Dumb Mistake? - Share Yours!

[mikesilvia]

I have don't some stupid things in life, but since this is a sports card site I will share stupid thing I did when I was about 10 years old and collected sports cards.

In the 80s there was a encyclopedia of sports card prices. I don't remember Beckett, but more of a "Reader's Digest" size book of card prices.

There was a week where I was fascinated that these cards I had were actually worth money. I had absolutely no money as a kid so these cards were my currency. I tried several ways to figure out a good way to list my cards and how much they were worth.

I found it particularly hard to trade cards as me and my friends would have to look up the vale of each card to ensure we were not ripping each other off. Taking 1 minute to find the value of each card was too long! So what was our final solution?
We wrote the value of each card on the BACK OF EACH CARD!

That's right! I figured out the perfect way to save time instead of looking up each card several times. I was so brilliant! Yes, our Dwight Gooden, Roger Clemens and other great 1980s rookie cards had the penciled book value on the back.

Have a funny sports card story? Share it! I can't be as bad as mine. :)

[BSC]

I'm sure I've had many stupid moments in my time, but my latest was really stupid. Actually it's an almost stupid mistake. I was cruising ebay the other day looking for Adrian Peterson when I ran across an AP Finest auto at a ridiculously low price, less than 35.00, ending within 10 minutes of when I saw it. Without reading through the auction, I quickly threw it on my watchlist to hopefully snipe at the last second. When I went back I set up my bid to click in at the last second then waited. While waiting, I opened another window to look at it real quick before sniping.......Thank goodness I did. Turned out to be a 2002 Finest auto! Definitely not the AP I wanted. needless to say, I did not pull the trigger. Whew!!
Besides that, the dumbest thing I've ever done was to put what would be very expensive cards today, Mickey Mantle, Johnny Bench, etc..., into the spokes of my bicycle when I was much younger than I am now.........oh to go back 35 years knowing what I know now.

[Enigma]

How about this...

My dad joined the Air Force in 1962. Growing up, his father was a Cincinnati Redlegs fan and despised the Yankees. So of course the Yankees became my dad's favorite team. His fave player...you guessed it, Mickey Mantle. My dad collecting as many Mantle cards as he could get in his time, including the highly sought after second year Topps release. When he joined the Air Force, his mother as so upset that after he left for Basic Training, she threw out his possessions into the trash...including his baseball cards. Moral of the story...

One person's trash is another person's treasure...

[palantri]

This isnt quite on the same level, but I think the dumbest thing I have done (several times) is assume that someone quoting me a price was being honest. Especially when I started collecting again and started trading on the 'net, I assumed the honesty of traders, so if they told me something was worth x dollars, I took them at that... many a nice card of mine were traded for garbage thanks to the "honesty" of some online traders

[theanswer0221]

a couple years ago i broke a box of cards, pulled an awesme joe montana autograph #/5 or 25 i believe. i put them on my desk and went to go play x box. i went back to my room and my little sister was cutting them with her new talent of cutting. i think i cried lol!

[BBonds25]

I have many dumb mistakes, but the worst one that i am associated with happened in @ 1995. my firend and I went to the card shop to sell some cards. mine were basically crap, but he had a couple of nice cards. the shop owner bought 1 card for I think @$100-150. the bv was about twice that, so he figured he was getting a good deal. what was the card you ask? a 1994 SP holoview die cut Alex Rodriguez. bv today? $2000!!! OUCH!

I still give him crap about it to this day. I'm surprised he hasn't punched me in the neck yet.

[phillyfan2005]

This isnt quite on the same level, but I think the dumbest thing I have done (several times) is assume that someone quoting me a price was being honest. Especially when I started collecting again and started trading on the 'net, I assumed the honesty of traders, so if they told me something was worth x dollars, I took them at that... many a nice card of mine were traded for garbage thanks to the "honesty" of some online traders

Yeah this seems to happen alot, and it sucks not being able to verify it quickly...

[jberry630]

Not my mistake, but my grandfathers aunt burned every single one of his cards from the 50's and 60's when he moved. She must have been really cold, because she could have just bought a great heating system today if she still had the cards.

[mikesilvia]

BBonds25 Take a look at this. If it was in MINT condition he could have gotten 4 times that! It is already at $4,500+ with a lot of time left. Send him the auction if you dare!

[boomgagem]

I guess my story would be a little different, I was 14 or 15, and got caught stealing packs in walmart! I did some community service, and learned my lesson!