My First Auto

I remember like it was yesterday.  I'm a military brat. My father was a career military man and I spent the first 18 years of my life moving from fort to fort around the country and the world.  At the time I thought it sucked. Having to pack up every 3 years or so and say goodbye to my friends and having to start over somewhere else.  Looking back I can see just how that upbringing made me the man I am to day and I wouldn't trade it for the world.  My dad's last duty station was Berlin, Germany. We got there right after the wall fell in December of 1989 and we were there till I graduated high school in the spring of 1992. It was a great time to be there and a perfect time in my life. But that's a whole other story this is a story of the first autograph I ever pulled from a pack of card.  I opened a lot of 1990 and 1991 baseball product. The base PX and all the little shopettes, or convenience stores, had cases and cases of baseball cards. I happen to have worked at one of these shopettes. The US military in Berlin wasn't set up in a centralized base. Rather it was spread out in the American sector on multiple kaserns, or small bases.  I happen to work in the compound that housed the Post Exchange, commissary, book store, Burger King, and a shopette.  It was a fine job to have while in high school. It was close to the American DoD school so I would just walk over after classes were done.  I also had lots of baseball product set right in front of me.  

Anyways I opened a lot of 1991 Score. Maybe that's why it's one of my least favorite sets. It's also a monster set.  And I have no idea why I bought so much, but one lucky day I pulled this card.  Well a card like this one below, I long ago sold mine.

Update: Fuji is right in the comments.  I pulled this out of 1992 Score not 1991.

I was flabbergasted. I had no idea that Score had put these autos in their product. I don't ever remember seeing this advertised, but at the time this was huge. Chuck was Rookie of the Year in 1991 and this card was serial numbered too. This wasn't the first auto inserted into packs, but it was close.  I wish I had sold this back there it was worth big bucks. Years later I looked it up and it was booked at about $15.  I was plesently surprised when the card went for almost double it's book value and the last two of these I saw on ebay sold between $20 - $25.

Chuck's story is a sad one and I won't go into his decline and PED use, but for me this card still holds a place in my collecting history, even if I have let it go.