I’m a bit of a YouTube addict. No, I don’t watch any of the young stars of the site or anyone gaming, for that matter. I just sit on my computer and watch strangers opening backs of baseball products. This addiction began sometime in 2007 and even during years I wasn’t actively collecting, you could still find me watching box breaks.
Since 2017, I’ve been watching one breaker in particular. All his box breaks are generally fun and his knowledge of baseball cards is top notch. His channel is called Jabs Family and it boasts an impressive 48,500+ subscribers. Jabs is so popular that when he goes live, commentators pay anywhere from $1-$5 for him to read their comment.
At some point, Jabs Family grew so large that he opened a Patreon page, a site that lets fans pay their favorite content creator. With paid memberships, you have access to exclusive content. As a thank you, Jabs sends you packages filled with Junk Wax era packs. Memberships start at $3 a month and go as high as $300.
I love all collectors. I don’t care if you collect nothing but Junk Wax or do nothing more than buy Bowman to flip. We are all on the same team. Despite age/race or anything else, we love baseball, collecting, and trading cards. We should stand united, that is … unless you pay Jabs hundreds of dollars to send you Junk Wax every month.
It’s one thing to support your favorite breaker and/or blogger (cough!) but to give Jabs Family money for him to send you his garbage is just plain dumb. The man has a serious obsession with cards and online attention and it has cost him his family and marriage. I feel bad only because I’ve been there, too. Sometimes, you just have to stop collecting.
Jabs announced his divorce this past December and admitted his wife moved out with their kids … while he was busting open packs of Junk Wax. If that wasn’t the most pathetic thing I’ve ever watched, I don’t know what is. He has since deleted the video but it spurned quite a Blowout Cards thread. Let’s just say Jabs has been exposed.
All that being said, I still watch Jabs Family from time to time, including this morning when I discovered he opened an entire case of Tristar’s World’s Greatest Card Chase. Not one awful box worth, an entire 32-box case he purchased from Steel City Collectibles. Not sure on the price but on their website, a 10-box case goes for $199.95.
Here are my feelings on TRISTAR, which I discussed in 2019. As you can guess, Jabs didn’t pull a single “Chase” card but did wind up with a full box of 480 Junk Wax packs. From those 480, he opened approximately 10 (the only good ones) and then tossed the rest in a box which he shows on camera, presumably for his loyal Patreon subscribers.
What I don’t understand is how TRISTAR, along with anyone else selling this garbage has managed to get you, an educated collector, to buy this trash. It’s not the days of Beckett, pre-Internet. We know what Junk Wax is worth, that TRISTAR is just awful, and that these boxes yield nothing, so why are collectors burning their money?
Watch the video for yourself. Now you know what these boxes contain. Don’t be like Jabs Family. Yes, money and online fame is great but don’t tarnish your reputation by ripping off your own fans and don’t let this hobby take over your life to the point that your wife and kids walk out on you because you’re obsessed with 1989 Topps.
As for the comment, I’m going to delete it. It was mean-spirited. I was just frustrated at the purchase and the video. I can imagine much better things to do with your time than opening a case of this stuff. On the other hand, how pathetic does that I spent 25 minutes watching Jabs bust Junk Wax AND then an hour to write about it?
Time to look at the man in the mirror.
The Baseball Card Blog 