Today...I Consider Myself...The Luckiest Collector on the Face of the Earth!!!

I received an e-mail last week from one Kevin Clark, aka dadofandrew from the Topps Message Boards, stating that he had one of the 2009 Topps SP cards I'm still looking for and was wondering if I'd like to have it. "No," would have been the wrong answer. Of course I'd want it. So I respond in kind as to what he's looking for. He is currently working on 1978 and 1979 Topps, and he's a huge...HUGE...Ozzie Smith collector.

"Is there anything else that you need?" I responded that I don't have any extra 78's or 79's, but I'd really like the card. If you'd like, give me your wantlist, and I'll go to a store that has singles for both sets available and get what I can for you.

His response? "...I will send out the card to you once I pick up some more stamps or if I can get my wife to the PO. Your address hasn't changed has it?"

So on Tuesday night, I come home to see an envelope in the mail...and in it was this:

Lou Gehrig #290.
You know, even in the times that we all are currently living, it is such a wonderful feeling to know that there are people out there in the world like Kevin. He didn't even have to send the card, knowing that I had nothing to offer him in kind. But his generosity seems to have no limits. So for this, I truly feel like I am the luckiest collector on the face of the Earth.

I'll be honest, I don't think I'd be this far along on the hunt for these SP cards if it weren't for this blog. I would have had to bite my tongue as card after card gets snatched up on eBay, knowing that whatever money I'd normally send that way was going to more important things. But since starting this humble little blog, I have seen the kindness of many collectors who share the same interests and have the same passion I have, if not more so, for this Hobby. A number of people whom I have traded with for these SP cards, and those who've just sent them without asking for an immediate return, are some of the nicest people that one could ever come across, even if I've never met them in person.

To Kevin, thank you very much for the card. You need to send me those want lists so I can get you something in return.

And we're down to the final four:

• #2 Pee Wee Reese
• #44 Barack Obama
• #240 Mel Ott
• #305 Thurman Munson

Let the hunt continue...

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama