Yesterday was my only real day off during this two-week period in mid-March that is the very epicenter of March Madness.
I tried to enjoy the day because I knew I wasn't going to get another one for awhile. But, of course, Daylight Savings Time cut into it and given that I had to work very late Saturday night, I woke up at 1:05 p.m. to start my "day off."
Already my day was running out! I could sense that I needed to open some baseball cards to relieve some stress. This is the only time that I wish I could be one of those collectors with stockpiles of random unopened packs. But I have no unopened packs in the house so I had to get some. The thought of going to Walmart or Target on a Sunday is extremely unappealing (anytime you read about me buying cards at a big box store the purchase did NOT happen on the weekend).
That left the various chain drugstores, Walgreen's, Rite-Aid. But they didn't have anything. So, I headed for the other side of town and the discount Real Deal store that I've mentioned many times on this blog. That store has been living off the glory days from almost 10 years ago when I found cool stuff like early '80s Fleer. But that hasn't happened in a long time.
Nowadays, I come across what you see above. It is admittedly an impressive sight and, believe me, when I saw it in person, I laughed out loud. My gosh, that's the most unopened 1988 Donruss in one place outside of a landfill somewhere.
You may think I'm above grabbing a few packs of this. But really I'm not. Especially in the middle of March Madness. So I took three packs and headed to the other aisle for some work supplies and walked to the counter where I was informed "cash or check only."
Yeah, this is how bare-bones this store is. I had forgotten all about that (it's been ages since I've seen anyone write a check at a checkout counter). So I said "sorry" and left those packs there ...
... And came back the next day.
I'm telling you, the need to rip something is strong during times like these.
This time I grabbed nine packs, and the work supplies, and paid with my real, live, cash. I've just opened them.
The highlights -- if you can call them that -- are here:
That's the best card out of each pack.
Seven of the nine packs featured a Diamond King card and I started to think that one Diamond King per pack was standard (I never opened any Donruss in 1988). But the last two packs did not have any. So I threw two other notables in there to fill out the scan.
This is a set I haven't completed, nor care whether I do.
But that's not really '88 Donruss' mission anymore.
It's usefulness today, in 2017, outside of being a target of derision, is simply to fill a hole.
And that it did.
(P.S.: The store still has those bins of 1991 Upper Deck, too).
Comments