The 30-Day Baseball Card Challenge (Day 30)

Day 30: Your favorite card in your collection

This is a tough one. When it comes to baseball cards, I don't really have just one favorite. The easy answer might be my Nolan Ryan autograph; I believe it's my most valuable card and it's of one of my most favorite players. The autograph is pretty clear, even if it's a sticker, and it's obvious who this player is. (My photo sucks because I snapped it in a hurry about five years ago as I was trying to inventory my valuable cards.)

But there are so many other cards I really enjoy for other reasons - memories of my past, awesome designs, great photography. Perhaps a new challenge could be created around "your favorite card because of..." topics? Let me know when that happens.

My collection has gone through purges a few times; some baseball cards were purged in 1998 along with souvenirs and memorabilia that I'm really sad I got rid of. However, I don't think any actual "favorite" and irreplaceable cards got away. The second purge was when I dumped a bunch of awesome hits in my non-sport and baseball collections. I later regretted a lot of those losses and I have since reacquired many of the cards I sold back then.

One card I didn't sell was an autograph from a 1998 movie that has been mostly forgotten: Small Soldiers.

 

Kirsten Dunst was my favorite actress for quite some time; I saw all of her films during her most popular years and even bought an issue of Seventeen Magazine where she was on the cover. I got the card via redemption and was able to redeem it even after the expiration; Inkworks was an amazing card company and it's too bad they had some horrible luck that led to their bankruptcy. You can see the card on display in the upper-left corner of the photo above.

I don't have a good scan of the card because it must still be attached to that framed display, somewhere in storage in Georgia. God, I hope it is. I'm actually thinking of saving up for a "backup" copy of the card in case the original has been lost or damaged. Much like Schrodinger's cat, the card both exists and doesn't exist until I'm able to return to Georgia and sort through my storage unit.

But I consider it to be my most favorite card, the highlight of my personal collection. In fact, it was the only card that was displayed like this in my old apartment. The only card that could possibly top it would be an autograph of Robin Williams or Tom Hanks.