cheap and valuable
I write a lot about card values. I’ve always been enamored with the economics of the hobby. While that’s a fun part of the hobby for me, this week I want to talk about valuable cards with low prices. I want to talk about one of my favorite cards not even worth a dime.
One of my most-valued PC cards is a 1989 Donruss #648 Orel Hershiser celebrating his scoreless innings streak. The “59 and Counting” card is generously worth maybe $.25 in great condition. The card in my collection would grade out as a 1, or maybe a 2 if the grader was slacking on their job. In terms of price, I couldn’t get a nickel for this card. Yet, it’s one of my most valued cards in my collection.
I’m not a Dodgers or Hershiser fan, so why do I like this particular card so much? Simple, it was my first favorite card that I got in my very first pack of cards, the crown jewel of that fated cello pack of 1989 Donruss.
In 1989, I moved to a new neighborhood. The neighborhood I moved to had plenty of kids for me to play with, but the first day I hung out with them, all they talked about were baseball cards.
As this was the late 80s, kids were set free in their neighborhoods and left to their own devices until dinner time. When I came home on my first day at my new house for the first time after a long day of wiffle ball, I mentioned to my parents that the kids were nice but obsessed with baseball cards which I knew nothing about.
In my memory, my mother whisked me off to the grocery store to buy a pack of cards right then and there, but I’m sure there was really a day or two lag between my introduction to the young local cardboard addicts and grabbing my first pack.
My memory of getting my first pack is much clearer. I recall going through a box of 1989 Donruss cello packs after realizing one could see who the last card in the pack was. I searched in vain for a Chris Sabo or Mickey Tettleton who were my two favorite players at the time. Sabo because of his glasses (four eyes gotta stick together), and Tettleton because he was on a hot streak when I started really paying attention to baseball (kids always go for the hot player of the day).
My dreams of a Sabo and Tettleton cards would have to wait alas. I did however notice one pack that had a card with a block of text instead of stats. That card was my Hershiser. I had at least heard of him and so decided this was the pack for me. Little did I know I had just taken the first step in a lifelong hobby.
I don’t recall what other cards I got beyond a Greg Olson rookie in that first pack. The Hershiser became the centerpiece of my collection long after I learned about how the card market worked.
Over time, I realized the Hershiser was nothing special, and it lost its pride of place in my PC. Still, I always kept it despite its well-loved appearance.
As I’ve gotten older, nostalgia has greatly colored my collecting goals and last year I found an autographed version of the Hershiser certified by BGS. The card would be nothing special to many, but to me, it’s one of my favorites I own.
Last week, I got the bright idea to search for a pack of 1989 Donruss with the Hershiser visible from the back of the pack. I was rather pleased with myself for creating a fun new hobby quest and envisioned myself searching 1989 packs for years at shows in hopes of finding one.
Nope. One eBay search later and $5 and I’ve got a similar pack to my very first pack of cards that joins the part of my PC reserved for stuff that might not cost much but is very valuable none the less.