I'm almost ashamed of this post. But here's the deal. Over a decade ago, my father died. A few years later, my stepmother (one of the best people to ever walk the planet) gave me his coin collection, as he wanted. I sold it, framing a few pieces, and paid for a year of my kid's tuition (he was a good collector). In December of 2020, my stepmother died and they've finally worked out the details of the estate, which is pretty small. But I went down to North Carolina a couple weeks ago and took one carload of stuff home. I found one more box of coins -- the last remnants of a lifetime of collecting. I figured I'd get a few hundred dollars out of it and maybe buy one really nice card. I sold those coins Saturday. They turned out to be worth about ten times more than I thought. So I'll use about 3/4 of it towards a new car in a few months, but I am blessed to be in decent financial shape. So, with my wife's blessing, I targeted three ridiculously expensive baseball cards to buy -- the White Whales. A Nolan Ryan rookie, a 1954 or 1955 Jackie Robinson, and an Ernie Banks rookie. And now I have one of them on the way.
Yes, I have finally purchased a Nolan Ryan rookie card. The price is embarassing, especially for someone who's dedicated his career to helping poor people. But it's from my dad, a refiguring of his collection into mine. The label I put on the card will indicate just that. So I'll think of him every time I look at that card. And it was bonus money that just didn't exist in our house until yesterday.
It is a PSA 1 (I wasn't gonna trust a non-graded card for this one), but -- as every collector has said over and over -- it appears much better than that. It just has one pretty crunched corner. The rest looks quite good. I can live with that. I still cannot believe the prices these cards go for. COVID basically doubled the price of this card, by my observations. I outbid many people, so it feels like that's what people are willing to pay and the price is fair. I cannot believe I just spent the amount I just spent on a piece of cardboard. But I did. And my father and stepmother would approve. And I'm gonna find the Robinson. And I'll probably just let the Banks go, to assuage my guilt at least a little bit. It can wait another few years.
But I have the Ryan.
May you all be well and find your White Whales in life. Just don't let them take you to the bottom of the sea, like Ahab.
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