A Platinum Opening Day

As everyone knows, today kicks off the 2011 MLB season.

I'll be headed south on I-29 today to watch the Royals take on the Angels this afternoon.  I'm pumped because Luke Hochevar will be the starting pitcher for the Royals.  It's my first MLB Opening Day game and it's Luke's first Opening Day start.

I thought I'd commemorate Luke's start by talking about one of the best cards in my collection, a 2010 Topps Series 2 Platinum parallel that is serial numbered 1/1.  This card has an interesting (to me) story behind it.

And the back of the card.

When I got back into the collecting game last summer, I began tracking down Hochevar cards on eBay and COMC.  I was only interested in his cards.  It wasn't until I had over 100 of them that I began to branch out into collecting other players and sets.  And when the above card popped up on eBay, I knew I had to have it.

I've mentioned before how much I love 1/1 cards.  Before this card, printing plates and blank-backed cards were the only 1/1s I'd been able to afford.  The few 1/1 parallel cards that I'd encountered were all out of my price range.  (Incidentally, there has been a 2007 Bowman Chrome Superfractor in my eBay watch list for months now but the seller is unwilling to budge from his $250 BIN.  Sucks for him and for me, because it would be a great addition to my collection.)

This Platinum card was all I could talk about for a week.  My wife knew how much I wanted the card, so when I reached the ceiling of how much I wanted to bid on it (somewhere above $50, I believe) she knew I was bummed.

We were visiting my parents the weekend the auction was ending.  I would later find out that my wife had told my mom how much I wanted this card.  As the auction was ending, my family was sitting around the kitchen table and I was watching the auction, bummed that I wouldn't win this card.  My mom and my wife both tried to get me to raise my bid on the card, but I told them I couldn't do it.

After the auction ended, I just stared at my computer screen dejected.  Then my mom told me to look at her computer.  It took me a few moments to understand why.  She had eBay pulled up in her browser and the screen congratulated her on being the highest bidder on a baseball card.  It still didn't sink in what had happened.  I looked up for clarification and they were both smiling from ear to ear.

Turns out my mom had put in a max bid of $200 (it went for about half of that) and said she was going to go higher if she would have needed to.  She wanted me to have this card.  She said it was an early birthday present.  I was blown away.

As hard as it was watching the seconds tick away as the auction was ending, it was even tougher waiting for the card to arrive in my mailbox.  

I am so lucky to have such a supportive wife and family.  They know how much enjoyment I get from collecting cards and they do everything they can to enjoy them with me.

I'd like to thank my mom (and her ornery accomplice) for her generosity for the umpteenth time.  I love this card and am proud to have it in my collection.

As Hamilton 'Ham' Porter would say, "PLAY BALL!!!!"