I was wandering around at a card show [that have made up my last couple of posts], trying to peek into the table with the dollar card monster boxes- it was in the same place at the gym, but a little congested for me to squeeze into.
A mother and her boys were planted at the table, another guy was browsing around and a couple of guys were chatting next to the table, just about bumping into me - the table wasn’t that busy the last time around, but maybe I was resigned to look somewhere else in the meantime as I lingered idly.
At a neighboring table, I saw a storage bin with smaller, presumably completed insert sets from the mid 1990s and 100-card hand collated base sets from the early 2000s - I was hoping for a little odder stuff like junk wax era minor league team sets, assorted junky wax packs or even retail boxed sets from the 1980s.
Maybe I should have looked closer at the rest of the cards in the bin, but it wasn’t that smorgasbord of misfit toys - I spotted a larger cardboard box labeled 1996 Pinnacle, so presumably it was a hand collated set.
Was there anything good in this set me to consider for $20 [?] - that maybe a steep price where who knows what could be inside after all these years.
Regardless, I started pawing at the box like this could be buried treasure found - certainly this was year with the cult favorite Bob Hamelin card [#289] and maybe the rest of the cards are just gravy, if the Hamelin was still there.
I could have opened the box to check what exactly what was in there and seller gestured to go ahead, but the UV coated cards were still stuck together in bricks - thinking this could have been an outright disaster otherwise, I'll take a gamble on finding the one cards that may be irrelevant relevant and salvaging the rest.
I took the cards outside to look at them and was able to ply some of the cards loose with some delicate but deliberate twisting - the set was in numerical order and indeed, the Hamelin card was there, a cleaner copy of the card I got in 2020.
Breaking the set down through the past week, the rest of the cards were fairly clean all around - I think the cards not being sealed up in packs helped with the natural conditions just a bit, though there was still some unavoidable bricking issues on some random cards plied apart from each other.
Later on I checked the newspaper used as stuffing for a dateline, to give me a clue when the set may have been put together - finally found an ad with date going back to 1996, so that’s a long time.
Maybe a thing about picking up a complete set of cards is finding stragglers that would have never come to my attention otherwise - where I do scrutinize the backs of cards when possible.
At a random table off a card show I went to a couple of weeks ago, I leafed through a stack of Ohtani cards and relented to spend $15 for a 2018 Topps Shohei Ohtani Fire Flame variation [?] - I could be mistaken, but the card looks a little shinier than the base version, so I figured why not?
If nothing else, maybe a bit of FOMO reaction on the hype he has generated this season - there is something about seeing him being pushed through the fire, where he is competiting in the MLB Home Run Derby, penciled into the starting lineup as a DH for the American League All-Stars and also serving as the starting pitcher.
I'd be curious to see if there is any 'let up' just because of his schedule on the baseball field - but Ohtani has proven that he's been up to the challenge, where he is going to push himself to the limit.
Even though I've only started going back to attending shows through this year - I don't know if there are 'go to' regular sellers I've sort of latched onto.
I always expect different sellers to get my fix in the meantime and at times it isn't as clear - where I'm going end up getting my game face on to start rummaging through the most random cards.
It may always be a case of stumbling onto a table and maybe going through a few cards to see if it's my type of material - during my latest card show trip, maybe I was a little desperate to find that first table to start off with.
I did find myself at one such table to pull some dollar cards [or 6 for $5] - that I maybe interested in and then started to go through the assorted quarter boxes.
I think the same seller had a setup 14-15 years ago at the more prominent collectible show in the area - he had that mix of assorted quarter boxes that made his spot a regular stop, even though his booth was sort of tucked away at the back of show warehouse.
It’s been a long time, but this person still looks the same - he doesn't seem like he has aged or maybe he was still fairly younger back then.
With visions of finding multiple dollar and under boxes off other tables, I'm afraid that I maybe spending too much time at this one place - but this could literally be the table with the most variety of loose baseball cards [in addition to a mix of other spots], so I had to make it count here before moving on.
This Topps Now Find was probably my most random find and the most unique card I've found for a quarter - I didn't even realize there was a card for the first professional team to wear braille jerseys to honor the blind.
I have seen the Naquin card in various forms and while I never know if it's a baserunning card, hats-off card or something else entirely in my collecting topics subset collection - it's a nice image that pops a bit more done refractor style.
I try to grab assorted cards to fill out in my decade stars collections - if a player makes it to my decade / binder stars collection, that may mean I collect them [as I find their cards], though there certain players will end up being more 'my guys' as opposed to other notable players.
There are 2020 Panini Prizm cards of Yu Darvish, Ozzie Albies and Matt Chapman I probably spent an hour on an idle afternoon looking up - it made my head hurt trying to figure out what parallels these card were...apparently they are Cosmic Haze parallels, inserted in MJ Holdings mega boxes...
More binder material guys - a random Bo Jackson football card, an Adrian Beltre shimmer refractor, another Jacob deGrom and some father and son Vladdy Daddy action.
These were thrown into my pile as various finds for the collecting topics subsets I try to keep up with - no matter how prominent or obscure the subjects are.
Some rookie stuff - when dealing with the quarter boxes, I take what I can find; I grabbed a 2018 Topps Nick Williams just because I thought it could be a mini-collection add, but I already had the card.
Some prospects from the past couple of years - with the cost of prospect products [Bowman, Bowman Chrome, Bowman Draft] at a premium, maybe I don't get much exposure to loose cards of young players, despite the idea I don't like them just the same, if they aren't first-year cards.
Some cards might be keepers just because I want to be able to keep up - where I'm not completely clueless about more than a few of these players.
My other sports pile - there is a Reggie Jackson [NBA] card I'll end up pairing with a card of Reggie Jackson [the MLB legend].
My 6 for $5 pile - nothing here that really pops out, but I like the 2020 Bowman Mega Box prospect parallel card of Alek Manoah.
I was eager to spend time at this particular show, probably held at least once a month - where I was expecting to rummage through a bunch of loose cards and pick up cards that caught my eye like some of the card blogging aces or card vloggers on YouTube.
When I got inside the show, I was trying see if there was that first accessible table, but maybe the first random, quarter bin type monster box I stumbled upon may have been strictly NBA cards - there might not have been any baseball at all as a tease for me to dig through and while I could have interest in other sports, baseball is my ride-or-die focus.
Unlike last month at the same spot, maybe there wasn't as many tables crammed into the gymnasium and while it was less congested - I had to look harder to find what I was looking for.
I stopped at a table and going through a stash of top loaded singles partially filling one side of a two row shoebox - I asked how much a Mike Trout card was just to see how the pricing might be for random cards I might like.
I hadn’t gone through everything but the person at the table offered me the ‘lot’ for $40 - I saw a run of basic Trout cards but also spotted a Jim Rice certified autograph.
Rice seems to be a fairly common certified autograph subject and while he’s probably considered by millennial baseball experts a mistake selection - he is in the Hall of Fame and based on reputation, wasn’t ever an easy autograph.
Presumably the seller just didn’t want to waste time with his baseball low-end, but why [?] - maybe he didn’t have any money into the stack at all and didn’t want to be in a situation where he had to price every rinky-dinky card out, worrying about selling them.
On my end, I wanted to take my chances with the mystery aspect and if nothing else to show - the right mix could just make this assortment a fun challenge to rummage through.
I might be looking at keeping 15-20 Trouts I might not have, the Rice autograph and presumably ‘other’ cards that may be interesting - in my mind, I wondered why this person was offering me the stack.
As I dug out my money, the seller said something like, "it’s all about being able to help each other out."
I counted out 35 Trouts and 28 other cards - maybe the more unique cards are the Topps image variations, a 2020 Topps Heritage French parallel of Will Smith and a Topps Transcendent Party stamped 1/1 buyback of Yu Darvish.
Other interesting cards I found were relics, some autographs [even one of an NBA guy], a winning Home Run Challenge card of Cody Bellinger - random inserts and a Topps Vintage stock parallel of journeyman Zack Godley.
There was probably about a two week period through the end of June where I didn't get any TTM successes - while it wasn't the end of the world, it really left me feeling high and dry.
Maybe it served me right where in all honesty, TTM returns were ending up as simply pieces of clutter to work through - I didn't know what to make out of the miscellaneous successes that have come back and needed to lay off the chase for a little bit to make things kind of special again.
I was able to get back Henson after a three week wait and was glad to see he signed my cards after I probably tried an outdated address for him earlier in the year - I was going to write a little something about Henson, but I already had a write up on him over 10 years ago!
Go figure, July started with a couple of days with multiple successes, so maybe my peace of mind is restored - even if the issue of seeing TTM results as misfit toys is still unresolved.
I added Home Run Challenge codes for Kyle Schwarber and Yordan Alvarez for their Thursday games - Schwarber has been on a Ruthian home run tear through the past week but I felt like I’ve slept on that one lousy code card I had in-hand.
I considered adding the Schwarber HRC code for Wednesday, but figured the Washington Nationals slugger wasn't going to hit a home run in every game and didn’t in a Nationals 15-6 rout over the Tampa Bay Rays - if he’d hit another one then, that would have really been crazy.
Yesterday might have been the start of a new home run thing for Schwarber against righthander Tony Gonsolin of the Los Angeles Dodgers - however he hadn't homered in a couple of bats and worst yet, the game ended up being a rain shortened 6-2 win for the Dodgers.
The hulking Alvarez has been solid with the bat all year and checking the probable pitching matchups - all I knew was he going up against a rookie [J.C. Mejia] pitcher for the Cleveland baseball team, so it might be worth adding a code [I have one more unused Alvarez code].
I figured Alvarez might be able to size up the inexperienced starting pitcher and that's what happened as he hit his 14th home run - so at the very least, that's a winner for me.
After being a spectator at my niece's soccer doubleheader to close out her season and having lunch with my parents - maybe I got my one chance go back to the show / card shop I'd previously visited.
While I didn’t know how it was during the morning - I want to say there were only 5-10 tables when I got the show and still a lot of empty space in the storefront.
There was one table with a box of loose dollar cards - I was digging around, but it was more ‘here and now’ stuff from just past couple of years and not a deal where I found keepers outright.
I made it to one other table with a display of top loaded cards and loose sleeved cards for $0.50 each - I probably spent about 45 minutes just rummaging through the rows of cards, while another person had already been doing the same before I got there.
I think the setup was primarily other sports, but there were assorted ‘runs’ of baseball to be found just the same - maybe I was a little unsure of what I may find, but I thought this might be my only table, so maybe I should be patient and see if I could make something of my time.
The other person was really into it and was looking to he could get a discount for something like 200 cards purchased - not that I particularly cared, but I was trying to make sure to stay out of his way as he dug into another row of cards.
With no rhyme or reason, I started to get on a mission myself - I didn’t know if I’d have the time to go through the cards I'd pulled and there was a little anxiety about weeding out certain ones while making others my keepers.
I don't want to dilute my decade stars collections, so by default the star cards I pull or find are sorted into my decade stars collection - however mini-collection quality cards finds picturing legitimate stars should end up as highlights out of my various collecting topics subsets, rather than really just ending up my 30th or 31st random card of a certain player to squirrel away somewhere.
I try to stay away from any non-MLB licensed Panini products on principle, but any loose shiny and/or unique parallels / inserts are fair game - notably when there is star power involved.
I would have ignored the random Beltre otherwise as just another low end pack pulled minor league insert - but it's a now a nearly 25 year old card that chronicles the future hall of famer's time in the minors, just as he was getting to the big leagues at 19.
The Maddux isn't worth much more than what I paid, but it's an insert I've never seen before - it looks pretty sharp as a binder material card.
Maybe I was aiming for adding some odder looking cards and while the way the cards look a little beat up in-hand [or at least the sealed holders that hold the cards] - I found a pair of 1996 Danbury Mint cards of Duke Snider and Bob Feller, which features a gold leaf surface.
Maybe I lose something in the moment, when I make some of the same rookie cards keepers, maybe multiple times over - however, current year rookies don't always make it to the boxes I'm looking at, so I'll grab them as I find them.
When rummaging through random boxes, I like to do a little GOAT hunting, where I like to make believe that the most basic cards of legendary and iconic pro athletes are keepers - regardless of actual value or relevance.
I don't really concern myself with other sports, because if I get serious about it - I feel like the best I can aspire to build on a 'repack collection,' but it's a tease to see all these assorted cards for the taking featuring all these pros I'm casually aware of, except they do not play pro baseball.
I grabbed a second year card of Aaron Rodgers because it just happens to be the closest thing to his rookie year - while he is otherwise holding out so far, he has just been one of these top flight quarterbacks who is tough to go against.
I grabbed a Steve Young card because it was shiny and die-cut - I remember not being able to throw a football at all and even though I was a roly poly kid, I would imagine being able to take the ball [in touch football games] and scramble around like Young did during the years where he was QB1 for the San Francisco 49ers through the mid 1990s.
I found some 1990 Leaf cards and while I'd have to pay a pretty price to get any of them actually inked up - it was nice dig out a Ken Griffey Jr., Nolan Ryan [I ended up with two, because I wasn't paying attention] and a Clemens [which I may have already].
Maybe there was some overlapping interest in star cards from the early 1980s and older, even as the junk wax era was at its peak through the early 1990s - maybe a copy of the Ryan was loose among a one-time friend's collection that his mother kept nagging on him to clean up and in passing, I wanted a copy for myself.
The Ozzie Smith maybe a misfit find, from a fugly 1981 Fleer set that is hard to take seriously - however there is something quaint about the card, picturing a younger, smiling Smith as a member of the San Diego Padres.
I almost consider Smith just about a one team guy with the St. Louis Cardinals - but The Wizard established his reputation as a slick fielding magician as a Padre.
I found one card each of a couple of probable decade stars / binder guys for the 2020s - Alex Kirilloff is an outfielder who became the first player to make his MLB debut in the postseason, penciled into the starting lineup, while Adley Rutschman is probably the top catching prospect in the minors.
Finally there are a pair of Shohei Ohtanis - obvious keepers if I don't have them, even basic, no MLB logo cards from Panini.
Maybe my second pit stop at this card show didn't turn out to be a 'full blown' experience for me, but I was able to dig around and do my thing for a short time - to have some loose cards to take home and dwell on.
I made a mid week pit stop at a potential LCS storefront and new card show set-up twice a week - I took look a around and maybe there was four or five tables along with the shop set-up, so it wasn't looking too good.
I did realize it wasn't the weekend and it may take time for guys possibly setting up - to be on that weekday grind with real life stuff in the way.
I don’t know if it was the same guy at this particular table I stumbled on, but I recognized some old school / vintage material from the very first show I attended this year - there maybe a couple of binders with vintage football sets on display and a showcase with some modern and / better stuff.
There were was a couple of piles of $5 cards and I doubt I would find anything - but I ended up with a 1973 Topps Carl Yastrzemski #245 and a 1985 Fleer Kirby Puckett RC #286.
The Yastrzemski was the mutton chops Yaz card featured an episode of The Simpsons, so there was some novelty there - I saw the Yastrzemski displayed before, but the table setup changed up over the past several shows.
With ‘here and now’ interests taking priority, maybe the Yaz was just another card collecting dust in a seller’s stash somewhere - but I was able to to find it again today and it’s worth $5 to have it in-hand.
Come to think of it, I’ve never had a Puckett rookie so it maybe a start to looking for his more common rookie cards - the 1984 Fleer Update is the XRC to have, but that maybe a card that I'm not going to run into anytime, while I still kind of think his 1985 rookies were kind of ‘second tier’ at best.
Puckett was a larger than life superstar during the junk wax era and I ended up with his share of cards - he was a gamer and was on his way to posting more significant counting number through his mid 30s, sbefore he was diagnosed with glaucoma late in his career.
When he was playing, there was never a bad thing spoken about him on or off the field - but he was a flawed human being, who wasn’t the most savory of characters, especially after retirement.
