The Middle Ground

Perhaps the most fun part of this blog (all three posts of it) has been the chance to look over picking over the last few months and see what warrants scanning.  You see, it doesn't take me long to come up with something to write about for Battlin' Bucs.  My entire 9,000+ card collection is scanned and cataloged in an excel file, not to mention that most of it is committed to memory.  Scroll through a few years, copy a few links, add some fancy words, and boom!  Instant blog post.

But this is a bit more challenging.  First off, most of the cards featured here are either purchased on a whim or wonderful arrivals in my mailbox.  Either way there isn't much time to dwell on them, and none of them are the high end, super prospect-y, gold foil raninbow superfractor stuff that the forum crowds want to see.  So they went in boxes or binders, unscanned, occasionally unorganized, waiting for their time to shine (not literally, in most cases).

Most of what I'll be posting here will be mundane at best.  But every once in a while...there's something that warrants some excitement.

Growing up in the 90's, Larry Walker was one of my favorite players.  I won't call him my favorite, but if the little league coach asked who I wanted to play like, there was no question about it.  I wanted to be like the Canadian.  He wasn't the sexy pick for "favorite player."  He didn't have the emanating cool factor of Ken Griffey, Jr.  He didn't have the media profile of Cal Ripken.  He didn't have the power numbers of McGwire or Sosa.  But the dude could just flat out hit. 

Walker was an autograph I had always wanted, but he had only a few certified autos on the market until recently and his prices were well beyond what I wanted to spend on an "odds and ends" pickup.  And that, dear readers, is why I love card shows.

I few weeks ago I drove to a mall show north of Dayton.  It seemed a bit crazy to drive almost an hour for a mall show, but I've found slim pickings in Ohio and tacked on a few other chores to justify the drive.  I found a nice dollar box that yielded some Pittsburgh goodies.  Most of the stuff in the higher end box looked pretty overpriced...except for this.

For a whopping $2, I had found my Larry Walker autograph.  Sure, it's not the greatest design.  It's a sticker auto.  There aren't any logos.  It's not even a company known for making baseball cards.  And absolutely none of that matters.  The card is among my favorites outside of my Pittsburgh collections.  Any time you can add an autograph of one of your childhood favorites, it makes for a great day.