It was a Pony League game in the summer of ’71 with the bases loaded and me up to bat. (From the title you know where I’m going; you should.)
I was a good baseball player, a centerfielder that could seemingly catch anything. My speed was more than adequate and I had a strong arm. I also batted leadoff as I was a good hitter and could steal bases. The greatest compliment I ever received came from my former football coach who managed against me in baseball. After a game in which I would have had two homers if they’d finished the outfield fence in time for opening day – their centerfielder caught both rockets beyond the fence poles for outs, house rules – he told me, “Martinez, I didn’t realize you could play baseball.”
Fast forward a few games into the season and the bases loaded scenario transpires. I don’t recall if it was a full count or not, let’s just say it was, it’s a better memory that way anyway. I remember stepping out of the box to look at my manager’s signs, and he yelled to me, “Look for your pitch,” as he clapped encouragingly. I stepped back into the box, dug in, took my usual practice swing(s), and waited.
It came. Slowly. A hanging curve if there ever was one. I recall thinking I could send this one far! I twitched, and didn’t swing, and the umpire called me out, loudly, emphatically, exaggeratingly so, as I recall (it’s my story). I struck out looking. My manager came to me quickly and said something to the effect of, “It was there.”
That memory came to mind recently (obviously because I’m writing about it). But it came because of this:
It sold, not to me, but to some blessed soul for $16.74 + tax (and the total included shipping). That’s right in my wheelhouse. It would have fit perfectly in my collection in that condition and at that price! That’s where I pounce on pitches and make them pay (actually in this case I would have paid – but you understand).
As I followed the listing throughout its sale, I noticed this Mays card was not trending upward as quickly as others I’d followed. In fact it barely moved in a trickle upward. I began to make room for it in my collection. I began to envision hitting a grand slam with this one – I would have stayed within budget AND would have collected another card of my ALL-TIME FAVORITE BASEBALL PLAYER, Willie Mays! I could hear my Pony League manager yelling, “IT WAS THERE!” (For the record when he did say that to me after my infamous at-bat, it was calmly, mostly sympathetically.) But in this case, he would have screamed it at me.
Life, I have discovered, is a series of interconnected experiences. Nothing occurs in isolation. There’s an inextricable web where aspects of it are only visible to you if morning dew reveals them. I cannot say that I hate Mickey Mantle, but I do dislike that he’s seemingly considered more highly than Willie Mays. It was so growing up and in certain discussions now it remains that way.
What do my feelings about Mantle have to do with this article? Well, confession time. I just purchased the 1959 card (see above). On Ebay. Around the same time that I was watching the Mays auction. I even surpassed my self-imposed limit (see “I Lied, Sort of…Maybe…It Depends“) as I paid $23.00 excluding shipping and taxes. For a Mantle in decent condition! (Yes, I believe it was a great buy, but that is not my point!) It also falls into the basic context of my collection’s ongoing fluidity (see “To Collect or Not to Collect, THAT Is the Question“) since I’ve been back-and-forth with whether to pursue the 1959 set anymore due to a significant number of cards remaining that sell above my personal price threshold – I don’t have similarly valued cards to trade for them, so purchasing is my best option. But to buy a Mantle when considering a Mays, and then seeing the Mays slip through my fingers because I was looking the other way is akin to seeking forbidden fruit with an apple in hand. Eve would have been off the hook.
I struck out looking. But I have to believe there will be other chances. I have to. Next time, I hope I swing, for I am not an investor, I identify as a card collector.
I Identify as a Card Collector 
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