02/17/2025
The Epic Tale of a Wrong Finally Righted
In the summer of 1991, 11-year-old Tavis was at Carl's Trading Post in Southbay Mouth, ON, tearing into packs of 1991 Upper Deck baseball cards. Most of them were duds, but one caught his eye.
It was a card of Ga***rd Perry, and it seemed to have an autograph on it. But with so many cards featuring fake autographs, Tavis wasn’t sure.
“What did you get?” Carl Brown asked, noticing the card in Tavis's hand.
“I’m not sure. It’s a strange one,” Tavis replied.
He showed Carl the card, and Carl took a closer look. “Ga***rd Perry… I remember him. He was a good pitcher.”
They both examined the card but couldn’t figure out if the signature was real. Carl grabbed the pack box for any clues, but there was nothing—no mention of autographs on the packaging.
Tavis decided to keep the card and add it to his small but growing collection, eventually forgetting about it.
Fast forward to the winter of 1992. Tavis was playing hockey for the Mindemoya Jets, a third-line winger and penalty killer. He wasn’t all that interested in hockey—baseball was his true passion.
One day, a guy opened a card shop in the small change room at the Mindemoya Arena. Tavis and his teammates went wild, spending their money on hockey, baseball, and football cards.
Tavis remembered his Ga***rd Perry card and brought it to the shop to ask the owner about it.
“I’m not sure what this is,” the shopkeeper said, after taking a look. “But if you want to sell it, I’ll buy it.”
“Really? How much will you give me?” Tavis asked.
They negotiated, and Tavis traded the card for a 1991 Upper Deck team set of the Boston Red Sox, which included stars like Wade Boggs, Roger Clemens, Ellis Burks, and Mike Greenwell. The set was worth about $50 at the time.
“I’ll trade it,” Tavis said, “but if it turns out to be a real autograph, I want it back—or a lot more cards.”
The shopkeeper agreed, and Tavis walked away with the Red Sox set.
Weeks passed, and Tavis thought little about the card. Then, one night, as the hockey season was winding down, the shopkeeper slapped him on the back.
“Hey,” he said, “you know that card you traded me? Turns out it’s a real autograph.”
Tavis was shocked. “It is? Well, give it back then, like we agreed.”
The shopkeeper shook his head. “Hell no, I’m not giving it back.” Then, he walked away.
The card shop closed at the end of the season and never reopened. Tavis never saw the guy again.
Years passed, and Tavis always wondered what that card was worth.
Thanks to the internet, he was finally able to do some research. It turned out that to celebrate the 1991 inductees to the Baseball Hall of Fame, Upper Deck had created a small set of four cards called “Heroes of Baseball.” Only 3,000 of these cards were signed by the player. Tavis’s card? It was one of those rare signed editions.
After nearly 35 years of searching for an identical card, Tavis finally found a listing on The Sportscard Forum. A collector had a Ga***rd Perry H2 1991 Upper Deck #2264/3000 available for trade.
After a bit of clever negotiation, Tavis traded a poor-condition 1983 OPC #482 Tony Gwynn for the coveted Ga***rd Perry H2.
Viola. Welcome home. A wrong righted.
P.S
Ga***rd Perry was a crafty pitcher that specialized in junk balls. He really is fun to watch. He threw a lot of doctored pitches and was the inspiration for the character of Eddie Harris in the film Major League (1989).
Garlord Perry (1938-2022)
314 wins - 265 Losses
3.11 ERA
1972 AL CY
1978 NL CY
5-time All Star
An aside, before his death, I was able to obtain Perry's autograph as a TTM (through the mail) signing of a 1980 OPC #148. I did this when I was still hunting for the H2. So now, I have two Perry autographs.
