In my stated goals for the show, I managed to meet or exceed them all except for the Michael Vick thing because ol' puppy kicker wasn't there that day. Number four on my list was this:
4) If I see a J-Hey that I don't have and the price isn't jacked up, buy it.
This card was on a table with a bunch of random piles of low-end mojo and stuff stacked into those little 100 card count plastic boxes. What the hell are those things called again? Everything was a buck, or six for five. Mostly parallels and inserts from the past couple of years. Baseball was the majority but some feetsball and hoops cards showed up too. I scrounged through them all and nabbed the shiniest Braves crap I could find. Over on the corner of the table was a pile of empty toploaders and some papers. I spied a couple of cards underneath the detritus and lo and behold was this Heyward. I asked the harried shopkeep if this was part of the six for five bucks deal and he confirmed it was indeed! Apparently there was a small stack of them, but he conjectured that the rest went in a "five for a finger" discount. A great laugh was had by all and I bought that Heyward card almost instantly. Around these parts, you're not finding any Heyward card for under five bucks so to get one for a buck is a wonderful thing.
The other wonderful thing about this card is the product it came from. Bowman Platinum is one of those mediocre late year sets where Topps is trying to fill out every last product they're allowed under their license and their heart isn't really in it anymore. It's like the guy who was tasked with designing this mess was mad because he wanted to work on the '11 flagship and he got stuck with this thing instead so he half-assed it. My problem: I still liked the set. Even though I fully acknowledge that it is a cynical money grab designed to soak mojo hunters right around the holidays I still kinda like it. It's ugly as sin, sure. The checklist is your basic boring 100 vets + some prospects with the slight twist that a few of the vets were replaced with TEAM USA teenagers. The packs are too expensive and they don't have enough cards. All of these things suck and I would normally never buy this ever. However:
1) HEYWARD ROOKIE CARD!
2) RACK PACK WITH FREE SHINIES!!!
3) HEYWARD'S ON THE PACKAGING!!!!!!
4) SQUEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yes, I admit I am a complete goddamn fool for buying even a single pack of this crap, let alone about a half a dozen racks. Jason Heyward just has that effect on me, I can't resist. (In related news - Fredi finally has moved Jason up in the order, this makes up for that dumbass bases loaded suicide squeeze thing he did) I would see one of those lovely Jason Heyward rack packs hanging up in the card aisle and any logic or sanity I may have possessed evaporated and one or two would end up in the cart. HOWEVER - the nanosecond I bought this card all that was done. Since that day I haven't even looked at a pack of that junk, let alone bought one of them. This card has saved me probably 50 to 60 bucks worth of impulse racks and blasters chasing down that dang Heyward. Best buck I ever spent. On that day. Well, at that table. I think. There was some good stuff at that table.
The rest of the Top 20 List...
#20 Reds' Heavy Artillery
#19 Blue MadDog
#18 Lil' Jimmy
#17 Real Fake '52
#16 First Topps
#15 Bogus Boog
#14 V103 Tree
#13 Sertoma Rico
#12 '55 Finishers
#11 Hey Shiny
#10 What the Dickens
#9 '60 Spahnnie
#8 Lonely '53
#7 Super Chief
#6 Original Frank
#5 Hoops Inspiration
#4 Rocket Robin
#3 Wizard Off Kilter
#2 Shenanigans Were Called
#1 The Holy Grail of Commons
(wasn't this post supposed to be a short one??)
1 comment:
I thought about watching the game, but Hawaii 50 had me and then I noticed we were down 3 after the first inning. Looks like I'll get some sleep tonight
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