Strasburg

With the first pick of the 2010 Major League Baseball Draft, the Washington Nationals selected San Diego State phenom Stephen Strasburg. The future franchise ace reportedly will make his MLB debut during the June 8-10 series against the Pirates, but until then he will have not thrown one pitch in a professional appearance. Despite his glaring inexperience, Strasburg is drawing a great deal of attention from people with more money than God, as his one-of-a-kind Bowman Chrome Superfractor rookie card is currently priced at more than $16,000 on eBay with just over 2 days remaining on the listing.

As the proud owner of a Pat Listach Donruss Rated Rookie, I offer this a hearty chortle, as I’m still holding out for my payday. However, this lone rookie card has drawn a great deal of attention in a dying industry from serious collectors, as owning the card will allow the lucky auction winner to initiate conversations at black tie social galas with lines like, “Hey baby, ever seen an $18,000 baseball card?” and “Anybody want to give me $10,000 for this baseball card I just bought?”

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According to Yahoo Sports, a poster on Freedom Cardboard says he’s the one selling the card, and Blowout Cards is running a contest to guess the final price of the card marked “1/1.”

Strasburg still has not even thrown a pitch for the Washington Nationals, but he is one of the most highly touted prospects in baseball history.

If I had $17,000 burning a hole in my pocket, I’d probably make some student loan payments, order a few KFC Double Decker sandwiches, and go on one hell of a coke-fueled stripper bender. Seeing as I don’t have that kind of money, though, I can only offer my wishes of luck to the people hellbent on winning a small rectangle with a picture on it.

Strasburg’s Bowman card is hardly the most expensive card in the sports merchandise world, but it marks the first time in many years that a newly produced sports collector’s card has created a stir. In fact, if any of you are interested, I’m starting a new line of sports blogger cards. For just $20,000, you can own the incredibly rare “Burnsy Kissing a Girl” card. I’ll ship it as soon as I show it to my mom so she’ll stop telling me, “It’s OK, we love you no matter what.”