[sgbernard]

Two months ago, I did what I normally do during MLB season, and I bought myself some modern shiny cards to enjoy the experience of ripping open a few packs. To my amazement, I wound up pulling out a Shohei Ohtani atomic refractor which, at the time, was going for around 10k on ebay. This felt like finding a bunch of bitcoin: the prices were insane, but it was an obvious bubble, so I sent the card off to get graded and then to PWCC to sell on ebay. In the meantime, Ohtani went on the DL, and my profits took a big hit, but anyway I found the card in a pack, so I wasn't complaining.

Last night, I found exactly what I wanted to roll my profits into: I'm delighted to have acquired, finally, my white whale, the T209-2 B.E. Thompson, in last night's LOTG auction. The end price was just about what I got for my Ohtani, so it's a fantastic trade as far as I'm concerned: I feel like I found my most wanted card in a pack. Those of you who have sold me T209s in the last decade or so know that this is the only set, besides a recent T206 mini-obsession, that I collect with any consistently. I've been an underbidder on these Thompsons for years, including, I recall, an example that was "too expensive" for me on ebay in like 2005 for $400 or so. I'm now 36 cards away from a (probably impossible) T209-2 set, and I've crossed the biggest want off my list. Super excited about this!

(P.S. if you're wondering if I miss the Ohtani, yes, it was kinda cool.)