Gone Missing

No pictures today, since I am both on the road and well, reasons which shall soon become quite obvious.

So, about two months ago, I made a rare dip into the memorabilia market.  Generally, I like to stick to cards, since they are mostly easy to store (not you Turkey Red) and are consistent with what I collect.  However, every so often, I see something that screams, why do you not own this.  Once it was a picture of the 1913 Athletics labeled as the 1910 Athletics at an antique store.  This time it was a lineup card. 

In each dugout, there is a lineup card hung from the wall, with the lineups and available substitutes for the game.  For each game, there should be no more than two and I suspect throughout history most were discarded after the game.  However, some intrepid worker at Wrigley Field managed to save a number of these cards from the 1980s.  Amongst the Dodgers and Braves cards, there was a Houston Astros lineup card, unidentified by date other than 1986 as the year.  As you know, the 1986 Astros were by far the best Astros team of the first 30 years of the franchise.  They are also one of my favorite teams.  So, for the price of a blaster, I was able to add the lineup card for the September 1, 1986 game to my collection.  A one of a kind item, which I would never be able to replicate or replace. 

So, fast forward a month and I realize...wait a minute, the card has not arrived, so I reach out.  The seller says it was in the mail and with the Superstorm, I thought perhaps it was delayed.  So, I wait another couple of weeks until I say, wait a minute, where is my Astros lineup card?  Did I get it and not realize it?  Did I misplace it?  So, I look through my oversized items and see, it has not arrived.

I reach out to the seller again and ask for tracking information, which he said he would have.  So, instead of tracking information, which I expected to show one of my neighbors stole the card, I receive a very long message that the card was misplaced and would be on its way the next day.  I was actually overjoyed, because really, I thought it was lost for forever. 

So, why no picture of the card in the post, well, it seems to still be missing in transit...again.  It's been about a week with no card, which scares me again.  I mean, if you are going to lose something I bought online, lose something replaceable, which is everything else!  I mean, there are more expensive items that I own and if they were lost, I would be saddened, but realistically there is another Nap Lajoie with my name on it.  But this lineup card is special in the way few other items could be and I just want it to show up and end this saga.  Instead, we are looking at a mass of words, no image, wondering, where oh where has my lineup card gone, where oh where could it be. 

As a postscript, I fully expect to find out the card arrived tomorrow safe and sound with no damage and be cherished and prized for the rest of my days.