Prime Pull: San Antonio Collector Discovers RG III Masterpiece at Sports Cards Plus

I just love getting over-the-weekend emails from Charlie DiPietro, the longtime owner of San Antonio staple Sports Cards Plus. Indeed, a weekend email from DiPietro usually means one of his loyal customers has beaten the odds yet again to pull a collection-making cornerstone from a Panini America product. Certainly that was the case with last night's message, in which DiPietro detailed the story behind the big-pull exploits of customer Chris Peng.

I just love getting over-the-weekend emails from Charlie DiPietro, the longtime owner of San Antonio staple Sports Cards Plus. Indeed, a weekend email from DiPietro usually means one of his loyal customers has beaten the odds yet again to pull a collection-making cornerstone from a Panini America product. Certainly that was the case with last night’s message, in which DiPietro detailed the story behind the big-pull exploits of customer Chris Peng.

Simply paraphrasing the highlights of DiPietro’s email wouldn’t quite do the 2012 Prime Signatures Football find justice. So what follows is the verbatim account, compliments of DiPietro himself. Enjoy.

“It was an exciting Saturday at Sports Cards Plus of San Antonio and I wanted to share the story. One of my very deserving customers had ‘The Pull of a Lifetime’ today. Chris Peng, a very active collector and big fan of Panini America products, pulled a 2012 Panini Prime Signatures Robert Griffin III Autographed NFL Logo 1/1. He called and emailed a few fellow collectors about his super hit and before I knew it, people we driving to my store to see this piece of collecting history. Chris camped out at my store for about two hours to share the story of his great pull with everyone who came in to our store. Chis is a very enthusiastic box-buster and it’s always fun to share in his great pulls. This one was, of course, really special.

“Especially with products with just a few cards per box like Prime Signatures, Chris likes to ‘slow roll’ his cards. With this box, he carefully opened the pack. The card on top was an Andre Reed #d/499. Lifting the Reed, it exposed a Chris Cooley #d/99. Next, he slowly pulled the card from the back. It was a Fred Davis #d/499. At this time, the Cooley was still covering the autographed hit. Chris has had plenty of great hits, but he hadn’t yet pulled a Robert Griffin III autograph. He said ‘What are the odds of three Washington Redskins cards in one pack of Prime Signatures?’ He slowly peeled back the Cooley card and he yelled ‘Oh, my God!’ I was checking out another customer at the time and I called out to Chris, ‘Is it a 1/1?’ At this point, Chis was jumping around like he had banged his toe. Chis could have pulled any RGIII autographed rookie and he would have been very excited. But this was 1/1 and Chis was the happiest customer I’ve ever seen.

“Chris pulled this card at about 2 p.m. Saturday. For the rest of the day, when one of my regular customers came in, I told them about ‘The Pull,’ and they all said they had already heard about it. I think everyone in San Antonio knows about ‘The Pull.’ The card looks beautiful. I told Chis it looks like a BGS 9.5 to me. Chris said he will ask Beckett Grading to grade it when Beckett Grading comes to my store in April. I’ve included a couple of pictures of Chris and the RG3.”

“It’s now 11 hours after ‘The Pull’ and I’m still excited.”

Awesome story, Charlie. Thanks for sharing. Congratulations to Chris.

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12 Replies to “Prime Pull: San Antonio Collector Discovers RG III Masterpiece at Sports Cards Plus”

  1. That’s such a great story. I was recovering from a kidney stone earlier last month, my wife got me a box of Crown Royal to cheer me up. When I pulled a redemption for a Crown Royal Bobby Mitchell auto/patch …but the Andrew Luck 2/C auto patch rc really perked me up!
    Great pull, thanks for sharing!

  2. My favorite line of the piece was “Chis was jumping around like he had banged his toe.” That really helps you visualize the physical excitement in the room when he pulled it. Thanks for the story Charlie and Tracy, congrats to Chris on the epic pull!

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