2002 Donruss Chicago Collection #158 RR /5
2002 Donruss Elite Chicago National #175 ROO /5
2002 Donruss Stat Line Season #158 RR /20
2004 A's Plumbers Union #12 (autographed)
2005 SPx Signature Spectrum #79 AU /10
2005 SPx Superscripts #DS AU #/15
2005 Topps Black #421 /54
2005 Topps Chrome Red Xfractors #294 /25
2006 Upper Deck Special F/X Purple #732 /150
2008 Finest Moments Autographs Refractors Red #JD AU /25
2008 Topps Update Black #UH270 /57
What an unbelievable haul! This lot was extra special, too, because it came courtesy of ... Justin Duchscherer's father! That's right, Justin Duchscherer's father was the "mystery man" with whom I have been negotiating. I happened to come across an old eBay sale from 2008 and I contacted the buyer with a total shot-in-the-dark question asking if he still had the card. The buyer replied that he had multiple copies of the card because ... it was Justin Duchscherer's father! We have been emailing back and forth a bit, and I came to find out that he had a bunch of older cards of Justin. As you can see from the list of cards he sent me, there are a lot of older cards, a lot of beautiful color, and a lot of short prints that probably would never have surfaced again. I can't thank him enough for sending me so many amazing cards for my collection of his son.
I don't think today's mailday will ever be topped. I don't know how many collectors come into contact with a family member of the player they collect, but it was an incredible experience for me and it was a pleasure conversing with Justin Duchscherer's father. Not only was the haul incredible, but it also put me at 203/221 non-1/1s for my Justin Duchscherer collection. That comes out to 91.86% of all non-1/1 cards of Justin. Crazy. Plus, there is another card ending on eBay in less than 24 hours that I plan on winning. Once that card arrives, I will be down to a mere 17 cards left on my hit list! Who knows when/if they will show up, but the chase has led to some pretty amazing events and connections in my life. I'll end this post exactly how I started it ... today was a fantastic day.