Card shop trip - some odds and ends

I needed a good number of penny sleeves for various loose card projects, so I finally decided to make a card shop trip - I could literally be making weekly visits to my closest card shop, but I've been weird about it, where I don't want to make it a habit.

Of course if I'm at a card shop, I can't just be worried about card supplies - when I have the opportunity, I want to dig around and rummage a little, especially at the quarter bins.

Go figure the last time I was at the card shop, my priority was getting penny sleeves as well - but after I was completely done with my rummage, paid up and left the store entirely, did I realize that I'd forgotten my precious card sleeves.

As I hovered around the counter to go and pay for what I'd gone through this time around - I'd made sure to look for the penny sleeves and ended up grabbing one of the 1000-count bundles [rather than individual packs] that were being sold for $8.

This is just a tease of the cards I ended up with from the quarter bins - I've mostly bought bulk cards online, but there is nothing like building up a card shop or card show pile.

Building up 50 card stacks, I ended up with exactly 125 cards / items - where to make things easier, I always try and make sure I count out exactly the right tally.

In the quarter bins, I also found an oddball pack of 1993 Topps Stadium Club teams with only Colorado Rockies and Florida Marlins cards - maybe this was handed out somewhere and/or sold regionally, rather than a national pack release?

Florida Marlins portion
#11 Cris Carpenter
#16 Ryan Bowen
#17 Ramon Martinez
#18 Bret Barberie
#22 Mike Myers
#24 Darrell Whitmore
#23 Geronimo Berroa

Colorado Rockies portion
#2 Quinton McCracken
#1 David Nied
#11 Andres Galarraga
#29 Roger Bailey
#28 Danny Sheaffer
#24 Butch Henry
#30 Brad Ausmus

A card shop find - a 1983 Topps set

During an out of town card shop trip , I was lurking in the junk wax / junk set corner, maybe looking for a junk wax box / junk era set to rip  - I guess I see myself as a hoarder or at the very least willing to rummage through a pile of crap to try and find 'something' to take home.

The last time I was at this card shop was in fall of 2017 and think I saw a 1995 Upper Deck Minors box for $15 last fall which was intriguing because regardless of how bad the content has aged - those mid 90s UD sets still look good.

However, there is probably lots of turnover - even if any particular box / set is just squirreled away somewhere else as opposed to someone actually buying it.

I saw some hand collated sets [junk wax era] on the counter closest to where all the junk boxes / junk sets are - this isn’t what I’m really looking for because the brown card boxes look ancient and taped shut, so who knows if there are just repacked garbage in there.

One of the store employees was explaining to an older collector that he just got those sets in and they did have the key cards - the older collector was looking for a run of old-school Topps sets.

I was lingering by, but the older collector was coming along looking for this and that - it felt like I kind of snatched the box with the 1983 Topps set [marked at $20] from just under his grasp.

Maybe the value has bottomed out, but old-school, pre junk wax era cards printed through the mid 1980s are still intriguing - it would be an impulse buy, but could I beat the price?

I really wasn’t about to mess with the set because who knows where it came from - even if the rookie cards of Ryne Sandberg [#83], Tony Gwynn [#482] and Wade Boggs [#498] would make the set seem like a no brainer purchase.

I have a PSA graded Sandberg and do prefer PSA graded rookies of Gwynn and Boggs - since there is some assurance someone looked at the cards to deem them authentic and assign a numerical grade.

For a price of a blaster, I could at least mimic the experience of going through the 35-year old cards like they came from unopened rips - maybe I could try to finish off my Topps team runs for 1983 with cards leftover for various, miscellaneous interests.

I actually took the time to put the set in plastic pages to see what a full set of 792 cards would look like in a book - during a few different times, I emptied out just about 90 plastic pages filled with assorted inserts and added the 1983 Topps cards.

To the naked eye the Sandberg, Gwynn and Boggs are presentable - maybe kind of examples I'd find in a more common showcase of cards at a card show or card shop.

The rest of the cards are probably in 'ex-mt' condition, with examples of cards - being off-center, miscut or otherwise having some sort of noticeable blemish.

I'll probably leave the misfit condition cards as fillers since I'm not a set guy - it's not really worth it to me to track down countless 1983 Topps so I can upgrade a random common here, a random star card here, etc.

My miscellaneous finds off a 8 for $5 box

Once I start rummaging through loose cards at a card shop - I don’t know if I’ll be able to restrain myself.

There maybe a certain thrill, going through a box at some random card shop that has piqued my interest enough - that I'd bother seeing if I can pick up enough cards, so I sort of get a deal, even if most are picked over.

At times I get a sense that I’m influenced by others and want to entertain taking in all sorts of cards - though after the fact, I don't like idea of doing some mental gymnastics, in order to justify assorted loose card purchases that ends up being fool's gold.

These were finds I'd 'saved' from an out of town card shop trip and wanted to see if I could make a post.

1987 Topps Barry Bonds #320 - in sentiment, it seems 1987 Topps has become the 'classic' set of the junk wax era.

I pulled a copy of his 1987 OPC and maybe a copy of the Topps version years ago and I don't know where either card ended up - but I’ve liked the photo chosen compared to Bonds' other 1986 XRC and 1987 RC issues.

2018 Topps Gold Label Alex Bregman #49 - Class 2 serial #’d 37/99 - I wouldn’t know what this parallel is about and I doubt it is important but it's shiny and pictures a young superstar.

1996-97 Topps Stadium Club Chicago Bulls #GM3 - Golden Moments insert - I thought the card might be of note because it features Michael Jordan, but it was only worth what I paid for the card, maybe less with the slight nick on right hand corner.

2000 Fleer Tradition Glossy factory set Mike Lamb #472 - serial #’d 0916/1000 - I may have a loose definition of oddball, it’s kind of a different, off-beat card picturing a Cal State Fullerton baseball alumni.

Maybe a card I hope to get inked up in-person - even though Lamb hasn’t been at the annual alumni game in recent years.

2015 Topps Update Max Muncy dual RC #US54 - after his breakout 'out of nowhere' season in 2018, he stills profiles as a late blooming minor star at best, but he has become a fan favorite and his rookie is a 'penny stock keeper.'

2013 Bowman Chrome Albert Pujols #264 - Blue Sapphire refractor insert - this is a pretty, sharp card picturing Pujols’ 2001 Bowman rookie or at least what a parallel of an unsigned 2001 Bowman Chrome rookie might look like [the original Bowman Chrome issue is his most coveted card, especially since they were autographed].

1981 Topps Rickey Henderson #261 - to add to my 1978-present Topps sampler run, I'm looking for loose star cards like Henderson's second year card.

2005 Topps Retired Signature Cal Ripken Jr. #10 - this was a common base card, but it came from a product that might have relatively 'too rich' for tastes, so I don't even think the non-hit base trickled down to where I found them loosely.

I grabbed the card because it reminds me of the retired player short prints / variations Topps has made over the past 10 years - this particular rejiggering of the 2005 Topps design uses the old-school Topps logo on the front and had full career stats on the back.

My card shop died and the hunt for the Honus Wagner of junk wax?

I dropped in at my LCS, but someone else was running the shop - I'm looking around absentmindedly trying to figure out if there was some kind of change, feeling like I’m in the Twilight Zone since things were just different.

The fact was, my long time LCS was actually bought out [my last visit was in December] and now a new guy owns the place - the longtime shop owner finally made his play to get out of the owning a card shop, that seemed more like a sparsely attended library.

While I wasn't actually on a first name basis with the previous shop owner, I've used my LCS as an outlet for the miscellaneous cards, supplies and loose packs I might purchase every other month or so - who knows if I’ll be back any time soon and wonder if this new incarnation of the shop will last over the next couple of years.

The most familiar card shop to me is an out of town one I may visit only a couple times a year - on a sightseeing trip, I had the opportunity to stop by recently, but was a bit overwhelmed.

I made the trip after a long day and while I feel like I wanted to go to town - I just didn’t know where where to start.

I had looked at the ‘junk wax / junk sets’ display near the entrance - a part of me wants to be tempted by a cheap single box or set purchase, though it’s more crap I’m going to actually pay to take home instead of the other way around.

I picked up a 1990 Fleer factory set for $6 because of a peculiar Jose Uribe [#74] card - which has become infamous because it has been listed on eBay for outrageous sums [from like $25,000-$758,000].

Some people say the card is being used for money laundering purposes - regardless, the notoriety may have driven the card value to like a few bucks [or not].

I fancy myself as a collector who can appreciate the weird stories that may circulate - about the baseball cards I collect.

There were two types of sets available at the shop - the set in the ‘holiday’ box was $15 but I settled for the ‘brown box’ factory set without the full color, graphics.

I thumbed through the set afterwards at Starbucks since was my friend was hanging out there while waiting on me - I was thrilled to find the Uribe, though it was a little off-center, so that jarred me back to reality.

2018 Topps Update hobby jumbo pack x2

I had to make a late afternoon run to get some Topps Updates at some card shop I stopped at - I’m looking for anything Juan Soto [note, didn't pull any] and took the plunge with two jumbo packs; I used to try to get a single jumbo pack of every Topps release, but I haven’t really done so in recent years.

Maybe I could get a retail blaster box somewhere, but while it is a little different - I’d rather get something ‘hobby’ as far as roughly getting the same number of cards [but maybe a better chance of pulling something of note].

No pics, they are plastered all over eBay listings anyway - this took roughly five minutes [cut and paste from a Google Docs file where I list my pack breaks].

Pack one
#US50 Andrew Cashner
#US192 Daniel Palka
#US3 Jordan Lyles
#US121 George Springer
#US95 Dustin Fowler
#US88 Daniel Mengden
#US75 J.A. Happ
#US37 Javier Baez
#US206 Neil Walker
#US278 Yan Gomes
#US149 Leonys Martin
#US240 Gerrit Cole
#US231 Jesse Biddle
#US295 Yonny Chirinos
#US238 Matt Harvey
#US70 Brad Hand
#US277 Ryan Tepera
#US82 Eric Lauer
#US27 Christian Yelich
#US140 Clay Buchholz
#US118 Evan Longoria
#US292 Brandon Drury
#US189 Shohei Ohtani - checklist
#US110 Lourdes Gurriel Jr.
#US25 Willy Adames
#US136 Starlin Castro
#S-41 Didi Gregorius - Game Changers insert
#IA-50 Gleyber Torres - An International Affair insert; maybe something up my alley
#DB-7 Ichiro - Don’t Blink insert
#83-41 Hyun-Jin Ryu - 1983 Topps Baseball
#AST-JH Josh Hader - All-Star Stitches; this is probably the equivalent of a manufactured relic pull from a blaster
#US103 Luis Guillorme / Gershon Bautista - Rookie Combos
#US151 Matt Kemp
#US65 Christian Yelich / Lorenzo Cain - Throw Your Hands in the Air
#US247 Marcus Walden
#US214 Ariel Jurado
#US18 Mike Soroka
#US81 Sean Doolittle
#US38 Jose Berrios
#US87 Joey Votto / Billy Hamilton - Thunder & Lightning; should have put Scooter Gennett and Votto together.
#US249 Wander Suero
#US216 Max Stassi
#US39 Freddy Peralta
#US228 Colin Moran
#US46 Carlos Gomez
#US225 Mike Fiers
#US125 Carlos Santana
#US178 Danny Farquhar

Pack two
#US270 Dereck Rodriguez
#US93 Daniel Winkler
#US130 Austin Meadows
#US284 Arodys Vizcaino
#US186 Lorenzo Cain
#US243 Marco Gonzalez
#US76 Salvador Perez
#US254 Tommy Kahnle
#US60 Yadier Molina
#US55 Mike Moustakas
#US150 Eric Hosmer / Cody Bellinger - Get Off My Base
#US58 Jordan Hicks
#US173 Tyler Wade
#US276 Hector Santiago
#US146 Blake Treinen
#US210 Kirby Yates
#US113 Jesus Aguilar
#US144 Lou Trivino
#US259 Stephen Piscotty
#US157 Francisco Lindor
#US199 Francisco Lindor / Jose Ramirez - All Smiles
#US286 Shane Carle
#US54 Denard Span
#US262 Sam Gaviglio
#US233 Tommy Pham
#US59 Kyle Schwarber
#US89 Justin Verlander
#US250 Ronald Acuna Jr. - his actual RC
#S-48 Edwin Encarnacion - Game Changers insert
#US161 Seranthony Dominguez - Rainbow Foil
#SE-10 Andy Pettitte - Storybook Endings insert
#83-31 Gerrit Cole - 1983 Topps
#US29 David Hess / Pedro Araujo - Rookie Combos
#US282 Brian Flynn
#US128 Scott Kingery / Rhys Hoskins - Philly Fives
#US273 David Bote
#US191 Gleyber Torres - Rookie Debut
#US9 Nick Kingham
#US185 Corey Kluber
#US255 Max Muncy
#US53 Seung Hwan Oh
#US45 Bartolo Colon
#US164 Jefry Marte
#US22 Tyler Chatwood
#US35 Dan Otero
#US158 Justin Upton, Shohei Ohtani, Mike Trout - Next Stop, Stardom
#US166 Juan Lagares
#US5 James Paxton
#US280 Ross Stripling
#US147 Matt Moore

Card shop finds - a random quartet

I don’t want to get crazy with impulsive non-baseball card quarter box digs if I ever stop at a card shop - so I grabbed a few that caught my eye for a moment and added them to my other purchases of supplies, some other loose cards and several loose packs.

2018 Panini Contenders Draft Picks football Patrick Mahomes II #79 - though he threw two interceptions in his team's 30-14 win last Sunday, he's probably been one of the hyped up NFL players this season; if nothing else, in my bloodlines collection, I wanted to pair this card up with a card of his father Pat Mahomes, who was a former MLB pitcher.

2018 Panini Donruss football Christian McCaffrey #22 - I had a random card of his father Ed, who played in the NFL during the 1990s, so I grabbed a card of Christian's to tie things up [for now] in my bloodlines collection.

2018 Panini Contenders Draft Picks football Adrian Peterson #4 - this card of longtime star running back can go to my beyond the glory collection or my infamous collection.

I would probably inclined to go ‘beyond the glory’ since he has been through a lot in his football life, as well as personal life - in my world of mini-collection cards, there is no need to glorify the mistakes this pro athlete has made.

2018 Panini Player of the Day football Russell Wilson #36 - as the Seattle Seahawks teams around him as been torn down and rebuilt over the years, maybe the narrative surrounding his career has lost its luster.

While Wilson has been singled out as a divisive figure in the locker room for any number of reasons - I still like the guy enough to pick up a card of his.

My 2018 Topps Stadium Club finds - the best of the rest

#6 Carlos Gonzalez - eyes on the prize; having a bounce back Coors Field aided season.

#34 Manuel Margot - did a drone take this awesome outfield pic?

#291 Edwin Diaz - love that fire

#64 Ender Inciarte - dirt dog

#230 Archie Bradley - pitchers hitting, awesome action, facial hair, hats-off card.

#127 Yadier Molina - play at the plate and a star on star card feat. two longtime NL Central stars [Votto].

#27 Michael Conforto - awesome outfield

#215 Wilson Contreras - play at the plate

#287 J.T. Realmuto - forced up in the air.

#15 Hanley Ramirez - mascot love for the deposed Boston Red Sox and if overzealous journalists and bloggers were to be believed, a supposed drug kingpin.

#188 Bob Gibson - old-timer legend action

#260 Amed Rosario - he almost looks like he is catching a pass in the NFL.

#219 Josh Donaldson [red foil] - game face action.

#272 Salvador Perez [red foil] - player hamming it up for the camera.

#23 Carlos Martinez [red foil] - shades

#268 A.J. Pollock - retro uniform, umpire butt shot.

My 2018 Topps Stadium Club finds - my Top 10

A subjective exercise of picking out my favorite cards after grabbing 26 of them at a card shop stop for National Baseball Card Day - in particular these stood in among others considered [for full disclosure, a follow up post will be made to highlight those other cards].

#163 Ryan Zimmerman - it's a butt shot without Zimmerman's face on his own card, but his and the fans' reactions tell me all I need to know about the 'awesomeness' of this one.

#9 Zack Godley - pool shot

#190 Ian Happ

#263 Willie Calhoun - full extension

#56 Jon Lester - a veteran star pitcher hitting

#79 Mike Clevinger - retro uniform, retro hair; a 'fun' factoid about Clevinger's professional baseball career was he was originally an Angels minor leaguer.

#107 Keon Broxton - the angle makes things seem a bit more majestic.

#209 Dillon Peters - The Dime Box mention makes this a keeper.

#167 Dexter Fowler - the player is obscured but the horizontal card allows to get more of the ballpark in the picture.

#53 Jake Lamb - a play at the play card that belongs to a third baseman and not the catcher.

Some low-end finds from the card shop

I ended up at a random card stop and the plan was to find some loose 2018 Topps Stadium Club and perhaps make a supply run for some magnetic card holders and penny sleeves - unfortunately there was no loose 2018 Topps Stadium Club thrown into the quarter boxes just yet.

While leafing through the same random cards I usually go through in order to shop around - I found some assorted cards to take home.

2018 Topps Ben Gamel #558 - I always tell myself to be picky when it comes to digging through a current year's flagship cards because the ones I'll end up with, I'll probably pull at some point.

Still, the picture on this card is way too nice for me to leave behind - maybe I've gotten away from loose pack or blaster breaks anyway, so I'd rather have this card now than forget about it entirely.

2018 Topps Guillermo Heredia #522 - another flagship card I couldn't leave behind.

2013 Topps Manny Machado #270 x2 - factory set inserts; Machado is the most intriguing trade bait candidate and the next couple of weeks will probably decide the Baltimore Orioles' future prospects [as in direction of the franchise as well as guys the maybe getting back in a potential trade].

2004 Topps Yadier Molina #324 - Molina doesn't inspire warm and fuzzies, but he's a borderline HOF guy just because his reputation as a catcher was that much better than everyone else.

2013 Topps Update Series Christian Yelich #US290 - a card like this is barely worth anything, but I've decided any 'Dollar Tree' rookie cards of MLB stars are keepers, especially when I don't have them.

An assortment of cards pored over and picked up

The idea I'd only put aside $20 to spend on some loose packs or a jumbo pack of 2018 Bowman meant - I knew I had no realistic opportunity of sniffing any of the new Bowman flagship product at a card shop.

A day after release, I'd overheard the store owner say he was wiped out and from what I understood - you basically had to be on a list, to be able to purchase whatever 2018 Bowman [boxes] the shop had in reserve.

As is, I made do with what I usually do, rummaging through some of the loose cards in boxes and maybe left on counters - just to see what I could take home for the day.

2015 Topps Josh Beckett #613 - feat. Don Mattingly
2016 Bowman Chrome Prospects Starling Heredia #BCP18
2018 Bowman Austin Hays #46
2018 Bowman Walker Buehler #59
2018 Bowman Luis Robert #BP21
2018 Donruss Matt Olson #21 - Diamond Kings; the only reason I picked up this card was it’s actually Ryon Healy pictured and it’s an uncorrected error.

2018 Panini Diamond Kings
#1 Babe Ruth
#4 Lou Gehrig
#7 Mickey Mantle
#19 Roberto Clemente
#28 Jackie Robinson
#30 Joe Jackson
#34 Ty Cobb
#70 Mike Trout

#A9 Ichiro - Aurora insert x2
#50 Kirby Puckett - Framed Red
#62 Mookie Betts - Framed Red

#78 Bryce Harper - Framed Red
#GS2 Justin Turner - Gallery of Stars insert

#GS4 Nolan Arenado - Gallery of Stars insert
#GS16 Reggie Jackson - Gallery of Stars insert

#PP11 Ernie Banks / Anthony Rizzo - Past and Present insert
#P3 Cal Ripken Jr. - Portraits insert x2
#P4 Chipper Jones - Portraits insert

#P8 Tony Gwynn - Portraits insert
#P9 Ty Cobb - Portraits insert x2
#P10 Ted Williams - Portraits insert
#500-HK Harmon Killebrew - The 500 insert

#500-JR Ken Griffey Jr. - The 500 insert
#500-MM Mickey Mantle - The 500 insert
#500-WM Willie McCovey - The 500 insert
#TC2 Aaron Judge - Trophy Club
#TC3 Cody Bellinger - Trophy Club
#TC10 Kris Bryant - Trophy Club

#TC15 Carlos Correa - Trophy Club