Who is this? Twins first baseman David Ortiz.
What is this? An autograph card from 1999 SP Signature Edition, card number DO.
Where'd I get it? A defunct card shop in Woodstock that I can't remember the name.
How much did it cost? Five bucks.
Why is this so special? I'm going to manage a post a week at least or die trying... I got this card from a shop that was up on Towne Lake parkway up in Woodstock a few years ago. I want to say it was called Double Play or something , but they closed down and it doesn't really matter. They were something like the 4th or 5th shop down my regular list of places to get cards. It wasn't a bad shop, but then again it wasn't utterly spectacular either. It was a little bit out of the way for my usual travels so I didn't get there all that often. They had some good stuff though and you could usually find something cool and obscure on the clearance table.
One day around 2004 or so I was scrounging through their autograph and game used box looking for something good and cheap. Most of the really nice stuff was in a case and the box was filled mostly with underachieving rookies and marginal players. I can't give you an example of who was in that box because I simply don't remember, they were that nondescript. While looking through the pile of unexciting autogamers this card caught my eye. David Ortiz? The guy on the Red Sox who's hitting homers like crazy? Ortiz was definitely a big step above the other cards in the box. So they put Big Papi in the scrub box and put a five dollar price tag on him. Not only that, but they had two of 'em in there. The only rationale for this I can think of is that either Ortiz had not become a big enough star by that point to get moved up to the case, or that those cards had been in there for a few years and no one had touched them. I quit looking at that point because I knew I had found my bargain. I bought this card and left the second one there for any kindred spirits who also like spelunking through the depths of junk boxes for that one diamond.
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