Card Shop Employee Discount

When it comes to purchasing sports cards, I take pride on being a patient collector who tries to spend his hard earned money wisely.  Now I realize that some people see purchasing sports cards and spending money wisely as contradictions.  But I'd like to think that most of the cards I've picked up these past few years have been decent bargains that have held their value.

Unfortunately the same can't be said for decisions I made during the Junk Wax Era.  Today's post is my Day 6 submission to Tony's 30-Day Baseball Card Challenge: A card you spent more than $10 to get.

Back in the early 90's, I worked at a baseball card shop.  The owner was kind of a scumbag who didn't always pay us on time.  But every now and then, he'd give me a good deal on a card I really wanted.

One day, he came in to restock the singles and brought in a bunch of 1988 Score Rookie and Traded singles.  At the time, this set was perceived to be very rare which made them very popular.  

One of the hottest cards in the set was this card:

1988 Score Rookie and Traded #80T

I purchased this card at the peak of Mark Grace's popularity and probably paid over $20 for this card (which included my employee discount).  To put things into perspective, back then I made less than $5/hr.

Today you can purchase a PSA 10 graded copy of this card for less than that.  Since I returned to the hobby in 2008, I've seen raw copies like mine in dollar bins at card shows.  However, it wouldn't surprise me if collectors have found this card sitting in dime or quarter boxes.

Even though I spent way too much money on this card, I've have held onto it, because it's still a cool card.  Grace had a solid sixteen season career which easily qualifies him for Baseball's Hall of Very Good.  Plus it features a great, well cropped action shot of him taking a swing at Wrigley Field.  Check out those stirrups!

Well that's it for today.  I've started working on a bunch of care packages that will be shipped out sometime next week.  I'll hopefully have a list of packages for you in my Sunday post.

Happy Friday and sayonara!