I’ve been doing quite a bit of reading on the web and I have found the term ‘White Whale’ tossed around all over the place. My best interpretation of this term is ‘White Whale’ = the card that has been eluding you or the card that would bring you the most satisfaction to own.
In any case, when I first started collecting baseball cards, my ‘White Whale’ was a 1985 Topps John Tudor, card #214. Tudor was a regular guy, he was not a hero of that precious 1985 set like Puckett, Clemens, Mattingly, and McGwire, but he was the one card I was unable to find for months to complete my first hand collated set. I was searching commons boxes in stores, going to shows asking dealers, looking through my friend’s collections and he just wouldn’t turn up. Roughly 2-3 months went by and I was able to secure that damn card and complete my first set!! I probably paid less than a quarter for that card, but at the time to me it was priceless. Set building is an absolute joy and John Tudor’s 1985 Topps card will be a card I will NEVER forget.
I think I am going to have to try to find one of these again!
My first ever
As it turns out in the late 1990’s I was working at a local sporting goods store and I ended up working with Tudor’s niece. Her last name was Tudor so I asked her if she was related to him and of course I had to pass my story on to her…
1 response so far ↓
Dave // August 13, 2008 at 4:10 am |
Man, those 1985 Pirates hats are funny looking. I think they tried to make them look like hats that actual pirates would wear…