with on the LIVE feed. It is a lot of fun talking with people whilst breaking boxes and sharing the experience with them. The best part is that you get to see all these amazing cards, that you wouldn’t be able to break without case group breaking. We wouldn’t be able to open Transcendent, Diamond Icons, Eminence, etc without case breaking. Most people couldn’t afford it. Bringing all the collectors together to pitch in on a case, then crack it, is the best part.

BM: What’s the coolest experience so far?

CJ: Probably breaking Transcendent WWE Wrestling. I had a lot fun breaking that and I know the WWE fans are die-hard fans with their cards. It was a lot of fun opening a product of that price point. But with that said, there were tons and tons of cool breaking experiences over the years.

BM: You have a unique angle on breaking, mind explaining that?

CJ: The serial #d breaks is an idea I came up with about 3 to 5 years ago. There were breakers doing the 25-spot serial #d breaks, where all the cards in the product were #d to 25 or less. I came up with the idea of doing a 10-spot serial break, where you only use the last # on the left side of the serial #. I.e. 47/99 would go to the 7-spot. 114/199 would go to the 4-spot etc. It is a lot of fun and you are never stuck with a bad team. The corny jokes are just fun :)

BM: How often do you break?

CJ: For years I broke Monday through Saturday. But now it’s Monday through Friday. I am thinking of adding a couple nights in the future. I own a hobby store, so I spend most of the day hours breaking and the night hours packing cards.

BM: How many people do you have working with/for you?

CJ: Right now it is just me. I have had people help me package cards and watch the front of the store in the past. My fiance helps me print labels every now and again!

BM: What’s your favorite thing to break?

CJ: That is a tough one. Like everyone in the world, I love opening just about all high-end products. Those products have the best odds of hitting the monster cards, 1/1’s, etc. Products like Flawless, CUP, NT, Diamond Icons, Immaculate, Definitive, Transcendent & NT… You said NT twice. I like NT :D