The 2002 Donruss Elite Extra Edition Alexis Rios has been one of the hottest cards in the hobby due to the fact that it is numbered to 1,000 and it is his only rookie card.

Those cashing in on the hype are living large. I didn't particularly know or care for him when he was a $5 rookie(supposedly) and now the card has gone from $25-$40 to $125-$130 in some cases.

Rios' performance in the Puerto Rican fall league had Ebay speculators probably thinking `Albert Pujols' as a relatively unknown player who has the potential to explode during the upcoming year.

Rios is only 23 years old and a lot can happen. Rios has been compared to Dave Winfield. He maybe another Juan Gonzalez.
How about Juan LeBron?

The lesson to be learned from Rios is that there are still diamonds in the rough out there for a `baseball card' collector.

This particular card came out of hobby boxes of 2002 Donruss The Rookies.

While once generally overlooked at $20, box prices have been creeping up in the $35-$40 range.

One didn't have to plunk $100 for a box in order to have the opportunity to pull this card. Hope springs eternal, looking for the next `bargain basement' product with the potential to pull a hot card.