Cleve Strikes Again

I write these posts about Cleve's card shop, and Cleve's auctions and Cleve himself assuming that you whom are reading this know of whom which that I speaketh of.  Cliff notes for those that don't- Cleve is the owner of Cleve's Collectibles, the local sports card shop here in NW Arkansas.  Cleve has been had his shop for years and has just about seen it all in the collectibles world.  Not only does he have incredible stuff, he has incredible stories, and part of the joy of going to his shop is hearing the hysterical things he's witnessed in his experience.  He has a story about how he caused Stan Musial to drop an F-Bomb at him that is so hysterical I cry with laughter every time I hear it.

Cleve also has an auction every Tuesday night, and you can look through some of my posts with Cleve Auction tags over the past few years to get an idea of the great stuff I bring home from it.

Cleve also is a very generous gentleman.  He's given me some awesome gifts over the years- some things that are the crown jewels of my collection.  He was at it again this week. 

I am in the small appliance business and had some product samples that I needed to give away.  I thought Cleve might be able to use them so I brought them by his shop.  He was very gracious about it and asked what he could give me for them.  "Nothing," was my firm reply.  He'd already given me too much already and I wasn't looking for more.

"Well, just a minute, I think I have something you might want," he said and started ambling toward the back.

"I don't want to see it," I said, and reminded him of the generous gifts he had already given me.

"Let me just show you," he said and pulled a card out of the back room.  "It's not a big deal, and I don't have any other customers that would want it."

And he showed me the card:

A Gem Mint BGS 9.5 Mike Olt autograph card. 

"Absolutely not," I said.  And I was serious.  I'm very excited about Olt as a prospect, and this is an incredible card, but my conscious just couldn't take another big gift like this.

We argued about it for another 5 minutes, but he finally convinced me to take it.  Don't get me wrong- I'm beyond stoked to have it, and I'm exceptionally grateful.   Cleve just better be ready for a whole gaggle of small appliances coming his way!