This one had a bunch of display cases with baseball, football, and basketball singles. There might have been hockey too... but I didn't really take the time to look for them. They also had autographed photos and balls. Most of my attention was drawn to the middle of the shop where there were bargain (unopened) boxes, a pair of dollar boxes, and a few $2 boxes. I ended up spending $9 on singles, but since a few of the cards are for fellow bloggers, I'll go ahead and just show off the three cards I purchased for myself:
2017 Heritage Minor League #52
The Pete Rose milk carton was my favorite purchase of the trip, but this card was right behind it. I've become a huge Juan Soto fan over the past few weeks after watching his highlights and YouTube videos like this one:
How can you not appreciate his confidence and the little routine he does in the batter's box? Add in this guy's commentary and you have instant entertainment. Jomboy is currently my favorite YouTube channel.
Anyways... getting back to the card. It was sitting in the two dollar box and I was absolutely stoked to see it in there. This guy has a lot of upside. Hard to believe he's only 21 years old. Right, Night Owl? Lol. Just kidding buddy.
In addition to the Soto, I also found this Deacon Jones memorabilia card sitting in the $2 box:
2002 Leaf Certified Fabric of the Game #FG7 (#'d 20/50)
Deacon Jones played a little before my time, but from an early age I was well aware of his greatness. I mean... the guy is nicknamed the Secretary of Defense and is credited with coining the term "sack". There was no way I could pass up a piece of his game worn jersey for two bucks.
The last card I picked up for my collection is this Joey Votto memorabilia card:
2018 Topps Heritage Clubhouse Collection Relics #CCR-JVO
While walking around the card show, I stumbled across another Heritage Clubhouse Collection relic of Votto, but wasn't willing to pay the $2 price tag. However this card was sitting in the card shop's dollar box. Now that's a price I can live with. Like Soto... Votto is pretty entertaining. I've enjoyed watching his personality evolve over the years.
Overall... I was pretty happy with my first card shop experience in a long, long time. The guy who worked there looked like he hated his job, but at least he said "hello" and "goodbye". I was also told that Teammates has reasonable prices on supplies. If it were closer to my house, I probably would visit it a few times a year.
Unfortunately... this will probably be my last card shop visit of 2019... and possibly 2020.
What about you?
How often do you take trips to your local card shops?
And today's bonus question of the day...
What young MLB stars are you excited to watch and collect in 2020?
Looking forward to reading your responses. Have a great week! Happy Monday and sayonara!
17 comments:
My only "local" card shop is about 20 minutes from my house, but even though he's a great guy and all, he caters more towards box breakers and mojo hunters, so there's not much there for me unless he's just bought a collection and has a pile of bulk singles to unload or something.
The place with all the cheap singles and star cards is about the same distance the opposite direction across country roads. I would go about once every month and a half, but since I'm so backlogged, I have tried to lay off for a while. I'm jonesing to go back though.
I don't generally jump on the fan bandwagon for new stars or rookies, since I never pull anything worth a dang. 2020 flagship may be my last new set except for A&G or Stadium Club for the forseeable future.
I don't collect "young stars," I am an equal-opportunity collector.
Trips to local card shops? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA!!!!!!
That Juan Soto is interesting because it uses the same photo as the one used for the league-exclusive 2016 Southern Atlantic League set (which is also the only Soto card I have currently).
Ever since my go-to place in downtown NYC went kaput my trips to LCS' have been limited. Mainly because I know that they're never going to have the stuff I'm looking for in their inventory. I did go to one recently though to buy some supplies (card sleeves) and that was that.
As for stars, I like Walker Buehler but now that he's blown up (like I thought he would back when I was scooping him up for pennies on the dollar back in 2015) it's time to put that to rest. I don't buy after players take big leaps forward.
I go to my LCS maybe once a month, specifically when a new product drops. I usually prefer to pick up a few hobby packs rather than going the retail route.
I go to my card shop about 4 times a year. I mostly go for supplies since I mainly get my fix from singles on ebay or COMC. My card shops don't have much in the way of dollar boxes or any type of boxes. Some of it is marked but the majority of cards are unmarked and that isn't as much fun. I go to shows about once a year and go mainly looking for dollar boxes...I have never seen anything less at the shows I go too.
As for young stars...not really. Lately I have switched to Marvel type of cards....only sports card I have been chasing is Drew Drechsel ginter's autos or SP cards. I'm a fan of America Ninja Warrior.
Jared
yeah, no local shops for me, but I will travel. I missed out this weekend heading 2 hrs to one. Bonus: Way too many young stars out there, so going with all of them except when they are playing against the Braves.
The last time I went to local card shops was for National Baseball Card Day. Topps listed four participating shops in reasonable driving distance...only one of which was actually participating, and one was actually the home of an online seller. Apart from that, I find the prices at these shops way higher than at card shows, so I really don’t buy there. No dime boxes, and that Votto relic would probably be about six bucks.
I haven't been to a card shop in ages. Long ago I had a regular rotation of shops I'd visit on Saturdays but the last two closed (and the owners went to online sales) about 8 or 10 years ago. I know of one shop still open over on the far side of Houston but with hotel shows generally rolling around twice a month I just don't have the urge to visit.
That's a fun trio, and big on the variety. I'm happy the game has guys like Soto to help bring in the next generation of fans--he's super fun to watch and I bet he'll break a record or two.
I'm absolutely crazy about Juan Soto. Just thinking about how much he's already accomplished and adding in the fact that he just turned 21 years old. He's one to watch for sure.
No local card shops by me in New Jersey. Two great ones by my parents in California. My kids managed to convince a grandparent to take them about 4 times last summer. Plus I took them twice myself (and went once by myself as well)
Teammates is 3 miles from my house,I only go there if I need supplies.
Nationals, Rams? Looks like one of my posts. LOL.
I visit my LCS about 4-5 times a year. I love their Topps flagship rip parties.
Jomboy is absolute gold.
gca - i'm more of a cheap singles and star cards kind of guy too.
night owl - i tried to stay away from collecting young stars. but guys like acuna and soto keep pulling me back in.
zippy zappy - i'm kind of the opposite. i won't usually buy guys i'm not familiar with unless they're dirt cheap. i usually wait until they have two or three solid years under their belt
the bucs stop here - that's probably the wiser route.
jared - if my local cards shows only had dollar (or more) boxes, i probably wouldn't attend. i need my dime (or at least quarter box) fix. as for america ninja warrior... i've never seen it... but have heard people talk about it before
johnnys trading spot - heck, there are a bunch of young stars on the braves roster alone
brett alan - wait. an online seller set up as a participating dealer for national baseball card day? lol that sounds a little weird
commishbob - hotel shows twice a month? that sounds pretty awesome
dennis - soto is a crack up. just wish baseball announcers were as entertaining as jomboy
henry blanchette - hopefully he continues to blossom well into his 30's. it'd also be nice if he becomes this decade's ryan zimmerman
nick vossbrink - what part of california are your parents in? if they're in northern california i'd love to know the names of these shops. if they're in southern california, i'm sure ryan would like to know the names of the shops
sg488 - wow... we were right in your neck of the woods. i've been told that he has solid prices on supplies.
captkirk42 - you're a rams fan? congratulations on the nationals winning it all!
bbcardz - flagship rip party? that sounds fun. i might go to one of those if my lcs held one
adam kaningher - hell yeah he is.
Great looking Fabric Of The Game card> I have always liked those. Wished Panini would do more of those
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