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Tuesday, October 17, 2017

A special card experience



Last night was one of my coolest experiences ever with cards.

I got home from work at about 8pm, just as the Yankees and Astros were about to start. Anxious to get the game on, I planned to quickly kiss each kid goodnight and get to a TV.

When I got to my son’s room, he asked for a “moving card” (Sportflix) because he had a good day at school. Instead, I asked him if he wanted one of the 30-card Dollar Tree repacks my mom gave him over the weekend (she gave him two of them on Sunday). He said yes.

Instead of just flipping through, he got to the first card, a Mike Pelfrey 2010 Topps, and asked how many home runs he had. I told him that he was a pitcher, and it might be easier to find how many strike outs he had. I showed him where to find that on the back of the card. For the next 15 minutes or so, we went through each of the 30 cards. Based on the picture, I’d have him guess if he was a hitter or pitcher. If he was a hitter, he’d find the “HR” column on the back and tell me how many career home runs he had. If he was a pitcher, he’d find the “SO” on the back and tell me how many strike outs.

It's been apparent for a while that my son has been fond of numbers and has taken to math at an early age. Out of the blue he’ll tell me that ten 100s equal one thousand and things like that. Not bad for a five-year-old, right? While he’s getting frustrated sounding out letters and words lately, numbers definitely come easier to him. Therefore, I shouldn’t act surprised that he’s enjoying looking at the backs of baseball cards, just like many of us did as youngsters.

I missed the top of the first inning because I was sitting in my kid’s bed looking at the backs of baseball cards with him. That experience was definitely more important and memorable than any inning of any Playoff game I’ll ever watch.

11 comments:

  1. Very cool AJ. Definitely worth missing an inning

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  2. Wow, sounds like a great moment between father and son! Thanks for sharing.
    Numbers came easier to me as well and when I discovered baseball cards had numbers on the back I couldn't get enough. Fast forward a decade or so and next thing I know I'm a high school math teacher and baseball coach. I give credit to three things for helping me get to where I am... 1. my parents 2. my HS Geometry teacher and 3. baseball and baseball cards. Take one of those away and I'm certainly doing something else with my life.
    Joey's two-thirds of the way to teaching HS math in my book. Just sayin'!

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  3. This is what it's all about. Imagining moments like this is one of the reasons I started collecting again when my boys were still babies.

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  4. Definitely should lock that memory up in the safe, it's a keeper!

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  5. That is such a wonderful story! Both you, and your son, are very fortunate to have been able to share such an experience.

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  6. Future Sabr member right there lol

    That's a sweet story though. And it's good that your child is so advanced in certain subjects. The sky is the limit when they don't have to fear numbers.

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  7. I've always been a numbers guy over words. Maybe that's why I'm drawn to sports cards too. Very cool bonding moment. You might be the only guy who treasures that 2010 Topps Mike Pelfry outside of Pelfry's mom or kid... but at least you have a very cool story behind that card.

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  8. Your son and I need to discuss the intricacies of WAR and WRC. Cool stuff my friend.

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  9. That's what you call quality time!

    I was decent at math, but never cared much about stats or reciting facts about players or teams. Though I will chase all the variations with .649 vs. .650 etc.

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  10. Duuuuude that's awesome! My dad often reminds me that I learned to read because of baseball card backs. Awesome stuff man

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