Turn back the clock..

During spring cleaning with my wife, I found a large chunk of replica jerseys that I just no longer cared about. We ended up selling off a bunch of them in the past 2 weeks and we split the money 50-50. With my half which was around $50-$55, I picked up 2 shiny cards I've been wanting to add to my PC for quite some time. My eBay alerts were going crazy when these 2 cards were listed in the same time frame, and luckily for me that I had this extra PayPal funds to accommodate such purchases. On with the show!

2007 SPx Rookie Signatures Daisuke Matsuzaka RC Auto

The Matsuzaka was a card when it first came out was sought after by collectors and I watched it go for ridiculous amounts. I sat back and waited for my time to pick one up and got it for less than $30. It's heading straight for my private collection.

Next up, is a card that is SUPER RARE. I've only seen 1 in person myself in it's 16 years in existence. The reason is, was because Lavar Arrington did not sign with the NFLPA and was not allowed to be featured on cards in his rookie season. Fleer Ultra's release that year was one of the first to come out in the early season and they pulled production on the Lavar Arrington card which is # 240 in the set. I've been wanting this card for 16 years, but the 2 times I've had a shot at one, I was a cheapskate. I'm glad I was frugal back then. I got this for 1/2 the price of the last one I tried to acquire. This thing is staying with me!

2000 Fleer Ultra Lavar Arrington RC #240 SUPER RARE

...and finally for the card in the post title of "Turn back the clock"

When I was a kid in the early 90's I loved riding my bike on our street with the neighbor kids, listening to A Tribe Called Quest, roller blading on the street and playing hockey, playing with my GI Joe action figures across the street with my neighbor and of course, playing little league baseball. Back in that time Jose Canseco was all the rage. Not just with my teammates on my little league team, but also with my neighbors, friends and my cousins. I still remember the first time I saw this card. My dad took my brother and I to the local card shop, which at the time was only a mile away from our house. The owner was my mom's best friends brother, so every so often we would get some freebies. There was something I really had to see this time when we were there. There was a rumor that this guy had a certain card which was on every kids wantlist that I knew of back in 1991. Finally when we entered the store, I grabbed the usual which was a pack of 1990/91 Upper Deck hockey. I loved that stuff. The wrapper always smelled like uncooked pasta noodles though (maybe it's just me). My brother then called me over to the display case on the other side of the shop and there it was.....It was like seeing an R rated movie when you were just a kid. We couldn’t look away! I pressed my face right on the glass case and stared at it. I begged my dad to buy it for me, but he looked at me with a "you've got to be kidding me face". I totally understand now, but at the time I was upset. The shop owner wanted $110 for this card. It was in the thickest screw down plastic I've seen. My brother had devised a plan where we would spend both of our allowances, plus birthday money and we would buy it together, but I wasn't having it. I wanted it for myself. That summer I tried everything to raise the money to buy that card, but by the end of the summer with my birthday money and some money I got from helping out around the neighborhood I was about $50 short. Finally my dad said he would lend me the money with the stipulation that I wasn't going to get allowance for a year....DONE. So, he went on a 4 day trip for work (he worked for the airlines) and he said when he got back, we were going to head to the shop to buy the card. When he got back though, the card shop had gone out of business. I remember the sign was still there, but the closed sign was in the door and when you looked in the window, it looked like everything inside had been taken down and just moved other than a few Uhaul boxes. I cried. I'm not going to lie, I did. At home, I asked my mom to call her friend to see what was going on. My moms friend said that her brother had moved down south to be with his fiance. For a 9 year old kid, this just didn't make sense. Being married and in my 30's now, I totally understand. It's been 25 years and I'm sure if you've made it this far, you know what card I'm talking about. Well, here it is...and I got it for $106 less than the price in 1991!

1986 Donruss Rated Rookie Jose Canseco RC