Every Day Luis Buys 5 More Baseball Cards

Luis was a 12-year-old boy who lived in a small town and loved collecting baseball cards. He had been amassing his collection for the past few years by begging his parents to buy packs of cards whenever they went to the grocery store or drug store. Luis’s parents tried to limit how many packs they would buy him each week to around 2 or 3 since the cards could add up in price, but they indulged their son’s hobby since he enjoyed it so much.

Baseball card collecting had become extremely popular among kids Luis’s age in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Companies like Topps, Fleer, and Donruss were pumping out millions of baseball cards each year featuring current players, rookie cards, stars of the past, and more. Kids traded cards on the playground, discussed players and stats at lunch, and added to their collections whenever possible. For Luis, it was a fun way to learn about the game of baseball and his favorite players while also enjoying the thrill of the chase to find rare and valuable cards in his packs.

One summer day, Luis had an idea. He went to his parents and asked if instead of just getting 2 or 3 packs a week, what if he was allowed to buy 5 more cards each day. So on the first day he would get 5 cards, the next day 10 more for a total of 15, then 20 more the following day for 35, and so on. Luis promised he would pay for the additional cards each day out of his own allowance and chore money. His parents thought about it and decided it seemed like a fun way for Luis to stay engaged with his hobby over the summer break from school. They agreed to his proposal as long as he stuck to his commitment to use his own funds.

Excited for his new plan, Luis went to the drug store right after getting his parents’ approval. With $5 from his wallet, he bought a pack containing 5 cards. He was thrilled to pull a rookie card of pitcher Tom Glavine, a future Hall of Famer, in that first pack. Each day for the next week, Luis faithfully went to the store and bought 5 more cards as per the deal. By the end of the first week he had accumulated 35 cards total.

As the summer progressed, Luis’s daily haul and collection size grew rapidly. By the end of the second week he was up to 70 cards, then 105 after three weeks. At this point he was spending around $10-12 of his money each day. Luis’s parents began to worry this was getting expensive but Luis insisted he had enough funds saved from his chores to keep the streak going. He was so engaged and excited about his growing collection that they didn’t want to put a stop to it yet.

Halfway through the summer, Luis had amassed an impressive total of 231 baseball cards. By now he was spending around $20 per day on his daily allotment. His parents sat him down and had a talk about budgeting and making sure he was still saving some money for other fun activities over the break, but Luis convinced them he had it under control. Each day he would carefully go through the new cards, discussing any notable pulls with his parents and siblings over dinner. Baseball card talk became a regular part of their family conversations.

As the summer neared its end, Luis had increased his daily purchase amount to 120 cards, costing around $35 out of his own money. In total over the two-month period, by buying 5 more cards each consecutive day, Luis had managed to add over 3,500 baseball cards to his collection! Some of his favorite and most prized cards included rookie cards of Derek Jeter, Chipper Jones, and Sammy Sosa, as well as vintage greats like Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, and Sandy Koufax. Luis’s parents were amazed at how dedicated their son had been to seeing this plan through until the very end.

Once school started back up in the fall, Luis’s daily baseball card shopping came to a halt. But he would never forget the fun and excitement of that summer where he increased his haul by 5 cards each day. His collection had grown exponentially and included so many memorable cards. Even years later, Luis still looks back fondly on that two months that helped fuel his lifelong passion for the game of baseball. The “Every Day Luis Buys 5 More Baseball Cards” summer experiment was a smashing success and created memories Luis would cherish for decades to come.