[piecesofthegame]

In early 1996 I went to the local card shop downtown and saw this T201 Mathewson. I had literally never seen a card that old before and desperately wanted it, but the dealer wanted $250 for it. I came home and asked my dad (not the least bit interested in sports or cards) if I could borrow a couple hundred bucks to buy it. I was not surprised when he said no...and forgot about it. A few months later in June 1996 I graduated high school. At my graduation party, my dad (an avid reader) gave me a Christy Mathewson biography. When I opened the cover the T201 Mathewson was inside. He had gone down to the card shop and purchased it as my graduation gift, unbeknownst to me. It’s the only baseball/card related experience we ever shared. It was a lot of money for my parents to purchase it and started me on the vintage addiction. They may have overpaid for the card but it’s priceless to me.