Breakout

What do you do when you want a baseball card? How do you go about acquiring it? Does it require a lot of research? Just takes time? How important is condition? Modern cards (with the last 15 years or so) I expect to be in pretty darn fine if not close to pristine condition. Gem Mint as some might say.  Even Mint is the baseline. But older cards...where do you draw the line? For modern cards I just want the cheapest one I can get and most of them are under a quarter.

I've been chipping away at Ralph Kiner's major Bowman and Topps cards for his playing career for a while. I was fortunate enough to buy his 1948 rookie card when I was a teenager, so I got that one out of the way. I also had his 1953 Topps. (Following last week's post, I have to say 1953 Topps isn't my favorite set either. So I've been tracking the last two cards I need for a while. My preference is a "raw" card; one that isn't graded and thus encapsulated in plastic. A graded card in plastic is the equivalent of Han Solo encased in carbonite.

But, if I can't find a raw card, I do look to graded if the price is something reasonable. I find it humorous that people buy cards just to get them graded so that they can maybe resell them for more money. I personally feel that graded cards -- no matter the grade -- should be cheaper. You can't touch it! How PSA hasn't joined up with MC Hammer is beyond my comprehension.

But, I usually draw the line at creases. Especially if it travels edge to edge longways or width-ways. Creases on the corners are less bothersome to me. 

I wasn't seeing any un-graded cards, so I targeted a graded one which I ended up getting. The card? It was the 1953 Bowman Color, and broke it out as soon as I humanly could.

I do keep the grading label as "evidence", not that that'll mean anything for whenever I no longer own the card. But I hope it'll be a long time before that happens!

Oh, you probably want to see it?

This is a very nice card in my humble opinion. It has got a great white (off white, really) border on the front. Decent centering. And the back has everything looking fine too. Another thing I cannot abide by is paper loss. I don't want to see any damage like that. 

Something I cannot remember and something that I wish I could is how I zeroed in on Ralph Kiner to be someone I wanted to collect back then! It might stem from the fact that the Pirates were my first favorite team? Do you collect anyone for a reason you can't remember?

Thanks for stopping by!