It's like heroin

Not that I know what heroin feels like or even looks like. Honestly.

However, I know an addiction when I have one. I rarely have them. I think I was addicted to Cool Ranch Doritos once upon a time. I might have been addicted to redheads at one point, but I have been happily married to a beautiful brunette for sixteen years now.

So what is this addiction?

2009 Sweet Spot.

I can't help myself. The boxes were LOADED this year with great hits. Not just rookie autos and autos on baseball leather, but patches, bat barrels, bat autos, glove autos, and a great design. I probably have bought 10-12 full boxes of the stuff over the last eight months, at an average of $24 per pack, six packs per box, so that is almost $1500. Wow! To see that in writing scares me. The price also continues to rise, but I still quiver when I'm in my favorite store, itching to get my hands on "The Sweet Spot" auto from each full box. (That's one sure sign of addiction.)

I can guess pretty well as to where the Sweet Spot is, but sometimes get fooled. Luckily, I have only once come across a box without a Sweet Spot auto or Classic Patch. That was a bummer of a day.

I have pulled some amazing cards from 2009 Sweet Spot which have probably made up for most of the cost of all these packs, including:

• Ralph Kiner Classic Bat Barrel Nameplate #1/2
• Catfish Hunter Classic Patches #/27
• Nolan Ryan auto on glove leather
• Robin Yount redemption auto
• Ken Griffey, Jr. auto on bat
• Derek Jeter auto on ball leather
• Dick Allen auto on bat
• Tommy Hanson RC Silver auto
• Tommy Hanson RC auto
• Rick Porcello RC Silver auto
• Ryan Perry, James McDonald, Donald Veal, David Price, Bret Anderson, Everth Cabrera, James Parr, Shairon Martis, Phil Coke and Elvis Andrus RC autos
• Nate McLouth, Cody Ross, Hanley Ramirez, Ken Griffey, Sr. and Jamie Shields Sweet Spot autos

I'm sure there are a few other hits that I've forgotten about. But I've done pretty good so far. At least I thought so until last Friday.

That's when I stopped in one more time to check out the $2 autos box. However, a brand new box of Sweet Spot was sitting on the shelf calling my name. I opened five packs until I got the Sweet Spot of Nate McLouth, my second one of his. I did get the Parr RC auto and a Sweet Swatch patch of Dave Winfield. A little disappointing.

Then I spied a second box. Since I had taken five of the six from the first box, they opened the second box, and I was able to pick my pack. Luck would have it that I pulled the hit on the first try for this box. However, I wasn't expecting something as spectacular as I got:

Derek Jeter Bat Barrel Nameplate #6/6!

I nearly dropped the card. I was shaking with nerves! The owner's daughter, who is a BIG Jeter fan, immediately said, "Daddy! That's the card I want! I want that one!" Yeah, well good luck!

I haven't decided what exactly to do with this yet. I know I won't keep it. Jeter is a great player, but not my absolute favorite, and this would go a long way toward getting my some of the cards that I have on my fantasy want list. So I will let everyone know how I will be selling it, whether eBay or The Bench or private auction.

I do know, though, that this card is worth a lot. A LOT! A similar Alex Rodriguez card from 2002 Sweet Spot is on eBay for $3,000 BIN. I'm thinking that I may get near that for this card. Maybe I'm crazy, but a person knowledgeable in such cards suggested that to me. It will be worth a try. If anyone is interested and wants to preempt any public sale by offering me a king's ransom, please email me.

UPDATE: I heard from an eBayer who said that the other five have already been up on eBay and sold to collectors. That makes this the last one of the six available.

What would you pay?

So, you walk into Target, and they have opened a new box of the $1.59 packs. You could care less about the Pokemon, Bella Sara, Webkinz, anime, and wrestling cards. Only a passing interest in the Football, Basketball and Hockey cards.

Bingo!

There is a whole column of 05 Leaf, 06 Upper Deck, 07 Upper Deck, 08 Upper Deck (Series 1!), 07 Upper Deck Masterpieces, 04 Fleer Platinum, 05 Fleer Platinum, 06 Fleer. 54 packs in all, about $90.

What do you do?

a) Say, "No thanks, I've already got too many cards," and walk out.

b) Pick a few of each and hope that you find the relic/auto/super-rare parallel/fantastic insert in each pack?

c) Take the whole friggin' lot?

Well?

(tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock...)

Yeah, me too. "c" all the way.

I did get a few nice collectibles out of all of them, such as a Jeter Rare Starquest, one relic, and a Fleer Platinum fold-out of Piazza. Not great, but OK.

I guess that is why I should be buying Hobby Boxes of this stuff if I want to finish sets. I've been sucked into

The Swirling Vortex of Desparation in Trying to Find the Autogamers!

(cue the dark music: DUH-DUH-DUH-DUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHHH!)

I've gotten away from the reason I got back into the hobby: set collecting, specifically Topps sets. I have finished the base 08 set, and I'm close to finishing the 08 Heritage. But what have I gotten myself into!??!!? I now have complete common sets of Ultra and UD in many flavors!

AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!

(cue the Charlie Brown-kicking-the-football-while-Lucy-pulls-it-away clip)

So, how do I save myself? Do I altruistically give away all my Brewers to Thorzul and all my Braves to dayf? All my Phillies to Chris Harris? All my (pre-2007) Devil Rays to my son?

Do I sell it all on eBay for the low, low starting price of $9.99?

Do I roll them all into cardboard logs and use it to start fires in my fireplace this winter so I don't have to heat my house? (I guess that would depend on how far a cardboard log would go, and whether the cost of the natural gas to heat the house would be more than the equivalent thermodynamic blah-blah-blah....)

I think I'll keep things around for a while. I'm kinda having fun with it again, tearing open pack upon pack, hoping for that elusive Derek Jeter auto.

In the meantime, I'll see if I can make a few trades....