Card show trip - some odds and ends

Maybe I've slowed down on going to card shows over the past year, but towards the end of the summer, I went to a higher profile card show - I usually like to make the rounds at sellers' dollar and under boxes, but since I had to pay admission, maybe I tried to be a little pickier where I spent my time at.

I can't completely avoid rummaging through sellers' cheap-o bins however and these were my finds over three such tables - because of the admission fee to the show, I tack on a premium to my total paid per seller in my mind, so the price per card ends up more like $2 each.

Future stars - with how Bowman products are priced out of the gate, I might be more content to round up various base cards and inserts of top prospects in order for me have something for me to build up, rather than overlook them just the same as filler material for most modern prospectors.

Some fun stuff - that was only worth what I paid, but I have no regrets about adding them to my keeper pile.

Ichiro - I try to make Topps Now cards keepers in the wild, where they are still a little different.

After digging through one dollar bin, I was content to put whatever I'd found back and walk away - but thinking about the pack pulled autograph of Chuckie Robinson with him blowing a bubble made me go back.

Vintage that was a dollar each or 3 for $2.50 - I tried to make a pile of mostly Angels keepers for my all-time Angels register project or my Angels Opening Day starters project, but after a certain point, was content to cut my original keeper pile in half.

When it comes to vintage cards, it ends up just being way before my time - but I do try to attach some meaning to cards of subjects I might have read about in passing.

I found a 1969 Topps Mel Queen card which may just be another common - but it has stat lines for both pitching and hitting, where he might have been one or the other at different points of his playing career.

Showing off some card show stuff #1

These were there results of pick ups from a couple of trips to a table with dollar boxes - last year, I picked up $20 worth of cards from the same table [different location at the show], but the last few times I was at this show towards the end of October, I didn't see the seller setup.

The lure was finding the occasional loose old-school [early 1980s and before] and vintage [1973 and before] cards - where the boxes ended up being sort of a treasure hunt for notable names on cards at least 40 years old.

I ended up spending $21 on the cards pictured above and while it's not high brow material - I can make believe my finds are better than picking up a $20 blaster or comparable to the results, of one of those specialty, collector repacks I've seen online.

I'd moved on in my day, but still trying to see if I can rummage around cards at various tables when I was ready to leave - I ended up back at the dollar boxes, wondering if I can fish out at least 4-5 other cards I might have overlooked.

I grabbed the Russell Martin pack pulled autograph because I remember him being among a core of rising stars for the Los Angeles Dodgers through the late 2000s - at some point, while still trying to get autographs in-person, I felt he had gotten stingier about signing, so this random card ends up being a winning find in my book after Martin's career was over and done with.

I don't ever need a Troy Glaus memorabilia card again but 20 years ago, he was the Angels' young superstar slugger - where for at least a couple of years, the sky was the limit.

I'm not sure if I've ever had a 1987 Fleer Bo Jackson RC, which may have actually been his most popular rookie issue at his peak - to the naked eye, maybe it's a little off-center, but clean enough for me to overlook anything else.

Maybe I wasn't finding anymore 'cool' old-school and vintage cards, but grabbed this Topps insert game card of Orlando Cepeda - thought it has creases running along the card, where I wasn't paying much attention.

Finally I grabbed a really shiny Topps Finest parallel of Trevor Hoffman from the late 1990s - he was a notable relief star through the time he played, but maybe only years after the fact he's gets into the Hall of Fame, might I consider the occasional card I find as a keeper.