2006 Topps Alex Gordon

Who is this? Royals prospect Alex Gordon.

What is this? An autograph card from 2006 Topps, card TA-AG.

Where'd I get it? A Hobby rack pack of Topps.

How much did it cost? Three bucks.

Why is this so special? Full write up tomorrow - I'm worn out after this week. I wanted to keep the one a day thing going though.

So much for one auto a day. I deserve a weekend off, yes?

This card was pulled out of a hobby rack pack of 2006 Topps. When I saw that Topps had brought back rack packs and inserted vintage cards in '06, I was giddy. who cares if 90% of the vintage cards were from 1987-1990, I wanted 'em. The local hobby shop had a box and I, like every red blooded American card collector started looking through them to find one with a good card on top. Unfortunately I forgot this was 2006 and not 1986, because the owner freaked thinking I was a pack searcher. If I wasn't a regular for several years I probably would have been shot, stuffed and mounted on the wall as a warning to others. Don't laugh, this shop is in Kennesaw, GA. I was bewildered and he finally realized I was just looking through the cards on top. LIKE YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO. Sorry folks, I don't care how rabidly you're against pack searchers, rack packs and cello packs with clear plastic wrappers that you can see the top card through is totally fair game. I've been scrounging through rack packs since I was a kid at Winn-Dixie looking through 1983 Donruss packs for Diamond Kings on top. You don't want us to look, make the package opaque. It's that simple. I eventually ended up getting a pile of rack packs (one with a Mantle on top!) and vowed to do my rack pack rummaging at Wal-Mart from now on.

I got them home and started ripping. I opened a pack with a random Brave on it (LaRoche, I think) and this card popped up. I sharted my shorts with excitement. There were several reasons for this: First, it was a seriously good autograph. Great prospect, good looking card, and an artistically valid signature. Minimalist, no wasted strokes, yet with strong composition and an emotional depth like a Klee or Matisse. Second, this was pulled at the height of the Alex Gordon pulled/not pulled/cut out/Wal-Mart blasters selling for 50 dollars a pop freakout, when Olbermann was buying them all up like mad and I had a big gaping hole in my set that would never be filled. Well, now I had an Alex Gordon card for my 2006 series one set! l Lastly, if I had opened that pack at the store after rummaging around in there I would have been lynched. Narrowly escaping death is a thrilling feeling.