Sticking to autographed cards

You know how I said that I didn’t care much for relics, AU and GU (and the simple fact that I’m using those abbreviations shows that I’ve learned a lot in a couple of months ! I’m proud of myself) ? Well, ok, I lied.

I think they’re pretty cool. I remember that in the 90s, it wasn’t even conceivable to expect to find one of those Heroes of Baseball autographs. Or the Mantle/Griffey combo (I wonder what the odds actually were. Considering the production of the era, probably 1 : 1 000 000 000 000). Considering I have 16 years to catch up with and that there have been countless sets produced since 1998, all with their tons of memorabilia, I can’t wait to see real amazing cards. TJ at The Junior Junkie showed one with actual dirt from the batter’s box in it. It’s half dumb half incredible. Man I love that hobby (there was some dirt on some of those 80s cards I got the other day. Maybe they’re from a pitcher’s mound, I’ll have to look into it).

I think the most I’ve spent on a card is 8$ for a 95 Griffey promo Upper Deck card. And I’m pretty comfortable staying within that price range. I’d be willing to spend, say, 30$ for a beat up Willie Mays card (I don’t care about condition, it’s just that I like the idea of owning those vintage cards, even in real poor condition), but that’s about it.

I was browsing ebay the other day and found this seller who had a whole bunch of memorabilia within my price range (2 to 5 $ for Blue Jays players). And I decided to treat myself to a Ken Griffey GU card. I just checked, and according to Beckett, there are 2 000 cards of his that are GU or AU. I actually laughed out loud. It’s always very healthy to laugh, I’m glad I took a look. I think I paid 8$ for it. That must be my magic Griffey number.

And as you can see, when I received my package, I also learned a valuable lesson about autographed cards : there are such things as stickers. Not all autos are on card. Okay. Now I know.

It’s a long,  learning process…


ps : you'll notice that I put up a link for my want list. It's really generic, sorry about that, but let's hope my collection grows enough for it to become specific. I now need to figure out what kind of traid bait I have...