Upper Deck'd Out

I just spent the last four hours of my life digging through boxes, rummaging through binders, squinting at checklists and staring at online Tuff Stuff books...only to realize that the fortune that I made for myself from the ages of four to 15, is worth less than an autograph from Doc Gooden.

When the hell did sports cards drop so much in value?

I remember saving every penny from lunch money just to go down the block to buy packs of cards from the local card store. There use to be a few card stores in my town, now I had to Google just to find out where the closest one was located...which happens to be two towns over.

Thousands of rookies, inserts, holograms, foilgrams, whatever-grams, all worth peanuts now. As a matter of fact, the most expensive card in my whole collection is only about $150.

What kills me the most is not the fact that the cards are decreasing in value, but the most expensive brands back in the day, are the LEAST worthy now. I remember spending $6 on one pack of cards...which was huge money for a nine year old...and now, they aren't even listed in the pricing books.

Oh the game-used memorabilia card! Those were the biggest thing to find years ago. Imagine finding part of Mark Messier's stick or Babe Ruth's jersey!If you had a jersey or game-used card, it was special, it wasn't just a run of the mill player. Now, ANYONE can get a memorabilia card, who the hell wants an Anthony Thomas jersey card(which I reluctantly pulled from a pack last week).


Nowadays, kids are too busy buying skinny jeans and ring tones to pick up some packs of cards. I asked the guy who owns the store two towns over why there was such a decrease in cards these days and he said one of the biggest reasons...besides the tainted youth, was the MLB, NFL etc. were asking for too much of a kickback to use their likenesses. Figures.

So much for planning an early retirement off my Pavel Bure, Eric Lindros and Griffey Jr. rookie cards!