Introducing Glow-in-the-dark altered variation cards!

Like most collectors, I've got lots of junk cards I don't need, many of which nobody's ever gonna want. The age-old question is what to do with them.. Let them keep taking up space? Trash them? Give them away and hope somebody would actually want to keep them?

Perhaps somewhat inspired by the often-hilarious Baseball Card Vandals, which takes a black Sharpe to cards to make them funny, I asked myself how I could "hack" virtually worthless cards to make them better? Short of getting them autographed or professionally graded, there's not much you can do to make cards more desirable.

Then I had a "eureka!" moment. I love glow-in-the-dark cards.. Why not get crafty and turn these 2-cent cards into makeshift  glowing cards?! YES!

I even have a "marketing plan" in place! I'm going to christen these as "GAV" cards: "Glowing Altered Variation" (Gav is also a shortened version of my name, get it? So cheesy!!) For each of these GAV cards that I make, on the back I'll sign it, hand-number "1/1", and mark as "GAV", then I'll keep a log to make sure I only make one Glowing Altered Variation of that particular card to keep the serial numbering true (this is important! Sure, other people could create their own altered glow-in-the-dark cards, but I'll keep my GAV cards nice n' legit! Only one ever for each card!).

Corny gimmick to try to give some desirability to junk wax? YES! Will it work? Probably won't do much, but whatever, it's fun! Some purists might frown on "defacing" cards like this, but hey, better than throwing them away! I obviously wouldn't make a Glowing Altered Variation card of anything valuable. But if a card is worth less than a stamp, it's fair game.

I plan to whip up a bunch of these.. some for myself, of course.. but I'll also happily spread some around via trades and contests here at Baseball Card Breakdown. Assuming anybody wants them.

Sure, everybody has multiple copies of Fred Lynn's '88 Donruss card... but only ONE person could own Fred Lynn's '88 Donruss GAV card.. it glows in the dark and is hand serial numbered 1/1!! OMG!!!!!!!!!!! SSP!!!

I encourage all you guys out there to think up creative ways to create unique "1/1" junk cards yourselves. Imagine actually getting excited about trading '90 Score or '92 Fleer with somebody! What a wonderful world this would be! "I'll trade my Player-A 1/1 custom altered card for your Player-B 1/1 custom altered card!" Together we could achieve the dream of working up a little interest in common flagship base cards from the overproduction era that we all otherwise never give a second thought to these days.

Anyways.. this initial batch of GAV cards isn't perfect, but I'll experiment with different techniques, and hopefully I'll improve at making these over time. (I would like to get them less blotchy and less "green" in the light.. I realize the players look kinda like they've been slimed.) When I do any that I'm especially happy with, you can bet I'll show them off on the blog.

I'm hanging on to the McGriff above, but these other 3 cards pictured are up for grabs. Again, these are "real" pictures of "real" cards (not photoshopped or whatever).

Contest! Want one of these cards? Just leave a comment below, and if you're among the first 3 people to ask for one, I'll send you one of these cards free and also let you make 1 selection from the prize pool! (first come, first served; my standard contest rules apply.)