Checking My Stimulus

Thursday February 19th, 2009 - Lake Villa, IL

I received my government stimulus check a few months ago and immediately cashed it and hid it in a drawer until something I felt that I really wanted to buy with it came along. Today was that day. I ended up spending $175 of my $311 on a collection of sports cards.

In a perfect world I wouldn’t be farting around with sports cards anymore and especially now with all that’s going on in my life and career but I like them and I’ll always enjoy the process of the hunt so I gave in and went with my gut feeling and bought them anyway.

My friend Sheri has worked at Vernon Hills Zanies since it opened and she also worked at a pawn shop for a while to make a few extra bucks. She stopped in to visit the shop and noticed that the owner had purchased a load of sports cards and called to tell me about it.

I wasn’t really looking to buy any sports cards but it never hurts to look so I took a drive over to check out the cards and have a lunch with Sheri. She’s a sweetheart and just got a new puppy she’s been telling me about so I mainly went to see the dog and have a lunch.

It was about a half hour drive from my house (what isn’t?) but I found the shop and saw the three heaping boxes of cards along with a three ring binder about half full. Most of the cards were from the 1990s and were the steroid apes like McGwire, Sosa, Canseco, etc.

There was a time when those cards would have commanded BIG bucks and I’ll bet it all that the person who sold this collection to a pawnbroker most likely took it in the shorts. I don’t really like newer cards but there were enough older ones in the lot to coax me to put in what I thought was a fair offer of $175. He was asking $250 and that was a tad high.

We shook on the deal and I paid for it and hauled my cards to the car. Sheri and I had an enjoyable lunch and then I drove home thumbing through the cards when I should’ve had all my focus on the road but I wear glasses so I had three eyes on the road instead of four.

To my surprise I ran across three Michael Jordan rookie cards I hadn’t noticed upon my first perusal in the store. At one time that was THE card in collecting and it went for huge money. Everyone wanted one and I’ve never owned one actually. If you’re a collector the one I’m talking about is the ‘86 Fleer card #57. That will be gibberish to everyone else.

I looked at the cards closely and they are in pristine condition but I have a feeling all of them are fakes. Any time there’s money in a collectible there are lowlife maggots who try to beat the system and this is no different. I have a few friends I trust to see if they are real or not. If yes - I’m probably looking anywhere from $600-$2000. Each. Not a bad profit!

If they’re not legit (and I suspect they aren’t) I’ll sell them very cheap and tell whoever I sell them to they’re counterfeits. I couldn’t live with myself if I ripped anyone off so I am going to handle this above board. I have a few friends that can tell me the truth and I will see what they say before I sell any of them. Still, it was fun to see them pop up in the box.

It’s the feeling of winning a lottery and it’s electric. I’m sure that’s why so many people gamble in casinos. Hitting the big jackpot must feel the same way - not that I’ve ever hit a big jackpot but I’ve been in the same room with people who have. It’s very contagious.

Everyone hears stories of people going to a rummage sale and buying an old painting or piece of furniture for three bucks and it turns out it’s a rare antique worth three million or more. We all want that to be us but I’m not sure how realistic that is. I do know I love the chase and it’s not possible to find the big bargain if one doesn’t go out and search for it.

I just want to keep turning my money over and over again and doubling it whenever it’s doable. I doubt if my government stimulus check will earn me much interest so I decided to see how much I could make on my own. 2% won’t transform me into Donald Trump.

Realistically I think I can double my money on the cards I bought today. Even if I don’t make a dime off the Jordan cards I still think I can sell enough quarter, dollar and fivers at card shows to bring in a return on my investment and the rest I can give to kids if I want.

A great number of the cards are totally worthless. They’re still sports cards though and I package those up and give them to kids whenever I can. They’re still fun to sort through a few times and if the kids play with them or destroy them it doesn’t make any difference.

That gives me as much or more of a thrill than making a few bucks. Time after time I’m reminded of someone’s kid I put a box of cards together for and the parents always have a lot of nice things to say and I appreciate it. That’s a way to make friends for life. What kid in the world wouldn’t want to have a big box of baseball cards to rifle through and own?

Some kid or kids will get a nice collection with what I bought today but I will still have plenty left over to package and arrange and set up at some card shows and try to sell them cheap but still make a profit. The older cards will sell eventually and those I don’t mind if I have to sit on for a while. They don’t go out of style with me. It’s the new ones I loathe.

Most of the guys in this batch are of the steroid era including Alex Rodriguez and all of it makes me sick. It’s all just greed and the bad side of humanity and that’s of course why I got these cards for as low a price as I did. These were the fallen heroes and now it’s over for them. They get to keep their money but their on field records should be totally yanked.

Even through all of it I’m still glad I did this. Why? Because it’s FUN. And it’s a risk as well. Success of any level doesn’t come without a risk of equal proportion. I bought these cards to hopefully resell and double my money. Then I want to use that money to try it all over again. Will it be cards? Maybe. Maybe not. I‘ll take it as it comes and let it develop.

It’s a way to exercise my entrepreneurial muscles and that’s my new life frontier. I love the challenge of taking this collection and making it presentable and sellable and seeing if I can turn a profit with it in reality rather than just thinking I can. Now I can prove it. And there’s still a chance those Jordan cards are real too. That would totally put it over the top.