BY MARK HALPERN
As most of you may or may not know, I have been a Sport Card Hobby dealer in the Sport Card Business. Let me first address the title. A “1/1” is a specialized card with in a trading card set and it’s got that 1/1 symbol that means it’s the rarest one of those players, of that card set and from that year. When 1/1’s broke into the market in the very late 1990’s early 2000’s they were so rare that some have not been unearthed. With some sets 1/1’s are more common today that sometimes they don’t even fetch the price that this type of card should command. Well throughout my 35 years in this business I have pulled plenty of newer 1/1’s, I have pulled some of the first ones when Fleer Metal released them and I have witnessed some very rare ones pulled right in front of me but, nothing could prepare me for what happened on Monday evening 4/26/2026.
So, I am having surgery on this Friday 5/1/2026 and decided to buy into just one more product before my time is just to recover and let’s be honest going to need the money for after care after surgery. A great friend and Mark Mariano owner of R.B.I Baseball Breaks had 2 cases of Topps 2026 series 1 but from the Japan series which features some specialized Koi Fish and Cherry Blossom Borders you still could get some of the same cards that are featured within the Topps Series 1 75th anniversary edition. As an avid collector and seeing the Mets available left to be purchased I wasted no time in claiming the spot. The question becomes what would I be chasing that I don’t already have from this years Topps set. Well Nolan Mclean and Jonah Tong chances of getting those specialized borders were what was my real motivation. If you have never watched two cases of Topps cards being broken it can be monotonous but, if you want to see the action you need to watch begin to end even if it’s a 3-hour break. Mark does a thorough job because sometimes Topps cards that are specialized can slip through so Mark takes extra time to make sure no one misses out on a special rare card.
During the middle of the second case in one of the last two packs Mark notices a gold shimmer/gold vinyl colored card and this mean two things one it was numbered out of /50 or jus /1. Being how special of a car it was he finished off the rest of the box he was working on so he really could give it the moment it deserved. Mark quickly knew he had a 1/1 because not just seeing it others in the group were saying it’s a “Superfractor” or 1/1. This could have been of anyone of the cards in the entire series 1 set and it has a big base card checklist so this could have been anyone. As mark got to the card he was being so meticulous not only to not damage the card but to make the suspense last more. As he turned the card and slowly moved the card used to block it out of the way the first thing everyone saw was “NYM” in big orange, Blue and white bordered letters so my heart was pounding and when he revealed that it was the Fransico Lindor true 1/1 Autographed Superfractor, I believe I woke not only my entire family up but a few others in my building as it was just about 11 at night. The jumping up and down and pumping my arms in excitement cause so much pain in my neck, that ran down my shoulder and into my hand that I could not care about it at all. A Superfractor is something that a collector or even dealer dream of pulling cause yes there are a plethora of 1/1’s out there from many different companies, sports, brand of cards, players and on and on but, there is no better feeling then pulling a True Superfractor 1/1.
What’s next for this card you may be asking? well first it’s me getting through surgery and then it will be headed to be graded. As any collector would and will tell you is that this card is begging to be graded and you would be right. I hope beyond hope the grading gods are with me and it comes back a Gem Mint 10. Then next question becomes what happens if it grades a 10 or a 9? As a DIE-HARD Mets fan, I would love to keep this in my collection for as long as I could but, to be fair every person has a price and what is mine you may ask? Well email the network with questions or even a request to join a zoom to discuss the card and an offer on an episode of the 1/1.
The Sports Insanity Network 