Cards I Love Part 16 - 1979 Topps Ozzie Smith

In my last post, I showed off my 1986 Topps Vince Coleman card.  It was my dream card in 1986, and I worked hard to track down a copy of the card.  Actually, I just opened a bunch of packs throughout the summer until I got one. 

I did have one card I wanted badly as a kid, but never managed to track one down.  In fact, at some point it became sort of an after thought.  I skipped over getting a copy year after year.  I am not sure how this happened, but I did not own a copy of an Ozzie Smith card until 2006. 

It's true. 

I was living and working in Durham at the time I picked up the card.  The school I worked at was not too far from a card shop in Durham that was on Duke Street.  I cannot for the life of me remember the name of the shop, but when you went inside, it was mainly filled with Magic and Pokemon card players.  Still, they had a decent number of single cards and baseball boxes. 

I had gone into the store with the intention of purchasing a 2006 Topps Heritage box one day after school, but my plans quickly changed when the employee running the store noted that I was wearing a Cardinals jacket, and they had some Cardinals singles they were looking to "unload".  That was the term he used.  When I think "unload", I take it to mean you are going to give me some sort of discount or deal.  I still listened to his pitch, flipped through the cards.  Base Topps and Upper Deck Pujols rookie cards for $100 is not really following through on "unload" though, so I passed. 

Except, there was one card that had a price that interested me. 

There was an Ozzie rookie with a sticker that originally read $80 in black ink, but there were several red lines marked through the price.  The new price was $25.  It was in really good shape.  I bought it. 

A little off center, but not too bad.  Great price for a great card, but my budget for the 2006 Topps Heritage box was obviously blown.  The shop did have several older boxes of cards that were marked 50% off, and some of them were decent products.  One of them was a 1999 Topps HD box marked all the way down to $35.  That's $60.   

I have pulled one Derek Jeter autograph in my life, which is somewhat incredible given the number of autographs he has signed, versus the number of packs of cards that I have opened during that time frame.  The one autograph?  

It was in the box of 1999 Topps HD.  

Pretty good day.