My Favorite Rasmus

A lot of cards come and go into my collection.  If I opened up a box and pulled out a random card it would probably be pretty hard for me to tell you exactly where and when I pulled, or traded for, or bought that particular card.  Of course, as collectors we also have cards that are the exact opposite.  We can tell you the time, the day, what we were wearing, who we were with, what cards we traded, how much we paid, etc.  Today I am going to share a card that would be the latter.

July 8, 2010 started out like a normal day during the summer.  I woke up, I ate some breakfast, and I hung out with my wife.  In the middle of the morning my wife, eight months pregnant, had a doctors appointment.  How did the doctor's appointment go?  After a short time we were sent across the parking lot to one of the large hospitals in Raleigh.  We were told by doctors that we had a few hours, but they were going to induce labor.

My wife and I were pretty panicked.  We had worked on things like setting up our nursery, but had not really packed anything for a hospital stay.  I rushed home in an effort to get together everything we needed.  After about ten minutes of going through dresser drawers and laundry baskets my wife called me to tell me that I had to come back to the hospital.  Her doctor had scratched the whole inducing labor idea in favor of just having an emergency C-section.  They were waiting for me, but I had to go straight back.  I ran out of the house and grabbed the mail.  Somewhere along NC-64 in Cary or Apex, about half way to the hospital, I stopped and opened my mail.  It was a good distraction for a few minutes.

Here's what I got:

I made it back to the hospital in time, but my son ended up staying in the NICU for a little more than two weeks.  During that time I made the trek in between my house, work, and the hospital everyday.  Baseball cards were definitely on hold, but Colby sat in my car on the front seat and was along for the ride the entire way.  Everyday back and forth.  It was stressful and tense, but everything worked out and my son came home a few weeks later after he crossed three and half pounds.  He was tiny.  

Colby came out of the car and found a place in one of my autograph boxes.  A day or two after the card finally was home in a box, Colby was traded to the Blue Jays.  He was not my favorite Cardinals player, and in many circumstances, I would have traded or sold the card without a lot of thought.  I am still not a fan of Colby Rasmus, but I love the card.  Every July 8th I sit down and spend a little bit of time looking at this card.  One of my favorite cards and definitely my favorite Rasmus.