There is always one seller at the Atlanta card show that has an interesting stack of graded cards that he seems to buy wholesale online somewhere. He oftentimes has graded cards listed at prices below that cost of getting the cards graded through PSA or Beckett. These are often prospecting cards that just never quite worked out they way the submitter might have hoped and there are some cards I love having graded just to be able to say my "Bruce Chen Graded Refractor."
In case you missed it, Chen pitched his final game in the major last season with the Cleveland Indians. He retired after pitching for 17 seasons for 11 different teams, the most seasons having been spent with the Kansas City Royals where he was a fan-favorite. Used mainly has a back-up starter and middle reliever he finished his career one game over .500 at 82-81. He also had one career shutout and one career save which both happened in 2010 with the Royals.
Back in 1998, Bowman Chrome refractors fell 1:12 packs so it wasn't that easy a card to pull. However, this wasn't Chen's rookie as he was also featured in 1997 Bowman and Bowman Chrome, so maybe this was just a graded refractor set that someone was putting together. If I remember correctly, I think I paid $2 for this card which will go into my oddities collection.
My other graded card is a 1986 Topps Tiffany Kirby Puckett given a near-mint/mint grade. Topps produced 5,000 Tiffany sets in 1986 so it is about as close as you can get to a serial-numbered card in the junk wax era. The reverse side of the Tiffany cards look very similar to the bright Traded set backs but the front has a slight color variation as the cards were printed on white paper. I think I paid $4 for this one and I think it is my favorite Puckett card overall.
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