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Paying Top Dollar for Mr. Baseball
I have wanted to add a vintage baseball card of Mr. Baseball ever since his days on Mr. Belvedere and Major League. Recently I decided to stop procrastinating and finally do something about it. The first thing I had to do was decide on which card I wanted. Luckily for me, Uecker only has a handful of cards from his playing days.
He was first featured with four other players on his rookie card in the 1962 Toppsset. Topps would also feature him on their baseball card checklists for the next five years. If my selection was based purely on card design, then his 1965card would hands down be the winner. That card also features my favorite photograph of him as well.
However I decided to go with his 1963 Toppscard, because I like the dual photo design and the fact that he's featured with the Milwaukee Braves... his hometown team.
Next... I had to figure out a nice balance between condition and purchase price. At first I was content with picking up a cheap copy... even one that I could use as my next Wallet Card. Cheap copies can be picked up for as little as a dollar on eBay. Unfortunately... after several attempts, I was unable to secure one at that price for myself.
Then one day back in May, I stumbled across a signed copy that was SGCauthenticated. After one week of the 10 day auction... the card was already at $25, which is about the most I originally wanted to spend. The next day the card shot up to $40.
At this point, I almost stopped watching the card. This was way over my budget and was beginning to get out of hand. But the fact that this was a signed copy of the card I really wanted made me hang in there.
On the final day of the auction, the card reached $50 and I honestly had no business bidding on it... but I decided to enter a bid (of what I believe was $55) at the last second and won it for $51 (+ $3.95shipping).
Did I overpay? Hell yeah, I did. I could have picked up a PSA 7copy and had enough money leftover to buy a blaster. Plus... nobody really knows if Bob Uecker actually signed this card. But believe it or not... as a guy who actually considers himself to be a budget collector... I have zero regrets about this purchase.
It allows me to cross Bob Uecker's name off of my wantlist. That's a name that's been on there for over two decades. And I choose to have faith that Mr. Baseballonce held and signed this card which was destined to be in my collection.
What about you?
Looking forward to seeing if there are others out there like myself... or if I'm a lone wolf. Comment away!
Happy Wednesday and sayonara!
More...
He was first featured with four other players on his rookie card in the 1962 Toppsset. Topps would also feature him on their baseball card checklists for the next five years. If my selection was based purely on card design, then his 1965card would hands down be the winner. That card also features my favorite photograph of him as well.
However I decided to go with his 1963 Toppscard, because I like the dual photo design and the fact that he's featured with the Milwaukee Braves... his hometown team.
Next... I had to figure out a nice balance between condition and purchase price. At first I was content with picking up a cheap copy... even one that I could use as my next Wallet Card. Cheap copies can be picked up for as little as a dollar on eBay. Unfortunately... after several attempts, I was unable to secure one at that price for myself.
Then one day back in May, I stumbled across a signed copy that was SGCauthenticated. After one week of the 10 day auction... the card was already at $25, which is about the most I originally wanted to spend. The next day the card shot up to $40.
At this point, I almost stopped watching the card. This was way over my budget and was beginning to get out of hand. But the fact that this was a signed copy of the card I really wanted made me hang in there.
On the final day of the auction, the card reached $50 and I honestly had no business bidding on it... but I decided to enter a bid (of what I believe was $55) at the last second and won it for $51 (+ $3.95shipping).
Did I overpay? Hell yeah, I did. I could have picked up a PSA 7copy and had enough money leftover to buy a blaster. Plus... nobody really knows if Bob Uecker actually signed this card. But believe it or not... as a guy who actually considers himself to be a budget collector... I have zero regrets about this purchase.
It allows me to cross Bob Uecker's name off of my wantlist. That's a name that's been on there for over two decades. And I choose to have faith that Mr. Baseballonce held and signed this card which was destined to be in my collection.
What about you?
Have you ever knowingly overpaid for a card, because you wanted it that badly?
Looking forward to seeing if there are others out there like myself... or if I'm a lone wolf. Comment away!
Happy Wednesday and sayonara!
More...