Posted by njbigwig on 5/26/2013 9:07:00 AM (view original):
1952 Joe Dobson $6,216,235
It's time to tell why I selected Dobson for this league.
In 2001, while I was still collecting sports cards, Topps began producing Heritage, a set with current players in the style of classic Topps sets from years gone by. The 2001 set was in honor of the historic 1952 Topps set. As a part of the release, Topps acquired at least one of all the original 1952 cards and gave them away randomly in Heritage packs.
I happened to be on vacation when I got my hands on my first box. Towards the end of the box (the last pack, IIRC), I found a certificate that said something along the lines of 'Congratulations! You have won an authentic 1952 Topps #254! Of course, I was thrilled. There was one slight problem. Since I was on vacation, I didn't have access to my Beckett books.
I didn't know who card 254 was! I was familiar enough with the set to eliminate some possibilities (Mantle, Robinson, Mathews), but otherwise until the next day I was in the dark. My wish list looked something like this:
1) Someone valuable (self-explanatory)
2) Pirate (favorite team)
3) Yankee, Dodger or Giant (more valuable than other teams)
4) Shifted franchise (just kind of cool)
As you may guessed, when I went back to the store where I had bought the box, I found out it was none of the above. It was....Joe Dobson, then with the ChiSox. But I am still very happy to have the card. Looking at it now, actually.