One of the many insert sets that I’m slowly putting together at the moment is the Boston Celtics Dynasty set from 2008-09 Upper Deck Basketball. It hasn’t been a particularly easy set to put together just because the cards aren’t all that easy to find and many times when they are listed, the $3 shipping fee on eBay is enough to send me running for the hills. I’m only going to pick these cards up if I can do so for the right price.
I was up to 16 out of the 30 cards, but I backtracked a little while I was recovering from my kidney stone surgery. Now I only have 15 cards in the set.
Due to a last minute cancellation by Jose Canseco (due to health issues) the Memorial Day card show in Mansfield brought in Celtics Legend and 2011 Hall of Fame Inductee Tom “Satch” Sanders to the card show. Since this would be a perfect addition to my Celtics HOF/Retired Number autograph collection, I had to go.
There was just one problem. I was out of work due to the surgery, wasn’t feeling very well and wasn’t moving around very well either. I decided that this would be a good opportunity to test my body and see how I was doing. We could turn around at any point and the day wouldn’t be that taxing.
Well, that’s what I thought. Just walking from the house to the car, from the car to the hotel and then to the card show inside already had me hurting a little. I bought my ticket and got into line and that’s when things got rough.
The best thing about this show is that they bring in affordable players who are popular with fans. They give you time to interact with the athletes as long as they’re not against it and it makes it a better experience for everyone. Everyone, that is, except people standing in line with a tube sticking out of their back and a drainage bag strapped to their thigh. The waiting in line really wore me down.
Even though I was 10th or so in line, I had to wait around 20 minutes to arrive at the front due to people talking and having multiple items to be signed (at $11 an autograph, I can’t blame them). I got my autograph and spoke with Mr. Sanders for a couple of minutes. He liked the card, stating that he hadn’t ever seen it before, and wished that he had been a member of all of the teams listed on the front of the card.
I hobbled back to the rest of my family in the lobby and we made our way back to the car. Once I got home, I crashed on the couch for a couple of hours which was a regular occurrence during my recovery. When I woke up, I got to admire this brand new gem in my collection.
When it comes down to it, I’ll always enjoy an in-person autograph a heck of a lot more than any card company produced autograph. As far as this collection goes, I’ve gotten autographs of Robert Parrish, Bill Russell, Tom Sanders and future Hall of Famer Paul Pierce as well as Slam Dunk champ Dee Brown. This was probably the worst time that I’ve ever had acquiring an autograph for my collection, but it’s one of the better ones due to the unique story that goes along with it.
2 comments:
No pain no gain right?
Very true. This was a lot of both.
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