#NationalBaseballCardDay

I haven't been very good at supporting the hobby the past couple of weeks, so I decided to try and participate in National Baseball Card Day today.

The shop that is about 6 miles from my house, Skybox Cards, was participating. We had some intense storms here, but I still hopped in the car and made the 16-minute drive over.

I feel bad, but it was only my second time in the store since I moved to my current town three years ago. No excuse, really. I just don't go to card stores very frequently, especially when my preference is to buy blaster boxes with my limited card funds.

Upon entering, I spoke to Bill the owner for a bit. He said the store was packed earlier in the day (it was empty while I was there but was almost closing time), mostly because of National Baseball Card Day. Hey, whatever works to get paying customers in the door! He said he had some of the free packs left and gave me one, as well as asked if I wanted Aaron Judge or Rhys Hoskins as my free card. Enthusiastically I said "Judge!" He explained that several people before me chose Hoskins.

Bill was really great to talk to, and it turns out we both love autographs (especially TTM!). We agreed it's gotten a lot tougher to get autographs through the mail now, mostly because of the ease of pulling autographs in packs.

I only had a few bucks in my wallet and it's a cash-only store, so I wasn't able to really help business out too much. I did find two Yankee singles to buy from Bowman Platinum:

 

He also explained to me that his most popular products are autograph grab bag envelopes he has out on the counter. These are $5 each or three for $12, and are guaranteed at least two autographs per envelope, sometimes more. He has the envelopes in a stack in a box, and you give him a number between 1 and 96. I chose 24 for Tino, and my envelope ended up with four autographs! No one noteworthy, but still a fun idea.

I was only there for about 20-30 minutes, but feel I did my small part in supporting National Baseball Card Day. Thanks to Bill and Skybox Cards for the enjoyable trip to the store!