the kid and the contest...part two

Ah, so it seems the final piece of the puzzle has come in the mail today and completed another trifectica:

I've had this plain old boring Griffey relic for some time now (pulled it from a pack to boot!) and I've had this particular rookie card of his for a little while too. The autograph, however is the recent addition and something I've wanted for a while. This one popped up and I grabbed it. It "books" at $120 and I got it for half. That's almost as cheap as Griffey Jr. autos come. Numbered 019/195, it comes from the 2002 Ultimate Collection. It seems I've gone quite Griffey crazy as of late, with yesterday's acquisition and my recent purchases of his six rookie cards, all graded. I know I know, grading is silly but if I were to have any cards graded, it would be his six rookies (Topps Traded, Score Traded, Donruss, Bowman, Fleer and of course, Upper Deck). They will probably remain the only cards I keep in their icy tombs of cardboard doom. I do have a non-graded copy of each card too though. I know, grading...sigh. Well, I got them at a good price though so its really no big deal. Eventually I plan on replacing that relic there with something much nicer and maybe numbered. Hopefully soon. I've felt really blah about collecting Vernon Wells as of late and really don't go too far out of my way anymore. Griffey though seems to be the new collecting craze for me and he is a player that surely has some great value to his name. Of course, surely a first ballot Hall of Fame entrant too.

Play at the Plate is holding a contest also, where you can win a sealed hanger pack of 2011 Topps. The Wal-Mart kind! Check out his blog for details and be sure to read it often as his posts lead you to multiple entries.