Card show trip - picking through odds and ends

These card find were from the big summer card show on the West Coast - for better or for worse, paying $35 to get into the door for an afternoon of mostly rummaging around poverty bins is the closest I'll get to a major show experience.

The National doesn't travel out west anymore and while it should be a bucket list item in an ideal world - I have not been a collector who makes plans to go across the country for a card show, like I have seen veteran collectors do it on YouTube.

I guess one of my goals for the show date I went to was to find a so-called personal collection card I didn't know I needed - reality hit as that might be such a random card in a showcase tht was going to cost around $1000 and that might not be much to others, but out of my league if I was just looking for something that caught my eye on impulse.

At one seller table, maybe the signage had the cards marked as '10 for $5.00' - so I maybe it was implied that you couldn't just buy one or two cards [though you figure, you might be building a stack anyway that may end up $15, %20 or $25 anyway.

I had to maneuver around the bulk monster boxes where another collector was planted digging and digging to make keeper piles - maybe I tried to pick up a pile to thumb through, even as the 'spacing' was a little awkward, even as it looked like the other guy was only focused on football cards.

I was kind of idly digging, maybe not really into the rummage - but after finding a Justin Verlander rookie, maybe it was worth building a little keeper pile for myself.

There was really a lot of cards but was this going to be where I blew my wad [?] - I found a couple of retro Mickey Mantle cards from the early 2000s; $0.50 material all day long, but one had the Triple Crown image that was once highlighted on the Dime Boxes blog and the other may be the image just about replicated as a painting on the iconic 1952 Topps Mantle.

I found a Juan Marichal card and while my intent is to focus on here and now guys - I may end up making keepers out of retired players retro cards as a fallback.

Finally, I found a couple of Rickey Henderson cards to salvage - where I make keepers out of a short list of all-around guys in my book.

At another seller's table, I was doing more idle digging where a good portion of the table was binned vintage / old school singles - I am acutely aware that rummaging through vintage / old-school cards causes me to glitch out at times, where these [msotly common] cards of rank and file players are just not from my time [or a time I might conjure up some faux nostalgia over either in 1996 or 2026].

I may have overpaid for the following compared to just grabbing the cards on eBay - but deemed a Dick Allen card and a Steve Garvey rookie as filling my vintage quota of the day, where it's an obligation to make some old-timey cards keepers.

Maybe Allen is still a 'newer' Hall of Fame legend for me to collect when I find cards of his in the wild - where I had not considered him before his induction into the HOF.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Garvey might have been a superstar as far as fan sentiment goes [even if he turned out not to be so perfect] - I have been able to get his autograph in-person a few times over the past 25 years, so he's good in my book as a non-HOF retired player.

Some Angels content from a random table - I think the seller may have double charged me for a pile '2 for $1.00' cards at another show somewhere, but maybe it was a one-time deal where I would give the seller one more chance [rather than completely avoiding the table for good].

I ended up bipping myself on a Jim Edmonds insert from 1996 - I found one copy of the Edmonds with the Kenny Lofton back; I thought it might have been a wrongback error and so I made it a keeper.

I also made a keeper of another copy - so I have an error and a regular / correct version of the card.

Going through my the cards after the fact - it ended up a case where a separate Lofton from the same insert set was stored in the same penny sleeve; I had to pry one card from the other since they were basically stuck together good.

The other copy of the EDmonds insert had two more of the same card in the same penny sleeve - it amused me to end up with four of the same card.

One last idle rummage through a #0.50 box at a seller table - I got a unique die-cut insert of Jeff Bagwell, which may not be a former player whose cards I am ever going to look to make keepers out of, but this was my second Bagwell of the day.

He ends up being rubber stamped as a 1990s debut guy for me - so there is a little lingering sentiment there I guess.

I know I have another copy of the Salmon in-hand but maybe I make keepers out of extra copies of cards I deem 'cool' or whatever - where I might have one card in my player collection and can use another card for a regional, Angels themed curated set perhaps.

This promo card might have cost me the $35 I paid to get into the show - where you got a little slip of paper to redeem at the Upper Deck booth at the show.

I know nothing about hockey where the sports is simply out of sight, out of mind - at least this card is of an actual professional athlete that might just be the young star [I looked him up for a moment] for the local NHL team, rather some odd non-sport subject pictured on a random card.

Card show trip - picking through binned singles - Ichiros

These were more pick ups from the last show I went to over the summer - this should be the last roundup, where I have dragged things out.

At one seller table, I found myself thumbing through what I think were Japanese Menko cards, but wasn't familiar with them at all - so maybe I was a little unsure if I was going to find some probable [impulse] buys.

I think the seller said "hello again" as if he remembered me from somewhere and explained there were different kinds of Menko cards - depending on whether I was interest in sports / non-sports / etc.

It took me a moment to realize I bought a couple of cards [$10-$15 each] from the seller at another show back in 2024 - I ended up going through the binned singles with Japanese MLB players and figured I was going to pick up at least one more Japanese era Ichiro card [just like in 2024].

For years, maybe Ichiro's Japanese cards were out of sight, out of mind - but I saw one that piqued my interest at a seller table at a local card show.

I passed on that random card, but started seeing posts on the Dime Boxes blog about picking them up every so often - so maybe I was 'inspired' to be on the look out pre-MLB Ichiro releases.

Ichiro may have been that Japanese import, the past 25 years that became an all-around star to look up to or collect - with Shohei Ohtani being that 'here and now' guy from Japan, perhaps the interest in Ichiro has been muted.

In my dig, I tried to look for more unique Ichiros, where they might jumble together in the bin [with varying prices] - I picked out a couple of loose singles [$10 each] that looks like they had a lenticular surface, so even if I paid more than what they where worth, I thought I had a pair of unique looking cards to make keepers.

The third Ichiro I picked up ended up being a graded card for $15 - it might be a case where I did not look hard enough with spotty vision, but the card looks like it has an acetate finish, where that made it a little 'cooler' to make a keeper out of.

My favorite find of the show was off a booth promoting a Japan based commerce Web site that also had cards such as binned singles for sale - it's a graded 2000 Upper Deck Ovation Japan Ichiro #41 [$30].

In a collecting world where PSA 10s rule, I only got myself a PSA 7 copy - but the way I look at it, I could pick up a raw card, spend to get it graded just the same and have the card in a slab with the same numerical grade.

It ends up easier making a decision on a graded card rather than a raw one - as long as the price on the label is still fairly reasonable.

The card might just been another Japanese era, Ichiro card where he was pictured as a longtime veteran - but the cards were patterned after the 2000 Upper Deck Ovation set, which was embossed to mimic a baseball, which was a pretty neat thing to this day.

The card was printed the year before Ichiro would debut in the big leagues - so I almost associate it as a pre-rookie card rather than an 8th year base card of an all-time legend.

FWIW, I picked up the Ichiros knowing that I might have been going to Japan to do some traveling [which eventually happened this past November] - maybe my finds were designed to take the pressure out of seeking out card shops or card related things, where it didn't have to be a do-or-die mission if I came up short.

Card show trip - picking through binned singles

These were more pick ups from the last show I went to over the summer - I may have a couple of more things to show, though it might be up in the air whether future roundup posts will ever be made, where I drag things out through the end of the year.

At a pit stop at one table, there was a Todd Helton game used base card I thumbed through and put back - Helton has ended up one guy whose cards I end up looking for as a non-geographical player / Hall of Famer to collect.

Maybe a philosophy I have digging through binned singles or value boxes is never looking back, where I may have interest in a card - but I put it back and it gets lost amongst endless cards, I'm not bothering to find it again.

However it might have been a self-imposed challenge to find the table again and see whether I can dig for the unique Helton card - time is a valuable thing, but I find myself languishing at a card show where there is a little personal intermission where I'm just wandering around.

I find the table with the binned singles and start digging - I even find a Helton sticker / hologram auto that may have tempted me, but the signature was running off the label.

I eventually find the Helton I was looking for, but maybe $20 was still a bit steep - there was some corner wear, though it's a thicker card, so harder to avoid such a blemish.

Instead, I settled on a Helton relic [$5], which gave me the satisfaction of picking up a unique [if decidedly low end] Helton single for my collection - while I tried to build on other odds and ends, that I ended up being charged $35 for.

I made a Johnny Cueto pack pulled autograph a keeper - he was a longtime star for sure, but it goes into my all-time Angels autograph collection, for his short, odd stint with the team in 2024.

I picked up a relic card of Dick Allen - the card maybe at least 25 years old already, which is kind of hard to believe how long ago since it was made.

Allen probably wouldn't have registered besides just another old-school / vintage player who may have had a case for the Hall of Fame - since he was eventually inducted where that certifies him as a legend, I'm more inclined to keep an eye out for his cards in general [even as others have done so, long ago].

Showing off a random stack purchase

Maybe there is a little existential crisis where I wonder what I can really do with my cards and whether I can go on moving forward - I like going through assorted cardboard, whether they are new cards or stuff that is a little more dated.

I do feel it's sham on my end if I cannot talk about my pick ups, take some card pictures and finally be able to put cards away for some closure - I need to catch myself at times and flesh out the card-by-card narrative when possible, but it's hard to make stuff up that means something.

As it goes, I need to avoid invalidating my experiences - where I'm not down and out and there is always a part of me always enthused, especially when getting something in the mail like this haul of odds and ends.

Taylor Ward was not having a great season, but his bat had heated up in July before he got beaned with an Alek Manoah pitch - effectively ending his 2023 season.I grabbed a dual bat or jersey card that looks to be player worn and/or used - I'm not sure there is much demand for Los Angeles [Angels] cards besides Shohei Ohtani and maybe Mike Trout, but it's kind of a reward to find a more random 'hit.'

To front load things with more Los Angeles [Angels] content, here is a Trout card from a couple of years ago - it's an unlicensed Panini issue and the boring picture looks as if Trout is watching a fly ball out, but the see-through acetate makes the card almost worth the $3 and change I paid.

Out in the wild, I'll make bulk, common cards of visiting players for my stadium project instant keepers when that might not have been originally the case - but it's fun to really focus on snatching up cards featuring star players and better.

I do not really get nostalgic about MLB teams that don't exist anymore like the Montreal Expos - but the pair of HOFer cards look good paired up.

The fandom over Ken Griffey Jr. is a little dated when he is closer to 60 than he is to 20 - but I'll chase his random cardboard because he is an all-time great.

This might be one lousy card, but maybe I've been tempted to build on little runs of four to five cards for any number of players from 30-40 years ago - that I have some lingering sentiment or nostalgia over, even when it's a disgraced PED slugger Mark McGwire.

I've dismissed relic cards are not being 'real enough' with no real historicity, but this post features a micro-mini flood of four or five memorablia cards - I'll take a flyer where they still have some novelty, even if the swatches used have iffy provenance more often than not.

I didn't know what this Trot Nixon jersey card was and thought it could have been from the 2001 Fleer 100th Anniversary set - looking closer, it looks like it was a specially made card for the Boston Red Sox kids club back in 2005.

Usually all MLB teams have this fan club package you can purchase for kids that comes with some game tickets and other team branded knick knacks - I'm not sure if this cards was distributed randomly with those packages or it came with each one.

With a PED suspension through 2022 and generally immaturity issues in past seasons, Fernando Tatis Jr. ends up being an iffy player, where I might not consider collecting him - on the other hand, he's played relatively well [for an underachieving San Diego Padres team], where it may be fun to go against the grain and look for cards of unpopular baseball players.

I'll claim the occasional non-playing era cards of retired players, where it gives my stack some star power - when other collectors may not be focused on the retro player content in here and now product, maybe I am able to swoop in and snatch some neat looking cards, notably the occasional inserts and parallels.

Finally, I ended up seeing this packed pulled signed rookie card and made an offer to pick it up for $10 - maybe this card ends up being a little no-context now, but I wouldn't have minded adding this card to my collection when McCann as a star catcher in his prime, 15-20 years ago.

Better than a blaster [?] - some vintage and old school cards

At a card show I went to, I started rummaging through some old-school and vintage cards at a table - I don't think I've seen this seller before and he might have been real happy to be there, where people might be interested in what he was selling.

From the bits and pieces I was overhearing, the seller was a longtime collector - but maybe starting to sell off some odds and ends to his collection.

The seller had scattered $2, $3, $5, $7, $10, $15 and up cards in his boxes - maybe I wanted to get started somewhere else at the show where I didn't want to get stuck in one table at the beginning of my journey, but I started finding some oddball Hostess cards for $2 each and was resigned to see if I can find some other cards to build a stack with.

Maybe the $2 portions had some of the 'newer' cards from the junk wax / UV era - I wanted to focus on finding the occasional off-condition vintage / old school star cards in the $5 rows, though maybe I don't want to blow my wad of cash outright.

Then seller told me the cards priced $5 and up where buy 2, get 1 free - I think what caught my eye was a 1970 Topps Bud Harrelson #634, which in a vintage card of a player inking it up.

Even though it's either miscut or even trimmed up, anything I pick up would have to start and end with that card - it was going home with me

I picked up some other cards, just to have some vintage card 'relics' in-hand - including some fairly loved, off-condition at best star cards.

The seller said if he knew someone was going to look for the Hostess cards, he would have brought more - he said they were mostly common, but unique [because they were not packed out like normal baseball cards].

Along with the old-school, oddball Hostess cards, I was charged $22 for my stack, which seemed reasonable - rather than settling for a shiny, new blaster box for at least several dollars more.

Remnants of the most random dollar bins

At the card show I go to, there is a father and son duo that buys collections and has boxes of cheap-o material - at one of the other shows, I saw them at, a person who might not have known any better asked the father if there were "any good cards" in the boxes.

The father basically said something like [they've gone through the boxes] where there probably won't be anything of value - maybe these finds symbolize that, but I still like rummaging through where it's not just the most random cards from the most recent years or drivel from the junk wax era.

Old school / vintage cards - maybe there is a little thirst to make keepers out old cardboard, even if they end up being stragglers rather something that end up being notable finds to build on in my collections.

Fan favorites types - there are former players I don't get really nostalgic about 24/7, but may get a second look through my eyes, where maybe I relent to pick up a random card of theirs.

I remember Eric Chavez as a rising star third baseman, before injuries wrecked havoc to his prime years - he kind of had a late career revival, but more of a semi-regular who was good in spurts.

I tried to collect Ryan Klesko when he was one of the top prospects in the Atlanta Braves system in the early 1990s - which was at least 30 years ago and counting.

Finding a shiny and numbered card of a Hall of Famer is kind of a reward - even though Edgar Martinez was considered more as a baseball card minor star than someone who was a superstar outright.

Cheap-o rookies of fan favorite types - for the most part these types of cards are baseball card 'has beens,' but cards to make keepers of when I stumble upon them.

Andrew McCutchen has bounced around the past four or five years after his peak seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates - the batting numbers are not as dynamic, but is still hanging onto a MLB playing career.

Yu Darvish fits in with the other Japanese imports - who've established notable big league careers and have had runs of good years, as opposed to some their other peers, who may have been more disappointments than outright successes.

I don't really collect other sports, but picking up this random NBA card might be a no brainer as a casual sports fan - I think I've seen signed versions of this card and it's fun to see two iconic players featured on one card.

I think these two cards ended up in my keeper stash by accident - I don't know how they couldn't have gotten in there, but did a double take when I was combing over my finds afterwards.

More SLASHED finds at the dollar bins of doom

I usually go to the card show that is held twice in a month to see the seller I've annointed as having the dollar bins of doom - in my very last visit, I was expecting the cards to being back to a dollar each, but the cards were still marked down to $0.50 with good reason.

Instead of a 'fleet' of 5-7 monster boxes, there might be have been one three row box of $0.50 cards - cards I expect to stay away from once the seller reloads and mixes things up with fresher dollar box material.

Maybe it was like pulling teeth to come up with cards to set aside as keeper material - I felt like I could walk away buying only so many random odds and ends this time around.

I don't know if old school football cards really do something for me - but I like the old-school colors and how the cards look where they are a little different from their baseball counterparts.

A young, vibrant Sammy Sosa as a young pro, still looking to reach the big leagues - he is a different 'what could have been' story, a long since retired MLB great, turned into irrelevant pariah whom no one ever talks about except to occasionally mock his skin condition.

A pair of parallels that featuring a baserunning action and also a tools of ignorance, catcher card - maybe I make these mini-collection cards keepers out of principle, but I've been worried about my collecting topics subsets being a bloat that has overwhelmed me.

Maybe I picked up this rookie card of Peja Stojaković, because I kind of remember him part of some very good Sacramento Kings teams back in the early 2000s - led by Chris Webber and Mike Bibby, squads that ultimately couldn't get past the Shaq [see above] / Kobe led Los Angeles Lakers.

Even though I left it once before, I made sure to make a keeper out of a Hideki Matsui rookie card - maybe there is still a reverence for the certain Japanese players who have made a big league impact, the top guys that have stood out, even as their MLB time has only represented a portion of their pro baseball careers.

I left this 'XRC' before and I don't know why I made it a keeper this time around - maybe Franco tends to be overlooked where the role of the closer has sometimes been painted to be overvalued.

Franco had a fantastic MLB career and maybe if he had some sort of gimmick on the mound, threw 95 MPH or was associated with a run of World Series championship teams - he'd probably be in the Hall of Fame.

A basic, not autographed rookie card has been devalued as bulk fodder - but I just stumbled upon this one and made it a keeper, where Lux may look to be reaching his offensive potential.

It would probably be more ideal if he can stick at one position - but maybe his ability to play in the infield and the outfield may make him more valuable for a perennial World Series contender or perhaps a perennial World Series contender looking to make a player like Lux a potential centerpiece to a trade.

Picking up some Star Company player sets

I was hoping to see the card show seller that had a monster box row of bagged Star Company players sets among his inventory of dollar boxes - I tried to cherry pick some of the better names last time, but I wanted to grab the Tom Gordon set because I looked up the checklist / gallery on Trading Card Database and there is one lousy card that shows him swinging a bat.

I went ahead and tried to pick up at least one bagged set of other players who might have relevant in the hobby for a hot moment, then faded into oblivion - the Kevin Maas and Jerome Walton sets look to have a card of them signing autographs, so that made picking up their sets worth it.

I'll try to funnel the other cards from the sets into my team boxes - though maybe I'm tempted to do something 'crazy' and make pages for some of these players as part of an ironic collection [Walton, Todd Van Poppel, Maas] of hobby busts.

Several weeks ago, I found what looked to be sealed Star Co. players sets from the junk wax era - I am vaguely aware these were produced to capitalize on the hot players during the day, though they were licensed by Major League Baseball at the time, so that made them a little more appealing for someone who wanted something a little different.

I picked out the more notable names [for some star power] and without looking up each of the sets - hoped for some mini-collection material that might otherwise be obscured.

1989 Kevin Mitchell / Will Clark Black
1989 Gary Sheffield Purple
1990 Jose Canseco Yellow
1990 Will Clark Orange
1990 Cecil Fielder Orange
1990 David Justice Blue
1990 David Justice / Kevin Maas Red
1990 Nolan Ryan Blue

I opened the Sheffield to see if there were any unique cards and I don't think there was any out of the 11 card set - checking on eBay and maybe COMC for set images, none of these sets actually have cards that tease personality shots, where the pictures mainly focused on the player or what the player was doing on the field.

Maybe it wasn't really 'Star' quality to use 'fun images,' though it seemed there maybe scattered cards through the mid 1980s - showing players signing autographs or a more unique action shot perhaps.

If nothing else, I'll seed these as decade stars material for my player collections - where these cards represent some oddball flavor.

Out of the depths of the dollar boxes - odds and ends

This $10 purchase was far from the worst purchase I made at the last card show I went to [I don't know if I'll leave things hanging with just that tease] - but I stumbled upon a random dollar box [or '6 for $5'] and while mostly idle, going through dated cards no one wants, my brain is thinking about putting together a small stack of cards anyway.

I fished out some rookie material, including a 1986 Sportsflics Jose Canseco rookie year subset card that features six other players, an oddball rookie year Gary Sheffield, a Curtis Granderson rookie and Cliff Lee rookie - the seller went through my stack just to see what I'd actually gotten out of junk box and didn't know who Nick Markakis [draft pick, factory set insert] was.

That was peculiar, but I can see where despite having a substantial big league career - a Markakis type ends up being quite random and/or forgotten.

I relented to make these two sample / promo cards inserts because of the oddball factor - Albert Belle might be a guy I'll collect in an ironic sort of way as a guy who was universally disliked, but put up monster numbers through the decade of the 1990s.

Presumably the image used for the Nolan Ryan was from the same timeframe as his 1991 Topps Stadium Club picture - but I think the card company [Bleachers] took an image from that photo shoot and then slapped on their 'logo' when the card was being put together.

Through the junk wax era, I can see a 1987 Fleer Kirby Puckett as being a little bit better looking than the usual 1987 Topps - even if the distinctions doesn't end mattering, where one 'star card' was valued over the other.

A trio of 1990s era hitting stars, I'm not sure if I've ever had the 1990 Leaf John Olerud RC signed, so I grabbed it for TTM - maybe the Frank Thomas and Jeff Bagwell inserts [Circa '97 Boss] have no real value anymore, but the embossed surfaces make them fun keepers at just under a dollar.

The 1996 Pinnacle Summit Ballparks Bagwell card is serial #'d to 8,000 - which ends up still being a lot of cards and doesn't make them seem all that rare.