My new best Tony Gwynn card

I just harpooned a white whale of mine! I've gushed about my love for 2004 Topps Retired autos since the dawn of this blog, with the /25 refractors being my most favoritest of always ever. My ultimate longterm collecting goal is to get all 76 in the checklist. I landed a big one now with Tony Gwynn. I've still got some daunting names left to go (Aaron, Banks, Musial, Ripken), but the Gwynn refractor was always on the top of my list. Back in June, I finally landed the non-refractor version, but I was still hoping to find the refractor someday. I had never even seen one anywhere before, but it popped up a couple weeks ago in an auction bundled with some other Retired autos I already had. Perhaps fortunately for me, the seller somewhat mislabeled the title, which may have kept the price down, though it still ended at a pretty penny. Mr. Padre is my top PC guy, with my Gwynn PC easily being my largest player collection. And this card is now the crowning jewel of my Gwynn collection. --Or at least neck-and-neck with his Hawaii Islanders minor league card.

You know what I like to do when I get a big card I'm super excited about.. Yep, I go nuts giving it a lavish photoshoot and then post a ridiculous number of pictures. Enjoy...

I have a self-imposed rule that once I upgrade to the refractor of a Topps Retired auto, I have to get rid of the non-refractor auto (Recouping a little helps me feel better about how much money I spend on them. And these days I try to stay away from anything except the refractors since I'll probably upgrade down the line anyways). But I make exceptions for top PC guys, so I'll probably hang onto both Gwynns for now.

Thanks for swinging by.