Derek Jeter’s 3,000th hit fan gets his own card
By Chris Olds | Beckett Baseball Editor
If you thought it was tough getting on a baseball card, you should try pulling one.
Specifcially, this one — the 2012 Topps Opening Day card of Christian Lopez, the New York Yankees fan who caught Derek Jeter‘s 3,000th hit ball and gave it back to the future Hall of Famer.
After a week of release, just four copies of the card have surfaced on eBay — one active auction and three that have sold for quite a few packs of the dollar-a-pack product. One copy sold for $59.99, another for $40 (after eight bids) and the first to sell went for just $25.
One collector reported finding just one copy of the card in four cases of the product.
How tough are they to land? Only time will tell as more and more packs get ripped.
Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball magazine. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an email to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.
I’m sure Series 2 will have a card of the guy to sell the first card of the guy that caught Jeter’s 3000th run ball.
Wow! There’s actually people out there ripping cases of this product? I thought it was supposed to be an product for the entry level collector.
Lots of basic products get ripped.
It’s a fairly cheap way of getting cards that get used in Plaques, team sets, cards to
get autographed in person and the like.
Isn’t that the 2011 Design (that I preferred so much)? Why in 2012 Opening Day?
cant wait for the autograph relics from the ushers at the game
they shouldnt have got this guy his own card….they should have got him a salad…..fat boy
From what I hear Jeter had him over for the night and he got a gift baskett and an autographed ball—inscribed—‘ –you fill in the blank. jkg
This does bring up an intresting thought Chris-What would you ask for if you caught a Milestone baseball at a ballpark.
For me picture -auto’d player Bat shoes cap —-or maybe it goes to highest bidder for cold hard cashhhh. just saying…
Lots of people rip the basic Topps set. Apparently, they can make good money selling sets and inserts. I’m familiar with a group that broke 60 cases of series 1. Incidentally, that’s why a lot of these “bonus” programs for basic Topps sets are a bit of a scam for the casual collector. It favors the mass breakers 100%.
Good for Christian, though. He is a stand up guy and deserves his own card.
It’s great that Christian got his own card … Too bad he’ll never be able to pull it out of a pack.
THANKS TOPPS!!!
Frankly I had the same question about the 2011 design. Also this seems more like an inclusion in A&G.