Dime Box Heroes: Don't forget to lock away your valuables

2002 Upper Deck Prospect Premieres #24 Brian McCann XRC

A dime can go a long ways sometimes.
 

I'd say about 95 percent of the cards you'll find in dime boxes are worth around a buck or less. Personal value is the number one priority.

However, it's always nice to stumble upon something valuable in a dime box. "Book value" isn't the be-all-end-all of cards, but it's always satisfying to nab a higher book value card for a dime.

Over the years, I've found quite a few nice dime cards that I managed to turn into some nice collection pieces. But I'll save those for a future post.

Now, if you can find a dime card that holds both personal value and book value? That's a win-win.

That's what we've got here with this '02 Brian McCann rookie card (or extreme rookie card, or whatever the heck "XRC" means).

I found the McCann in the same box as the last "Dime Box Heroes" card I featured. (There's a couple other cards I found in that dime box that I've got rattling around for future DBH posts.) 

Brian McCann is one of the more underrated players in the league right now.

He's only played in the bigs for seven seasons so far, and he's made six All-Star teams. He's also won the Silver Slugger award five times. And he's still just 27 years old.

A rookie card of someone like that for a dime? I love it.

This card has a book value of eight bucks. I paid a dime for it, so I basically got it for 98.75% off its full value.

Now that's a discount if I ever saw one.