Contest Entry- The Card I Love

**AutoCentral** · 09-02-2010, 04:30 PM

The Card I Love
By:Autocentral

Image that in one day your life changes and you get the card you can only dream of or wish for. That is a collectors dream and it was mine. It really doesn’t matter how much the card cost or how rare it is, it is about the meaning of the card and the reaction you have when you look at it for the first time. The card that gives me chills and makes me shiver when I hold it is the 2002 Bowman Chrome Josh Johnson Gold Refractor. To me this card is the Holy Grail because not only is it an amazing card but it also has significance to me, and my core values.

Josh Johnson has impacted my life. He is not only my favorite player but also an inspiration to me. The drive he shows in his pitching and passion he shows for his team has impacted me in a way that I feel I must have that drive in everything I do. Even when he loses he shows his passion by coming back in his next start and pitching like it was his last game. To have that kind of dedication to not only a sport but also a team is such a valuable thing to have. Its so cliché to come out and say, “we will get them next time”, or “Ill have a better year next year”. How many people have said that and done nothing with the statement they made. Josh Johnson has gone above all odds and driven himself past these statements. He has shown through his pitching that he doesn’t need a “next time” or “next year” to do what he needs to do which is help his team win. He thinks of his team first and himself second, win or lose.

If you think of all the struggles pitchers go through, such as surgery like Josh Johnson has come back from, it’s a tuff thing to do. Sure you could look at percentages now days and find that more and more pitchers have come back from Tommy John or any other surgery better than ever but to me what Josh Johnson learned from that surgery he had is that he must never give up and pitch like it were his last pitch. I look at this card to remind me of his “never give up” attitude, which I try to model myself after. No matter how much I fail at something, I strive to try harder the next time, as Josh Johnson has done each year for the Marlins. If I must confess I carry this card in my pocket. Most people ask me why I do this and I tell them the meaning this card has to me. Some people may not understand that it is more than a piece of cardboard, it is a lesson of values.

People may judge me for carrying this card around but it has impacted me in a positive way. This has shown me how collecting cards in general can impact a person in his daily life. If this card can impact me in such an immense way, it can do the same for you. Just think of any sports player and the values he has, someone you look up to as I do to Josh Johnson. If you do this, you can have the same relationship I have with “the card I love”.