So, I got this idea in my head, right? I wanted to track down a Patrick Mahomes Sr. baseball card. Not the superstar quarterback, mind you, but his dad, the pitcher. Seemed like a neat little piece to add to the collection, a bit of a conversation starter, if you know what I mean.
You’d think it’d be easy. Player from the 90s, played for a few teams. How hard could it really be? Well, let me tell you, it’s not always as straightforward as just walking into a shop and pointing at what you want. The internet, oh boy, that’s a whole other beast. Everyone’s a dealer, everyone’s got a “gem mint” this or a “rare find” that. Sifting through all that noise, that was the first part of my little adventure. It really tests your patience sometimes.
The Hunt Begins: Early Snags and Scouring
My first thought, naturally, was to hit up the usual online spots. You know the ones I’m talking about. And yeah, the cards were there, for sure. But it was a real mixed bag, you know? Some prices seemed a bit wild, way up there for what it was. Others, the pictures were so blurry you’d think they were taken with a potato, seriously. It’s always a bit of a gamble online, isn’t it? You’re basically trusting a stranger on the other side of the screen with your cash for a little piece of cardboard.
I even tried a couple of local card shops, figuring maybe I’d get lucky. Nice guys, mostly. But when I asked about Mahomes Sr.? They’d just scratch their heads. “Oh, you mean Patrick the quarterback’s dad?” Yeah, that’s the guy I’m after. One fella actually tried to sell me a football card of his son. Bless his heart, he was trying. It just showed me these older, less flashy cards sometimes fall through the cracks in the local scene unless you happen to stumble upon a real old-timer’s stash, tucked away in a dusty binder.
Digging Deeper: The Nitty-Gritty Process
So, online it was going to have to be. I decided I needed to get a bit more methodical about the whole thing. This is where the real “practice” came in, as I like to call my obsessive little hobbies. Can’t just browse aimlessly; you gotta have a plan.
- First, I jotted down a list of the teams he actually played for: Twins, Red Sox, Mets, Rangers, Cubs, Pirates. This helped me narrow down the card years and the brands I should be looking for. Mostly 90s stuff, maybe some early 2000s.
- Then, I started focusing my searches. Instead of just typing in “Patrick Mahomes Sr. card,” which gives you a million results, I’d try things like “Mahomes Twins baseball card” or “1993 Fleer Mahomes.” You get fewer results that way, but they’re usually much more relevant to what you’re actually looking for.
- I spent a good few evenings just scrolling, comparing prices, checking out seller feedback. It’s like panning for gold, you know? A lot of dirt and gravel, but you’re hoping for that little shiny bit to pop out.
- I looked at a bunch of different cards. Some were just base cards, pretty common and cheap. Others were inserts or parallels, a bit fancier, maybe a bit pricier. I wasn’t after anything super rare or expensive, just a decent representation.
The “Aha!” Moment and What I Learned From It All
Finally, after maybe a week or so of this digital digging, I found one that felt right. It was a 1992 Bowman card. He was with the Twins back then. The picture on the listing was clear, the price was reasonable, and the seller had decent reviews. Nothing spectacular, just a clean, honest card. I clicked “buy.” That simple. Felt good.
When it arrived in the mail a few days later, it was exactly as described. Holding that little piece of cardboard, it felt… I don’t know, kinda cool. Not because it’s worth a fortune, because it’s definitely not. But because it was the end of a little hunt, a mission accomplished. It represented a player who had his own career, grinding it out on the mound, long before his son became a global superstar.
What did I learn from all this? Patience, mostly. That’s a big one. And that sometimes the fun is really in the chase itself, not just the “thing” you get at the end. Also, being specific in your searches online really, really helps. Don’t just cast a wide net and hope for the best, you’ll drown in options. And yeah, sometimes you just gotta sift through a lot of digital junk to find your little treasure. It’s not quite like the old days of just flipping through binders at a friend’s house, but there’s still a bit of that old magic there if you look for it, even online.
