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.