My brother in law used to do a lot of sports reporting and he said that Ebay and the like have basically killed the business of sports cards. People buy them up in lots and lots of the hundreds. It is really hard to see gems that much anymore. I still have all of my old baseball and football cards from when I was a kid. I haven't even bothered to value them because I am sure they are worthless. That was a total jerk move by your friend.