A Sketchy Card Hiding in a Box: A TCIC Feature Card

The great scan-off is in full-swing. I'm about 75% done with the cards I'm planning on scanning here in San Francisco. One of the benefits of going through nearly every car I've collected in the past year is the rediscovery of cards I forgot I had.

You might think I'd easily remember my first one-of-one sketch card pull, but I have a hard enough time remembering more important things. I have a visually-triggered memory, though, so seeing this card among all the other 2008 cards reminded me of the details.

Looking at the card, you might think it came from a pack of 2008 Stadium Club, but you'd be wrong. There's no way I could afford a pack of the clusterfreak that was 2008 Stadium Club. Instead, this fell out of a random retail pack of 2008 Topps Update I picked up some point last year. I wish I knew who this player was supposed to be. Maybe you know. I emailed the artist (Richard Molinelli, who does commissions, by the way) and I'm hoping for a response. Apparently his Stadium Club card sketches are of legends, while the others feature active players.

Finding cards like these make me excited to get back home and dig through boxes to discover other forgotten gems! This card hits so many notes with my collection:

• It's a 1-of-1 that I pulled from a pack (COOL!).
• It's a card that I couldn't expect to normally find for the type collection (COOL!).
• It's an art card (COOL!).
• It's an authentic hand-drawn custom card (TOTALLY COOL!).
• Nobody else has this card. There are no parallels of this card. It isn't a parallel of another card. It isn't a reprint of some other card. It isn't even a drawn version of a card that already exists. It is truly unique! (AWESOME!)

Maybe someday dayf will end up in packs of a Topps product with 1/1 sketch cards, but until then I have R. Molinelli's artwork to enjoy.