Been a while since I mentioned anything like this, but above and beyond Sam’s GQ break, I did pick up 2 blasters on release day, and then at some point another rack pack or two on various Target trips. I managed to actually get a couple hits and I thought I’d go ahead and mention them before adding them to my tradebait page.
I’m just going to put that beauty right up there on top, so I can talk about it and what it took to get it. 2013 Gypsy Queen Nomar Garciaparra jumbo bat relic, #23/25. The story isn’t so much about this card, but the card that was supposed to be.
A week or so after GQ launched this year, some guy on Reddit, my daily (and constant) source of procrastination, posted in /r/baseballcards that he “got lucky” and got 2 jumbo relics in a single hobby pack. Topps is clearly known for their highest quality in regards to collation, so I couldn’t help but feel the part about the single pack was full of crap (he said, dripping with sarcasm). That should have been my first red flag but I was blinded by the Nomar and, regardless of how many packs he got them in, he did in fact have 2 jumbo relics. He had #19/25 of the Nomar pictured above, as well as a Cabrera jumbo jersey relic. While most of the posters were falling over themselves to make him offers on the latest Triple Crown winner, I sent him a PM about the Nomar.
He said he was looking to sell it, that he doesn’t really open anything other than Flagship and that his GQ packs were just kind of a random purchase. He didn’t really collect much, so he didn’t want anything in trade (second red flag) but would take Paypal for it.
I thought about it for 0.00002 seconds and made him, what I felt at the time, was an appropriate offer. $35. His card had a small crease just above Nomar’s head and I didn’t feel comfortable offering more than that. At the time, there was only one other on ebay and was “Buy it Now” at $40. He agreed, thought it was a fair price and we sent messages back and forth with our details. It was a done deal, or so I thought.
This was a Thursday afternoon, and I was getting paid on Friday so I decided to wait until the morning to send him the money. It was a good thing that I did.
Having drooled over the very idea of this card when I first saw it on the checklist, I had an ebay alert set up for anything matching it. The only entry was the aforementioned $40 BiN. That night, after dinner, I got an email from ebay. A new card matched my search criteria. It was #19/25. The seller’s username was also identical to the reddit user.
At first I thought it was a fluke. Maybe he was listing it so I could buy it from him and we’d do the transaction within Ebay. Buyers/sellers protection, all that jazz. Then I checked the auction. The starting bid was set at $49.00.
I sent him a message. No reply.
Friday, Saturday, Sunday went by. It was only a 5 day auction. The bidding hit $55, then $59.
Monday morning I got a short reply from him, saying, in a nutshell. “Screws you dood, I gettin more money for it on ebay”.
There was still a day or two left. I could seriously mess with his ebay auction. The thought crossed my mind of creating multiple accounts and creating a fictional “bidding war”, raising the price of the card into the thousands, then walking away from those accounts, forcing him to re-list it, over and over again.
I won’t lie, those thoughts crossed my mind.
I didn’t do that though. I took the high road.
I told him I’m glad he got what he could for it, and wished him well in his collecting.
Two days later, I get another email. Another card matches my search criteria. #23/25, starting at $0.99.
EXACTLY $34.99 later, including shipping ($32 + $2.99), and it’s mine.
I saved a penny, and still felt good about myself.
Let that be a lesson kids.
Never attempt to buy cards from random internet strangers, and card-karma is a very very real thing.
I had just received this last week when I was wrapping up my Mail Days posts, and then we moved offices and I hadn’t had a chance to scan it before today. Blog reader Corey sent this really nice Rejean Lemelin auto as a thank you for a Marlins box’o’stuff and a quick Ian Snell jersey trade.
“Reggie” Lemelin was minding the net for the Boston during my childhood and, most memorable to me, during the 87-88 season when Ray Bourque and the Bruins faced off against some no name punk named Wayne Gretzky and the Edmonton Oilers in the Stanley Cup Finals. Sadly the Bruins lost that year, but now I’ve got a great card from one of my favorite eras in Bruins lore. Thanks Corey, love the card, and I’m very sorry about the delay. Make sure you check out Corey’s blog “Broken Bat” as well.
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