I apologize for not being able to join the Teams meeting, but I wanted to post the amazing gift that my Net54 Secret Santa sent to me.
I have admired and collected Ryne Sandberg off and on since I was a kid. There wasn’t anything better than having my parents drop me off at the mall on Saturday morning to take a few bucks into the local card shop to search for any Sandbergs I did not already have. At one point, I had every major issue in Beckett except for the virtually unobtainable early 90s inserts. As an aside, speaking of Beckett, one of my fondest memories was seeing my name in an issue one Summer in the mid-90s when I won a 6-month subscription for sending a small list of prices I was seeing from that same LCS.
It wasn’t until my parents bought our first computer with dial-up internet access that I discovered additional Ryne Sandberg cards beyond what was printed in the monthly Beckett. The earliest card I ever owned from that extended checklist was the 1982 Red Lobster issue. I only could observe the early minor league issues online and drool, especially the 1980 TCMA Phillies pre-rookie, which is his earliest card.
I regrettably sold my original Sandberg collection when I left home for college, but as I gotten back into the hobby off and on in my adult life, collecting T206 first and later E105 Mello Mints, I have bought back some of those Sandberg cards and memorabilia for display in my office. I even placed a few bids on a 1980 TCMA in Collector Connection earlier this year, but bowed out early.
Well, I was absolutely and pleasantly surprised at the unbelievably generous gift my Net54 Secret Santa sent to me, along with a terrific personal note:
This is now, by far, the centerpiece of my Ryne Sandberg collection. It has also motivated me to take a bit more seriously the project to rebuild the collection of my childhood. Thank you very, very much, Secret Santa!
Merry Christmas,
Daryl