Star Wars, eBay, and TJ Hockenson
In this story:
It's funny how things come together. I've been selling on eBay since September of 1998. I try to list a minimum of 5 things a day, not always sports cards, but cards are by far the majority. Since 1998, I've sold cards to a number of players themselves or parents and siblings of players. I cannot recall ever selling a non sports card item to an athlete before, and this is where it gets fun!
So a President and a Chicken Walk into a Ballpark-Crazy but True Autograph Story!
I have a college buddy who decided he needed to "clean house", simply put, he had accumulated so much random stuff that meant something to him in the moment, but now is just sitting in a box, not in use or on display, and just occupying real estate in a box, he knew I sold on eBay and he sent me a box of all the randomness, which I absolutely loved.
My buddy and I share a love of golf, translation he loves to beat me every time we play. Because of that love of golf, he had sent a lot of golf related items, from ball markers, logoed golf balls and head covers. Two of those head covers were Yoda and Chewbacca of Star Wars fame. I had no clue what the value was, but knew it had to be half decent given the franchise that is Star Wars.
I list the Chewbacca head cover for a relatively random amount, given I couldn't find comp's for this particular head cover. Ultimately I sell it within a few days. As part of my daily rhythms, I pack items in the morning, rarely paying attention to whom or where the items are going. For whatever reason, once the label was printed, I saw where it was going, imagine my surprise to see it was going to T.J. Hockenson , an NFL tight end for the Minnesota Vikings!
Traits of an ideal "local card shop"
Collecting autographed $1 bills has been something I've been doing since I was about 14(you can read more about that here), so, as the kids say, I decided to "shoot my shot". I packaged up the Wookie headcover, included a note stating I'd like to add the guy I'd drafted for my fantasy team the last few years(true story) to my signed $1 bill collection. I always ask for personalization or a career accomplishment, just something to differentiate the signature a bit. When I didn't see my self addressed stamped envelope come back within a month, I gave up, in my experience if you don't see it that quick, you generally won't see it at all.
I figured at this point, I'd still have a cool story of selling a golf Wookie head cover to a NFL tight end. Guess what arrived in my mailbox just ahead of the NFL season starting, almost 4 months after I had sent "Chewy" to his new Minnesota home? Yes! It was a new addition to the collection! T.J. didn't personalize it or add a career accomplishment, however he did something better, it came back signed "Chewy, T.J. Hockenson".
In preparation for writing this article, I half thought that maybe Hockenson's nickname could be "Chewy", as he bears a slight resemblance with the long locks and massive presence. I take to Google and find nothing, then, for no apparent reason, I decide to search "TJ Hockenson golf" and I find the craziest thing on vikings.com. It's an episode of "Teeing Off", which features T.J. and 3 of his teammates playing some 'slap and giggle' golf, not taking themselves too seriously, yet another surprise emerges when I see none other than that glory hound Chewbacca make a cameo as one of T.J.'s teammates(Jordan Hicks) seems to be trying to figure out what exactly is this character that is on one of Hockenson's clubs (check it out, Chewy makes his cameo at about the 1:18 second mark).
Yes, kids, I shot my shot and it resulted in a mash up of Star Wars, eBay and the Minnesota Vikings all helping contribute to yet another unique story to my collection!
I ripped my first pack of cards at 6 years old and pulled a 1977 Topps Tony Dorsett rookie, a huge bonus in that I was a Cowboys fan. I then began to build team sets of my favorite teams. As I grew older, the nuances of collecting and beginning to invest engulfed me. As a sports junkie, cards became a natural conduit to feed my passion for collecting and investing in the stars I saw on TV and read about in box scores. While in high school, I began to set up at card shows and reinvest profits into more cards, for both the PC and additional inventory. Fast forward to the present day, I'd like to think I have one of the biggest Mizzou alumni collections in the world, collecting across any sport where I can find a Mizzou alum on cardboard(not always an easy task to find). I could never get any of my 3 daughters to share the hobby with me, but as a new "Pops", I can't wait to share the hobby with my grandson, he just doesn't know it yet!