Dilemma.

       Well, I have been home from work for the last 8 days.  I spent the first two exactly how one would expect when they have been furloughed from work indefinitely: I sat around in my pajamas and watched movies and did little to nothing.  And while that certainly sounds ideal, after a while, it gets a bit boring.  So I then dove into my collection and really started working on things; a full spring cleaning.  I did a little documentation of it and it will no doubt show up on a later blog post, but right now I have a specific situation that I was hoping to get some advice on.   

I found in a pile of cards with these two autographed beauties.  A 1972 Carlton Fisk rookie done in ball point pen at a card show in the 1980s and a 1983 Fleer Superstar Special of  Fisk and Gary Carter with the Carter signed in blue sharpie.  I am not a big autograph collector but I am a huge Carter guy and a big Fisk fan so it makes sense that I own these two cards.  So what's the issue?

I put that 1983 Fleer aside a long time ago to send to Fisk to hopefully get his autograph on it.  I believe this was right after Carter had died.  I decided not to for two reasons: I don't want to lose the Carter card and Fisk asks for a $40 donation to a cancer charity for him to sign through the mail.  I am not keen on either thing.  This is not to say I am a fan of cancer (I mean, who is?) but I am not big on paying for autographs, even if it is a donation to charity (I did check on the charity and it is legit and highly rated).  And obviously, the Carter card is not easy to replace since he is dead.  Carter was a prolific signer so I have seen it before but this is one of my favorites and it is a very tight and clear signature.  I can mail the card certified or insured or whatever to make sure it gets to Florida at Fisk's address but things do get lost.  Plus, sometimes when you mail something to a famous person, it gets misplaced or you get a different card back, or it gets lost on their pile of things never to be seen again.  I have seen my stacks of mail so I can only imagine what a hall of famer's looks like.  

I mean, I own a Fisk autograph (above) so it's not like I need to have one.  I own several other Carter autographs on cards, balls, photos, etc. so it's not like I will be losing the only one I have.  But it is a risk and a charitable investment.  I can afford $40 (for now) so cost is not the biggest problem, only principle.  So, what do I do?  Do I take the chance and mail the Carter card to Fisk and hope it gets there and hope he signs and returns this card to me.  Or do I forget the whole thing and enjoy my collection as is and do nothing.  This is not a binding poll or anything, but if you have an opinion or any advice, please leave a comment or drop me an email. And I hope you are staying safe and sane if you are stuck in the house for a while or worse, if you are out in the world dealing with people.