C.A.: 1992 Upper Deck Eric Karros

(Greetings on one of the busiest travel weekends of the year. I tried traveling this weekend about 20 years ago. It was awful. I vowed never to do it again. And I haven't. It's time for Cardboard Appreciation. From the comfort of my home. This is the 306th in a series):

 

When I last visited this card, I was showing off the 868 versions of it that I had received from Dodgers fan and former 1992 Upper Deck Eric Karros hoarder, Rob.

I haven't thought about the card, or how many copies of it that I still own, all that much in the last six years. I did give away a handful not long after receiving them. But the vast majority have been sitting in a couple of long boxes (one won't do the trick) in a closet for all of these years.

However, I took them out last week when someone on Twitter asked "what's the most of a single card that you own?"

I've met a lot of card hoarders in my time online and I expected a bunch of people to show off entire binders of the same card, which they did. But there were even more who said, "I have 15 of such and such" or "I have 8 of this card." How cute. I smiled and thought, "I used to be that person."

I'm not proud that I own so much of the same card, I've actually gone most of my collecting life trying to have as few duplicates as I can. But when you've got it, flaunt it.

So I pulled the boxes out of the closet and -- why not? -- let's count them up and see how much I have now. I expected to count a few less than 868, maybe 861 or something. But then the back of my brain asked, "What if they've multiplied in your darkened closet?"

OK, brain. You and your stupid movie-watching and conspiracy theories. There's no way that's happening.

 

So I counted up.

And when I was done, I marveled at the total:

896.

What the heck.

They HAD multiplied!!

😳

Um. OK. So I tried to be as calm as I could and rationalize. Maybe I had added the extra Karros cards that I had owned before receiving this lovely package of repetition to the 868. But that would be 28 more of that card and I know I didn't have that many.

It's more possible that I had under-counted the first time and there was more than 868 all along.

But my brain was still whispering "they've multiplied! What else is in your closet????"

So as composed as I could, I uploaded the Karros picture of the now 896 cards and proudly, but still somewhat disturbed, told the Twitter person who had asked the question that the most of one card I have is 896(!) of the '92 UD Karros card. I did not say anything about the reproducing in the closet.

So ...

 

Now there was the matter of putting the cards back in the boxes, since I had spread them all out on the floor like that. And as I was starting to assemble them in stacks, my brain piped up and said, "count them again."

No, brain, no. I am not counting them again. I have things to do. Important, non-spooky things that make sense to do.

But, the brain won. I counted them again.

 

And ...

900!!

On the dot.

😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱

They're multiplying in broad daylight??????

So, that's where we are. They're back in the closet. Plotting.

I don't plan to count them again. If the number grows to a 1,000 or something I'm going to have to sell the house. And I like it here. ... I think.

I am now jealous of the person who said the most he had was eight of some card.

Let's get back to a couple of cards that I know I have only one of.

These are the latest two cards I plucked off the Time Traveling stack over at Diamond Jesters. I don't know how I missed the wonderful '84 Jorge Orta O-Pee-Chee card all the previous times I viewed what was available. That Royals-Blue Jays combination is so sweet.

 

I actually had chosen a different card other than the Alex Johnson card, but Matt was nice enough to alert me that it might not meet my condition standards. It didn't. So I got this Johnson card instead and love it!

 

I am going to try to limit both of these cards to just the one. Because we now know what happens when I put extras in the closet.

Shut up, brain.