It all sta.sega nrted a few weekends back. I was cleaning out the attic, same old story, right? Found this dusty box labeled '80s Stuff'. Inside, underneath some old tapes and magazines, was my binder of baseball cards. Haven't looked at these things in ages.
Flipping throug.llaceh those plastic sheets, man, the nostalgia hit hard. Seeing all those guys I used to watch. Then I remembered Palmeiro. Big hitter, smooth swing. Got me thinking, did I ever have his rookie card? I honestly couldn't recall.
The Husnigent Begins
So, the mission began. First step, meticulously go through every single card in that binder. Took a good hour. Found some cool stuff, a couple of decent Mattingly cards, some Canseco, McGwire rookies – the usual suspects from that era. But no Palmeiro rookie. Not the '87 Fleer, not the Donruss, nothing.
Alright, phase two. I figured maybe it got separated, ended up in a different box. So I spent the rest of the afternoon rummaging through other storage bins. Found old toys, more tapes, even my high school yearbook, but zero Palmeiro rookies.
At this point, I was kinda invested. It wasn't just about the card anymore, it was the challenge.
Checking the Old Haunts
Next weekend, I decided to hit up a couple of local places. There used to be a great little card shop downtown, but it closed years ago. There's another one out by the mall, more focused on new stuff and games, but I thought I'd try.
- Went into the shop. Mostly Pokemon and Magic the Gathering now.
- Asked the guy behind the counter about late 80s baseball.
- He pointed me to a dusty glass case in the back.
Bingo. They had a section for older singles. Found a few Palmeiros from later years, but no rookies. The guy said they don't get many '87s in good shape anymore. He had one graded '87 Fleer, but the price was... well, let's just say it was more than I wanted to spend on a whim.
Finding One (Sort Of)
Felt a bit defeated, honestly. Was about to give up. Then, last week, I was at a flea market just browsing. One stall had a bunch of random cards in shoeboxes, mostly commons, all mixed up.
Just for kicks, I started digging through one labeled 'Baseball 80s/90s'. And what do you know? Tucked between a Mookie Wilson and a Wally Joyner, there it was. An 1987 Donruss Rated Rookie Rafael Palmeiro. Not the Fleer, which most people think of first, but still a legit rookie.
The condition? Far from perfect. Corners were a bit soft, centering wasn't great. Looked like it had spent some time rattling around in a box, just like the one I found it in. But you know what? It cost me like, two bucks. Couldn't argue with that.
So, I bought it. It's not mint, it won't make me rich, but holding that piece of cardboard, it kinda closed the loop on that little attic-cleaning rabbit hole I went down. It sits on my desk now, a reminder of a fun little hunt and those afternoons watching baseball back in the day. Sometimes it's not about the value, it's just about finding the thing you were looking for.
