Father-Son Team Hits ‘Holy Grail’ from One Pack of 2012 National Treasures Baseball

One pack. Eight cards. Sometimes that's all it takes. So when North Carolina collector Peter DeLorme and his 12-year-old son, Spencer, got their pack of 2012 National Treasures Baseball in the mail from Atlanta Sports Cards on Monday, they knew they had eight opportunities to make collecting history. And on the eighth and final card in that pack, they did.

One pack. Eight cards. Sometimes that’s all it takes. So when North Carolina collector Peter DeLorme and his 12-year-old son, Spencer, got their pack of 2012 National Treasures Baseball in the mail from Atlanta Sports Cards on Monday, they knew they had eight opportunities to make collecting history. And on the eighth and final card in that pack, they did.

With Dad opening the pack and Spencer filming the break for posterity’s sake, all Peter knew for sure when he initially set eyes on that final card was that it was a 1/1 booklet of the legendary Honus Wagner. That would’ve been more than enough to qualify as the DeLormes’ greatest pull ever. But you can’t judge a booklet by its cover, so Peter opened it up to discover something much, much greater.

“Hey, I thought it was great when I realized it was a 1-of-1 for a jersey or bat,” Peter said. “But then when I realized it was the 1-of-1 cut autograph and bat, I was amazed. My son’s two favorite old-timers are Honus Wagner and Satchel Paige, so he freaked out when he realized what we had pulled! I was just glad he didn’t drop the camera.

“This is our best pull ever, hands down. This is the ‘holy grail.’ That’s what we call it.”

As the President and CEO of Legends Autographs, the elder DeLorme knows a thing or two about historic memorabilia. So as he watched unopened boxes of 2012 National Treasures Baseball rapidly disappearing from the secondary market due to overwhelming collector response, he knew he needed to pull the trigger on a box sooner rather than later.

That he and his son beat the odds by uncovering one of the most coveted single cards in 2012 National Treasures Baseball from that box almost immediately raised one chiefly important question: Keep or sell?

“My son would love to keep the card, but he just went through UT ligament split tear surgery on his wrist,
the same that Jason Werth of the Washington Nationals had, and we have incurred some pretty decent medical and travel bills since we have to travel to Minnesota for several doctor visits,” Peter said. “The money from selling the card will help defray some of the costs.”

The DeLormes listed the card on eBay yesterday with a Buy It Now price of $20,000. Stay tuned to The Knight’s Lance for updates to this story.

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24 Replies to “Father-Son Team Hits ‘Holy Grail’ from One Pack of 2012 National Treasures Baseball”

  1. Wow, what a tremendous pull for someone in Peter’s line of work. I hope they receive a fair offer and are able to pay off a large chunk of the medical bills.

  2. Congratulations on pulling such an awesome card! Honus Wagner is one of my all time favorite players and always wanted an auto or something of his but never came close. Congrats to you and your son.Cherish that moment with him forever as time flies by so so fast.

  3. Great to see a father & son team get this pull, it adds a great dimension to the story. I hope they sell successfully to a reputable collector without issue. Thanks for the article Tracy!

      1. Yes, Chris pulled the Ty Cobb nickname cut booklet for me in a video break!
        Got the card today! Shipped all the way to Taiwan! 🙂

  4. Reblogged this on Views From The Bullpen and commented:
    One pack. Eight cards. Sometimes that’s all it takes. So when North Carolina collector Peter DeLorme and his 12-year-old son, Spencer, got their pack of 2012 National Treasures Baseball in the mail from Atlanta Sports Cards on Monday, they knew they had eight opportunities to make collecting history. And on the eighth and final card in that pack, they did.

    With Dad opening the pack and Spencer filming the break for posterity’s sake, all Peter knew for sure when he initially set eyes on that final card was that it was a 1/1 booklet of the legendary Honus Wagner. That would’ve been more than enough to qualify as the DeLormes’ greatest pull ever. But you can’t judge a booklet by its cover, so Peter opened it up to discover something much, much greater.

    “Hey, I thought it was great when I realized it was a 1-of-1 for a jersey or bat,” Peter said. “But then when I realized it was the 1-of-1 cut autograph and bat, I was amazed. My son’s two favorite old-timers are Honus Wagner and Satchel Paige, so he freaked out when he realized what we had pulled! I was just glad he didn’t drop the camera.

  5. Reblogged this on The Wax Fantastic and commented:
    Continuing what I’ve know christened ‘National Treasures Week’ I thought you’d like this story! A once-in-a-lifetime pull under special circumstances!! This sort of thing is great when it happens and I’m glad we’ve been able to share in it!

      1. No problem Tracy!

        We don’t get enough coverage of the early part of the 20th Century, from a Baseball card point of view, which is why National Treasures is such a breath of fresh air. Add in some killer designs and you can’t go far wrong!!

        I’ve said in previous posts that I’m not a big fan of high-end products but I just love the era and the players! I blame Ken Burns myself 🙂

        I know that I’ll never be able to afford a box myself (which is fine) but these cards are so nice they need to find a massive audience… So anything I can do to spread the word I’m more than happy to!

  6. Reblogged this on SportsCardBlog.net – Sports Card Blog – Your Source of Hobby News, Reviews, Previews, and Opinion and commented:
    A great story about one of the best cards to come out of one the best high end baseball products of the year. Panini did a fantastic job bringing National Treasures to baseball collectors around the world and a once in a lifetime pull like this is a testament to its beauty. While it will be sold off to pay for his son’s medical bills, this treasure will soon find a good home. As most know, the Cobb was pulled recently as well!

  7. Hm, that re-blog didn’t transfer over to my site correctly. Let’s see if I can figure this out.

    Anyway, congratulations on such a fantastic pull! Definitely a once in a lifetime pull right there!

  8. Great Story!!! Congratulations, I’m sure that kid will remember the day of pulling that card the rest of his life!!!

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