Matthew 6.19-21 tells us not to accumulate treasures on earth “where moth and rust destroy and thieves break in and steal.”   I know about destruction and loss when it comes to baseball cards.

Those cardboard collectibles were so much fun when I was a kid.  No one worried about keeping them in “mint condition.” You could handle them endlessly, trade with your friends, check out the statistics on the back of the card, and put them into groups with big rubber bands around them.  You used a clothespin to attach a card to the frame of your bicycle so that it flapped against the tire spokes. Whirrrrrp, just like a motorcycle.  Cooler than cool.   

The images on the cards are burned into my brain, particularly the 1959 Topps set with the round picture of the player surrounded by bright solid colors.  They were lovely cards, although it did not seem fair to give famous St Louis Cardinal hard guy Bob Gibson a PINK rookie card.

After grade school I gave up on the cards until the early ‘90s.  Like every male my age who had a little extra cash, I wanted to regain the joy.  Everyone had visions of the riches available.  I visited a card shop where a 1959 Willie Mays card was available for $80!  I explained to the dealer that I had that card when I was a kid, but my mom threw out all my cards at some point in the last thirty years.  The dealer deadpanned, “It’s because of moms like yours that this card is now worth $80.”

Jesse liked basketball cards better than baseball. We would go to card shows and look for our favorite players.  Unfortunately, all that extra baby boomer money met card makers who churned out billions of cards.  Not realizing simple supply/demand economics, I bought boxes and sets as “investments.” What a shock to end up selling 3,500 over-produced 1990’s common cards to some guy for $7; He said he could package and sell them in China. Made in USA, indeed.

And floods also work against earthly investments.  A few years ago, the sewer system backed up into our basement when the city was making repairs.  Cardboard boxes of baseball and basketball  paper products do not stand up to water.  The opposite of mint condition is Fair or Poor; these cards were now in a new category of “Stinky Soggy”.

On days like that it was good to remember the second half of Matthew’s verse: “Lay up treasures in heaven.”