Rare Radharikrishnan Card Plundered at Wisconsin Yard Sale

Rick Gelboim learned a lot during his two months in rehab. "I learned not to take things for granted- and not to give up on your dreams. And quitting is for losers- if there's one thing rehab taught me, it's that you should never quit." said Gelboim.

Gelboim's refusal to quit paid large dividends. This past weekend, Gelboim purchased the only known specimen of the Vivek "Inspect the Deck" Radharikrishnan International Shoe rookie card. The card was originally intended to be included in the 2002 International Shoe trading card set. However, Radharikrishnan's ongoing legal problems and well-publicized sex scandal with a local midget caused the card producers to pull his card from the set before the first sets were printed.

"I don't want an animal like that in my card set." noted Mikhael McStallen, producer of the card set.

Gelboim went on recent trips to Chile and Papa New Guinea following rumors of sightings of the card. "There was nothing there- all I found in Papa New Guinea were a bunch of grown men with tattoos and diapers- if I wanted to see that, I could watch a UFC match from my living room." Although disappointed, Gelboim continued to chase his dream.

The lone known card was in Gelboim's backyard all along. On a whim, Gelboim made a trip to a yard sale at a rural Wisconsin Lutheran Church. "It was a strange crowd- they were all tall and skinny and had bangs and talked very assertively. It was like Children of the Corn except most of them had Chmura jerseys on."

As fate would have it, Gelboim and another card collector happened upon the card at virtually the same time. "Fortunately for me, the other collector was in a wheel chair- so when I saw him rolling toward the card, I kicked him out of the chair and then neutralized him with a punch to the abdomen. To be on the safe side, I dumped kerosene on the wheel chair and set it on fire."

Gelboim then raced toward the card, and purchased it for $1.
"I was worried someone realized what had just happened so I thought the best thing to do was to create a diversion and get out of there." explained Gelboim. "So I saw this baby in a stroller and rolled it down a hill- that distracted most of the crowd, including the baby's mother, who I made sure to trip."

With his tracks seemingly covered, Gelboim raced out of the yard sale. Gelboim is unsure of his plans for the card. "I am tempted to display it in a museum, although the drawback of course is that other people will then get to see it."

For Gelboim, the chase for rare cards continues. "I have heard about a Tim Maloney baseball card, a Jon Orent special olympics basketball card, and an Anthony Khoury Sunday Morning Bowling Card- god dammit I'm going to find those cards and bring them home." exclaimed Gelboim.