A meaningful Mike Easler card

When I was just a little guy in the late '80s, I got tons of packs of cards. I always got packs to keep me busy on a road trip or when my mom went to the drug store. I wasn't looking for anything good, just the Yankees logo on the card. However, I could name a ton of players as a four or five year old, and my parents and my older brother would always make me perform in front of others. They'd ask me to list certain players on a team, and I'd rattle them off, all because of the guys I knew on my baseball cards.

When I was five, I got sick and had to be admitted to the hospital for a few days. I don't know what was wrong, but I just remember sitting on my mom's lap in my hospital room with my arm attached to a wooden plank with an IV running through me. We were watching bowling on TV. Then I remember my dad coming and sitting with me while my Mom went home for a bit.

When my mom returned, she had a small brown lunch bag for me with packs of cards, and there was one single card as well: a Mike Easler Fleer All Star. Mind you, I basically opened packs upon packs of Topps and Donruss, so to see this card, with this fancy design, was completely foreign. It was so special because it looked so different than the other cards.

Over the years, this card got really beat up, but I always held on to it. It meant a lot to me and was invaluable. A few weeks ago, Kerry from Cards on Cards sent me a large box of Yankees as my last place prize in his March Radness contest. While shuffling through the cards, I was shocked when I came to the Mike Easler All Star in pristine condition! While my beat-up original will always be special to me, it feels great to own one a bit more fresh.

Thanks, Kerry!