Card shop through a kid’s eyes

Last Friday I was faced with the daunting task of entertaining Joseph for a few hours on my own which, in solo parenting time, is roughly the equivalent of an eternity.  19 month old kids have the attention span of, well, a 19 month old, and the energy of a rabbit that has overdosed on a caffeine/sugar cocktail.  It can be rough.

In a panicked state of mind, I quickly had the bright idea to bring Joseph to the card shop, a locale which we’ve regrettably visited far too infrequently of late.  But this wouldn’t be the typical trip in that I’d spend the time digging through other peoples’ trash discount relic bins, but rather I’d be purchasing ONLY stuff for Joseph.

Everything was going according to plan until I saw this:

Boom.  1989 Donruss.  Hellooooooooo, Griffery rookie cards!  I haven’t checked a Beckett in ages, but since we all know values of cards – like houses – only go UP, I figured I’d practically be stealing this box at whatever price the shop was asking.

Uh oh:

Not sure if you can read that, but the book price clearly states that this box is “Priceless.”  Hey – no argument from me there.  Guess I’ll have to put it back since I only had $20 on me.  But wait!  The “Our Price” line says it’s “Free for Joe Swaykos”.  And wouldn’t ya know, that’s me.  But before you go thinking that this was a fine gesture on behalf of the card shop, you must realize that they’re not in the business of giving away inventory, especially not of the priceless variety.  This box was actually a gift from Travis of Punk Rock Paint (and The Baseball Card Blog).  His generosity, which will no doubt score me a handful of mint condition Griffey RCs, will put Joseph through college with money to spare.  I actually purchased a couple relics from Travis’s bin, but I seem to have misplaced them.  I have no clue where they are, and for all I know, the distraction of a 19 month old ready to burst at the seams from being confined indoors on a warm afternoon made me forget them at the shop.  O’well.

Back to the kid, since he’s the reason we went to the shop in the first place (that, and also the fact that Travis had been getting on me about not picking up the box, which our shop had kindly agreed to hold for me).  First thing that caught his eye: a Padres moving truck.

Very nice!  Of course, it had to be taken away within a couple hours of arriving home as it turned in to a projectile with a target set square in the middle of our TV.

Next thing that caught his eye:  Earth Mover collector cards from the bargain table.  Now that is good taste, and I have high hopes for his future.  This box is, believe it or not, from Series 2 in the set.  Three packs in and we’ve already pulled doubles of his favorite truck, the dump truck.

In addition to dump trucks, cranes, and hopefully his second favorite truck (the tow truck), we also have a chance at pulling randomly inserted Bob Feller and Karl Malone autograph cards, PLUS Chromium cards!!  Jackpot!!

I have no clue how Feller and Malone could possibly be associated with this set, and nowhere on the box or packs are there stated odds, so I won’t get my hopes up as we rip through the packs.  Also, I’m not sure what to expect of a Chromium card but I’m sure I’ll know it when I see it.

Lastly, with a dollar to spare, we turned to the box of $1 packs.  After looking them over, Joseph picked out the “blue one”, which narrowed his choice to 1986 Topps (yeah, buddy!!) or 2011 Topps Opening Day.  After holding each pack in his hand, the shiny foil of ’11 Topps was too much to resist, so that’s what he went with.  Guess he’s still a bit young to appreciate old wax.

So that was that.  Our Friday afternoon eternity at the card shop was a success for both of us.  May there be many more of these trips in our future.