In the spring of 2020 I was aimlessly walking around my neighborhood with a lot on my mind. I was in the very early stages of a professional comeback after a couple down years and the uncertainty of a burgeoning pandemic was threatening to uproot the little progress I’d made.
As I was lost in thought I noticed the unmistakable color pattern of a 1990 Topps card laying in the gutter. I reached down and picked up this Steve Carter and studied it as I continued on my walk. It was tattered and riddled with pockmarks - a kind of cardboard roadkill. The stats on the back indicated that the 25-year-old Carter was a recent MLB call-up following a solid season at AAA Buffalo.
I thought about how, 30 years prior to that moment, a kid might’ve pulled that card from a pack purchased at the corner store and felt compelled to ‘put it in the good pile’ at the possibility that Carter could be the next Willie McGee or Vince Coleman. I also found it curious that despite growing up in the 1990s and being a rabid baseball card collector, I’d never before heard of a player named Steve Carter.
It gave me a comforting moment of insight: It’s best to not get too attached to wherever I am in life - the top of the mountain, the edge of the gutter, or somewhere in between - because time can change fortunes in either direction. Today’s top prospects can become tomorrow’s commons and undrafted free agents can become all-stars.
This card has stayed on my shelf since that day and serves as my reminder to not get too high on myself during the good times or low on myself during the bad times.
