30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Tuesday, November 13, 2018

Flea Market Finds #135: Haul of the Year?

Everyone enjoys finding a good bargain, right?  Over the past eight years, I've been sharing my card show hauls, eBay purchases, and flea market finds here on this blog.  Sadly there hasn't really been anything too special on the flea market front in a few years.  The days of purchasing collections for pennies on the dollar or finding $400 Tiger Woods cards for a few bucks are long gone and I've completely accepted it.

Well two Saturdays ago was like a blast from the past, when I stumbled across a vendor who had three giant tubs filled with sports cards at the De Anza Flea Market in Cupertino.  Inside was a collection from the mid 90's and believe it or not... I wouldn't exactly classify the stuff as junk.

However... I'll go ahead and let you be the judge.


#11997 Topps Screen Plays Box $15


This unopened box was the first thing that caught my attention, because it's so big.  It was also the litmus test to see whether or not the dealer's prices were reasonable.  I immediately asked him for a price, he mentioned $25.  I countered with $15.  He accepted and the digging for bargains began.


#21995 Topps Archives Brooklyn Dodgers Factory Set $5


Right under the box of Topps Screenplays were a bunch of different sets.  The guy definitely based his prices on size.  That sucked because there was an 800ct. box filled with 1995 Flair baseball that I really wanted.  Unfortunately he wouldn't let it go for less than $15.

The good news is this set of Archives Dodgers is about the same size as one of those 80's Topps Traded sets, so his asking price was only five bucks.  Considering completed sales range from $20 to $50 on eBay, I consider this a solid find.

If you're unfamiliar with this set... it contains 165 cards that feature 1952 Topps, 1953 Topps, 1954 Topps, 1955 Topps, 1955 Bowman, and 1956 Topps Brooklyn Dodgers reprints... as well as a bunch of cards that were never made back in the 50's.


I was obviously pretty excited to add five new Jackie Robinson cards to my collection, but the card that stood out the most was this Robert Clemente cardClemente was signed by the Dodgers?  How did this escape my knowledge?


#31996 Stadium Club Member's Only Set $30


Binder Contents: 450 Card Parallel Set, 19 Card Mickey Mantle Set, 9 Card Metalists Set, 10 Card Midsummer Matchup Set, 9 Card Prime Cuts Set, 10 Card Mega Heroes Set, 15 Card Power Packed Set, 10 Card Bash and Burn Set, 10 Card Metalists Set, and 15 Card Power Streak Set


This set along with the 1997 Stadium Club Member's Only set were the two biggest purchases of the dayEach of these binders include a complete Member's Only parallel version of the base set and most of the insert sets produced that year.

I've gotta admit the Member's Only stamp makes the cards less attractive, but for the price I can live with it.


#41997 Stadium Club Member's Only Set $30


Binder Contents: 390 Card Parallel Set, 12 Card Firebrand Set, 22 Card Instavision Set, 40 Card Millenium Set, 20 Card Pure Gold Set, and 13 Card Patent Leather Set.


Topps did a much better job with the 1997 set.  They omitted the Member's Only stamp on the front and used sort of a watermark thing on the card backs to differentiate this set from the regular base set.  And in regards to the insert sets, they replaced quantity with quality.


The Instavision and Patent Leather inserts are amazing!  They also limited the print run of this set to only 750 copies.  That might sound like a lot, but back in 1997 that was still considered pretty rare.

One of these days, I'll take a closer look at some of these insert sets.

Let me know down below if there are any insert sets in particular you'd like me to write about.

There were still plenty of cool things sitting in these tubs like unopened wax boxes, various sets, and around 10 more binders.  After purchasing these four items, I realized that I need to drop all of this stuff off at the car before purchasing more.

Unfortunately... by the time I got back someone had picked through the bins.


#5Wilson Official NFL Game Ball $10


While walking down another row, I saw that a family had some 80's CorningWare.  My friend had told me to keep an eye out for that stuff, so I took some pictures and sent it her way.  Sitting next to the blue cornflower casserole dishes was this Wilson official football.  It's not the current model, but considering that these once sold for $80 in stores, I couldn't pass it up for $10.

The next time my buddy does a signing with Jerry Rice or Joe Montana, I'll probably have him get it signed.


#6Baseball Cards Price Guide (April 1990) $1


My final purchase of the day isn't going to win any Haul of the Year awards, but it only set me back a buck.  On the second to last row, I ran across a guy who was selling off his brother's Bay Area sports collection.  He had a bunch of newspapers, magazines, sports figures, and some trading cards.  Unfortunately he said a few early birds had picked through most of his cards.

This 1990 Baseball Cards magazine was the only thing that really caught my eye.  I offered him a dollar and he accepted.  The cover has what appears to be a fake Will Clark signature, but that's not why I bought it.

It was all about these 2 three-card sheets:



What can I say?  I'm a sucker for magazine oddballs.

Well there you have it.  This year's flea market finds haven't been that great, but I was pretty excited to find these two Stadium Club Member's Only sets.  I'd say they're a strong candidate for my flea market haul of the year.  Hopefully I'll find something this upcoming Saturday at the Branham High School Flea Market that'll be in the same league.

Until then...

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!

Extra Innings

2002 FilmCardz Spider-Man Autograph

Rest in peace Mr. Lee.

19 comments:

Angus said...

I think that is a pretty solid haul.

I don't think that I've ever seen Topps Screen Plays, so I wouldn't mind seeing that when you open it.

I would gladly have paid five dollars for that Dodger set.

And ten bucks for the football? Great!

I would love to see some of that stuff at flea markets that I've walked through.

mr haverkamp said...

That screen plays set was my favorite of the mid-late 90's. Could never figure out the difference between the SPs and the regular/base cards....any clues on the box?

acrackedbat said...

all great finds Fuji. The Stadium Club sets tho, will all the inserts?? THAT made my head spin.

Nick said...

It's hard enough to find the base cards from 1996 & '97 Stadium Club, much less those Members Only parallels!

Love the Baseball Card Magazine sheets as well. I've recently started looking through the stacks of old magazines tucked in the back of the used bookstores I frequent, but haven't had any luck finding baseball card giveaways in any of 'em. Hopefully I'll get lucky soon.

Nick Vossbrink said...

NICE. Screenplays and Instavision satisfy my love of lenticular/animated cards (I just recieved my Topps 3D on demand set today and it's awesome) and I'd love to see you play with animated gifs in posting about those.

Also is that screenplays box full of tins?

Commishbob said...

Nice haul. I'm most envious of that Brooklyn Dodger box. Would be a fun little bunch of cards to flip through

The Shlabotnik Report said...

I am astounded by the Screen Plays box... because I don't remember a damn thing about them, and I was actively collecting at the time. I had to make the image larger to even determine that they were baseball cards.

A lovely bunch of acquisitions... The Brooklyn set looks like fun.

sg488 said...

I never heard of screenplays,sometimes I wonder if buy stuff like this just because of the low price.

Brett Alan said...

If you didn't know that Clemente was once in the Dodgers system, you didn't pay enough attention to Dime Box Nick's excellent Short Term Stops series. http://baseballdimebox.blogspot.com/2018/05/short-term-stops-all-zero-year-team.html

night owl said...

Dude, for not knowing about the Dodgers and Clemente, which I believe I've mentioned on my blog maybe a half dozen times, you must give me all the cards I'm missing from that Archives set.

SumoMenkoMan said...

What an interesting way to price things...by size. You did well my friend. I’m planning on buying my some an authentic NFL football for Christmas and I think you got a steal at $10.

gcrl said...

I've completed that dodgers archives set and had never seen a factory set pop up in doing so. Great bargain!

The Lost Collector said...

Those Patent Leather cards are amazing. I must go find one.

Do you think there are less deals to be had because people are so much more "woke" about hidden valuables? Or more outlets to sell them? More people hunting for a deal with intent to flip? From afar, it feels like the days of bargain hunting are so much more competitive now, or there's just so many more people in the game.

Matt said...

Those are some great finds!

Bulldog said...

I think those were some great finds. Definitely not the normal stuff you tend to see. I enjoyed seeing many cards I haven't seen before. Great post .

Jafronius said...

Congrats on the haul...as for insert sets, write about them all!

Peter K Steinberg said...

Speechless.

Matt said...

Blown away. Box of Screenplays? That Stadium Club score? Wow.

Fuji said...

angus - i'll definitely be opening the topps screen plays at some point. when i do... it'll be a blog post for sure. i'm kinda wondering what i missed at the bottom of those tubs.

mr haverkamp - no hints on the box. however i discovered online that each box should provide one complete set and one premium card. comc has scans of the griffey and piazza premiums. doesn't look like it says premium anywhere on the card. maybe it says something on the tin.

julie owens - me too. the 1997 inserts are pretty awesome. gonna write up a post on the gloves first.

nick - the cards are a nice bonus. but the magazines themselves are entertaining as well. it's fun to look at the ads and read about prospects that were suppose to pay for college educations.

nick vossbrink - yeah, it contains 21 tins... which should be a complete 20 card set plus one premium (assuming it hasn't been searched). i'll do my best to create some animated gifs as soon as i open the screenplays box (although it might be awhile). gonna focus on some of those insert sets first.

commishbob - i spent about 20 minutes sorting the cards and reading card backs. it's a pretty cool set.

the shlabotnik report - i remember my lcs had them... but they were pretty price, so i never bought any. i've seen them over the years at card shows and they're pretty cool. excited to have a complete set now.

sg488 - yeah. i have a problem with buying stuff b/c it's a good deal.

brett alan - i must be officially losing my mind. i even left a comment on that blog post, so i definitely saw that card before.

night owl - well... considering i left a comment on nick's post that featured the clemente... there's a good chance i commented on your posts (or at least some of them) and i just had a huge brain fart. can't help it. i'm getting old.

sumomenkoman - i remember my buddy talking about how much authentic game balls cost (since he buys them from time to time to get signed), so i knew $10 was a pretty good deal. i didn't even try to haggle.

gcrl - i've never seen it before either. honestly... had no idea what it was, but it had archives on it... and i love me some archives.

the lost collector - i think it's a combination. i definitely have more competition. plus it wouldn't surprise me if a lot of the guys who buy storage lots have connections lined up prior to reaching the flea market

matt - thanks!

bulldog - thanks. i'm excited to research and write about some of these stadium club inserts. the 1997's are especially beautiful.

jafronius - not sure about all... but i'll definitely write about three, maybe four. have the gloves all scanned. just need to write up a review.

peter k. steinberg - i was pretty speechless when i saw that 1997 stadium club binder. i started getting nervous when i got up to ask for a price.

sport card collectors - your screenplays post from a while back reminded me of how cool they are.