Quote:
Originally Posted by jayjones82
Back around June '95 (I was 12), my dad and I watched a sports cards store for a week while the owner was on vacation. A guy came in and wanted to sell a 1994 Upper Deck Mantle/Griffey Auto for something like $200. My dad told him he wasn't authorized by the store owner to make purchases. I pulled my dad aside and told him he should buy it for himself, but dad said he didn't have the money to buy something like that (side note: We went to the 1992 Nationals in Atlanta - still, the only one I've been to - and my dad took $80 to try to find a 1986 Donruss set lol). Dad and I would always joke abt passing up that card (Mantle died in August '95) and how great that week was.
Fast forward to Christmas 2014 and I bought him a '94 UD Mantle/Griffey auto. I'll never forget his face when he unwrapped it...the muted joy and disbelief as he looked up and just kinda stared for a few seconds. His eyes said everything.
Dad died in March 2017. While organizing his papers and cards with my mom, I came across a drawer that seemed to be full of his sentimentals...pictures of my sisters and me, drawing that we'd done as kids, some pics of my mom and some poems that he'd written her early on in their relationship. To one side of the drawer was a small box I recognized: the box I'd put the Mantle/Griffey in and wrapped to give to him. I opened it up and there was the card. It had symbolized one of the best weeks in a hobby we'd loved so much. I'll have that card till the day I die.
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This is a great story. Thank you for sharing.