Baseball Card Breaking 101: Your Guide To Getting Started With Online Card Breaks
Are you a baseball card collector who’s ever gotten shut out of the big baseball card releases you were excited about? Or found pricing to be just too expensive? Or maybe you’re only focused on specific teams or players?
Whatever your motivation, since their explosion in popularity during the pandemic when people were looking for fun online distractions that could also create a sense of community, online baseball card breaks have become a common way for collectors to enjoy the chase of the hobby in more focused and economical ways.
If you’ve never tried an online break before but have been interested in giving it a shot, Baseball America’s “Breaking 101” primer is here with a look at everything you need to know.
What Is Breaking?
You’ve probably walked into a hobby shop and purchased a pack or box of cards before. Breaking, on the other hand, is a live-streamed or recorded event in which someone opens sealed boxes or cases of baseball cards on behalf of a group of buyers who have each purchased a share of the break. In this way, a collector gets a chance at pulling valuable cards—rare autographs, numbered parallels, prospects and rookies, etc.—without having to buy the whole box themselves.
The breaker running the event will sell spots—usually 15, 30, or 32, depending on format—and participants buy them, not knowing what cards they’ll get. Cases are then opened on camera and cards are assigned to participants based on the type of break (more on this below).
How To Get Started In Breaking
Before we go any further, an important reminder: The information and tips you see here are from my own personal experience and should be taken as such. This is not intended to be any kind of buying advice or direction. As always, use your best judgment.
We will primarily focus on the biggest breaker in town—Fanatics Live. There are other popular break sites such as Whatnot that use similar approaches and strategies.
Getting started is as simple as setting up a Fanatics Live account. If you’ve ever ordered anything on Topps or Fanatics, you actually already have one. You’ll even be able to use Fancash to make break purchases in the Fanatics Live app, though you won’t earn any Fancash on money spent in the Fanatics Live app.
Once logged in, you’ll come to a main Fanatics Live page with a bunch of break options, including an MLB tab focused on baseball breaks. Click any of the options that look appealing, and you’ll be taken into a breaking room.
The general vibe of a breaking site, from the graphics to the personalities of the breakers, is that of a Las Vegas casino or your favorite bar. Everyone’s in a good mood, time fades away and everything is designed to maximize how much you spend. As such, an important tip is to make sure you watch your budget. Online breaks are fun, but they can quickly become a financial issue if you’re not disciplined.
As you get started on Fanatics Live, it might be best to simply watch for a bit so that you can observe, ask questions and get a general feel for the situation. Try clicking into different rooms to compare the pricing, products, formats and hosts to see what jumps out at you.
When you’re ready to buy into a break, I would suggest starting small so that you can get a feel for things. In every product, there will be at least one low-cost team that will allow you to get your feet wet while still offering the potential to hit on a big card.
Below is an example of what a breaker’s “shop” might look like. Note the “PYT” indication at the top of the page—this is a clear description of what the break will be for—and then the pricing.
Fanatics Live and breakers on the platform often offer discount codes or break credit for your first break. Be sure to look into that, as you might be able to get your feet wet in breaking at a significant discount.
Most breaks take the form of either a PYT (Pick Your Team) or PYP (Pick Your Player). This means that, for a product like Topps Chrome Update, rather than paying $300 for a full jumbo box, you might be able to pay $100 to get all the cards of your favorite team in an entire case or pay $40 for your favorite player.
For example, if you’re a Paul Skenes fan, buying the Pirates in a PYT or buying Skenes in a PYP is your best way to try to get the cards you want. Not all players are created equal, however, so names like Skenes or Aaron Judge or Shohei Ohtani and their respective teams will often cost more than others, depending on the product.
Once the break “fills” (meaning all spots are taken), the breaker will open the product on the video stream, and you’ll get to watch (and comment in the chat, if you’d like) with others as the boxes are ripped. Most breakers are also performers, and their excitement will make the experience even more entertaining and interactive.
Once the stream concludes, every card that’s pulled of the specific team or player you’ve purchased will be sent to you after the break.
Types Of Breaks To Know
Beyond PYTs and PYPs, here are other kinds of breaks to know about:
Auctions
In this format, collectors know the product they’re bidding on but not the team. Most auctions will start at $1, and then once a high bid is reached, a wheel will spin, and you’ll get a random team (or player). Auctions can be a great way to luck into the most popular/expensive teams for not a lot of money. But it can also be a way to overspend on the not-so-good teams. Auctioneers will also offer the occasional “stash or pass” spots (allowing you an extra spin of the wheel if you don’t like your first option) or a “pick two, choose one” option that allows you to pick your team (or player) from two randomly-chosen ones.
Random Teams
In this format, collectors buy one of 30 spots, all at the same price. Once all 30 spots are purchased, the app will randomize the teams. So, like with auctions, it’s possible to get a huge team for less money—or it’s possible you could overpay for a lesser team.
Personals
These are often referred to as “percies” on the app. As you would expect, this is where collectors can buy their own personal box (or case), have it ripped for you and then shipped your way.
More Helpful Breaking Tips
Know your checklists.
Beckett is a great resource for narrowing down every release by team and showing every possible option for the release. This helps to illustrate why a team like the Dodgers might be more expensive in an Ohtani-heavy set but less expensive in a release like Pro Debut, which doesn’t have a lot of Dodgers hits on the checklist.
Case breaks are your best bet…
This is a personal preference of mine. While you can buy into single or double box breaks, in my opinion, that doesn’t cast a wide-enough net for whatever team or player you’re looking for. Sure, you can still “skunk” (the breaking term for walking away with nothing) on case breaks, but they’re going to maximize your chances of walking away with something cool. Plus, they’re more fun than single-box breaks.
… as are “Breaker’s Delight” breaks.
They call ’em that for a reason. Sure, hobby and jumbo boxes might give you more total cards, but “Breaker’s Delight” breaks are a hit a minute, and you might wind up with something truly spectacular, such as the Junior Caminero Debut Patch, which was hit in a Breaker’s Delight case break on Fanatics Live last year and later sold for $66,000. (I was actually in this break, but I had the Rangers):
Keep an eye out for “serials.”
Breakers will sometimes break high-priced teams (or grouped-together teams) into serials, which take the total cost of the spot and divide it into 10 equal spots, of which you can buy one or more (or none, of course). Once the “serial” is filled, the 10 spots will be randomized from 0 to 9, and you’ll get cards based on the last number of a sequentially numbered card (so a card numbered 14/99 would go to the “4” spot in the serial). Hits might also be randomly assigned at the end. Serials can be a way to buy big-time teams even more economically, but they are also even more of a gamble.
Do you want the paper base cards?
If you do buy into hobby and jumbo breaks, make sure you check whether they will be sending you the paper “base” cards as part of your purchase. Some hobby shops will only ship hits, chrome and paper rookies, but not paper veterans. Some shops even sell a “paper” spot separately from the 30 teams. And other ships will send everything for your team, including the paper base cards. Make sure you check before you buy. Some breakers that normally don’t ship paper base cards will do so if you ask.
Always negotiate!
Most of the pricing seen on breaks is suggested pricing, not final pricing. The breaker will often be open to negotiations, especially if you want to buy more than one team or player (they build this into their pricing model), or if you’re “closing out” a break (buying the last team or teams available so that the break can commence after your purchase). As always when it comes to negotiating, be willing to walk if you don’t get to the price point you want.
And I’ll say it again—watch your wallet.
Online breaks are really fun but can also be a hit on your wallet. Have a good time, but please do be mindful of the electric bill and rent payment!
Happy breaking!
