COMC order #9 - Sportscasters

1977-79 Sportscasters Series 03 Lausanne Printed in Japan Hank Aaron #03-16 - I picked up this old-school Hank Aaron oddball item for around $6 three years ago and was part of what I had delivered from my COMC account late in December.

The larger format card ends up sort of a misfit, but a case where I didn't mind a more substantial card in-hand - rather than some ratty regular sized card.

1977-79 Sportscasters Series 27 Geneva A Dave Kingman #27-21 - I decided to pick this up for around $3, because it's been sitting somewhere in my memory banks as a scratch the itch card to take ownership of.

Rather than another regular size card I can file away like the others in my inking it up theme - this ends ends up being a bigger, oddball item, where the image of Kingman signing autographs pops a little bit more.

Rummaging for some old school material

Card shows are a mixed bag where you can a have a good number of tables in a seemingly nice [hotel] venue - yet it's not 20 or 30 years ago where you might see more tables to pick through dedicated to sports cards and/or strictly to baseball cards of all sorts [though that might be too narrow of a scope anyway, if you are trying to sell things at a modern era card show].

As is I thought I was just warming up digging through the value boxes [$1 each] at one table with more old-school and vintage material at a card show date - but I guess this particular dig ended up my highlight of the day.

Newly minted Hall of Famers - Richie Allen and Dave Parker give me a couple of new legends to sort of collect in a 'catch all' sorts of way, even if I wasn't doing so before.

Cult favorites and/or cult favorite cards - in my collection, I had at least one copy of the 1975 Topps Herb Washington RC #407 and 1975 Topps Oscar Gamble #213, but picking up one more of each should be no brainers.

Odds and ends cards - a 1972 Topps In Action Darrell Evans #172 and a 1975 Topps 1974 NL Championships Steve Garvey/Frank Taveras #460 are just random cards that have ended up as scratch the itch oddities, with Evans caught in the air on his card and the all the dirt kicked up on the Garvey / Taveras card.

Maybe the 'star power' is too much to ignore on the 1975 Topps MVP subset cards - though I don't know if I like the idea of cards pictured within cards, rather than using an original image.

I would have thought to do so before, but I picked up a 1974 Topps Garry Maddox #178 - to go into one nickname themed 'curated sets' [of 100 cards], where I've already built up around three versions.

I wanted a card for the 'Secretary of Defense' that teases some mid 1970s flair - rather than trying to dig up the 1 of 2 I may have squirreled away.

Finally some scattered star power - I was finding the occasional low valued star cards from the mid 1970s onward, so I tried to fish out the ones that didn't seem to have obvious blemishes [off-center, miscut, dog-eared, etc] at first glance.

Thankful for some old-school / vintage pickups

Maybe at every corner of a card show I attended, would be a table where people were clustered at - it was hard to squeeze in and in a case or two, I might move off a table for a moment and already have someone jumping into my spot.

I found myself at a table where a bunch of old heads [at least older than I] were going through vintage or old school material - the cheap cards in bins were ‘2 for $1,’ and cards in binders were a dollar each.

Maybe I had to bug off for a little bit before circling back to see - if I can find an opportunity to get back to the table and start picking around somewhere.

Maybe things started off awkwardly where another guy rummaging through the '2 for $1' bins thought I smelled of cigarettes - I found it silly where I don't smoke at all and was saying as much, while rolling my eyes.

This guy was wearing a mask where it looked like he might have trouble breathing in a confined area - I was not about to say anything to disrespect the guy, but just try to get out of his way, while doing my thing.

I think I found some old school / vintage beaters - the Brooks Robinson that ended up being autographed from my last post was part of the cards that were '2f for $1.'

I've never really been well versed in old-school / vintage cards, where I'm going to be digging through 'old cards' with a serious focus like set building - but maybe it's a reward to idly dig and find cards of Hall of Famers, even if they are beaters.

I am pretty sure these are stadium project cards, so it's nice to find a pair of old school keepers that really go back - besides most of what I've accumulated from the 1980s through present. I had a chance to go through the vintage dollar binders - maybe I was dealing with the leftovers towards the latter part of the show and I decided to make these four random keepers out of more beaters.

Like the Brooks Robinson, the Whitey Ford has a scribble on the front - it's not an autograph on the card, but someone wrote 'Yankees' in black ballpoint pen.

If I had paid attention, I would have put the card back - but maybe part of the charm of going through vintage cards [for cheap] is seeing cards that end up being defaced in some way.

I grabbed a 1963 Topps Roger Maris #120 [$25] off the table - I asked the seller if I could take a look at it because it was kind of behind the cheap-o bins I was going through and though there might be an invisible barrier that kept me from reaching around the loosely displayed cards on the table.

The seller said I can actually go ahead and have a look at the card since the cards came originally from their bins for their single cards - but there was just not room to put them somewhere else.

Earlier in the year, I had an eye on another copy of the Maris card at the card shop I go to - but it disappeared off their display cases before I decided I might actually want the card.

Maris ends up a famous non-HoFer in MLB history for his historic 1961 season where he blasted 61 home runs - the main image gives off that late ‘61 vibe, where Maris looks a little morose with sad eyes.

From the bins, I found a 1966 Topps 1966 Rookie Stars Bill Singer / Don Sutton RC #288 [$10] and a 1967 Topps Tony Perez #476 [unmarked top loaded cards were $3] - it is unexpectedly cool to actually pick up a vintage HOFer rookie, even though Sutton shares it with a guy who had a racial incident 20 years ago with former Miami Marlins GM Kim Ng, who was then working for the Dodgers.

At another card show, another copy of the Perez ended up one of my last cuts - maybe I should have made it a keeper three weeks ago, but got another chance to make things right and this copy might end up having a little more eye appeal.

When I finally presented my miscellaneous stack to the seller, I don't think I got much [or any] discount off the total - but the cards I ended up with might just have a bit more historicity, compared to busting a retail value box or a mega box 'thingy' that might be $50 these days.

Featured autograph - Brooks Robinson

I was thumbing through '2 for $1' old school / vintage bins of a seller I stumbled upon at a card show - I thought this might be just another card, but took a closer look and it looked like it was faintly scribbled on.

It looks like an autograph of Robinson, who passed away on Sept. 26 - maybe it's a testament of how generous he was about signing, where I might find an autograph card of his in a relatively unlikely place.

Another quickie card show pit stop #2

I stumbled upon a real high brow monster box of cards and went to work for about the 10 minutes I had left at a card show - I was kind of on the clock where I had to wrap things up sooner than never, so I was trying to make the most out of my rummage.

I've ended up with two or three of these Bowman Jordan Walker prospect cards over the past few years, but was in a hurry to pile up cards - so I just threw one new copy found into my pile.

I made keepers out of mini collection material such as - Greg Maddux hitting on the back of one of his cards, an awesome outfield action card picturing Kevin Pillar, a Tampa Bay Rays mascot card, a Benito Santiago catcher card and a random Dave Righetti oddball, I made a keeper because of the bald guy in sunglasses making a cameo.

Team USA cards - I tried to look for the guys that were kind of familiar now [even though they were either on college or even on U-18 teams when depicted on the cards].

I was able to find a couple of cards of Reid Detmers - I think I sent similar copies and got them back signed TTM during the pandemic season.

Even though I ended up grabbing at least a few guys who might not be in the big leagues yet or may not get there - I found cards of Anthony Volpe, Bryson Stott, Riley Greene and Corbin Carroll.

Finally some random cheap-o Hall of Famer cards - even though they didn't start their careers in the junk wax era, I might be content to ignore cards of guys Tim Raines, Andre Dawson, Gary Carter and Alan Trammell because they had their glut of cards printed during those 1986-92 years.

Depending on what I may find at the bulk level, I might be compelled to pick up two or three cards of the HOFers whose cards from the junk wax era I'll usually skip over - if the cards end up being a little different like oddballs or cards with a unique image used that stand out.

Another quickie card show pit stop #1

I stumbled upon a real high brow monster box of caards and went to work for about the 10 minutes I had left at a card show - I was kind of on the clock where I had to wrap things up sooner than never, so I was trying to make the most out of my rummage.

I found a pair of Will Clark boxed set oddball and vowed to be committed to this dig - I've rubber stamped Clark as one of the guys from the junk wax era onward as a collecting fan favorite, even though I've found 'The Thrill' to be a little too grating these days when he does his podcasts with Eric Byrnes.

Random current guys - I think I've made Brandon Marsh's Angels rookies keepers, even though he is obviously no longer an Angel.

Through his rookie year, maybe his development as a young big leaguer had stalled with the Angels - he gets traded to the Philadelphia Phillies finish out the 2022 season, but after a solid year in 2023, there might be some potential left for Marsh to be an even better player that he could have ever have been with the Angels.

He has become a fan favorite, where he is fun to watch with all his fair flying around - in the highlights I've seen of him with the Phillies, he's always fired up, gesturing to his dugout after hits and seems like a real 'rah-rah' guy.

I pass on most Gerrit Cole cards just because he seems too 'corporate,' even for MLB players who get millions to play a game - however I want to make it where most Panini Donruss Pink Fireworks parallels are keepers.

More Pink Fireworks parallels teasing a pair of questionable guys - I hesitated to make these keepers because of the players shown, but it's like a reward finding the parallels themselves, so into my pile they went.

I didn't know if there was space in my pile for a 1987 Topps Domingo Ramos #641 or a 1991 Fleer Brady Anderson #466 - but I added them on with others I assume are stadium project cards.

I would term these guys as 'fan favorite' types - Gooden and Murphy had runs of superstar greatness, while the ageless Franco was always an all-star talent, even though may have been considered a notch below a true superstar.

I could never get into the junk wax era Conlon card sets because the images were black and white and pictured old timers before my time - but made a keeper out of a card of Johnny Vander Meer, who threw two consecutive no-hitters as a big league pitcher.

I made this Mark Gubicza card a keeper after not claiming a copy I'd seen in a sale online recently - I classify his cards as mostly junk wax commons, but he's had ties with the Angels as a broadcaster for at least the past 15 years, so maybe his oddballs are worth a second look.

Another Brady Anderson card makes the pile and it is a 1988 Topps Traded 'XRC,' so it is more unique card - I remember him as a junk wax guy who barely had any pop and was a fringe big leaguer through his mid 20s.

At the age of 28 however, he broke out as a late bloomer for the Baltimore Orioles - where he became a solid top of the lineup presence for the bulk of his career through the 1990s, with a peculiar 1996 season where hit 50 home runs.

A quick pit stop at the card show #2

I usually spend at least a couple of hours at a card show date, but this time it was literally 20 minutes - where I ended up at the hosting card shop's bulk bins and dug up the following before it was time for me to go.

Out of this pile of shiny cardboard, the Ernie Banks stands out - where I've made it a micro-mini mission to seek out Topps Silver Pack cards out in the wild.

I tend to think of Dontrelle Willis as a guy who had some early big league success and hype, but flamed out too early - it seemed like he was trying out for half the big leagues and then some, but was never able to stick around to revive what was promising big league career.

He's not a guy whose playing career I would be overtly nostalgic about - but may deserve a second look.

I'm not really a football collector but occasionally, random non-baseball card (s) will make it to my keeper pile on a whim - the insert on the left pops so I made it a keeper for now.

I think the other card I found was a 2022 Panini Zenith Pacific Metal Prizm Matt Stafford - it might be a base card or a more common insert, but looks more like a printing plate card that feels unique to have in-hand.

Random card of guys who have had teams in the postseason - I grabbed a 2020 Topps Fire National Card Day Bryce Harper #FP-7, where I may have come around on the player, where I consider him the real deal [even if it was obvious from day one at 16, 17 or whenever he started generating hype].

I grabbed the Yordan Alvarez because it's actually from the UK version of 2022 Topps' flagship set - a little bit of an oddball, even if not particularly hard to find.

The Minnesota Twins have since been eliminated, but the oft-injured Royce Lewis - showed why he was the No. 1 overall pick back in 2017.

I found these random old-school cards and while they end up blemished, worn and/or are beater quality otherwise - they end up as keepers, to add some historicity to my random stack.

I grabbed a pair of cards featuring a pair of longtime greats at first base - the second year Paul Goldschmidt card might be a 'dated classic' in my book, where such a card is never going to be particularly valuable, but enough time has passed where it might generate some nostalgia.

I kind of feel like a 2020 Donruss Optic Stained Glass Miguel Cabrera #4 I grabbed kind of falls under the 'dated classic' category as well - though it has only been a 'little bit of time,' it also feels like 2020 has been 10 years ago already.

In-hand, there is a little 'stained glass' effect going on - but maybe it's a little bit more subdued where the cards don't pop as much.

These might have been my last second grabs except for the Bob Feller mini - I would not chase cards of either J.D. Martinez or Khris Davis outright, but these 2019 Topps Heritage 1970 Cloth Stickers were kind of unique to feel in-hand, so I made them keepers.

There were a handful of Fernando Tatis Jr. cards to thumb through - I still look to occasionally make the random card a keeper if it's unique enough like this dual-sided card he shares with Manny Machado [on the reverse].

Maybe Ryan Mountcastle ends up being the forgotten 'young veteran' in the Baltimore Orioles rise to prominence this past year - I thought he would be a franchise star for years to come, but has to take a backseat to guys like like Adley Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson, et al.

A quick pit stop at the card show #1

I usually spend at least a couple of hours at a card show date, but this time it was literally 20 minutes - where I ended up at the hosting card shop's bulk bins and dug up the following before it was time for me to go.

I do not get the art on these 2021 Topps X Keith Shore where it's basically the same guy with some modifications, but I guess that's the artist's style - out of the five or six cards I found, I grabbed a Gleyber Torres, Cody Bellinger and Cristian Pache.

The 1989 Bowman inspired cards are like the originals where they are larger than normal - so maybe it's fun they are tangibly odd [sized], it might be tricky to find an ideal place to put the cards away.

I found some black and white 'vintage' cards...from 1981 TCMA Renata Galasso - I might have skipped over them otherwise, but they are over 40 years old and feature a trio of early 20th century fan favorites to look up.

I have not kept up with prospects where I might as well be content to learn about up-and-coming players as they reach the big leagues and not before - as I found them, I did make keepers out of some random chromed up Team USA cards of a Paul Skenes and Jacob Wilson.

Skenes was the No. 1 overall pick in this past year's Major League Baseball draft - he is currently the boyfriend of social media star Olivia Dunne, a college gymnast making $3 million a year in NIL endorsments.

Wilson was the No. 6 overall pick in this past year's Major League Baseball draft - he is the son of former big leaguer Jack Wilson, who was also his head coach in college.

Better than a blaster - more vintage and old school mix

While I've gotten addicted to claiming odds and ends through sellers' sales on Elon's social media - I figured to go back to my in-person card show roots where I have not gotten to a show date in a couple of months.

I figured I'd hit up a seller I've ignored the last couple of times where I knew he has set up - just to show my face, where I haven't completely ghosted this person, who I've considered a go-to table.

I started digging through seller '3 for $5' stacks, figuring to see if he had anything that would catch my eye - maybe his table set up was a little bare and was worried the deep cuts card were not really to be found.

His seller buddy that presumably share a table came a little bit later and overhearing their chatter, said he hadn’t sold much recently - because he hasn’t gone and bought new inventory [presumably collections] to re-sell.

Maybe I spent too much time trying to figure out which cards I'd pick out without blowing my entire wad - I ended being charged $20 for odds and ends, including six old school / vintage cards from the '3 for 5' pile and a 1969 Topps Fergie Jenkins #640 [$5] and a 1972 Topps Tom Seaver #445 [$10] from the individually priced pile of cards.

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.

Trying to catch up with some vintage hauls

I was idly rummaging in the vintage box at a table at my card show, looking for some keepers and go figure, I had a small run of catchers' cards going - I may have looked over the second-year 1970 Topps Ray Fosse [R.I.P.] card in a previous dig, but made sure to grab it this time around after he had passed away.

When I was still getting big league autographs in-person 10 years ago - I remember Fosse making time for collectors and one time he was telling someone on the field "I've got to [come over] and sign these vintage cards."

I was thinking he made them sound like they were ancient - they maybe old from the 1970s, but not that old.

I like the idea of being able to grab old cards that may not be in the greatest shape and make them keepers - where I've created a little 'grab bag' mix for myself as far as impulsive pick ups for mini-collections and other loose card projects.

The oldest card is a 1954 Bowman Hobie Landrith #220 - maybe the card to be squirreled away somewhere [away from my other tools of ignorance cards since it's a little larger pre-1957 issue], but go figure he is still living and apparently is still signing autographs through the mail for a fee.

I sent the card off to presumably his mailing address and $5 - just to see if my card would come back signed.

The other cards include a second-year, non-catcher card of catcher Ted Simmons, a Topps subset card of Babe Ruth, an all-star subset card of Hall of Famer Ron Santo - I also picked up a card of Walt 'No Neck' Williams, who I remember reading something about in a book of baseball cult favorites, so while I'm not going to nerd out about everything 'old,' I may be aware of random notables.

The most I spent on a single card was $5 on the Ruth - I wanted to salvage this vintage Topps card because Ruth is the iconic player in Major League Baseball, though it also has him signing autographs so it's a nice addition to my 'inking it up' mini-collection.

A name your price rummage

At my local card show, there was this random table with a random monster 3,200 count box of cards that was of interest - I asked the seller how much the cards were and he said it was just stuff he was tried to get rid of, so said to pick out what I liked and maybe come up with an amount.

I saw the box as probably a quarter or dime box material at best, but who knows [?] - I'm almost 'that guy' who like to dig through more of a seller's 'discard material' just to see if I can find some odds and ends.

I grabbed a trio of Angels regional issued oddballs from 1992 - I think I left a Chad Curtis and a Luis Polonia because I wanted the more notable Angels in my book, not the more unsavory ones.

There was a bunch of early 1980s cards in the box, but it seems like every other one was water damaged and dried out - if only the cards were in better shape, maybe I would have much more patience to really build up a quantity.

I didn't know what I maybe charged per card, so I wasn't as impulsive - I only really grabbed 13 cards total and gathered the courage to get the seller's attention as he was sorting some singles at the table.

I handed the cards over and he flipped through them and asked what I may have wanted to pay.

"[How about] $5?" I responded.

"You have some old school in here," the seller said. "How about $10?"

I really wish he would have agreed to the $5 or just said take the cards for free - but I relented to pay $10 because I spent 20 minutes digging around and maybe sometimes I have to follow on my interests, even if on the impulsive side.

Newer Topps Heritage cards - the Kyle Lewis In Action subset was a find because it completed the Mike Trout puzzle on the back of related cards.

Early 1980s Fleer was abundant though most were water damaged - I grabbed a Carl Yastrzemski tipping his cap and while a common in my book, the play at the plate, action shot of Mike Sciocia might be too hard to resist.

A Topps Turkey Red Tom Seaver insert - I'd rather go for 'here and now' players, but I want to make it where I can show interest in old timers as a nod to the history of greats of the game.

A random Tony Gwynn rookie card that kind of looks fairly clean - though the upper portion of the card may actually be a little 'bent.'

Miscellaneous card show digs

Thinking about all the 'other' blog posts I've read, I want to attach these narratives where it's always a sublime experience - where I have these show within a show, table-to-table tales to unearth these assorted hauls I get to take a photo op when I get a moment to breathe, account for and try to make blog posts about.

My card show experiences however are not unique at all where I feel like more of a mark than anything else - I show up to a spot where there are tables that might sell material I can rummage through and see if I go through cards as a 'fun time' thing to get away [from reality] for several hours and get my fix.

I raided the quarter [if unmarked] box at a table where the seller has made concessions to bring bricks of assorted junk wax era cards and has them for about a nickel - nothing too earth shattering but some fun stuff to help me re-focus on the lighter side of things.

I don't know what these Nolan Ryan customs are supposed to be and I kind of turn my nose at anything unlicensed and/or looks like they were printed at home - on the other hand, these do almost feel like actual cards and duality between the 'Angel' Ryan and presumably the more 'devilish' Ryan is intriguing.

The cards have actual backs and are both numbered '13/39,' whatever that means in this instance - I guess I'll make the concession to keep this pair of neat cards as binder material of Angels Ryan cards.

I had to grab the 1998 E-X 2001 cards I could find - these acetate cards really pop and even if they were merely base, the kind of contemporary [yet already 24-year old] cards I'm hoping to find more of whenever I rummage around cheap-o bins.

These 1994 Upper Deck Collector's Choice cards were not quarter material but I decided I liked them enough to throw them into the mix 'as is' - maybe the Ken Griffey Jr. and Gary DiSarcina have surface blemishes, so these copies of 'junky cards' might be fillers.

I thought the Todd Stottlmyre card shows a pitcher fielding ball during a game, so I've made those keepers - but he has his batting practice jersey on and presumably he is having fun before the game.

The Dave Hollins card looks like he's caught in-between the basepaths, but I still consider it a keeper for my 'base running' collection - though I wonder if the retro uniform he wears on the reverse image makes it more of a card for my retro uniform collection.