Tracking down "the one that got away" (e107 Bender "pink splotch" variation)

[shammus]

A while back we had a thread about the "one that got away". Referring to a baseball card, of course. Actually, we may have had a couple of these over the past decade.

Anyways, I had been chasing a particular low-grade e107 Bender since late 2003 and it's been at the VERY top (as in #1 card) on my wantlist for over a decade. For those of you that have known me for a long time, you might remember me lamenting over this one a time or two.

The Bender was originally on Ebay when I saw it and it sold for $260 in late 2003. For some reason or another, I passed on it and thusly, the card became "The One that Got Away" for me and I've been trying to track it down ever since. Not entirely sure why I passed on it, but back in 2003, I think I was still fairly new to the hobby and probably didn't want to overextend myself by spending too much. $260 was low enough of a price that had me kicking myself afterwards, though.

I've even posted on the board about it a few times such as this thread here from a very long time ago -
http://www.net54baseball.com/showthr...07+bender+ebay. Nothing had ever turned up. Apparently the card traveled from private collector to private collector over the course of the past decade and I never had much of a clue about it's whereabouts until about a week ago when a hobby friend of mine revealed that he had it.

Fortunately, I had a few cards my friend needed and was able to swing a trade for the Bender that made us both happy (thanks again, by the way!!). So this chapter in my collecting career ends on a positive note even if it did take a while (and significantly more coin) to track this one down. And today I'm thankful for getting to snag an e107 HOFer (which actually was on my current wantlist), chase down the "one that got away" and exorcise a card-collecting demon of mine all in the same transaction. He'll end up in a safe-deposit box at the bank, but I'll make sure to keep him around a day or two to enjoy first


e107bender.jpg