Collecting Basics
What Is a Hit in Sports Cards?
In sports cards, a hit is one of the special cards a box is bought for. Almost everyone means the same three kinds: an autograph, a memorabilia card with a piece of jersey or equipment in it, and a serial-numbered card stamped with its print run. Everything else in the pack, the base cards and most inserts, is what you open on the way to the hit.
The word describes how a card was made, not what it is worth. That gap is where most of the confusion comes from, so this post covers both: what counts as a hit, and why pulling one is not the same as pulling something valuable.
The three kinds of hit
1. Autographs
A card the player has signed. There are two kinds, and collectors care about the difference. An on-card autograph is signed directly on the card. A sticker autograph is signed on a clear or white label that is stuck to the card afterwards. On-card autographs usually sell for more, because the signature and the card were made together.
2. Memorabilia (relic) cards
A card with a small window holding a piece of material: jersey fabric, a patch, a piece of bat or stick. Read the back carefully. "Game-used" or "game-worn" means the material came from an actual game. "Event-worn" or "player-worn" often means a photo shoot or an event, which is a different and usually less valued thing. A multi-colour patch piece is valued well above a plain single-colour jersey swatch. More detail is in what a relic card is.
3. Serial-numbered cards
A card stamped with a fraction such as 23/99, meaning it is copy 23 of 99 printed. The lower the print run, the scarcer the card, down to a one-of-one, where only one copy exists. Most numbered cards are coloured parallels of a base card. See serial-numbered cards and print runs for how the numbering works.
When they stack: the RPA
The three kinds can appear on one card. A numbered autograph is common. The best-known stack is the rookie patch auto, or RPA: a rookie-year card carrying a patch and an on-card autograph, usually numbered too. When collectors talk about a "big hit" in a modern product, an RPA of a rookie people are watching is usually what they mean.
What usually is not a hit
- Base cards. The main set, one card per player. These make up most of every pack.
- Unnumbered parallels. A colour or foil version of a base card with no print run stamped on it. Nice to pull, but not a hit.
- Most inserts. A themed card that is not part of the base set. An insert is usually seeded at one or more per pack or box, so it is not counted as a hit.
- A rookie card on its own. A base rookie card is a rookie card, not a hit, even though the right one can outsell plenty of hits.
Two grey areas. A short print is printed in smaller numbers than the rest of the set, but is not stamped, so whether it counts as a hit depends on who is talking. And a case hit is an insert seeded at about one per sealed case. It is called a hit because it is so scarce, even though it may carry no autograph, memorabilia or number at all.
A hit is not the same as a valuable card
"Hit" is a production category. It says the card was made in a special way and in smaller numbers. It does not say anybody wants it. A sticker autograph of a depth player can sell for less than the base rookie card of a star from the same box, and a card numbered to 299 can sit unsold for months. Scarcity raises the value of a card people already want. It does not create the demand on its own, which is the whole argument of does a low serial number mean more value.
So when you pull a hit, the next question is not "is it a hit?" but "what has this exact card sold for recently?". How to value a card you pulled walks through that check.
"Hits per box" on the label
Sealed boxes often advertise a number of hits, such as a set number of autographs or memorabilia cards per box. Read that as a count of a kind of card, not a promise about value. Two boxes with the same guarantee can produce a star's numbered autograph and a depth player's sticker autograph. Both meet the guarantee. Guarantees also differ between hobby boxes and retail boxes of the same product, which is covered in hobby vs retail.
How to check what you pulled
- Find the stamp. A serial number is printed on the front or the back, often in foil. A number written on by hand is not a print run.
- Read the back. Autograph and memorabilia cards usually carry a short statement from the manufacturer about the signature or the material, and that is where "game-used" or "event-worn" is spelled out.
- Look at the signature. Signed straight on the card, or on a label?
- Check the name. A rookie-year card of a player people follow is worth looking up straight away, whatever kind of card it is.
Hits on Waffles
Every card in a Waffles pack is a real single we hold, and the sports packs include their sport's hits alongside everything else. The Hit Pack is built only from hits: every card in it is serial-numbered, a memorabilia patch, or an autograph, from hockey, football, baseball and basketball. Those are the same cards that sit in each sport's own packs, so a hit pulled from either one is gone from both.
The Hit Pack page shows its prices and which kinds of hit are in stock right now, counted from the cards on the shelf. The odds for every tier are on the odds page. Neither is written into this post, because both change every time someone opens a pack.