[bengalsandreds]

I have a lot of White Whale cards, especially ones that feature my all time favorite player, Barry Larkin. Finally, one popped up on eBay, and I was able to land it. I present:

1988 Score Samples Barry Larkin




I have looked up new Larkin cards obsessively, probably a dozen times a day (at the very minimum) on eBay the vast majority of the past decade. I have only seen two others. I know we are not supposed to talk about values on here, but the book value is way lower than what I paid for it, and the last time I saw one sell, probably four or five years ago, it sold for A LOT more than what I paid the other day. Another one had a ridiculous asking price of $1000.00. Obviously way over priced. I just wonder why the book value is so low? But regardless, this card is now mine, and a long awaited check mark will be marked on my checklist.

[elberson]

Congrats, how can you tell it's a sample?

[bengalsandreds]

The border on the sample is green. The regular issue is purple. The stats for 1987 on the back of the card are all 000. The card, I believe, was printed before the end of the 1987 season, so they couldn't list the stats for that year.

[scottbdoug]

awesome pick up, i love the 80s and 90s cards.

[bengalsandreds]

awesome pick up, i love the 80s and 90s cards.

Thanks. I love them too. I still can't believe I finally own this thing.

[jumper4d8]

Excellent pick up, Score did the same thing with the 1992 Score release where the Sample versions have no stats for 1991. They didn't use 000 on the 1992 sample cards instead they just left the entire stat line blank.

[djohn]

Interesting that the only Market Data in Beckett's price guide is from 3 years ago for a BGS 7.5 graded version which went for more than double book value, yet they didn't update the price guide (most likely due to lack of market activity).
I think the fact that the cards are hard to distinguish from the regular base cards, that quite a bit of them are sitting in collections of junk era cards with people not realizing exactly what they have. This is the kind of card I can see popping up in quarter boxes for some dealers as they would quickly dismiss the card as just a base 1988 Score of Larkin.
Congrats on finally finding one for your collection.

[mouschi3]

Congratulations! I just "scored" (pun intended!) the 1989 Score sample of Canseco last year. That thing was tough as nails. It looks exactly the same as the regular except, when you look on the back, the light green border extends all the way to the edge iirc (though I could be wrong.) My friend had looked obsessively for this card for the better part of a decade. One FINALLY popped up on ebay and he grabbed it. Then someone else was apparently enticed by the price and listed theirs the next day so I got it.

[bengalsandreds]

Interesting that the only Market Data in Beckett's price guide is from 3 years ago for a BGS 7.5 graded version which went for more than double book value, yet they didn't update the price guide (most likely due to lack of market activity).
I think the fact that the cards are hard to distinguish from the regular base cards, that quite a bit of them are sitting in collections of junk era cards with people not realizing exactly what they have. This is the kind of card I can see popping up in quarter boxes for some dealers as they would quickly dismiss the card as just a base 1988 Score of Larkin.
Congrats on finally finding one for your collection.

Thanks! If I didn't collect Larkin, I would probably never notice a difference either and mistake it for the regular card. That probably is why these things are so hard to come by. It would be nice to stumble across one of these in a quarter box though.....

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Congratulations! I just "scored" (pun intended!) the 1989 Score sample of Canseco last year. That thing was tough as nails. It looks exactly the same as the regular except, when you look on the back, the light green border extends all the way to the edge iirc (though I could be wrong.) My friend had looked obsessively for this card for the better part of a decade. One FINALLY popped up on ebay and he grabbed it. Then someone else was apparently enticed by the price and listed theirs the next day so I got it.

Thanks! And congrats to yourself as well. That is always exciting to see a rare card go to someone else, then get a shot at one that soon after!