The Goody Box - Oh Rickey You're So Fine...

 

I was staring at the black hole where my cards are stored, reached into a goody box and pulled a random card for this post.  It was a Rickey Henderson rookie.  And every time I think of Rickey, I can't help but think of that Mickey song.  Yes I know the original song lyric says "Mickey", but when I substitute "Rickey" it just has more meaning for me and it's just plain fun.  

This is the card that was pulled from the box.  Yep an iconic rookie card of an all time great.  This card is one of a few of these rookies that made it through my youth.  And 1980 was a banner year for me in terms of collecting cards.  

Some of these are in better shape then others, but I'll take them in most conditions.  And as you can tell, Topps continued to have centering issues back then (no where near as bad '73 though).

These two are in great shape and nicely centered.  I was too lazy to take them out of the screw down cases, so scanning is never perfect when that happens.

Every once in awhile I come across one of these at a show or some web site and think "Dam that looks good!  I wonder if that's worth grading?".  Then high buck dollar signs spin in front of my eyes as I'm tempted by the cardboard gods to try playing the lottery.

This played out in the summer of 2021, but I had an accomplice.  I found a complete 1980 set online and the ad had a nice photo of the rookie.  So I called my brother (who is easily tempted by such things) and asked him if he felt lucky.  Of course he did!  So we split the cost and took a shot.

The card was carefully placed in its holder and then dropped off at a local shop for submission to PSA.

Then the wait began.  PSA and pretty much all grading card companies were still digging their way out of massive backlogs.

After a number of months (maybe 6?  I don't recall), we finally got a notice our card was shipped back.

To our disappointment, we didn't get a notice from PSA warning us that we didn't pay enough for insurance.  Which would have meant the declared value was understated and we got a high grade on the card.  Instead we got a kick in crotch.

The card was returned ungraded!  It was returned for not meeting the minimum size requirement.

No the card was not trimmed, it was probably pulled from a vending box.  As a collector who lived through and bought numerous packs, I can attest not all cards from the era are the exact same size.

Disappointed, but not undeterred, we regrouped and decided to one day resubmit the card.

So last fall, the process was repeated, and we got the card back just over a month ago.  

Graded.

My brother did a reveal that you can watch here:

PSA gave it a grade of 7.  There was no explanation why it was graded this time around versus last, nor is there an explanation for the grade.  Slightly disappointing, but not a total waste. 

I'm not really sure how I feel about this experience, of course it would be exhilarating to have this returned as a 9 or 10 (dreaming big) but I guess a 7 isn't terrible (but why not an 8?).  

Will I play the lottery again at some point?  Probably.  I don't plan to have many cards graded, but my collection of slabbed cards is growing.  Slabbed cards are everywhere after all.   

In the meantime, these rookies will sit happily in the Goody box.