An impulse buy, revisited

Have you ever seen a card and just had to have it for whatever reason?

I have.

And this isn't the first time it's happened. Although it was worth every penny, the last instance set me back twenty bucks.

Thankfully, my latest "impulse buy" cost me a mere ninety-three cents.

I have a few "go-to" options if I happen to get bored on a given day. Sometimes, like this afternoon, I'll sit down and watch a good movie. (Superbad was the film of choice this time. I miss high school.)

Other times, I'll peruse my collection just for kicks. In my opinion, you can never get sick of your own cards.

And at other times, I'll go on a search through the Internet, simply for the purpose of seeing new cards that I don't already own. The only danger to that, of course, is seeing one that is a "must-have". Especially if it's a cheap base card of some sort.

That was the case a few nights ago.

I'm not sure what exactly I was looking for, but I somehow came across this unique item.

I didn't even know a card like that existed. But I knew I had to have it. With a little searching, I found it for eighteen cents (plus shipping) on Sportlots.

A true bargain.

There's so many reasons why this card is great. For one, you have Gaylord Perry as a Kansas City Royal, nearing the end of his Hall of Fame career.

Then, you have the mischievous look on the face of George Brett. Whether it was intentional or not, that is easily one of the funniest expressions I've ever witnessed on a piece of cardboard.

It's also the only card in my collection that pays homage to the "pine tar game". Seeing as how much of a fiasco it was, I can see why. (I can't think of another card that prominently features an actual pine tar rag, either.)

But it's good to see that both Brett and Perry were good sports about the situation after the fact. (Perry tried to sneak the bat out of the stadium so before the league office could get to it.)

This game is supposed to be fun, after all.

But even a card as great as this one can only take second place in the ranks of my all-time greatest "impulse buy".

Beckett would tell you I overpaid for this one.

I disagree.

You could say that finding this card was my first trek into the blogosphere. I googled "Ed Delahanty" and this card popped up on one of the search results. The link led be to a post on a baseball card blog, although I don't remember which one it was.

That's the first time I can ever remember reading anything on a blog.

Anyways, I really had to have this one, for a couple of reasons. One, I'm a big fan of the history of baseball, especially turn-of-the-century stars like Delahanty. Second, I only had one other card of his in my collection. Plus, this is one of the greatest concepts for an insert set that I'd ever seen, chronicling the entire history of the two Washington Senators franchises.

As if that wasn't enough, it's might just be the greatest insert design since...ever. (Coming from the 2005 National Pastime "Beltway Baseball" series.)

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, this particular insert was limited to just 202 copies. I figured it would be a longshot to even find one.

To my amazement, I was able to find a lone copy online. Although the price of six bucks might tell you I "overpaid", I see it as quite the opposite.

I snatched it up in a second. It proudly sits in my collection, and it always will. It's definitely up there on my list of "favorite cards".

How could it not?

I'll be away from the blogosphere tomorrow since I'm attending the huge tri-annual card show during the afternoon. For my newer readers, here's just a preview of the tremendous finds I obtained the last time I attended this particular show. (And that's just one of the four posts I did on that topic.)

Check back Sunday night for the first of what I hope is a few installments of my latest card show excursion!

Until then, I'll try and keep my impulses under control.