So, I got this idea stuck in my head a while back about getting a Serena Williams rookie card. Don’t even know exactly why, maybe saw something on TV about her, and it just popped in there. You know how those things go. Anyway, I figured, how hard could it be?
Well, step one was figuring out which card people even meant. Turns out, it’s not super straightforward. There’s this one card from like 1999, part of a sheet from a kids’ magazine, Sports Illustrated for Kids. You had to tear it out, so finding one that isn’t messed up is tricky. Then there’s a more ‘official’ looking one from a tennis card set made in 2003. NetPro, I think it was called. People argue back and forth about which one is the real rookie.
My Search Begins
I decided I wasn’t too picky, just wanted something from her early days. So, I started looking around. Man, that was an eye-opener.
- First, I hit up the usual online spots. You know, the big auction sites.
- Searched for “Serena Williams rookie card”, “Serena early card”, stuff like that.
- Wow, the prices! Some of the graded ones, especially that 2003 NetPro in top condition, were asking for serious money. Way more than I was planning to spend.
- The SI for Kids ones were cheaper sometimes, but lots looked rough around the edges, literally. Faded, creases, bad perforations.
I even checked a couple of local collectible shops, the kind that sell comics and sports cards. Mostly baseball and basketball stuff, though. One guy just shrugged, the other said tennis cards weren’t big sellers for him. So, online it was.
Finding ‘The One’ (Sort Of)
After weeks of casual searching, seeing crazy prices, and almost giving up, I stumbled on something. It wasn’t a super high-graded, perfect card. It was one of those 2003 NetPro cards, but it wasn’t graded, just raw. The pictures looked okay, maybe a tiny bit of white on one corner, but nothing terrible. The price was… well, it was reasonable. Still more than I’d pay for a pack of cards back in the day, but not thousands.
I stared at the listing for a while. Read the description like ten times. Looked at the seller’s feedback. Seemed legit. So, I just went for it. Hit the ‘buy now’ button before I could change my mind.
Holding a Piece of History
Waiting for it to arrive was nerve-wracking. Was it gonna be beat up? Was it even real? When the package finally came, I opened it pretty carefully. And there it was. Serena, young, focused, ready to dominate. It looked pretty good! Just like the pictures.
It felt pretty cool, honestly. Not because I think it’ll make me rich, probably won’t. But just having it. A little piece of sports history, you know? Represents the start of one of the most amazing careers ever.
So yeah, that was my little adventure trying to track down a Serena rookie card. It took some digging, some learning, and deciding what I was really after. Now it sits in a hard plastic case on my shelf. Job done.
