I have to admit, there are times when I’m a little bit jealous of other collectors. I’m not talking about people finding monster hits or 1/1’s, I think we’re all a little jealous of that. I mean that sometimes I’m envious of collectors with, by comparison, seemingly easier collecting paths. In perspective, I’m sure it’s just as hard to find cards for “your guys” as it is mine. I’m just saying that buying a Benintendi auto, or trying to collect a rainbow of parallels, for me, is considerably harder than let’s say a collection of a random reliever for the Marlins. I guess that’s a good problem to have. As a Red Sox collector I have it, you Yankees collectors have it, you Mike Trout collectors, you other big name rookies/all-stars collectors have it too. Those big names and big market teams command big dollars. So, when someone shows off a collection of super-stars autos I’m jealous that they had the money to spend on that. When someone shows off a collection of relatively unknown players, I’m just a little jealous of smaller market teams and their collectors for that reason too. I love being a Red Sox collector, but sometimes I wish I could pay Padres prices. You know what I mean?

In a nutshell, that’s why I don’t chase big name stuff. I would LOVE to have a Mookie Betts rainbow of autographs. Heck, I’d love to have ONE Mookie Betts autograph. It’s completely dumb luck that I have a Benintendi auto, I wouldn’t have been able to buy it normally. That’s why I have a Brock Holt collection. That’s why I have a Steve Wright collection. The reason is two-fold. First because I like them as players, and second because their cards are cheap. Win-win in my book.

So, to all you guys who are dropping big bucks on Mike Trout superfractors, you keep doing that, and I’ll keep living vicariously through your random posts and pictures. In the meantime (and don’t get me wrong, I still love these, a lot), I’ll be putting together bargain rainbows like this…

Ironically, I still need to pick up the base auto, but there are hundreds on eBay for $0.99, so I’m not worried about that. It’s just a matter of time before a /5 Red version appears in the wild. Other than that and the 1/1, I’m nearly done.

For those who are curious, these are the Blue Refractor #/150, Green Refractor #/99, Gold Refractor #/50, Blue Wave Refractor #/25, Red Wave Refractor #/25, and Orange Refractor #/25. The Red/Blue Waves were the hardest to find. I think I spent $5 on the Blue, and $10-ish on the Red. Surprisingly, the Orange was like $1.99. Go figure. I had started this prior to the hurricane, with only the Green being a recent addition.

Thanks for reading!