The Cal I Never Knew About...

Hands down, one of my favorite cards in my collection is the 1982 Topps Traded Cal Ripken Jr. Everyone knows his 1982 Topps Future Stars rookie with Bob Bonner and Jeff Schneider. Ok, you may remember the card but not the players. It's not like I had to Google "who else was on the cal ripkens topps rookie". Though I can't confirm this, I would imagine most people, like me, prefer players rookie cards to be a solo card. Yes I am about to bring up Nolan Ryan 1968 Topps rookie. I always wanted a Nolan Ryan rookie, and I am glad I found an affordable one, but I prefer his 1969 Topps card because of the solo photograph.

I thought I knew Cal Ripken cards, I thought I knew Cal Ripken rookie cards. I did not. I didn't know about this card. When I found out this card existed, I couldn't sleep and I needed that card. I fully understand this is not a true rookie card but with the look, photograph, and value of the card it's very hard not to consider this a rookie card.

One of my favorite things about collecting is when I see a card that I should know about, but don't. Then it becomes a quest to find that card, and I usually end up over paying just so I can relax about the situation. This happened again recently with the Bo Jackson 1989 Score Baseball, but I never knew there was also a similar card in the 1989 Score Supplemental Football. It's obviously cheap and easy to find because of how much of that era was being printed. Once I found out about the Bo Jackson football card (within the the last year), I had to have it. A quick ebay search and paypal debit then BOOM! I had three of them!

Has this happened to other collectors? If so, what were the cards? I might need them!