Tom Brady, Emma Roberts, Logan Paul are chasing elusive Steph Curry and Brady cards too

New York Times

3 days ago

NEW YORK — Actress and avid sports and Star Wars card collector Emma Roberts posed a question so many within the hobby still ask aloud: Where is Stephen Curry's 2009 Topps Chrome Superfractor?
The one-of-a-kind Curry rookie card that would be worth millions has never surfaced despite collectors searching for more than 15 years.
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Fellow card and memorabilia collector Logan Paul sat back with a wry smile and a bit of a 'cat ate the canary' look on his face.
'You know where that is?' Roberts asked Paul. 'You have that secretly?'
'I don't know. Ain't that the question,' Paul replied.
'Wait, what do you know?' Roberts said.
'I really don't know,' Paul said.
'Does he know something?' Roberts queried.
'No, I don't know. It's something that excites me,' Paul said.
'Hmmm! Hmmm!' Roberts said.
'I don't know anything!' Paul said.
This type of card shop banter with Roberts, Paul and Tom Brady during Fanatics Fest's 'Ready. Set. Collect.' panel turned a social media/WWE star, an actress and a seven-time Super Bowl winning quarterback into your average card collectors discussing their shared love for trading cards in probably the most relatable fireside chat of the star-studded event.
The near 45-minute conversation guided by Chris Costa, Brady's partner in the Card Vault by Tom Brady hobby shop franchise, brought out the same card collecting energy from the trio that so many hobby enthusiasts possess.
'(Hype) that's why we collect. It's awesome,' Paul said. 'But it depends why you collect it, right? There's a lot of reasons why people collect. Whether it's for the rush of hitting the card that you want in the pack rip. Or you love that feeling of nostalgia. Or you like the idea of holding an asset that could potentially be appreciated. I do all three. I love everything about it.'
For her reasoning, Roberts zeroed in on the one word to describe what everyone figuratively lives and dies on while collecting cards. She harkened back to the first time she pulled a short-printed Star Wars sketch card at her local hobby shop Cards and Coffee on Hollywood Blvd. in Los Angeles.
A post shared by Emma Roberts (@emmaroberts)
'I mean every time I buy a box where I'm always like, 'Please let it be in here. Please let it get in here,'' Roberts said. 'Yeah. And then sometimes your day is just trash. And then other times you're like — we call it 'sketch energy' days. We need sketch energy today.'
And while Roberts' sketch energy may appear to be channeling the elusive Curry rookie card, it's actually her stagemate's baseball card she's after. As in Brady's 2023 Bowman Draft autographed card, depicting him in an Expos uniform, that's serial numbered 12/50 — Brady's jersey number — with his inscription reading 'If baseball doesn't work out, there's always football.'
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'My fiance started chasing the Tom (Brady) inscription card in Bowman (Draft) '23. And so he got me hooked on the chase. And so for every holiday, whether it's Valentine's Day or Christmas or birthdays, we'd buy each other a box in hopes of finding Tom. We've yet to find him, but we will never, ever give up.'
She admitted that she's found no Brady cards at all in the product, calling it, 'striking out left and right.' But, Roberts and her fiance entered a box break online and landed an autographed Brady card (a sticker autograph, she pointed out, rather than an on-card auto, which displayed Roberts' acumen for the hobby). The problem initially was that the two went on a hike during a vacation while the break occurred and were unable to watch it live because neither of their phones found cell service. They learned of their 'hit' once back in civilization and it's become one of Roberts' favorite cards in her collection.
As for her grail card, not even Brady can help her out since the card is either still in an unopened pack or someone pulled the card and hasn't revealed to the world the occurrence happened.
'I have a feeling you're going to beat me to it,' Brady said.
'I hope I do. I hope someone does,' Roberts said.
And while most of the conversation sounded like something anyone in the Javits Center audience just steps away from the card show portion of the Fest could have, Paul couldn't help flexing his prized card: a 1998 Pokemon Pikachu Illustrator Holo card with a gem mint 10 grade by PSA (Professional Sports Authenticator), which was on display at the event's 'Museum of Greatness.'
'It takes a really bold — and maybe 'stupid' is the word,' Paul said. 'Stupid. I don't know. I don't know what it is. It takes a bold person to spend $5 million on a piece of cardboard.'
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Then there were the stories of missed hobby opportunities, where Paul and Roberts sounded once again like your average collector.
Roberts asked Paul if he had his original Pokemon cards because 'I would trade them for snacks in second grade.'
'You probably traded like a first edition Charizard that could have been worth like $250K,' Paul said. 'It's a tale as old as time.'
'It's a heartbreaking hobby,' Roberts said.
She almost broke her own heart during what turned out to be her biggest baseball card 'hit' to date. Roberts relived a moment after she scored a Jackson Holliday one-of-one rookie card as one of her biggest hits from a pack.
'I may have kind of dropped it a tiny bit, but we saved it in time and it's been PSA-graded a 10, I'll have you know,' Roberts said. 'It didn't hit the ground. I fumbled it. I fumbled it because I got very nervous.'
The panel wrapped up with Roberts' questions surrounding the whereabouts of the coveted Brady and Curry cards left unanswered. So what did she do next? Hit the card dealer tables residing behind the audience seating area, of course. And while she didn't find her grail cards there either, Roberts purchased packs of cards for two children, where one of them pulled a Shohei Ohtani rookie card.
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