START THE CAR.....QUICK!!!!!!

 

                                  I confess that I shouldn't have done it but, however it wasn't my fault that some shops need to do a better job in the hiring process. 

          You see back in the summer of 2001 I was on the road in the town of Battle Creek the home of your Kellogg's company. Anyways I stopped at this Comic/Card shop & what little bit of cards they had I feel guilty about this tale. So they mainly had some singles but I mainly was focused on what you see in pictures throughout this post.  I saw this set no price on it no indication that was a complete set or not. So I asked the guy who was working supposedly but mainly was tending the Magic tournament if I could see it closely. He pulled it out from the display case he wasn't sure about the price but he said if I knew what it was worth he'd check the Beckett on it give me an additional 20% off the price as well half off any sports cards or sets within the display case it was sitting in. 

                   So I found the latest Beckett Plus at the time in which I was going to buy since my local shop hadn't received their copies yet that week. The guy went back to the game supervision post. I took a closer look at the box didn't look like it was tampered with so I opened it up it looked like all 132 cards were there as well the 36 Logo Stickers so I pulled out a small stack just to see the cards perhaps untouched since 1984 & within that small stack I pulled the Kirby Puckett & Roger Clemens cards.

                   They looked very pristine to me as I couldn't believe I was holding within my hands. I flipped them over to check to see if I could find anything that would say counterfeit or something of the effect that would have me not want to buy it. They had passed the test they were legit. So I put them back into the box very carefully so I wouldn't ding any corners or scuff any of the others in the box. I then quickly looked up the price of the 1985 Fleer Update price noting that it was going for $4 to $8 high book value.  

                  As I mentioned at the top of this post I feel guilty about this but I couldn't possibly pass it up besides the set would have been over $200 had I been truthful. So I grabbed a box of 9 pocket sleeves to complete my buying spree. 

                      I called the guy back over to the register telling him I was ready to check out. He got up from the game he was in the middle of calling a time out so he could help this customer. He proceeded to ask me what all I decided on buying I told him the set of cards the Beckett Magazine & the 9 pockets sleeves.

                     He asked me what did the price say I showed him the 1985 Fleer Update price he said hows $5 sound for the set without skipping a beat in hopes that I would say yes to the price I didn't hesitate to say that sounds good when I mentioned about the other things as well of the percentages total amount he figured the set would sell at $2 Beckett magazine $10 box of 9 Pocket Ultra-Pro Sleeves $15 with 25% off any supplies($11 he said) & then we figure out Uncle Sam's take of 6% sales tax total cost was $24.38 but he said since I was paying cash $24 even. I quickly whipped out my wallet paying him $24 walked out the store found my ride waiting patiently for me to finish shopping. I hopped into the car telling my mom Start the car......QUICK!!!!! before they realize the mistake. My mother quickly started off she asked why the sudden rush I told her what I did needless to say they didn't question or come after me. About a year later the shop had moved to a different location focusing on more of the gaming card games and less sports cards & still dabbled in the comic realms. But I got my reward owning what you just read about. I still can't believe that I own the 1984 Fleer Update set its in the same binder as the the regular set starting with Willie Mays Aikens in slot #4 of the 9 pocket sleeve with card #660 preceded him in slot #3 & all the other 131 cards were in the set that follow Aikens. Back in 2015 I was at another shop found a nice starter lot of the Update set for my friend Greg it was missing some of the major rookies in it as well some of the minor stars & of course the hometown Tigers were missing in it as well but Greg being the hunter he is as well as me as of this posting he lacks these cards still from his set being complete the reason some of have a x2 on his list is they're players in his PC he like to own 2 copies of them 1 for his set & the other for his Player Collection guys so if someone can help him out I am sure Greg will try to help you out with your needs as well. Again here is his list of what he needs still.  With that said I like to hear what you think of what I did should I go back to confess my wrong-doing or what. As always Rogers Hornsby put it nicely once about signing autographs for kids "Any Ballplayer who doesn't sign autographs for little kids isn't an American, He's a Communist." 

1984 Fleer Update  

  (U-)  4 Bailor x2  5 Baker x2  27 Clemens RC  34 Eckersley  43 Gooden RC 
83 Niekro  93 Puckett RC  99 Rijo RC  102 Rose