Some discombobulated card show digging

What I've noticed is that I don't have an idea what is going to catch my eye at one table - where there is a certain lack of focus when it comes going through rows and rows of cards.

This doesn't mean there isn't satisfaction in my keepers - but perhaps I wonder if my purchases mean anything after the fact or any of number of cards jumbled together end of being misfit toys in my collection?

I kind of feel like I'm in my own little world when it comes to standing at a table and seeing what cards may have enough eye appeal - so I feel like there is plan and I'm just seeing what may compel me to flag cards I entertain taking home.

If nothing else, I like a more old school vibe, so I try to salvage loose cards that may not be the latest and greatest - but binder material that may add some diversity to the types of cards I may have in plastic pages.

Harold Baines gets unfairly panned as an undeserving Hall of Famer, but I wanted his 1981 Topps rookie card as a centerpiece to the loose cards I plan to display in a binder - it maybe a case where I actually still have to give him his proper due and make page for him.

I found a 1992 Donruss The Rookies Phenoms Tim Salmon insert card I'm sort of familiar with, but never really had in-hand - go figure it's been at least 30 years, but it's still fun finding the occasional prospect / rookie era cards for the Angels franchise Hall of Famer.

A rookie year parallel of Roy Halladay and another minor league card of Orel Hershiser are keepers as a little more different than the typical cards I'd end up with - while neither might be top tier guys in my book, they are decade stars, so I do collect them to a certain extent.

I'm indifferent to slabbed cards because it's $$$ impractical to send in cards myself, but generally prefer graded singles compared to raw cards when available - I already had a graded 1986 Donruss Jose Canseco rookie card in my collection, so I was only picking up a 1992 Fleer Update Jeff Kent rookie card, along with the loose cards.

I presented my cards to the seller without the Canseco and after getting a half off discount [for at least the loose cards] and $5 off the sticker price on the graded Kent rookie - I figured why not add the Canseco as well, where it was a totally junk wax era thing to covet that card at one point.

Even if the era is ancient history, there maybe something about coming back from a card show - knowing I brought back the rookie card of one of the brightest, controversial superstars of the times.

I don't know if a Jeff Kent rookie is particular unique, but I may have seen an ungraded copy in a random box and passed over it during a card show trip last year - it sort of became a scratch the itch card and I wanted to pick up one just because it's from a seemingly mythical junk wax era release.

Even if it's not really the case after the fact, I associate the Fleer Update set as being harder to find - a set I never got to see ever, though I was able to pick up a copy of the key rookie [Mike Piazza] years ago after Piazza retired but before the Hall of Fame called.

Kent has a Hall of Fame case but he wasn't the friendliest guy and is probably seen as strictly an accumulator who hit all these home runs as a second baseman - rather than be seen as generally this all-around talent who was a star from day one.

Some old-school 1980s card show pick ups

I'd braved the foot traffic and narrow aisles at the last card I show I was at - I wear a mask and standing idle digging through rows of random cards in a stuffy room has me feeling out of sorts.

Still, I was able to do my thing at some of the value boxes and after just a couple of hours into the show, I was down to my last $20 - there was a table with sorting tray of all sorts of cards.

A Corey Kluber certified autograph [$10] and a David Wright certified autograph [either $10 or $20, but it was a sticker Panini issue] intrigued - but they might not have been appealing impulse purchases where I was content to leave them.  

I stumbled upon the seller's table where I bought a 1989 Upper Deck Dale Murphy #357 reverse negative from another show date - on my first go around, maybe I wasn’t feeling the table, but gave things another go.

There are rows and clusters of mid 1980s rookies, mid 1980s minor league cards, junk wax era singles, assorted old school and vintage cards from all sorts of sports - it’s fun to consider making some of the random singles keepers, but I have to watch for some obvious blemishes and imperfections where the eye appeal isn't quite there.  

I'd like to think I don't need a chair, but I'm not getting younger and if the primary seller at the table offers me a chair as I dig through his stock of cards - that may actually encourage me to find something.

Go figure, I settled on a 1985 Leaf Kirby Puckett RC [$5] and a 1982 TCMA Orel Hershiser [$10] - maybe the Puckett is a little off center but it’s not bad looking.

Puckett was one of the kings of the junk wax era superstars for me, though his actually rookie year [1985] was before I knew anything about trading cards - I may look to catch up on picking up Puckett's 1985 rookies when I can.

The Hershiser is somewhat of an oddball where it's an early 1980s minor league card [it might be his first pro card released in the United States] that predates his 1985 MLB rookie issues - the longtime Los Angeles Dodgers favorite is still visible as their primary color commentator and like Puckett was a junk wax era star.

There was a 1983 TCMA Hershiser [$10] that may have been a keeper as well and I probably could have gotten the three cards for $20 or less - but to be on the safe side, just picked the older of the two Hershiser cards.

I handed off the cards and the seller took a look at the prices for a moment before asking $7 for the pair.

I could have sworn the seller gave off more of a senior vibe the first time I'd seen him with his adult son who might as well have been tagging along as muscle - but someone had asked him about having Satchel Paige cards in his collection and he said, "I'm not that old."