One that I was WAY off base for....
 

In my oddball collection that Ive been building for the past 15 years or so, Im down to about a dozen cards missing. One in particular is from a little set issued by McDonalds for the 1970 Wichita Aeros. 18 cards, black and white set....it appears to be pretty dull, from what I can tell. Lo and behold, a whole set comes up on eBay this week. I only need one card, but I figure I can buy it and sell of the remainder of the set. I might take a hit, but.....we do these things to get the harder cards. Within the first day or two, bidding jumps up to $25 bucks or so and my antenna goes up that "something might not be as expected". I figured $25 was going to be the top end of the selling range. Little did I know. The set contains Chris Chambliss and Dick Tidrow, but I guess Im missing something because it closed tonight at $355.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1970-WICHITA...vip=true&rt=nc

Share your stories of a time you were way out of the ballpark or help me understand what was driving this one. Im just shaking my head...

I have been doing a daily search of 'Wichita Aeros' on eBay for several years because they were the Cubs AAA farm team from 1972 to 1980, and it is the first time I recall ever seeing a complete set of the 1970 Indians affiliated minor league team, so apparently it is extremely rare. I have seen a loose card or two before.

Hey, when it comes to obscure regionals you can never tell. I got absolutely blown out of the water the last time I went after a group of the Adam Hats premiums at auction. I went way into nosebleed territory--or so I thought--and still ended up empty handed. And yet there have been other times when I went after the cards and ended up the only bidder.

Puerto Rico 1950's Baseball Yearbook story
 

So 2 Baseball "yearbook's from Puerto Rico show up on ebay (years ago)one from 1954 with a pre rookie Roberto Clemente, the second from 1955 with Clemente and Mays content. This was pre auto snipe days - I'm watching these auctions like a hawk - they hover around $20-$30 the whole week. I'm thinking I'd happily pay $200-$300 each. I set myself up at the computer with minutes left. The 1955 is ending first, the 1954 2 minutes later. I put in a $300 bid on the 1955 with seconds left - I look and I have been outbid :eek::eek: I was the under bidder. Determined not to lose the 54 with seconds left I put in a max bid of $500 - I win the auction for about $100:eek::eek: One out of two isn't bad I guess - I have been looking for and never seen another copy of that 1955 yearbook!!

Umm.....most of the stuff I didn't buy late 70's early 80's.

Orr US test rookie. $100. Insane price for a hockey card at the time. I had the money and liked it but it was just too much. :(

Box of felt back Topps football for I think something like $3 each. Probably 2-300 of them. No checklist, not much info around and all college players. Nah, they'll stay cheap.

52 Mantle was under 1000 for a fairly nice one.

Goudey Ruths were usually 100.


Damn, where's that time machine when I need it.

Steve B