Final Card Show Recap - All the Rest

Sorry for stretching the recap posts of my first card show of 2016 for almost two weeks. Unfortunately, I don't have the option of hitting up a show every weekend or even once a month so I've got to make it last on he rare occasions I am able to make it to one. One of the regular vendors I visit puts together his own home-made repacks. I've written about them multiple times before and as anyone who has read the content here should know, I am a sucker for these kind of things, he doesn't grow 'hits' into these repacks, but at roughly 59 cards per pack and a price tag of 3 for a dollar, you absolutely can't go wrong. This show was a rarity for me, as I only picked up 6 packs because he was running pretty low by the time I got to his table. He had mostly basketball with a few football and baseball packs mixed in. Apparently, I am not the only one of his regulars that loves those repacks.

I already posted the highlights of the football pack. Here are some of the highlights from the baseball counterparts.

I had to grab the pack that had the Bernie 'Electric Diamond' parallel as a face card. I remember busting a lot of 1994 Upper Deck when I was younger. Unlike many, I really liked the design of that set. I already had the Tino WS Highlight but I wasn't going to let the opportunity to show off a great moment in Yankees history slip by.

I always love getting new to me Conlon Collection singles and once or twice I have been lucky enough to pull a piece of vintage cardboard from one of these. It's never been a star, but it's still nice to find a '68 Topps in the randomness that usually falls out of these team bags.

It's was awesome to see a Bo Jackson that I hadn't seen before, but my favorite card of this group was definitely the 1989 World Series game 3 highlight. Back in those days I was quite the Oakland A's fan.

Wrapping up the repacks are two more of the 2013 Topps blue sparkle parallels. I found my first one of these in one of these repacks sometime late last year and I was thrilled to add two more at this show. At some point, I should really work on picking up some of the Yankees. Like so many of these kind of parallels, the scans don't do them justice. They're so much nicer in hand. I threw the Garza in here because I used to like him pretty well when he was still with Tampa and I really like the throwback jersey. Next up, the goods from the lone bunch of dime boxes I was able to find.

From one throwback to another. I hadn't seen that A-Rod before, but him rocking the Washington jersey and that Oakland throwback make for one heck of a dime spent! I grabbed another copy of the Ichiro United We Stand card because it was a condition upgrade from the one I had.

I'll take some 1994 Bowman's Best at a dime a pop as well, especially the Wagner RC and the rookie year Jorge!

I love El Duque and I couldn't leave this one behind, even is it plays tricks on the eyes. It's certainly one of the more odd inserts I've seen.

Things got a really odd after that...oddball that is! I'm pretty sure that I had the figure that went with that Canseco card many moons ago.

Probably my favorite card unearthed in the dime boxes was this rookie year Bo Jackson SportFlics! From there, I dug in some quarter boxes.

I was really happy to rescue those few Godzilla RCs and the Rated rookie of the new Yankees second baseman.

Moving up the ladder towards more expensive items, these were a buck a piece. I'd have gladly paid three dollars for the Mattingly Museum Collection so it was awesome to take all three of these home for  $3!

Here is the card that I bundled into the 1951 Topps Rizzuto purchase from the first recap post. All told it ended up costing just shy of $2. Not bad for my first Kemp RC. Lastly, is my second most expensive purchase of the day:

This one broke the bank at a whopping $2.50 since I grabbed one other card with it from a 2 for $5 box. The other card will be finding its way to a mailbox(perhaps near you) in the near future! I hope Cobb can make a successful return from surgery this season. Maybe I'll even get the good fortune to see a rehab start or two here in Durham! Thanks for hanging in through all four installments of the show recap. The next local show is a few months away so I promise this won't be a regular occurance.

Card Show Recap pt. 3 - The Non-Baseball Stuff

When I was preparing to go to the show last week, I set some unofficial goals and rules for myself. The goals were to stay focused(no frivolous spending) and finish the 1968 Game set. The big rule I attempted to put in place was to avoid buying Broncos. I figured a week removed from winning the 'Big Game' that prices would be unreasonably high. Well, how did I do? I did complete the 1968 Game set, but as you're about to see, I wasn't very focused and I couldn't resist a few Broncos purchases.

At least his trio came from one of the home made repacks that this one vendor always has. I only snagged this one football filled repack, but I'll show off contents from the other 5 baseball ones in another post. I already had the Ware, but the Elway and the DT were new to me.

Now for some Super shiny Broncos! It's hard to see in the scan, but the Certified Shane Ray is some sort of parallel limited to #/499. I was able to walk away with the base version as well which is #/999. I grabbed them both for less than a buck a piece. Same goes for the green refractor of Mr. MVP, Von Miller. A mere fifty cents allowed me to bring that beauty home. The Tek Shane Ray base auto was a different story. The vendor that was selling it had a $10 price tag on it. I had no intention of paying that so I left it in the stack I found it in. I spent a lot of time flipping through this guy's boxes and chatting with him. Turns out, we are members of the same Facebook collector's group that is based in the Triangle here in NC. I pulled a few other cards out and he have me his best price so I ended up throwing the Ray auto into the mix and the number he gave me was fair enough for me to walk away with it and the next two cards.

This is the part of the program where my staying focused went out the window. For the first time, I was able to go through a box of some singles from the relatively recent Panini Soccer product. He had a bunch of great hits and singles from the set, but most would have busted my budget in one stop so I just admired them from afar. I really liked this Robben/Van Persie insert. It's a great card of the Dutch 'Dynamic Duo'. I was happy to have this one in the package deal, but the next single is the one that made it worthwhile for me.

This awesome Tim Howard red Prizm looks much better in hand than in this scan. In addition, it is the National Team SP.

Apparently, the National Team SPs are designated by the little soccer ball in he upper left corner on the back. Oh, by the way, did I mention this was numbered 16/199? When all the conversation was finished and the deal was made, I ended up taking all three of those home for the $10 price tag that was on the Ray by itself. It may not have been the best deal I made all day, but I felt better about it once I learned that the vendor and I belonged to that same local collecting group. It was great to meet another one in person.

I'd like to say that I was able to reign the focus back in after this lapse, but it was not so.

 

I ended up pulling this A&G surfer girl relic out of a $2 box. It complements the relic of the other surfer from last year's Ginter that I had already traded for a few months back. It's even technically a two color swatch. My last unfocused purchase was the first hockey single I've picked up in over a decade.

I happened to slow down near a table that was covered in singles in top loaders. Before I could pick the pace back up, the vendor was launching into his spiel about all of the cards on the table being $1 even though most of them were worth at least $15-20. I planned to move on as soon as he stopped talking directly to me because I get really annoyed at vendors that overemphasize how good their deals  are. I'm much more interested in buying from folks that let the deals speak for themselves but are available for whatever questions you might have. Before he could finish his push, I caught a glimpse of this Scott Stevens relic out of the corner of my eye. It was in a giant screwdown case(for no good reason), but I couldn't pass up that sweet Devils swatch for just a buck.

So, I went 1/3 in adhering to my goals/rules for the show, but at least going off the intended oath didn't break my budget. It also let me bring these awesome cards home. Hey, batting .333 is pretty darn good anyway, right? Thanks for reading.

Ripping Packs, Feeling Like a Kid - Show Recap pt. 2

No, no, no...wait! That's ripping packs of Kids, Topps Kids that is. These came out back in 1992, and while I was collecting then, I really don't remember seeing these at the time. I remember Upper Deck Fun Pack coming out a few years later, but not these. So, when I saw a few of these mixed in a bin of packs at the show, I couldn't pass up the chance to bust a few. All in all, I was able to find these 6 packs hiding among a bunch of other junk wax and they cost me a dime per pack. I had almost forgotten what it was like to rip an actual wax pack.

Here is the promised gum(this is for you, Jeff!) that comes in each pack. Surprisingly enough, the stick I opened was still pliable and not petrified. There's still no way I was going to chew it though.

A few personal favorites to start thing off. Are you dizzy looking at the background on that Roberto Kelly? Very interesting design on these to say he least.

Next up, check out the cartoon bodies on the Fernandez and Ozzie cards. The drawings make them look like here on steroids! More trippy spirals on that Larkin.

Hipnotic Kirby... I'm planning to put you all in a trance so you'll send me awesome cardboard! Oh wait, a lot of you already do that! Thanks, by the way. Gotta love the cartoonish Rocket, but my favorite is the very Batman-esque background on that George Brett(probably only a few of you will get that reference).

Finally, here are my favorites of the bunch. I am thrilled to have pulled the Mattingly and the Henderson. Even though Doc is on the Mets here, I'll always remember him fondly for his time in pinstripes! This was a really fun few packs to flip through. I'd probably grab a few more of these in the future if the opportunity arrises, especially for the price I paid. Definitely a few keepers in here, and several of these will be making their way to new homes at some point. This was certainly one of the more entertaining purchases of the day, but there is still plenty of the haul left to write about over the next few days. Thanks for reading!

First Card Show of 2016 Recap pt. 1

Yesterday I was fortunate to be able to spend a few hours hunting around my first card show of the year. I missed the actual first show of the year in my area, so I was very happy to have the chance to browse around a bit. Overall, it was a good show for me and I'll be breaking down my haul into a few posts over the next few days. Tonight, I start with the vintage portion of the haul. It comprised the smallest percent of the whole(only three total cards), but it ended up being the most satisfying. The first of the three that I'll talk about represented the most expensive purchase if the day.

This 1951 Topps red back of Phil Rizzuto was one of the first cards I considered purchasing when I ark paved to the show. It had an asking price of $9.00 which I thought was reasonable but ultimately, I decided to scope the place out before dropping that much if my budget on one of he first cards I saw. All told, I made the rounds and at the end of my browsing, I decided to go back and see if the vendor would go any lower. When I asked, he balked a bit, pulling the old 'it books $60 and I'm already giving it away because of the condition' schtick. I considered walking away without it, but it ended up searching a $2 box he had and eventually made a bundled offer of $10 for the 'Scooter', one single from the $2 box(which I'll share in another recap post), and one of the next two cards I'm going to share. With the pricing of the bundled deal in effect, it essentially dropped the cost of the Rizzuto down to $7. I was thrilled! Not only because I was walking away with another 1951 Topps Yankee, but because the significance of the final card I was able to add to the deal.

Early in the show, I happened to find the Ron Santo for a buck. That dropped my set completion magic number down to one. It left me with only Frank Howard to go for a complete set. As I was contemplating the Rizzuto purchase, I came upon one of several vintage 'oddball' filled binders on this guy's multiple tables. When I flipped to the page that had this pretty clean copy of Frank, my gears started turning. I had already pulled and returned the one card I ended up with from his $2 box and asked about a lower price on the Rizzuto. In the end, when he told me the Howard would only be $1, I pulled a single from my wallet. He turned on the salesmanship, asking if I was sure I only wanted the Howard. That was my chance, so I took a shot. I told him I had only found one card from the $2 box and would give him $10 for that, the Howard, and the Rizzuto. He thought about it for a moment and eventually agreed. I don't usually have much luck negotiating like that, but I sure was proud of myself after I was done. Honestly, I would have been thrilled if these were the only three cards I walked away with. Here it is only mid-February and I can already check off one of my goals for the year. There's plenty more to write about from this show, additions to my collection and a bunch if cards to send to my multiple trading partners, Super Traders or otherwise. That's all stuff for another post though. Thanks for reading!

Raleigh Card Show Post 3 of 3 - Relics, Autos, and Other Big Spending

Let's launch straight into the most expensive cards that I purchased all day. For the second straight show, I saw fellow blogger William of the Orioles-centric blog Foul Bunt set up as a vendor. While we chatted about everything from pro wrestling to his recent trip to the National, I flipped through a few dollar boxes he had set up.

I snagged this gold parallel of the current Yankees manager and picked out a few others that I needed. While my total purchase may not have put me in the 'big spender' category, it's always nice to see a fellow blogger in person.

I couldn't pass up this Desmond liquorfractor and I couldn't believe my eyes when I flipped to this Turkey Red Josh Gibson.

Next to William's table was a guy who had all sorts of vintage sorted by year. I wanted to find some vintage oddball stuff which was tough since he mostly had singles for the set collectors.

After some digging, I was able to find this Topps Embossed Bobby Richardson for another dollar. There was a few other singles to be had, but they were in pretty rough shape and not worth the asking price. I am very close to completing the 1968 Topps Game set and have out a pretty good dent into the 1969 Deckle set. It's possible that this vintage oddball set will be next on my list to hunt down.

My last stop of the day was a guy that had a bunch of relic/auto boxes marked at $3 each. I normally don't spend too much time looking through boxes like these, but after flipping through a stack or two I saw enough that interested me that I was hooked.

This was the first card that really drew me in. Over the past few weeks, I've been slowly accumulating rookie cards of Virgil Green and this is the first auto I've been able to add.

Shortly after unearthing the Green RC auto, I found this Bradley Roby auto. I bid on a few of these last season when they first came out, but I didn't win one. Now I can add one to my Broncos collection.

I couldn't pass on this cheap Rays prospect auto. It's quite possible that Tyler here will be playing in Durham sometime in the next season or two.

Next up, I pulled another Rays prospect auto. Floro played in Durham this season and I was able to see him pitch a few games. Floro began the season pitching really well for the Bulls, but then he had some really terrible outings and was inconsistent down the stretch. In his first season at Triple A, he certainly showed some signs that he may be able to handle a spot in the Rays rotation, but he will definitely need to learn to limit those big innings against him.

This was far and away my favorite baseball auto of the day. I thought I was lucky to find this Guyer in the discount bin. He's been a really solid player over the past few seasons for the Rays and I really enjoyed watching him play with the Bulls when he was in Durham. 

As I flipped through those boxes, I picked out a few here and there that will end up taking a trip via the USPS in the near future. All told, I picked out more than ten at $3 per. When I handed them to the vendor to pay, he counted them out once and then said 'No, let's do it like this'. He proceeded to count them out again at what turned out to be only $2/card instead. Obviously, I was even happier to grab these cards for me and a few trading partners at that price. That one final deal made the day all the better. I'm glad it was a good one since the show won't be returning to Raleigh until December. I guess that just gives me some extra time to pad my budget for that show! Thanks for reading.

Raleigh Card Show Post 2 of 3 - More Quarter Finds, Home-Made Repacks,and Two For a Buck Boxes

Welcome back for the second of three card show recap posts. I'll pick up where I left off. Once I left the quarter boxes, I came upon another regular vendor. This guy typically focuses on supplies, unopened product(some new and some cheap junk wax), and home-made repacks. I usually stop by to see what his repacks look like and pick a few up, but I usually don't buy much else from him. This show was different. He had a few miscellaneous binders set out, so I decided to at least flip through them. As I flipped the pages, it became pretty clear that these binders were similar to the boxes I'd been digging through already. The contents were very random and mostly priced at a quarter a piece.

Though Sosa's rep took a pretty hard hit, I couldn't pass over a Museum Collection card of a great slugger(tarnished career or no). I couldn't believe that I found that McDonald's gold Cal Ripken for a quarter. Since the season was winding down for most teams, I figured that the Rickey and the Griffey Jr cards would help tide me over until it was Spring Fever time again.

The Chicken! That's my second early Donruss card of that awesome mascot. I'm pretty sure that there is one more year that I don't have yet. I am slowly whittling away at the checklist for that 1992 Fleer The Performers 7-11/Citgo set. These three bring me a little bit closer.

Now these, I hadn't seen before! At first I didn't think much of them, figuring they were just random, early Score All-Star cards...until I noticed the P&G logo in the upper corner. When I flipped the page and looked at the back, I saw that this was a new to me oddball set that has 18 cards in it. All told I picked up six different ones. No Yankees, so it's likely that I'll eventually try to piece this set together as well. That wraps up my binder finds.

As I mentioned, this guy always has some home-made repacks sitting in a large box on his table. I've never actually counted how many cards he puts in them, but he fills team bags to capacity and he's got them priced at 3 for $1. He's always got some good quality in them too. I've never opened one and had the thought that what I just looked through was a waste of my money. As I was looking through them, he asked if I was interested in baseball or football. I told him I was looking at whatever he had from either and I told him that I've always appreciated his repacks. I commented that the box was a little empty and he told me that some guy had come by on Saturday and bought all 60 baseball repacks he had made for the show. He told me he had to scramble to put more together so he'd have some for Sunday. As per usual, I picked out three of these to round out my purchase. I sure am glad that he scrambled to make more. Here are some favorites:

Hey, another of those Fleer 7-11/Citgo cards! Alas, I already had the Ryan. I'm sure it will end up in a trade package soon though. That shiny blue thing in the middle is my first 2013 Topps blue sparkle card. True, it is Blake Beavan but still...it's a cool looking card. I think Topps should do something like these again! I only have a few of the Classics singles from last year and I like the design pretty well. It was cool to find Tommy Henrich hanging out in one of the stacks.

Next up, I found a trio of 1991 Donruss The Rookies. The highlight was definitely the Luis Gonzalez, but the Whiten was nice too.

I was really happy that the Guzman was lurking in one of the repacks I chose. Yeah, he's mostly remembered(if at all) for his time on the Blue Jays, but I remember him for the time I got to see him play with my beloved, Durham Bulls! It's always nice to get a relatively early career card of Big Unit! What is that over there in the right? That must be a reprint. Nope! It is an actual 1968 Topps card. I don't know who Stan Williams is, but it was really awesome and unexpected to pull some vintage out of one of these team bags!

These three threw me as well. At first glance I figured they were base 1991 UD and didn't give them a second look. Upon closer inspection, I thought it was odd that I didn't even vaguely remember having seen these photos before. Best I have figured(I haven't attempted to really research them yet), they are a special All-Star set that Upper a Deck did that year. I was especially happy with the Rickey and the dual award photo with Junior and Ryno.

These would have to be my three favorites out of the repacks. I love that old Fleer Pete Rose w/ the cameo by his son. Deion in a Yankee uniform is always a welcome sight. That Chris Sale RC was one that I didn't have yet. If only all retail repacks could be as good as these!

Next, I found a guy that had about a dozen 5000ct boxes labeled 'Two for a Buck'. I dug right in, starting with some football(just to mix it up a bit).

Emmanuel Sanders has become a real superstar since joining the Broncos last season. This represents the first RC of his in my collection. Mario Wiliams is a PC guy for a few reasons. First, he went to NC State(my Alma Mater) and second, I've had the good fortune to meet him a few times and he's a really great guy! All of these were released during a time when I wasn't collecting football cards at all so it great to find these to fill in some holes. Plus, I dig that Player Timeline card that shows him in his NC State uni!

Broncos, Broncos, Broncos! I'm really happy that they've found a way to win each week and are currently 4-0. I hope hey can keep it going! I recently received my first Virgil Green RC in a trade, but I was thrilled to add the refractor and the orange refractor of his RC. Have I mentioned my love of the old Pinnacle Museum Collection yet? Actually, I think the football version was called Trophy Collection. At any rate, Pinnacle's Dufex technology on a parallel or insert is a thing of beauty. Match that up with a team or individual player I collect and my appreciation for that card grows exponentially. These guys were two of my favorite players back in their day to boot!

I always love finding cards of some of the defensive players that don't rate being on every checklist when new sets are released. Omar Bolden fits that description, plus I like the Crown Royale die cut. 

Oooh, shiny and historic!? I'm not 100% positive that this pic was taken from Fisk's well known World Series Home Run, but it looks like it might have been snapped right before he started using his body english to wave that ball fair. Even if it wasn't, this is a great piece of cardboard!

I didn't pull too much from he baseball, but the ones I did buy packed some serious punch. I've mentioned my love of Collector's Choice before. Well, that Bonds checklist is actually a gold signature parallel. It's not terribly valuable these days, but those gold sigs were really difficult pulls back then and are still pretty tough to come by. I already had the Pettitte Bowman RC, but for a half dollar, I couldn't bring myself to leave it behind. I picked the purple refractor Karns up because he has played with the Bulls over the past few seasons and was solid, if unremarkable, in Tampa this season. A green refractor RC of one of the best pitchers in the AL this season? Yes please! Oh yeah, Archer is also a former Bull. I snagged the Bowman Nomo because I've picked up a bunch of his RCs over the past few months and I still needed that one. I save the best for last! That Deion Sanders has it all:

Oddball?  Check!

One of my favorite players?  Check!

Unfamiliar sport?  Check!

Man, wasn't it enough that Prime Time played Baseball and Football? I never would have imagined that a card existed of him playing basketball. Who does he think he is, Bo Jackson?

To any of you that actually read all the way until,the end of this post, thanks and I'm sorry that it was so much longer than my normal posts. The good news is that only one show recap post remains. In it I will explore cheap auto/relic boxes and delve into some 'pricier' bins.