30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Thursday, February 11, 2016

Flea Market Finds #101: Better Than A Blaster?

Droughts lead to desperation... which basically explains my one and only flea market purchase this past weekend.

January was rough in terms of flea market finds.  There was a five week span where I came home empty-handed and I came pretty close to making it six weeks.  But one of my friends who sets up every month made me an offer I couldn't refuse.  He sold me this box of 2015 Bowman Draft for two bucks:


Obviously it had already been opened and sifted through.  But there were a few cards that caught my eye.

Let's start of with this awesome "into the sunset" card of Mr. November:

2015 Topps Chrome #1

I've always enjoyed reading Nick's "Into the Sunset" posts, because they're always well written with tons of interesting information.  I don't have any plans to follow in Nick's footsteps, but this card definitely sealed the deal for me.  It has an awesome photo from his final game at Yankee Stadium on September 25, 2014... when he drove in the game winning run in the bottom of the 9th against the Baltimore Orioles.

Kudos to Topps for not chopping off any hands or feet.


The backside?  Well... it's just as impressive.  Jeter's entire twenty year MLB career statistics are on display.  Nick's selection of Roberto Clemente's 1973 Topps "Into the Sunset" card as his favorite is legit and hard to argue with.  But Jeter's is pretty cool too.

Another card that drew my attention was this insert:

2015 Bowman Draft "Teams of Tomorrow" #TDC18

It's shiny.  The team's colors pop off of the card.  And the Athletics logo is front and center.  It's a cool looking insert.

Unfortunately... it features two guys I've never heard of.  But that's exactly what happens when you hand me a box of Bowman Draft.  Here are all of the other inserts and parallels from the box:



I have no clue who any of these guys are.  To be honest... I have no business buying any Bowman Draft products.  But I can use a lot of these in "care packages" and the price was right.

The final baseball card in the box was this Jose Fernandez:

2015 Topps Chrome "Purple Refractor" #141

I can't wait to see him pitch this upcoming season.  It's a shame his past two seasons were cut short... but his numbers have been very impressive nonetheless.

Wrapping up the box were a handful of basketball inserts and parallels...



Not really into basketball anymore... but I'm not going to turn away new additions to my insert binder collection.

At the end of the day, I walked away with a bunch of cheap cards... which is exactly what I've been trying to avoid.  On the other hand... for two bucks, I added a few cards to my collection... and picked up some cards for some of yours.

Yeah... I could have put the two dollars towards a blaster box of 2016 Topps baseball.  However... I'm hoping my buddy busts a few boxes of the stuff between now and next month.  With a little luck... maybe he'll sell me his scraps for another two bucks.

Happy Thursday and sayonara!

16 comments:

JediJeff said...

"Kudos to Topps for not chopping off any hands or feet"

Agreed. That's one of the reasons that is a good card - great framing. Topps forgets about their badging when they select their photos.

Johnnys Trading Spot said...

YOU GOT YOUR $2 WORTH IN THE JETER ALONE. KUDOS TO YOU!

The Lost Collector said...

$2 is a solid deal! I'll always love that Jeter card.

Zippy Zappy said...

$2 for all that Bowman Draft? Now I feel like a chump.

Congrats on the awesome find though. If you're moving the sky blue refs of Holder and Russell I'd love a shot at them.

Nick said...

I was going to say exactly what Jeff just said. Topps should institute a "Hands and Feet" rule -- all limbs MUST be visible on each and every photograph.

I like Paul Konerko's sunset card from 2015 a lot better than Jeter's, but the Jeets is still a legendary piece of cardboard.

Tony Burbs said...

I'd have been sold on that purchase just by the two Cubs on top! Nice pick up!

Swing And A Pop-up said...

If that Jeter card was from 1988 Score, he would have been cut off at his midsection and there would have been a bunch of sky above his hands.

Jeff Jones said...

Great pickup, I have a ton of A's trade bait if you don't want that Withrow

Tony L. said...

Nice pickup, definitely.

Mark Hoyle said...

God deal for two bucks

KO Rob said...

I like that A's prospect card too. Olson is a power hitting 1B guy that will probably make his way to AAA this year. They've been working him out in the OF too, as a potential replacement for Reddick when he becomes a FA. Martin was their 1st round pick last year, a SS from U of Florida. Awesome glove, so-so bat

Fuji said...

jedijeff - chopped off hands and feet (even bats and gloves) are one of my biggest pet peeves in this hobby. glad to know that another collector agrees.

zippy - i'll definitely get those out to you in your next package

nick - yeah Konerko's sunset card is iconic as well. hope you didn't mind me stealing your term

jeff jones - email me your mailing address and i'll ship it out to you

ko rob - thanks for the info. i'm terrible at keeping track of prospects, but will keep an eye out on these two

Unknown said...

i like this post, how to win cricket betting.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

I like what u have written in your online cricket betting websites blog.

Unknown said...

awesome blog for cricket tips free betting tips