Once In A Lifetime Opportunity

When it comes to purchasing new cards for my collection, I refuse to discriminate.  I'll buy them online over at eBay, COMC, and at a handful of online card shops.  Plus I  purchase cards in person at the flea market, at the local wholesaler, and every now and then at card shows.

So when I first read Tony's Day #7 Challenge, which is to write about a card you bought in person, I figured it was going to be pretty simple.  Then I realized that I'm constantly writing about my flea market finds, card show hauls, and trips to the wholesaler, so that stuff has already been covered.

I decided to head over to my website, flip through my collection, and see if anything jumped out at me.  That's when I found this:

Two years ago, I had the opportunity to meet Masanori Murakami, the first Japanese born MLB player, during a book tour across the country.  Thanks to Brady over at St. Louis Cardinals Cardboard, I was able to participate in a Kickstarter campaign to help fund the book tour.  Some of the perks included autographed copies of Robert Fitt's book, "Mashi", along with a signed baseball and a few other items.

After I got my items signed, I decided to stick around to see if I could ask Mr. Fitts and Mr. Murakami some questions.  While waiting, I noticed that Mr. Murakami was signing his name in kanji at the request of some fans.

I hopped back in line and purchased an extra Turkey Red cabinet card, which Mr. Murakami happily signed in kanji.

Afterwards both gentlemen were kind enough to take a photo with me capturing the moment when I got to hang out with the player who paved the way for guys like Hideo Nomo, Ichiro Suzuki, and Hideki Matsui.

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!