Last night I hit the local Fox Sports Grill (awesome BBQ chicken nachos btw) with my bud Jeff (who's a huge Yankees fan, my friend since high school and the guy who started the whole Ultimate Coupons website so many years ago) to watch the Yankees destroy the Cleveland Indians. Apparently the Yanks forgot to look at the script though, and got shellacked 12-3. Sigh. Hopefully they'll make up for it tonight...
I've been a Yankees fan for as long as I can remember. That's probably thanks to my dad being a big fan and my uncle (my mother's brother) being an even bigger one. In fact, when my uncle moved to California when I was just a kid, I remember being really really torn up about it. Uncle Barry was the fun uncle everybody just loved, including my friends. He was into sports, loved playing baseball with us and had a big fuzzy mustache, which is why my pal Gary always referred to him as Mike Schmidt. Since I was somewhat of a collector (comic books and baseball cards) and took pretty good care of my stuff, when Uncus moved to Marin County, he entrusted me with his baseball card collection. That definitely helped ease the pain a little bit. While they weren't all perfectly mint Hank Aaron rookie cards, this was a shoe box full of cards from the '50s and '60s featuring some of the greatest players to ever step on a ball field like Mickey Mantle, Sandy Koufax and Whitey Ford. I've got such fond memories of digging through that box on a regular basis as a kid.
Years later when I was in college I finally figured it was time to step things up. So I actually organized the entire collection and put each card in a protective plastic sleeve and then in a binder. (Think of it like a photo album with 9 photos per page). And then when I hit California for a vacation with my girlfriend, I delivered the binder to him with mixed feelings. (Mixed only because I was sad to finally let those awesome cards go.)
I still have my own collection of cards (which is roughly 3 or 4 shoe boxes full) that I always debate selling off. I know they won't fetch too much and I really don't care about them anymore. But I think about my uncle's collection and what my 2 kids might be like 10 years from now. What if they become huge baseball fans or baseball card collectors? They'd go insane knowing I got rid of my Tony Gwynn rookie card or dumped my 1987 factory-sealed Fleer set. So for now, I think I may just hold on to them for a while...
COUPON TIME:
I could find a good coupon for a hardware store that sells shellac (Get it?), but instead I'll take the easy route and give you guys a sweet MLB.com coupon so you can rush out and get a Yankees shirt while they're still alive in the playoffs!
$10 off an order of $50+ at MLB.com Shop
Use promotional code 10ACY268. (Must use capital letters.)
Minimum purchase amount excludes shipping, handling, gift-wrapping and taxes. Cannot be combined with any other promotions.
2 Responses to “House of (baseball) cards”
Great memories. I was a big card collector (baseball and basketball) as well. Definetely hold on to them! Like you said, they could turn into a fun thing to do with your kids. I use to collect cards with my Mom, she was as avid collector as well. We had a blast and would actually go to card shows together. One of my fondest memories is when we bought a 84 Fleer Michael Jordan rookie for $40, last time I checked it was worth around $600. Would never sell it though!
Thanks, Kyle. I may just hold on to them yet. And wow, nice snag on that Jordon rookie! That one's only going to rise in value, unless Jordon one day goes insane and ends up in jail... But I hear ya. While the money would be crazy tempting, the memories it holds are far more valuable. (Yeah yeah, cue the cheesy music...)