Recently I have moved and have been sorting my baseball cards and have downsized my collection. I am sure my daughter and son-in-law probably think I still have too many cards, but that's the beauty of collecting baseball cards, I can keep the cards I want.
As I was going through my collection I was able to find a card that I knew I had but couldn't find. It seemed that I checked every box of cards I had but I just could not find this card anywhere. I was starting to doubt myself and was thinking maybe I really didn't have the card.
It was just a few days ago and was thumbing through another box of cards deciding what to keep and what to get rid when "Eureka", I uncovered my Tony Gwynn Upper Deck Shimano card.
1997 Upper Deck Shimano Tony Gwynn Card #6
I knew I had the card as I had held in in my hands more than a few times and I had seen the Jay Buhner Shimano card, that was part of the same set, many times as it is in my Jay Buhner collection. But I figured the Gwynn card was loss for good. It was nice to find the card and have now tucked it away in a box somewhere in all the things I have moved. Once I unpack, I should be able to stash this card in my Gwynn collection.
1997 Upper Deck Shimano Jay Buhner Card #5
I don't know if any other collectors out there have lost a card wondering what happened to it and then one day, you find the card. I was happy to find the card as I was afraid that I was losing it (not the card, but my mind).
Jay Buhner, did not have a hall of famer career like Tony Gwynn's. However, Buhner was an all-star in 1998 when he won the gold glove for his play in right field and finished the season with 44 home runs and 135 rbi. He was a fan favorite with the Mariners and beloved in Seattle.
1998 Fleer Ultra Jay Buhner Card #135
One night I went to a Mariners game with my daughter and we had seats in the upper deck where the only way we could identify a player was by seeing the number on the back of his jersey.
One time when Buhner came up to the plate the fans in the section next to us started a cheer for him.
It went:
"Give my a J"
"J"
"What's that spell?"
"Jay"
A simple little cheer that I'm sure Buhner himself never heard but will always be treasured by my daughter and I as we have chuckled about it many times since that summer night in Seattle.
