The Joys Of Blind Buying

Last year, there was an image uploading contest at Beckett.com. I'm not sure how the point system for that was decided upon. I thought it was 1 point per approved picture, but I ended up getting a few extra points for some reason.

Anyway, that's not the point. The point would be that Beckett was giving away prizes for having points built up. I was going for the huge price guide book, but ended up with just enough for a Beckett Marketplace gift certificate for $25. Still, that's not too bad!

Last week, I used the $25 gift certificate and went on a mini shopping spree picking up pesky singles. I picked up all the White Sox Father & Son cards and the Harold Baines draft pick card from the 1985 Topps set. The seller only had one of the Harold Baines, so the draft pick card will be going into my team set.

Other cards included an Alex Fernandez 1995 SP card that I needed to complete the team set and a bunch of Carlton Fisk and Harold Baines singles. Some cards had images attached and some didn't. I tried to pick up as many cards around 1999 and 2000 of Harold as the two sellers had. Ironically, both sellers ended up refunding me money because of one card that was out of stock in each of the orders. Both were Fisk cards.

One of the cards that I couldn't find an image of was the 2000 Pacific Harold Baines. It turned out to be another Cleveland Indians card! I know, I'm slightly obsessed about his short time there. I hold the same fascination with any Orioles card of Reggie Jackson. Reggie just doesn't hold a buying interest for me.

I'm very happy that I could find any Harold Baines cards featuring his Cleveland days. I didn't think there were any, but now I've found two. It just goes to show that there are undiscovered gems out there for any collector. Just when you think you know everything, you find that you know almost nothing. And knowing is half the battle.