A Special Thank You

It's been a whirlwind of a week.  Last Wednesday was the start of parent-teacher conferences... which wraps up tomorrow afternoon at around 3pm.  On Thursday, I met up with my buddy Cody for dinner.  He used to teach with me back in the early 2000's, but has since switched careers and moved across the country to Atlanta, Georgia.  Every November he flies out to visit family and friends.  Our annual tradition is grabbing steaks at a place near his mom's house called The Drying Shed.

He's not into sports cards, but he's very into 70's & 80's nostalgia.  He collects everything from Mork & Mindy to ALF, so we always have fun exchanging our latest eBay finds.  He's also into retail and food chains from that era, so this year I gave him a pair of Winchell's milk glass mugs for his collection.

He responded with some very cool items of his own.  Let's start with this Joe Montana phone card:

1995 Mervyn's Phone Card #NNO

Y'all know how much I love phone cards from the 90's... especially when they feature athletes.  But this one is extra special, because it was a promotional item from Mervyn's... which was a popular department store back in the 70's and 80's.

When I was in elementary and middle school, my mom would take me there to pick out school clothes.  It was my #1 source for Levi's jeans.

Mervyn's was one of Cody's favorite stores as a kid.  Although we didn't know each other back in the 80's, both of us also loved shopping for clothes at Miller's Outpost.  The second present he gave me was this pair of refrigerator magnets:

I have already added them to my fridge:

Last, but certainly not least... he gave me this USCG manual:

USCG: Manual for Lifeboatmen and Able Seamen (June 1949)

This might seem very random, but it's not.  My father served in the USCG for three years back in the early 1950's and was likely given this manual during basic training.  Cody also served in the Coast Guard (but during the 90's) and always wanted to sit down with my father and share stories.  Unfortunately that never happened.  But it's something that pops up in conversations a few times a year.

USCGC Iroquois (WHEC-43)

While we were devouring our ribeye steaks and exchanging early Christmas presents, I showed him a cool photo of the ship my father spent time on.  The Iroquois was an Owasco class high endurance cutter that was primarily used for Ocean Station duty during the early 50's.  According to the eBay vendor, this photo was taken in 1953... so there's a chance that my father was on this ship.

Anyways... they were asking $24.99 (+ tax & shipping), which seemed expensive for a photo.  However Cody talked me into sending the seller a best offer of $15 (+ tax & shipping).  Later that evening, I got the message that the eBay seller had accepted.

Thank you Cody for these very thoughtful gifts... and for the time you spent in the United States Coast Guard.

And a special thank you to everyone who has bravely served in our country's armed forces to help keep our country safe.

Happy Wednesday and sayonara!

Overtime

I almost forgot about the rest of the week.  On Saturday, I hit up the De Anza Flea Market.  The next morning, I woke up to a text message from my homegirl:

If you're wondering if I was already asleep by 8:36pm on Saturday night... the answer is "yes".  It was a super busy week and I was exhausted.

This year our school district scheduled a five day weekend, so my original plan was to catch up on card related stuff.  Little did I know that we were heading back down to Pismo for three days and two nights.

Unfortunately I didn't take any wallet card photos, but here's a photo of some sand art from this year's festival:

The weather was really nice... but a little warm for this time of the year.  So we mostly hung out at the hotel and enjoyed the gorgeous view.  On Monday we ventured out to grab some snacks.  Along the way, we stopped off in a strip mall with an antique store called Pismo Pickers Antiques and Vintage.

Outside there was a bin of dollar records.  I grabbed this:

All In The Family (1971)

I remember watching this show with my parents as a kid and singing the famous theme song:  Those Were the Days.

Inside the shop there was also one display case with some sports cards... including some low grade vintage and overproduced modern... which were overpriced.

However one card caught my eye:

2007 Topps TX Exclusive Ticket to Hawaii Jersey Auto #HAJA-FG

I don't usually go out of my way to purchase sticker-graphs... but $20 seemed like a steal for a Frank Gore autograph that's numbered to 25.

Unfortunately when I got home last night, I noticed that the card was damaged:

I had to play with my lighting to show off the indentation that runs across the top of the card.  This is the reason I started a collection of damaged cards.  Sadly... I know that this won't be the last time I purchase a damaged card on accident.

On a positive note, the card looks really nice from most angles:

And damaged or not... according to Topps this swatch is from Gore's 2007 Pro Bowl jersey.  I sure miss card companies specifically stating when and where the player wore the uniforms used on relic cards.

Okay... it's time to rest and relax, because I woke up this morning with a sore throat and I have to get better by tomorrow for those final four conferences.

Flea Market Finds #193: Older Periodicals, Cards, and a Stack of 45's

There were a pair of card shows in San Jose on Saturday, October 17th.  One was about 20 to 30 minutes away.  The other was less than 3 miles from my doorstep.  Both charged admission, so I hit up the Branham Flea Market instead.  Free parking.  Free admission.  Fresh air.  I'll choose that over a card show every single time.

The obvious downside to flea markets is the lack of card vendors... especially on the day of a local card show (or in this case... shows).  Thankfully there were a pair of regulars with cards and I purchased stuff from both of them.

Purchase #1:  Vintage TSN's  $5

If you collect sports memorabilia and you walk around Branham on the third Saturday of every month, then you know Rich.  I've purchased tons of stuff from him over the years.  His inventory ranges from bobbleheads to beer bottles to sports periodicals.

He recently purchased a collection of The Sporting News papers from the 60's and was dumping the excess for a dollar each.  Honestly, I'm not really interested in stuff like this... because I don't have the space to store them.  However the price was right and while flipping through his stacks, I immediately stumbled across this:

The Sporting News (4/4/70)

My father's favorite golfer was Arnold Palmer.

The third week in October will always be sentimental for me and my siblings, because it's the anniversary of my father's passing.  When I saw Arnold smiling back at me in the stack, I immediately set it aside in honor of my pops.  I spent another twenty minutes looking through stacks of these periodicals and pulled out four more:

The Sporting News (8/2/61)

The rest of the issues had cool cartoon drawings.  I grabbed this one, because it featured Ted Williams and Babe Ruth.

In 1961, Major League Baseball added four new teams:  Los Angeles Angels, Washington Senators, New York Mets, & Houston Colt .45's.  This cover features the updated MLB map:

The Sporting News (4/12/61)

If you zoom in on New York, you'll notice there's a "?" instead of the Mets.  According to Wikipedia, the team didn't officially announce their name until May 8th.

The Arnold Palmer issue would have been my father's favorite.  Here's mine:

The Sporting News (2/22/64)

I'll never own a 1964 Topps Pete Rose, but this will suffice.  The artist did a great job of capturing Charlie Hustle's likeness.

The final issue I purchased has some pretty big names on the cover:

The Sporting News (3/14/64)

Five pitchers.  Five hall of famers.  But the Rawlings ad on the back was the main reason I added this issue to the stack:

A Mickey Mantle ad from the 60's for a buck?  Yeah, I couldn't pass this up.  The protective sleeves I ordered on Amazon cost more than the issues themselves.

After putting the TSN's into my car, I started walking over the the other card guy who set up at the end of the first row.

Purchase #2:  50¢ Bin Cards  $3

This guy is another regular.  Sometimes he has dime cards.  Other times he has dollar cards.  On Saturday, he converted one of his dollar boxes into a 50¢ bin.  The Baby Jordan was the card that caught my eye first.  It's one of those Jam City inserts that are currently very popular among basketball collectors.  It's hard to tell from my scan, but they're popular... because they're attractive.

2005 UD Arena Football AFL Jerseys #RD-J

Anyone else miss the AFL?  The San Jose SaberCats spent nearly two decades as our local arena football team.  Tickets were cheap.  The game was fast paced and exciting.  And there are a handful of diehard fans who miss them... myself included.  I already have a copy of this card, but I couldn't pass up this piece of history at that price.

2020-21 Skybox Metal Universe Star Rubies Auto #PP-45

I've never heard of Mr. Quinney, but I've been meaning to start a small collection of Las Vegas Golden Knights in honor of my mother.  She enjoyed watching their games during their inaugural and sophomore seasons.

The guy also had dollar comics... so I grabbed a few of those as well.

Purchase #3:  Dollar Comics  $3

1991 Marvel Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey #1

I like picking up comic book adaptations of popular movies.  I don't remember seeing this comic book back in the day, but I remember going seeing this movie at the drive-in theater with some friends.

1987 Comico Star Blazers #1

Any one else watch Star Blazers?  Before Transformers, GI Joe, and Robotech came along... it was my favorite cartoon.  I can still remember the opening song.

1995 Dark Horse Star Wars X-Wing Rogue Squadron

I'll buy any 90's Dark Horse Star Wars comic in good condition for a dollar.  However after I got home I was surprised at how thin it was.  After some research, I discovered it was a special mail order issue from Apple Jacks.

Purchase #4:  Hawaii Mug  $1

This was another Papa Fuji inspired purchase.  My parents were born and raised on Oahu.  That's why I will pick up Hawaii related stuff when it's cheap.  Found this on a lady's dollar table.  

Purchase #5:  Stack of 45s  $9

I ran into a familiar face about halfway through the flea market.  Ten to fifteen years ago he was one of the largest toy vendors at the other monthly flea market I walks around.  At the time, I was really into collecting figures and bobbleheads.  A large percentage of them were purchased from him.

He had a bunch of random toys this time too.  But I locked in on his box of 45's which contained a bunch of songs I listened to back in the 80's.  After pulling out a few, I asked how much he wanted.  Two for a buck was his response, so I went to work and pulled out 18.  It's a mixture of stuff ranging from Ghostbusters to Styx to Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer to Welcome Back Kotter to Cyndi Lauper. 

After packing them into a bag, I started walking away when he asked me if I wanted this as well...

Freebie #1:  STARR Record

1980 Mattel Starr

I don't know much about the toy line, but this record (33⅓) was included inside of a Starr doll back in the early 80's.

It was in the box of 45's that I was going through and set it to the side.  It looked interesting and the flimsiness reminded me of a record you'd find in a magazine or something.  Anyways... I put it back on top of a stack of records.  The vendor must have known that I really wanted it, because he gave it to me for free.

Purchase #6:  A Halloween Magazine  $1

Sports Illustrated for Kids (October 1990)

There's a vendor who is a regular at both flea markets I attend that sells old periodicals.  His booth is always crowded, because people love rummaging through his boxes looking for cool stuff.  I usually walk on by, but every now and then there's a box nobody is looking through so I'll hop on in.  I found this 90's issue of SI for Kids.  The 9-card sheet had been pulled out, but the four card panel was left intact:

If this panel looks familiar, that's because I purchased two copies of this Halloween issue back in 2025 from by buddy Tony at the De Anza Flea Market.

I kept one of the issues intact.  I removed the sheets of cards from the second one.  I will be breaking down this sheet for my Jordan binder.

Branham is much smaller than De Anza, so I always walk around it at least a couple of times.  As I was about to head out, I stopped off at Rich's booth.  By this time he had completely unpacked his truck and had cards on his table.

Purchase #7:  Quarter Bin Cards  $3

Most of you don't care about football, but I was really excited to add that 1996 Topps Favre.  At some point, I will be working on his complete Topps base card run and this will be a part of it.

1990 Pepsi Canseco

He also had a big box filled with 1990 Pepsi Canseco sets.  I think he was asking a buck a piece on these sets, but he had hundreds of them.  So I asked if he'd let me grab three to round out the purchase at $3 and he accepted.

I might have missed out on two card shows, but choosing to walk around the flea market ended up working out for the better.  Until the next one...

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!