By René Guzman, Staff Writer | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2025-12-18 14:19:23
左为Sports Cards Plus店主查理·迪皮特罗 (Charlie DiPietro)，他正看着儿子杰夫·迪皮特罗 (Jeff DiPietro) 整理周四新发售的2025-26赛季Topps Chrome篮球系列球星卡。该系列包含各类稀有的马刺队球星卡，主角包括维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama)、新秀迪伦·哈珀 (Dylan Harper) 以及现任年度最佳新秀斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle)。
你很少会看到一名前马刺队球员在球星卡店里拆着美国职业棒球大联盟的卡包，更不用说他还在抱怨，因为小儿子把自己最珍贵的几张个人球星卡送给了学校的朋友，他不得不费力把它们再找回来。
不过话说回来，退役NBA老将乔治·希尔 (George Hill) 和大多数在 Sports Cards Plus 拆盒、拆包的卡友没什么两样。这家位于城堡山北部的家族式店铺，经营收藏卡业务的时间几乎和39岁的希尔打篮球的年头一样长。
马刺队新秀迪伦·哈珀在全新的Topps Chrome篮球系列中备受瞩目，共拥有31张不同版本的球星卡。图为一张哈珀的黑色折射签字卡。
希尔小时候也收藏球星卡。而他的孩子则让他重拾了这一爱好。
“（正是这件事）重新点燃了我对收藏的热爱，”希尔说道。“如果不是我儿子，我可能不会重新回到这个圈子。”
球星卡作为连接几代人的桥梁和纽带，其历史几乎与体育运动本身一样悠久。而如果你是马刺队的球迷，现在无疑是入坑的最佳时机，尤其是这支最初将希尔选入NBA的球队，正在球星卡收藏界掀起巨大波澜。
这其中，自然少不了“文班狂热 (Wembymania)”。自从两个赛季前维克托·文班亚马穿上马刺队战袍以来，这位现象级天才便在球星卡市场中傲视群雄。根据GemRate的数据，已有超过56万张他的球星卡被评级。其中，仅一张新秀卡就以高达86万美元的天价售出，而在Sports Cards Plus店里的一些稀有文班亚马卡片，在二级市场上的售价也高达数千美元一张。
“文班狂热”所引发的球星卡热潮真实存在。Sports Cards Plus为顾客提供了数款稀有且难寻的马刺队球星文班亚马的球星卡，其中一些卡片每张售价高达数千美元。
与此同时，马刺队新秀迪伦·哈珀和马刺队后卫、现任年度最佳新秀斯蒂芬·卡斯尔，则在全新的2025-26赛季Topps Chrome篮球系列中引领了新一轮的收藏热潮。该系列是Topps常规球星卡的高端版本，也是收藏圈中最受欢迎的系列之一。
Topps Chrome篮球系列于周四正式发售，其中哈珀一人就拥有多达31款不同的球星卡。至于卡斯尔，他则荣登该系列被Topps誉为“皇冠上的明珠”的卡片主角：一张独一无二（1-of-1）的金版Logoman签字卡。这张卡上镶嵌着球员球衣背后的特殊金色版NBA标志。Logoman卡是收藏圈中最受追捧、价值最高的卡片之一。新系列中还有四张卡斯尔的同款无签名的Logoman卡。
新款Topps Chrome金版NBA Logoman实物签字卡，例如图中这张马刺队后卫、现任年度最佳新秀斯蒂芬·卡斯尔的卡片，被认为是整个系列的皇冠之作，全球仅限量一张。
文班亚马在新的Chrome系列中依然占据着举足轻重的地位，这位法国天才共拥有19张不同的卡片。
新款Topps Chrome篮球系列包含19种马刺队球星文班亚马的不同设计卡片。图为一张超级折射签字卡，全球仅限量一张。
新款Topps Chrome篮球系列包含19种马刺队球星文班亚马的不同设计卡片。图为一张黑色折射签字卡，该系列中仅有10张。
新款Topps Chrome篮球系列包含19种马刺队球星文班亚马的不同设计卡片。图为一张金色折射签字卡，该系列中仅有50张。
自1992年创办Sports Cards Plus以来，店主查理·迪皮特罗已经见证过这个爱好圈因马刺队的超级巨星而数次引爆。他说，第一次是在大卫·罗宾逊 (David Robinson) 还是新秀时，之后蒂姆·邓肯 (Tim Duncan) 的时代又重演了一次。
谈到文班亚马对球星卡收藏的影响时，迪皮特罗说：“我称之为第三次浪潮。而且这次的爆发确实非同凡响，甚至超过了蒂姆·邓肯和大卫·罗宾逊。我想这是因为现在已经有很多人在收藏了，而他的出现又带来了更多新的关注。所以，市场行情非常好。”
如今的球星卡早已不是过去附赠泡泡糖的那种了。如今，球星卡是一个价值130亿美元的产业，提供各种版本的签字卡和其他变体卡。根据卡片的稀有度和开出“圣杯”级卡片的概率，这些卡包和卡盒的价格从几美元到上万美元不等。
仅新款Topps Chrome篮球系列，其价格就从塔吉特和沃尔玛售价19.99美元、内含15张卡的Hanger盒，到专业卡店售价379.99美元、内含80张卡和一张签字卡的Hobby盒不等。
正因如此，希尔和他最喜欢的卡店背后的专家们都敦促新老收藏家们，要在预算内享受乐趣。追逐自己喜爱的球员或球队应是出于热爱，而非为了赚快钱。总而言之，无论你是和自己的孩子一起，还是仅仅为了追寻内心的童真，都应该享受这项爱好核心的那份永恒的童年情怀。
“如果你入坑只是为了赚钱，那‘卡神’是不会眷顾你的，”希尔说道。“但如果你是出于热爱，为了享受乐趣、学习和拥抱它，我相信好卡自然会向你走来。”
正如希尔之前提到的，是他的儿子让他重返这个圈子。几年前，他儿子的同学问他，能不能让他的爸爸在他们自己的乔治·希尔球星卡上签名。结果，他的儿子就像分发糖果一样，把他爸爸自己的卡片都送了出去。
其中两张还是希尔效力于步行者队时期的个人Logoman卡。后来，希尔在网上找回了这两张Logoman卡。现在，他一包一包、一盒一盒地拆着，追寻着各式各样的卡片。
“我经常拆不出好东西，但偶尔也会有惊喜，”他说道。“我不太买单卡，我享受追逐的过程。我喜欢撕开卡包然后得到些什么。我觉得那样得到的卡片意义更重大。”
早在1950年代末，当迪皮特罗还是一个在城市西区深处长大的孩子时，是学校的朋友们带他进入了收藏的世界。
迪皮特罗9岁时开始收藏棒球卡，买卡的钱是他用一辆红色小推车在社区里收集汽水瓶换来的。到了1980年代初，迪皮特罗开始将球星卡作为一门生意来投资，而不仅仅是一项爱好了。
毕竟，“我的儿子们对卡片产生了兴趣，”迪皮特罗说，“所以我想，‘何乐而不为呢？’”
迪皮特罗见过许多小时候就来店里的顾客，如今带着他们自己的孩子再次光顾。“有一次，我店里同时来了一位祖父、他的儿子和孙子，三代人都在这里，”他说。
在卡片展示柜的后面，情况也大致如此。迪皮特罗的儿子杰夫·迪皮特罗和外孙乔丹·科雷亚 (Jordan Correa) 帮助经营着店铺，其他一些亲戚也会来帮忙。
从左至右：Sports Cards Plus店主查理·迪皮特罗与他的儿子杰夫、孙女伊丽莎白 (Elizabeth) 和外孙乔丹站在一起，他们都在他位于洛克希尔塞尔玛路2251号的体育卡和纪念品商店里工作。老迪皮特罗从事收藏卡业务已有30多年。
“这很有趣，因为球星卡就像一扇扇怀旧的小窗户，”杰夫·迪皮特罗在谈到球星卡的跨代吸引力时说。“似乎当一扇窗为老一辈人关闭时，另一扇窗又为年轻一代打开了。然后，老一辈人又会重新打开那扇窗。”
杰夫·迪皮特罗在80年代开始收藏卡片，那时他和他的兄弟还是在俄亥俄州街头玩棒球的小孩；而科雷亚则是在2000年代初因为宝可梦卡片而迷上了集换式卡牌。当时，他们谁也没把这些卡片看作是未来的投资。
“我们当时会玩游戏，如果在一场对战中输掉了我们的宝可梦，我们就会把卡片撕掉，”科雷亚笑着说。“我们那时候根本没想那么多。”
但如今的收藏家们可不是这样了。科雷亚说，现在的孩子们来到Sports Cards Plus时，对这个爱好的百科全书式知识的了解程度，往往不亚于成年人。有些人甚至花钱也像大人一样阔绰。然而，这些年轻的收藏家们也常常像在校园里一样，无拘无束地和伙伴们交换卡片。
“这绝对是两种情况的混合体：有些孩子不在乎（卡的价值），也有些孩子很在乎，”科雷亚说。“但无论如何，他们对这个圈子是如何运作的都有相当清楚的了解。”
那么，你应该如何进入这个错综复杂的卡牌宝藏世界呢？这里有“平行卡”（parallels），它们看起来和基础卡一样，但边框颜色不同，数量也更有限；还有“实物卡”（relics），就像Logoman卡一样，是在稀有卡片中嵌入一块纪念品，比如球员球衣的布料。
再次强调，要在自己的经济能力范围内收藏。查理·迪皮特罗说，要记住Chrome系列是Topps标准球星卡的高端版本，发行量更小，开出平行卡和其他特卡的几率更高。Chrome卡的价格更贵，但价值也更高。
例如，一盒Topps常规2025/26赛季NBA球星卡的Value Box内含82张卡，售价24.99美元。而一盒Chrome Value Box内含28张卡，售价则为49.99美元。
新款2025-26赛季Topps Chrome篮球系列球星卡是卡片收藏圈中最受欢迎的系列之一，它提供不同规格的卡盒以适应各种收藏水平和预算。价格从19.99美元（15张卡）到379.99美元（含一张签字卡的80张卡Hobby Box）不等。
“他们设置了所有这些不同的级别，以便人们可以根据自己的消费能力来决定，”迪皮特罗说。“随着卡盒价格的升高，开出有价值的东西也变得更容易。但如果你只是为了好玩，你可以选择那些更便宜的盒子。”
杰夫·迪皮特罗也赞同他父亲的另一句至理名言：“只要他们玩得开心，如果恰好开出了值钱的东西，那就是双倍的快乐。”
科雷亚说，新手很容易感到不知所措，所以一定要做好功课。他说，可以多看看YouTube上的开箱视频，以便更好地了解市面上有哪些卡片，然后再走出去，和其他收藏家交流以获得指导。也可以向店主以及网络上的意见领袖请教技巧。
杰夫·迪皮特罗强调，最好要设定一个止损点，并且绝不超越它。他提到，他有一个朋友花了5000美元去追一张文班亚马的签字卡，而这张卡在eBay上大约只要1000美元就能买到。
希尔对此深有同感。那天在Sports Cards Plus，他一连拆了10盒Chrome棒球卡，只为寻找一张极其稀有的“首秀布块卡”（Debut Patch card），这种卡片上镶嵌着球员在大联盟首秀比赛中所穿球衣的一小块布料。
虽然希尔这次“三振出局”，没能如愿，但他仍然享受着这个过程。
由生成式人工智能翻译，译文内容可能不准确或不完整，以原文为准。
点击查看原文：Wembanyama and Spurs rookies ignite Topps Chrome frenzy
Wembanyama and Spurs rookies ignite Topps Chrome frenzy
Sports Cards Plus owner Charlie DiPietro, left, watches his son Jeff DiPietro arrange boxes of the new 2025-26 Topps Chrome Basketball trading cards, which went on sale Thursday. The set includes all sorts of rare Spurs cards featuring star players such as Victor Wembanyama, rookie Dylan Harper and reigning Rookie of the Year, Stephon Castle.
You don’t often see a former Spurs player ripping open packs of Major League Baseball cards at a trading cards shop, much less bemoaning how he had to recoup some of his most prized cards of himself after his young son gave them to his friends at school.
Then again, retired NBA veteran George Hill is a lot like most guys who break boxes and blister packs at Sports Cards Plus, a family-owned store just north of Castle Hills that’s been in the collectible cards business about as long as the 39-year-old Hill has dribbled a basketball.
Spurs rookie Dylan Harper gets plenty of exposure in the new Topps Chrome Basketball set with 31 different cards. Pictured is an autographed Black Refractor card of Harper.
Hill also collected cards when he was a kid. And his kid also got him back into the hobby.
“(And) that’s what opened back up the love for it,” Hill said. “If my son didn’t do it, I probably wouldn’t have got back into it.”
Sports cards have bridged and bonded generations almost as long as sports themselves. And if you’re a Spurs fan, there’s never been a better time to get into the game, especially when the team that first drafted Hill into the NBA is making so much noise in card collecting.
There is, of course, Wembymania. Since Victor Wembanyama suited up for the Spurs two seasons ago, the generational talent has towered over the sports cards market with more than 560,000 cards graded, according to GemRate. One rookie card alone sold for a staggering $860,000, while others such as the rare Wembanyama cards at Sports Cards Plus sell on the secondary market for several thousand dollars each.
Wembymania card mania is real. Sports Cards Plus offers customers several rare and hard-to-find trading cards of Spurs star Victor Wembanyama, some selling for several thousand dollars each.
Meanwhile, Spurs rookie Dylan Harper and Spurs guard and reigning Rookie of the Year, Stephon Castle, lead the card collecting charge in the new 2025-26 Topps Chrome Basketball set, a premium version of Topps’ regular sports cards that’s one of the most popular series in the hobby.
Chrome Basketball dropped Thursday with a whopping 31 different Harper cards. As for Castle, he graces what Topps bills as “the crown jewel” of the new Chrome collection: a 1-of-1 autographed Gold Logoman card, which features a special gold version of the NBA logo the player wore on the back of his jersey. Logoman cards are some of the most sought-after and valuable cards in the hobby. The new set also has four such Castle cards without the signature.
The autographed version of the new Topps Chrome Gold NBA Logoman Relic Card, such as the pictured card of Spurs guard and reigning Rookie of the Year, Stephon Castle, is considered the crown jewel of the collection, limited to just a single card.
Wembanyama still has a commanding presence in the new Chrome series with 19 different cards of the French phenom.
The new Topps Chrome Basketball set includes 19 different card designs of Spurs star Victor Wembanyama. Pictured is an autographed Superfractor, limited to just one card.
The new Topps Chrome Basketball set includes 19 different card designs of Spurs star Victor Wembanyama. Pictured is an autographed Black Refractor card, one of only 10 in the set.
The new Topps Chrome Basketball set includes 19 different card designs of Spurs star Victor Wembanyama. Pictured is an autographed Gold Refractor card, one of only 50 in the set.
Since launching Sports Cards Plus in 1992, owner Charlie DiPietro has seen the hobby explode several times thanks to Spurs superstars. It happened when David Robinson was a rookie, he said, then again with Tim Duncan.
When it comes to Wembanyama’s impact on card collecting, “I call it the third wave,” DiPietro said. “And it’s really exploded, even more than Tim Duncan, more than David Robinson. And I think it’s because there’s already a lot of people collecting. And it’s brought a lot more new interest. So it’s doing really well.”
These aren’t your bubble gum cards of old. Sports cards today are a $13 billion industry, offering myriad versions of autographed cards and other variants in packs and boxes that can range from a few bucks to five figures based on card scarcity and odds of pulling such grails.
The new Chrome Basketball cards alone go for anywhere between $19.99 for a Hanger box of 15 cards at Target and Walmart to $379.99 for a Hobby Box of 80 cards with one autograph at specialty stores.
Which is why Hill and the experts behind his favorite card shop urge new and returning collectors to focus on having fun within a budget. Chase that favorite player or team for the love, not the fast buck. Basically, enjoy that timeless childhood feeling that’s at the heart of the hobby, whether it’s with your own child or just your inner child.
“If you’re going into it just trying to make money off of it, the card gods won’t bless you,” Hill said. “But if you’re going into it for reasons (like) to have fun and learn it and embrace it, I think good cards come your way.”
As Hill noted earlier, his son was the reason he got back into the hobby. A few years ago, his son’s school friends asked him if his dad could sign their own George Hill cards. That led to his son doling out his dad’s own cards like they were candy.
Two of those cards were Hill’s own Logoman cards from his days with the Pacers. Hill later recovered the Logoman cards online. Now he chases all sorts of cards, pack by pack and box by box.
“I miss a lot but sometimes you get big hits,” he said. “I don’t really buy singles, I go for the chase. I like to rip the packs open and get something. I feel like the card means more when you do that.”
Friends at school are what got DiPietro into collecting back in the late 1950s when he was a kid growing up on the city’s deep West Side.
DiPietro was 9 years old when he started collecting baseball cards, which he bought with money he got from collecting soda bottles around the neighborhood with a little red wagon. In the early 1980s, DiPietro started investing in sports cards as a business, not just a hobby.
After all, “my sons got interested in cards,” DiPietro said, “and I said, ‘Why not?’”
DiPietro has seen customers who first came in as kids bring their own children to the store. “In one case, I have a grandfather, the son and the grandson, all three of them, three generations here at a time,” he said.
That’s usually the case behind the card displays. DiPietro’s son Jeff DiPietro and grandson Jordan Correa help run the store, with assists from a few other relatives.
Sports Cards Plus owner Charlie DiPietro, from left, stands with his son Jeff and grandchildren Elizabeth and Jordan, who all work alongside him at his sports card and memorabilia store at 2251 Lockhill Selma Road. The elder DiPietro has been in the collectible cards business for more than 30 years.
“It is interesting because it is like little windows of nostalgia,” Jeff DiPietro said of sports cards’ cross-generational appeal. “It seems like when one seemingly closes for the older generation it opens for the younger one. And then the older one opens the window again, too.”
Jeff DiPietro started collecting cards in the '80s when he and his brother were kids in Ohio playing stickball in the streets, while Correa got the trading card bug in the early 2000s with Pokémon cards. At the time, neither saw their cards as a future investment.
“We would play the games and if we lost our Pokémon in a battle we’d rip up the card,” Correa said with a laugh. “We didn’t think much of it at the time.”
That’s not the case with collectors today. Correa said kids often come into Sports Cards Plus just as versed in the encyclopaedic knowledge of the hobby as the grown-ups. Some even spend the same kind of grown-up money. Yet often those young collectors still swap cards with their buddies with that same schoolyard abandon.
“It’s definitely a mix of both: the kids that don’t care and then the kids that do care,” Correa said. “But either way, they do have a good idea of how the hobby works.”
So how should you enter this Byzantine world of card-stock treasures that include “parallels,” which look the same as base cards only with different border colors in more limited numbers, and “relics,” which like the Logoman cards are rare cards embedded with a piece of memorabilia such as fabric from a player’s jersey?
Again, collect within your means. Remember that Chrome is a premium version of Topps standard sports cards with smaller print runs and better odds at parallels and other inserts. Chrome cards cost more but will be more valuable, Charlie DiPietro said.
For instance, a Value Box of Topps’ regular 2025/26 NBA cards has 82 cards for $24.99. A Chrome Value Box has 28 cards for $49.99.
The new 2025-26 Topps Chrome Basketball trading cards, one of the most popular series in the card collecting hobby, come in different box formats for various collecting levels and budgets. Prices range from $19.99 for 15 cards to $379.99 for a Hobby Box of 80 cards with one autograph card.
“They have all these different levels to make it so that people can decide what their affordability level is,” DiPietro said. “And as you go up in cost of the box, it makes it easier to get something valuable. But if you’re just in it for the fun, you can go to the cheaper boxes.”
Jeff DiPietro seconded another one of his dad’s truisms: “As long as they’re having fun, if something is worth a lot of money then you win twice.”
Correa said it’s easy to get overwhelmed, so do your homework. Watch YouTube videos of box openings to get a better sense of the cards that are out there, he said, then get out there and talk with other collectors for guidance. Reach out to shop owners as well as online influencers for tips, too.
Jeff DiPietro stressed it’s best to figure out a point of no return and to never pass it. He noted he had a friend who spent $5,000 looking for a Wembanyama autographed card that would have cost him about $1,000 on eBay.
Hill could relate. That day at Sports Cards Plus, he tore through 10 boxes of Chrome Baseball cards in the hunt for a super-rare Debut Patch card, which features a piece of the player’s game-worn jersey from his first major league game.
Hill struck out on that count but still had fun playing.
By René Guzman, Staff Writer, via San Antonio Express-News