This past baseball season was incredibly special to me. It didn’t have so much to do with anything that my beloved Oakland A’s did as much as the fact that it was my first as a father. My baby son had no idea why we went to the games or even that there was a game going on. Still every smile from him at these events made me hope that we can share the game for decades to come.
Anyway, the whole experience made me pretty nostalgic. I went to a local shop in town and bought some baseball cards. Pretty soon, the hobby shop became a regular stop on our father-son walks. Yesterday I went twice.
Don’t judge me, yet. Let me explain.
I decided pretty early on that I wanted to collect a complete set to give my son when he is older. This task seemed simple at first, but times have changed since I was a kid. The season’s set is broken up into two separate series of 330 cards each. A few weeks ago, I noticed a third “update” series on the shelf (made up of 330 more cards). Part of me was depressed at this sight, but the addict in me was really excited.
To date, I haven’t completed any of the three sets even though I have a few thousand cards. There are special insert sets, card variations and tons and tons of doubles. Series One is no longer being printed, so the price of those packs has doubled at my local shop. I still need some of those cards, so yesterday I splurged on ten packs.
When I got home I started going through the packs with my “need” list. I was able to cross a few off, but when I picked up the seventh pack, my heart jumped a bit. The pack was noticeably heavier than any other pack. Since taking up the hobby again this summer, I have found a couple autographed cards as well as the cards that have a tiny piece of game-used jerseys embedded in them, but I never felt a pack that was heavier than the others.
In this pack, I found the undisputed crown jewel of our family baseball card collection. It was metal. It looked odd at first because there was only blue ink on the front. Still, I recognized the design as the Alex Rodriguez card that I feel I have about eighty of.
I turned it around and whispered out loud, “This is the actual cyan printing plate used to manufacture card 50, Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankees, 2011 Topps Baseball Series 1 Trading Cards. This plate is a one-of-a kind collectible.” At the bottom it is numbered 1 of 1.
As a kid, I would have gloated to my friends (none of whom collect baseball cards anymore). I showed it to my son from a safe distance, but I could tell he just wanted to know what it tasted like. So, I headed back to our shop and bragged to the owner, Patty, about my find. She was genuinely happy for me and said maybe it would pay for all my spending over the last few months. I said I doubted it. I thanked her for running such an honest shop.
I noticed the weight difference of the pack right away in my hand. Any card shop owner can take two seconds to check their unopened packs and keep the good ones to sell in the shop.
I have no idea what my card is worth, but the odds of pulling a press plate is 1:1,500 packs according to Topps. As a lifelong A’s fan, I am no fan of Alex Rodriguez. Still, I know that the fact that he is such a known player makes my find that much sweeter. The cyan ink looks like Yankee blue, too.