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Cards for Kids
CARDS FOR KIDS This Holiday season, we’re inviting the public to join us in bringing smiles to children through our “Cards for Kids” initiative at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. From Tuesday, November 11th through Thursday, December 18th, sealed cards purchased by you at either of our Shop will make their way to the hospital’s Snowflake Shoppe, where parents can select gifts for their kids who are patients – all of which are free of charge. As a thank you, we’re giving away over $5,000 in gifts to those who make donations. For every item you donate you’ll earn one entry into a massive raffle, with a prize pool of 50 amazing items. Winners will be drawn on Instagram Live on Monday, December 22nd. We can’t wait to see our community step up to the plate to make this Holiday season special for kids who don’t get to spend it at home. MEET BOONE PROGRAM PRIZES Every donation helps brighten a child’s holiday — and gives you a chance to win incredible prizes, including: 💳 Hit Seekers Gift Cards 🏷️ Free Value Grading Submission 👕 Hit Seekers Hoodie 🔴 Red Slab Mags ⚾ Hunter Greene Autographed Memorabilia Lot (Ball, Jersey & Picture) 🔥 Ronald Acuña Jr. JSA-Authenticated Signed Jersey 🧱 Zion Slab Case X (3-Row, Holds 70–110 Cards) 🏀 2023-24 Topps NBA Royalty Hobby Box 🖼️ Fanatics-Authenticated Victor Wembanyama Framed Jersey 🏈 2024 Panini Immaculate Football Hobby Box
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Bowman Chrome Bonanza Packs Checklist
2013 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects Aaron Judge Autograph PSA 8 (Auto 10) 2016 Bowman Chrome Aaron Judge Prime Positions Autograph PSA 10 2017 Bowman Draft Juan Soto Chrome Refractor PSA 10 2018 Bowman Shohei Ohtani PSA 10 2023 Bowman Chrome NSCC Christian Hernandez Superfractor 1/1 PSA 10 2023 Bowman Draft Jacob Wilson Chrome Prospect Autograph Sparkle Refractor PSA 9 2023 Bowman Elly De La Cruz Scouts Top 100 Autograph PSA 9 2024 Bowman Rolphy Cruz Chrome Prospect Purple PSA 10 2024 Bowman Ryan Burrowes Chrome Prospect Autograph Blue PSA 9 2024 Bowman Brice Matthews Chrome Prospect Blue Shimmer PSA 10 2024 Bowman Walker Jenkins Chrome Prospect Autograph Blue PSA 9 2024 Bowman Walker Jenkins Chrome Prospect Orange Shimmer PSA 10 2024 Bowman Draft Kellon Lindsey Chrome Prospect Autograph Gold Refractor PSA 10 2024 Bowman Draft Konnor Griffin Chrome Prospect Autograph Sparkle Refractor PSA 9 2024 Bowman Mega Box Dylan Crews Chrome Prospect Gold /50 #23 PSA 10 2024 Bowman Sterling Ceddane Rafaela Rookie Copper Refractor PSA 10 2024 Bowman Sterling Roman Anthony Prospect Autograph Orange /75 #PA-RA CGC 10 2024 Bowman's Best Paul Skenes PSA 10 2024 Bowman's Best Paul Skenes 1955 Bowman Anime PSA 10 2025 Bowman Mega Box Jesus Made Prospect PSA 9 2025 Bowman Jadyn Fielder Chrome Prospect Autograph Purple Refractor PSA 10 2025 Bowman Charlie Condon Prospect Autograph PSA 9 2025 Bowman Charlie Condon Chrome Prospect Autograph Mini Diamonds PSA 8 2025 Bowman Jac Caglianone Crystallized PSA 10
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Hit Seekers Sports Card Shop to Open Second Location at Great American Ball Park for 2024 Season
One of the first known card shops located in a major league stadium CINCINNATI (March 22, 2024) – Hit Seekers Sports Cards, the region’s premiere sports hobby shop, is expanding its existing partnership with the Cincinnati Reds to bring card collecting to Great American Ball Park (GABP). Card collectors of all ages, backgrounds and enthusiasm will want to visit Hit Seekers’ new location at GABP this season, the first known of its kind at a major league stadium. Expanding upon the relationship it established as an official Cincinnati Reds sponsor in 2023, Hit Seekers will add a second location to its current flagship store located in Fort Mitchell, Ky. on GABP’s main concourse along the third base line. Unique in both its size and presence, Hit Seekers’ expanded kiosk will offer a frequently updated assortment of sports trading card boxes, raw cards and graded singles during all Reds’ home games. In addition to plenty of Reds and general MLB stars, Hit Seekers’ GABP kiosk will also feature cards from MLS, NFL and the NBA for collectors of all sports. The kiosk will be open during all 2024 home games. The modern shop for today’s collectors, Hit Seekers is owned by father-and-son duo Greg and Jake Rouse, the latter having also co-founded Braxton Brewing Company in Covington, Ky. Sharing a passion for the hobby during Jake’s youth, collecting – and, by extension, Hit Seekers – is about more than just selling collectables for the father and son: It’s also about building community. It's this love of learning and building community that has also opened the door for Hit Seekers to be involved with the Reds Heads in 2024, the team’s official kids’ club. Greg noted that classes available through the partnership will help teach the fundamentals of business through teaching the basics of the hobby. Classes are to be determined but could include topics like “the basics of the hobby,” “why people grade cards and what those grades mean,” and “the seven different ways to collect.” “At Hit Seekers, our mission is based on making ‘baseball cards cool again,’” said Greg Rouse, co-owner of Hit Seekers. “We are more than a broker to sell and trade collectables through; we build community around the love of sports and the history behind them. We can’t wait to meet so many fellow collectors this season as we root for the home team at Great American Ball Park!” Hit Seekers originally began operations as an online retail shop in 2020. Finding success utilizing online streaming platforms, they expanded in 2022, opening their brick-and-mortar Fort Mitchell retail store at 2501 Dixie Hwy Suite 2, Fort Mitchell, KY 41017. In 2024, Greg and Jake Rouse celebrate two years at their brick-and-mortar store. In addition to selling sports cards and “wax” – the industry term for sealed boxes of cards – Hit Seekers is also known for “box breaks,” the practice of opening boxes/cases of cards and distributing them to a group of paying customers. Box breaking and grading – a practice in which collectors submit their cards to a third-party to evaluate and assess their condition – are now a large part of the sports collectibles industry. As noted by Forbes, The New York Times and other media outlets, sports collectibles are a multi-billion-dollar industry, reaching an estimated $35 billion+ in 2023 according to market research firm Market Decipher. To learn more about Hit Seekers, visit hitseekerscardbreaks.com/. # # # About Hit Seekers Sports Cards Hit Seekers Sports Cards is the home for Greater Cincinnati’s sports collectors. Founded by a father, son duo, Greg and Jake Rouse, the pair have reinvented the sports card retail experience, making it more about building community than generating profits. Located just minutes from downtown Cincinnati, Hit Seekers flagship retail shop is located in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky where collectors from around the world can have a beer and create community, enjoy their live break studios, buy and sell singles, slabs and open the latest sealed wax. The shop focuses on keeping inventory fresh and offers a wide variety of all things baseball, football, basketball, soccer, TCG (Pokémon) and more! Hit Seekers was recently named to Cincinnati’s Fast 55 by the Business Courier as one of the regions fastest growing retail businesses. For more information, visit hitseekerscardsbreaks.com/.
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Hit Seekers Celebrates First Anniversary by “Hitting It Out of the Park!”
Family business celebrates becoming an Official Sponsor of the Cincinnati Reds FT. MITCHELL, KY (March 27, 2023) – Hit Seekers Sports Cards, a local, family owned and operated sports trading card retail environment is celebrating its 1st anniversary. The local favorite has also demonstrated tremendous success with their brick-and-mortar shop. To celebrate, Hit Seekers Sports Cards will join the Reds organization as its official sponsor, hoping to bring even more sports fans and families into the excitement of sports card trading as a family event. As part of the celebration, Hit Seekers plans to host an anniversary party on Saturday, April 8th from 11AM - 5PM. Party details include an appearance from Mr. Redlegs between 1pm and 2pm, custom photo area, and Taco Fuerte. They will host a giveaway every hour and customers can win tickets to a Cincinnati Reds game, break credit to be used online and free grading submissions. Hit Seekers will be kicking off sweepstakes for two first pitch giveaways for kids on June 6th and July 2nd. Every $20 spent will equal one submission. They will also be in attendance at Great American Ball Park on July 2nd sponsoring a “Kids Poster Day”! “We absolutely love that we get to share our passion with the community,” says Greg Rouse, Co-Founder of Hit Seekers Sports Cards. "Building our passion into a family business that serves the community is a win-win situation. We get to wake up every day and do what we love and share it with each other and the world. Cincinnati has a rich history of sports, and we are delighted to have our business etched in history.” Father-and-son-duo Greg and Jake Rouse started Hit Seekers three years ago as an online streaming business on both Facebook Live and the Loupe app, a live e-commerce streaming platform built for sports card collectors. After tremendous success, the Rouses’ took a chance on opening a brick-and-mortar store of their own and have been in-shop for the past year. Collecting and selling trading cards is a staple in the lives of many. There’s no better feeling when you open a pack and get your favorite player and Hit Seekers provides that joy for all ages.
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What is the Modern Card Shop?
During the pursuit of opening Hit Seekers, one question continues to pop-up, what exactly is a modern card shop? Oftentimes it's difficult to put into words a vision that you have for the way the Hobby continues to evolve, but I wanted to do my best to describe what Hit Seekers is and perhaps more importantly what Hit Seekers is not. So much of our daily lives today transpire online, you wake up and the first thing you do is check your phone - your social media, your email, etc. and commerce has gone the same way. Perhaps due to the lockdowns of the COVID-19 pandemic, but I tend to believe COVID merely accelerated trends that were already started. We as consumers know what we want so the places that can make it easy for you to find those things at a reasonable price and deliver quickly and safely will continue to win disproportionately. No matter how much convenience trumps running errands, deep down there still exists this sense of wonder. A true desire to stroll through a retail store to see, touch, and experience new products. Those retail experiences that deliver on merchandising exciting inventory at the right prices continue to win. You know these stores well because they’re brands people admire (think Apple, Costco, Trade Joe’s, Whole Foods.) So enough of the conjecture, what is Hit Seekers? What is a Modern Card Shop? Hit Seekers was born as, and always will be an online-first business. Whether we’re doing case breaks in our Facebook Group, or live on the Loupe Sports Cards App we want to provide the convenience for you of being able to get the cards you have to have for your PC. Yet, we always knew deep down the modern collector wants a place to “belong.” A place where they feel comfortable meeting like-minded people, a place they can bring their kids to perhaps learn more so than purchase. The Modern Card shop is as much about fostering this community as it is about the next new product release - and we intend to focus on doing just that. Think of our card shop as more of a country club where the only entry fee is a similar passion for cardboard. Yes, we might be the only card shop in the country with a beer license for adults, and ample root beer for the kids, but no, we’re not a bar. We just want you to be able to experience the Hobby in the manner of your choosing. The store will always be clean, inventory well displayed and priced, and to the best of our knowledge we’ll strive to answer every “do you have” question. We intentionally designed the space to be like walking into center field of your favorite stadium. We’ll host trade nights, and even run bulk grading submissions of PSA cards for our customers. In short, we’re going to marry the online and offline. So whether you want to rip the latest release - find that new single you just have to have, or want to rip something on Loupe we’re going to consistently commit to turning over new items, providing the best prices possible, and always shipping cards the way we would want to receive them. So if that’s what the Modern Card Shop aims to be, then what is it “not”? There’s some things we simply aren’t. While we love memorabilia and we own some really cool pieces, we’re not a memorabilia shop. And while we will be buying, selling, and trading lots and cards, we’re going to be a little more picky than what other shops in the area may be. That doesn’t mean we don’t think what you have is interesting, it just means it may not work for what we need at that time. In that case, we’re happy to refer other shops we think could be a good spot to sell. We’re not exclusive. Hit Seekers will provide an environment for collectors of all types. That means we treat everyone the same no matter the size of your wallet or the amount of your card knowledge. If you collect Pokemon or if you collect Prizm Basketball you’ll find safe haven at Hit Seekers. So join us this weekend, we can’t wait to meet you and share this hobby that we love so much with as many of you as we can!
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Hit Seekers Glossary
The sports card world is growing by the day, and this week’s blog post is all about the lexicon breakers and collectors use across the industry. Did we miss any? Let us know and we’ll update the post! Listing – the post that details all the information for a break. This is where we will the break and it includes, pricing, style, break time, payment terms etc. Fill – selling out a break Hit – Any card of potential value, maybe a rookie, a relic, an auto, or a parallel – hits are what we’re in this for! PYT – “Pick Your Team” – A style of break where teams are priced individually and you can pick your specific team for the break. Teams are priced based on a combination of Hit checklist, resell values, and market movements. Random – Using Random.org we live stream all random postings to ensure everything is done fairly. Our house rule requires four or higher on the dice to indicate the number of rounds of random before we finalize the posting. eBay 1/1 – a unique to eBay card (for instance a card #’d 99/99) Gem – a perfect card according to a major grading company like PSA, SGC, BGS. Skunk – Going hitless in a break Mixer – A break with various products in various years RPA – Rookie Patch Auto Blaster Box – typically purchased at a retail store, these boxes provide value hits for reasonable price points, but in some cases can be incredibly valuable (specifically for basketball rookie chases) Chase – going after a specific player’s card Superfractor / Prizm / Silver / Holo - Limited refractors “holograms” of a card, often the most sought after versions of a player Clean – used to refer to a card being in great condition or a prime candidate for grading. “That card is clean”
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Tips and Tricks for Grading Sports Cards
Last week we spent a little time diving into the importance of grading your cards. Today, we wanted to share some tips and tricks on what to look for before submitting your cards for grading. We’re not professional graders by any means, but that doesn’t mean we don’t hate having a card sit at PSA or BGS for 6-12 weeks only to have it grade a 7-8. These are a few things you should look for before you submit your card for grading. It’s important to know that all major grading companies look for flaws in four categories for grading. Centering Centering measures how "centered" your card is - this takes into account right to left, as well as top to bottom and even looks at the back of the card. It’s remarkable how many modern-day cards come out of packs completely off-centered, but the good thing is this is the easiest way to judge a single card you’re purchasing. Be wary of anyone selling cards digitally (on eBay or Facebook) that only lists a photo of the card at an angle. This tactic makes it difficult to evaluate the centering of the card on a listing. Recently, I bought this unique tool off eBay that helps measure a card’s centering. For $15 this has saved me hundreds by not submitting substandard cards. It’s also worth noting, that for centering, PSA is the most lenient when it comes to consideration for GemMint grading. Corners The corners category is the most commonly referenced category for card grading because it's the easiest to see this criteria's quality. The easiest way to tell if you have a soft corner is to look for any white present. All three major grading companies are hardest on this category, so this will significantly reduce your chances of Minting. Surface The surface is the hardest category to judge before submitting it. There exist so many things that can affect a card’s surface, print lines, dimples, scratches you name it. The best thing you can do to truly analyze a card’s surface is to take the card out of the case and sleeve and take it outside in natural light. Rotate the card around and see if any imperfections materialize while you’re doing this exercise. This category is often difficult to photograph, for instance you can barely see the print line running from left to right through the basketball on this Jarren Jackson Jr silver Prizm. Edges Typically, this category isn’t as important when grading modern-day cards as printing technology has adapted over time. Most cards in the present-day era have great edges, but if you’re grading anything retro you’re going to want to look for how clean the edges are. Edge damage can be easily seen by looking alongside the card's surface. Each of the major grading companies publishes their standards and scales, but it's also important to remember that humans grade your cards which can create significant irregularities in the grading process. Click the logo to see each company's defined Grading Standards. These are just some simple tips and tricks to try to get the best grade when you submit, but there are also other reasons to have a card graded. I recently submitted several Derek Jeter 1993 SP Foil’s, not because I thought they could Gem, but because it preserves the card and proves that it isn’t one of the hundreds of fakes. Finally, if you want to submit cards yourself to PSA, The GemMint group on Facebook is an incredible place to learn more. Jared Landress has done a great job submitting thousands of cards/month. If you’d like to join yourself - you can do so by following this link.
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Sports Card Grading: The What, Why, and How
Grading sports cards can be an incredibly challenging learning curve, we break down the market standards of the top three grading companies: PSA, BGS, and SGC.
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