Every month, I waited for Beckett’s Monthly Price Guide like grown men waited for the stock page.
That little magazine told me what mattered. Who was up. Who was down. What rookie card was moving. What player had heat. What card was common, what card was rare, and what card some other kid did not understand the value of yet.
I studied it.
Not casually. Not like a kid flipping through pictures. I studied it like there was money hidden between the pages, because to me, there was.
A Ken Griffey Jr. rookie was not just cardboard. It was inventory. A Frank Thomas card was not just a player I liked. It was an asset. A stack of doubles was not junk. It was leverage.
I learned early that value is not always obvious to everyone at the same time.
That lesson would follow me for the rest of my life.