30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Card Show Recap, a Couple of Thank You's, & a Box Break

Part 1: Card Show Recap

There's a memorabilia show at the Great Mall in Milpitas this holiday weekend. I figure, I'd let the numbers do the talking...

56 - Pieces of cardboard I purchased at the card show.
23 - New additions to my Vintage PC Card Binder.
19.5 - Miles I drove to get to the card show.
$17.38 - Amount spent on food & beverages at the card show.
$10 - Amount spent on cardboard (between 2 dealers).
4 - Dealers who were selling pieces of cardboard.
1 - Total sales my buddy had from 10am to 6pm at his booth ($3).
$.50 - The most I spent on a single piece of cardboard at the show.

Here are some of my purchases:

Vintage Pickups

1982 Donruss Seaver, 1982 Fleer Seaver, 1982 Topps Seaver, 1981 Topps Fingers, 1972 Topps Foster, 1962 Topps Davis
1980 Topps Parker, 1976 Topps Luzinski, 1976 Topps Bell, 1986 Topps Carlton, 1979 Topps Niekro, 76/77 Topps Esposito


Rookie Card Pickups

2006 Topps DP&P Ngata RC Refractor, 2009 Finest Pettigrew RC Refractor, 2011 Finest Green RC, 1990 Bowman Williams RC


Insert & Parallel Card Pickups

09/10 Certified "Mirror Red" Unseld, 98/99 UD Ionix "Kinetix" Nowitzki, 1999 UD "Live Wires" Sanders
1995 Ultra "2nd Year Standout" Faulk, 2005 Topps "Golden Anniversary Gold Nuggets" Manning

It's never a good sign when I spend more money on food & beverages than cardboard... but it is what it is. At least I was able to add a handful of cards to my PC. I was especially excited to see the 1986 Topps Steve Carlton in one of Max's 10 cent bins.


Part 2: A Couple of Thank You's


Ryan, author of This Card Is Cool, Cardboard Zoo, & Chaos and Kanji, kicked off the new year with a contest before he headed off overseas to Japan. There were 7 different prize packages and I was fortunate to win one of them:


It's a book titled Wild and Outside written by Stefan Fatsis and a custom made photo ornament of Chicago's Navy Pier. Thanks a million Ryan... have fun teaching in Japan.


I also entered a few contests over on the Sports Card Radio Forum and won the contents from a 2008 Press Pass Basketball blaster box. Here are a few of the highlights:


Thanks Colin & Ryan for the contest. If you want to chat with fellow collectors, trade, and possibly win free cards... I encourage you to become a member of their forum. You won't regret it.


Part 3: Box Break Recap


What: 2011 Topps USA Baseball Set & Autograph
Who: a bunch of guys I've never heard of
Where: found it at Target
When: last week
How Much: $9.99


One of my students gave me a gift card to Target, so I bought toilet paper, laundry detergent, toothpaste, and this set. I have no idea who these guys are... but I was pretty happy with the simple set design Topps chose. Hopefully Hoby Milner becomes a MLB superstar.

Okay... I'm off to watch the Packers and the Giants face off. Hopefully this one doesn't end in Rodgers throwing an interception in overtime.

Happy Sunday everyone... and sayonara!

8 comments:

(...Joe) said...

I would KILL to have a card show only 19.5 miles from me! The closest shows are a 2 1/2 hour drive.

Baseball Nut said...

Hoby's record for USA Baseball was 1 - 0 with a 1.35 ERA over 6 plus innings pitched. 5 hits, 2 Walks and 5 Strikeouts.

gojacks said...

You didn't happen to pull a Kevin Gausman in the USA box did you?

Fuji said...

(...joe) - In bay area traffic, 19.5 miles can sometimes approach the 2 and a half hour mark. okay... maybe i'm stretching the truth a little... but it can suck. i just wish they were more of them. i'm lucky if i attend 6 shows in a year.

baseball nut - thanks... i looked him up after i pulled it. doesn't look like he'll be the superstar i hoped for, but who knows.

gojacks - sorry... the autograph was of hoby milner

Ryan G said...

I agree with Fuji's first comment - it takes an hour or more at times to travel the seven miles from one end of San Francisco to another.

Card shows in the Bay Area are really struggling, but I think that's partly due to a lack of a strong showing of dealers. When there are only four card dealers, buyers aren't going to travel an hour or more to browse a small inventory. It became quite frustrating for me as a buyer.

I hope you enjoy the book and have a use for the ornament, even if it's as a gift or prize for one of your students!

Fuji said...

ryan - thanks again for the prizes... as soon as i'm done with the book, i'll add it to my bookshelf in the classroom so other baseball fans can enjoy it as well.

gojacks said...

No. I meant a base card.

Fuji said...

gojacks - it was a complete set... and yeah, he's included on the checklist.