Flea Market Finds #173b: Balls & Boxes

Standardized testing is over... one end of the year field trip down... and only three and a half weeks left of the regular school year.  The light at the end of the tunnel is shining bright.  Let's show off the other half of my May 3rd De Anza Flea Market finds...

Purchase #5:  Autographed Baseball  $10

Tom Seaver Autographed Baseball

Normally I avoid buying signed baseballs from strangers, but for $10... I figured this was worth the risk.  

The ball came with this card which is actually what convinced me the signature is legit:

Back in the early 90's, Tony LaRussa and his wife started ARF, because there weren't a lot of no-kill animal shelters in the Bay Area.  The foundation has utilized autograph sessions with former baseball players to help raise money for their cause.  I couldn't find a specific year, but it looks like Tom Seaver was an autograph guest at some point.

The only complaint I have is that he signed an official American League baseball.  I know he played for the White Sox and Red Sox, but not during Gene Budig's tenure as AL President.

Purchase #6:  Another Baseball  $5

What does Rawlings do with a bunch of baseballs after MLB cancels the World Series?  I guess they hand them out to flea market vendors to sell to baseball fans who like collecting weird stuff like this.

I already have one of these balls in my collection, but for five bucks... I grabbed another.

Purchase #7:  A New Project  $40

One of the most interesting vendors had a bunch of mid 2000's baseball boxes laid out on a tarp.  The thing is... the boxes weren't sealed and the packs were already opened.

These two boxes of 2006 Topps Allen & Ginter caught my eye, because I was out of the hobby when this set was released.  After some negotiation that involved me walking away... we settled on the $40 price tag.

When the dust settled... I had 62.8% (220 out of 350) of the set.  In other words... I'll be looking for cheap starter lots on eBay.

Purchase #8:  Two Factory Sets  $40

Another project I've thought about is picking up Topps factory sets from 1986 to present.  I've picked up a handful of them over the past decade or so when the price is right.

A vendor on the last row had these two sitting at the bottom of a storage tub:

2007 Topps Factory Set

2008 Topps Factory Set

I'm not a big fan of the 2007 Topps design, but 2008 is one of my favorites from the past two decades.  This was a great way to end my trip to the flea market.

Sorry... haven't had time to scan those bags of vintage from Part 1, but I'll try to do it as soon as possible.  Plus I have one more flea market post from last weekend which I hope to document and publish before De Anza rolls around again.

Until then...

Happy Thursday and sayonara!

Flea Market Finds #173a: Junk Wax and Old Stuff

I'm three weeks behind on blogging... and end of the school year activities aren't helping.  In an effort to catch up... I'm going to split my May 3rd trip to the De Anza Flea Market into two shorter posts.

It's the largest flea market in my area and gaining in popularity with each passing month.  Unfortunately that means large crowds and congested parking lots.  It also means more vendors are choosing to set up and sell stuff.

Let's kick this post off with the first and cheapest item of the day...

Purchase #1: Commemorative Baseball  $1

1997 Opening Day Oakland A's Baseball

The second vendor down the first row had a bunch of tables with junk tossed on them.  Found this ball (holder not included) sealed in a bag.  Before I could even ask, the lady told me to take it for a dollar.

It looks like it might be a stadium giveaway promotion handed out on Opening Day at the Coliseum.  This isn't something I typically seek out for my collection... but the price was right.

Purchase #2:  Vintage School Supplies  $8

Hasbro School Pak

A few dealers down there was a couple with crates filled with old stuff like books, candlesticks, and ashtrays.  The lady had just put this school supply pack on a table when I walked up.

Although I don't normally collect school supplies... this item looked interesting and eight bucks seemed like a fair price for a piece of history.

Purchase #3:  Unopened Packs of World Records  $10

1992 Pro Set Guinness Book of World Records

This was an impulse purchase.  Best case scenario... I build a complete set... while keeping a few packs sealed for a rainy day.  Failure to do so will result in arguably the worst flea market find in 2025.

Purchase #4:  Bags of Vintage  $40

Found a guy with tons of sandwich bags filled with vintage baseball cards.  He was asking $25 per bag or five bags for $100.  The bags were sorted by years (ranging from 1958 to 1973 Topps) and contained anywhere from twenty to fifty cards.  I wasn't looking to drop $100 on one purchase, so I found these two bags and offered him $40.  He accepted.

I'll try to scan the contents in the next day or two and publish them in another post as well as start working on the second half of my flea market purchases.

Until then...

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!

A Few Firsts

Woke up this morning and started catching up on this weekend's blog posts.  Greg over at Night Owl Cards wrote about some "personal firsts" which inspired me to get out of bed and hammer out this post.

But since my first response to his "first" topic involves a basketball product, let me first show off this cool Ohtani that he sent recently sent me:

2024 Topps 2023 Greatest Hits #23GH-14

This guy is off to another stellar season at the plate.  Not sure when he'll pitch again, but it sounds like it might be in the second half of the season.  Let's focus on the now and look at Night Owl's first category...

First Blaster Purchased:  1998-99 Upper Deck Basketball

 eBay Image

I have no idea what product had the honor of being my very first blaster box.  Honestly... I'd have to search this blog to tell you my last.  That being said... I do remember going to Walmart with my buddy Mike and grabbing boxes of 1998-99 Upper Deck Basketball.

1998-99 Upper Deck #230d

That's the oldest memory of me going out and purchasing retail/blaster boxes.

First Parallel I Knew:  1975 Topps Minis

Although I have never owned the standard sized version, this 1977 Topps Mini Robin Yount rookie card has been in my collection since the early 80's:

1975 Topps Mini #223

I'm about 90% positive I purchased this in 1982 or 1983.  Is there a chance I learned about the 1984 Topps Tiffany set before this purchase?  Maybe.  But odds are I knew about the 1975 Topps Minis first.

First "Old Card" In My Collection:  1979 Topps Bump Wills

One of my neighbors gave me a shoebox filled with 1979 Topps baseball back in the early 80's.  While my friends and I owned stacks of 1981 Donruss and Topps baseball, I remember thinking how cool it was to own a bunch of these "old" 1979's.

This card stood out:

1979 Topps #369

While I was at the local sports memorabilia store (same store I purchased the Yount at), I learned about this card and his corrected version:

1979 Topps #369

The crazy thing is... I opened packs of 1977 Topps Star Wars, but at the time... the baseball cards felt older.

First Baseball Cards Purchased Through Mail-Order:  1986 Topps Glossy Mail-In

1986 Topps Glossy All-Star #57

This one is a toughie.  I'm 80% sure I sent in some of those special offer cards and ordered one or two of these special Topps mail-in sets.

I might be a year or two off, but I went with 1986 because it's my best guess response.

First Sitcom I Saw:  The Brady Bunch

There are a lot of shows from the 70's that I remember watching with my family.  I definitely watched a lot of Brady Bunch reruns when I was a kid.

1998 DuoCards Happy Days #1

But not exactly sure if that was before or after Happy Days, which we watched on a weekly basis.  Like Greg said in his response... it's "a gray area".

First Big Kid Book I Read:  Forever by Judy Blume

eBay Image

I'm not sure if this counts as a "big kid" book or not, but I remember getting my mom to buy it for me when I was in the 4th or 5th grade.  I remember it was one of those books where one kid at our school read it and word got around that it talked about "sex".  Don't remember the plot, but I definitely remember the cover.

First Cartoon That Freaked Me Out: Not Sure

Heavy Metal (1981) VHS Tape

Can't really think of any cartoons that freaked me out.  I remember watching Heavy Metal and seeing nudity... but I was a teenager when I saw it.  In other words, it didn't freak me out.

Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory (1971)

I'll modify the topic by replacing cartoon with "kids movie" and go with Gene Wilder and his chocolate factory tour.  That scene when they're on the boat in the tunnel with salamanders and chickens definitely freaked me out as a kid, but I still watched it over and over.

First Championship for a Favorite Team:  1984-85 Los Angeles Lakers

1983-84 BASF #NNO

One of my fondest sports memories involving my dad was watching the NBA Finals in the 80's with him.  He was a Boston Celtics fan... which shaped me into a Los Angeles Lakers fan.  I was pretty devastated when the Celtics beat the Lakers in 7 games in 1984, but that was the year I really started following basketball.  The following season the Lakers beat the Celtics in six.  Good times.

1984 was a big year for me in regards to sports.  While watching the 1984 World Series (or shortly after)... I adopted the San Diego Padres as my National League team.  Unfortunately they lost in five games to the Detroit Tigers.  But I'll never forget rooting for the Brown & Gold.

Night Owl recently sent me some 1984 Star panels featuring one of the key players from that World Series roster:

1984 Star Steve Garvey Panel #1 (#'s 1-3)

1984 Star Steve Garvey Panel #6 (#'s 16-18)

1984 Star Steve Garvey Panel #7 (#'s 19-21)

1984 Star Steve Garvey Panel #8 (#'s 22-24)

1984 Star Steve Garvey Panel #9 (#'s 25-27)

1984 Star Steve Garvey Panel #10 (#'s 28-30)

1984 Star Steve Garvey Panel #11 (#'s 31-33)

1984 Star Steve Garvey Panel #12 (#'s 34-36)

These 8 panels are part of a 12 panel set produced by The Star Company.  I really like the simple design and the color matched borders.

Based on the checklist, the missing panels contain Garvey's Dodgers cards:

I love oddball issues like these.    I'm still deciding if I'll keep these panels intact or separate the cards and get these into the Garvey section of my Padres binder.

Greg also sent me a pair of colorful Padres parallels:

2024 Topps Blue Holofoil #2 (#'d 998/999)

2024 Topps Holiday #50

It's been over a year and I'm still trying to figure out what design is featured on this Soto card.  Regardless... it's shiny and pretty.

Speaking of shine, Greg also sent me some A's parallels for my collection:

2024 Topps Archives Black Foilboard #113

2024 Topps Allen & Ginter Chrome Refractor #35

Soderstrom started off hot this year, but has cooled off the past few weeks.  He still leads the team in home runs, RBI's, and slugging percentage.

2024 Topps Holiday Holiday Tree #H127

Hopefully F-Face Fisher will build a playoff caliber team around the twenty-three year old slugger.  Better yet... I hope he sells the team and the new owner builds a team around him.

Thank you Night Owl for the care package and inspiring this post of "firsts".

Happy Sunday and sayonara!