Alright, folks, let’s talk about my little adventure trying to snag a Kirk Gibson rookie card. I’ve always been a bit of a baseball card collector, more of a casual hobbyist than a hardcore investor, you know?
So, I started with the usual – hitting up the internet. I spent the better part of a Saturday morning just browsing, getting a feel for what was out there, and what kind of prices I was looking at. I got lost in all sorts of cards that time.
The Hunt Begins
I decided to get a bit more focused. Instead of just aimlessly searching, I started checking out a few dedicated card shops online. I figured these places would be more likely to have what I was after and, hopefully, have some kind of guarantee of authenticity, that the cards were legit, and hadn’t been tampered with.
- I compared prices across different sites. Some were asking way too much, others seemed a little too good to be true. Classic stuff.
- I read a bunch of descriptions. Condition is everything with these cards, so I was looking for words like “mint” or “near mint.” Anything less, and I was moving on. Looked for creases, rounded corners, fading… all that bad stuff.
- I even looked into grading services, not sure about the initials PSA, BGS, and SGC. Thought about it, but that seemed like a whole other level of commitment.
The Local Card Shop
After a few hours online, I was feeling a bit overwhelmed. It’s hard to tell the real deal from the fakes just by looking at pictures on a screen. So, I decided to go old-school. I looked up local card shops in my area. Luckily, I had a few to choose from.
I went into, I think, three different shops that afternoon. It was kind of fun, actually. Chatting with the owners, flipping through binders of cards… brought back some good memories. And, it was a lot easier to see the condition of the cards in person.
First two shops: No luck.
Then I checked out the third shop. It’s really cool! The shop owner is a real fan and introduced many details about the cards. I saw several cards that I wanted and finally got my Kirk Gibson rookie card!
I am really enjoying my time. That’s all I want to share today.
