Flea Market Finds #179: Cards, a Pennant, and a Glove

This post recaps the final flea market haul of my summer break which took place two Saturdays ago at the Branham Flea Market.  Although the deals weren't as stellar as some of my other finds in recent months, I did have to make a trip to the car to drop stuff off... so the bulk was there.

Let's get into it...

Purchase #1:  A Pair of Moss Rookies  $15

My first purchase of the day was from a vendor I've purchased from in the past.  The one that stands out the most is a basketball haul back in 2019.  He didn't have his usual display case this time, but he had a binder filled with basketball and football cards.

1998 Topps Chrome #35

Unfortunately there weren't any Kobe or Jordans, but there were some pretty cool cards inside.  The highlights were mid to low-end rookie cards of Allen Iverson, Tim Duncan, and Peyton Manning.  I asked about a few of them and $10 each seemed to be the magic number.  At that price, I figured the best bargain of the binder would be these two Randy Moss Chrome rookie cards.

Unfortunately both are a little off-centered... so he told me I could have the pair for $15.  One of my nieces is a huge Vikings fan... so she'll get one and I'll keep the other.

Purchase #2:  Another New VHS Tape  $1

Dances With Wolves (1990)

Not much to say.  It's a sealed VHS tape of a movie I enjoy.  Costner has a new home next to Travolta and Jackie.

The next four purchases were all made from another vendor from the past.  Remember the lady that sold me those Topps Magazines and cheap sets back in June?  Well she was still trying to dump her husband and son's card collection.  She's pretty much down to the bottom of the barrel, but I still found some stuff to buy.

Purchase #3a:  SJSU Pennants  $1

She had a stack of these San Jose State pennants for 50¢ each.  All of them were slightly stained, but I figured I'd grab one for my office and another for my classroom.

Purchase #3b:  Half of an Iconic Set  $2

1990 Leaf Series 1 Baseball Set

Remember when this set sold for over $100?  Heck the Sosa alone was worth that much back in 1998.

1990 Leaf #220

These days... Sosa is only worth a few bucks.  But there was no way I could leave this set behind.

Sadly... when I walked up... another guy had just purchased a set from her and I'm guessing it was the Series 2 set with the Frank Thomas rookie.

Purchase #3c:  Pair of Test Issue Sets  $2

1989 Action Packed Football Test Set

I have a hard time passing up dollar sets.  Grabbed one for my collection and figured I'd break the other one up if Greg (The Collective Mind) needs any of the Washington cards... and if Matt (Cards Over Coffee) needs any of the Giants.

Purchase #3d:  San Francisco 49ers Police Lot  $10

This is probably my favorite find of the day.  I'm sure most of you have little interest in 80's football oddball issues, but I'm all about them.  The lady had a stack of 1984 and 1985 7-11 San Francisco 49ers Police cards:

Here's a closer look at each set:

1984 San Francisco 49er Police Set

1985 San Francisco 49er Police Set

Ignore the $20 price tag.  Everything this lady had was 50% off.  I haven't finished sorting these strips, but there are multiple sets of each.

After picking up these strips of cards, I stopped off at my car and dropped everything off.  Here's the second half of my finds...

Purchase #4:  Star Wars Paperback  $2

1977 Star Wars Paperback (6th Printing)

Back in 1977, I was still reading picture books... so this wasn't an item I would have been interested in.  Forty-eight years later... I couldn't pass up the opportunity to add this to my bookshelf.

Purchase #5:  Magazine w/Cards & Postcards  $1

1992 Jan/Feb Legends Vol. 5 No. 1

A guy had a bunch of sports magazines from the 90's.  He was only asking a buck each, so grabbed this one because it comes with a sheet of cards.  I attempted to get a scan of it, but I started damaging the magazine, so I stopped.

If you're curious... the uncut sheet contains cards of Pete Rose, Frank Thomas, Cecil Cooper, Dan Marino, Jennifer Capriati, Emmitt Smith, Jimmy Connors, Jim Kelly, and Terry Norris.  

Purchase 6a:  More Laughlins  $10

One of the regular card dealers had this box of 1971 and 1972 Fleer Laughlin World Series cards.  Here are a few of my favorites:

The blue backs are cards from the 1970 set... and the black backs are the 71's.

The guy also had a stack of singles for a buck each, so I grabbed two...

Purchase #6b:  Dollar Stack  $2

2014 Bowman Chrome Refractor #CTP-37

You know things gotta be rough for Devers when his 1st Bowman refractor is in a dollar stack.  I figured for the price, the least I could do was provide him a new home. 

1989 Score Rookie & Traded #100T

As for Griffey rookies... unless they're damaged... there's no way I can pass these up for a dollar.

Purchase #7:  Dollar Comics  $4

After walking down every aisle... I started heading back and seeing if I missed anything.  The guy I purchased the Legends magazine from had a buddy with comic books.  I didn't notice he had Star Wars stuff the first time around, but then I saw this:

2000 Dark Horse Star Wars #23

The cover features a jedi named Quinlan Vos, who has a very complicated story arc that involved a relationship with Asajj Ventress.  Ventress happens to be one of my all-time favorite characters.

2000 Dark Horse Star Wars #24

2000 Dark Horse Star Wars #25

2001 Dark Horse Star Wars #26

I grabbed this set of comics in hopes of reading about their relationship, but when I got home and flipped through them... I didn't see her.  Oh well... it still gives me something to read when I'm bored.

Purchase #8:  Baseball Glove  $10

Rawlings Player's Series 10 Inch Glove

The first time I walked around, I saw this Oakland A's glove and asked the guy how much he wanted.  He was asking $15, which is a fair price.  When I got back to him, he asked me if I still was interested in the glove... only this time he dropped it down to $10.

I'm a sucker for Oakland A's memorabilia, so I couldn't pull out my money fast enough.

Like I stated at the start of the post... there weren't a lot of crazy deals this time around.  But for the price of a pair of blasters, I feel like I came home with some cool stuff.

This Saturday is the De Anza Flea Market.  It's going to be warm... but I'm planning to kick off my three day weekend out there.  Hopefully I have some interesting collectibles to share with you guys next week.

Until then... I apologize for the lack of posts.  The start of the school year is always a little hectic.  Give me a few weeks and I should be back into the one to two posts per week swing.

Happy Wednesday and sayonara!

Getting Back Into the Game

Happy Sunday!  Are you ready for some sports card posts?

I am fully aware that I haven't been very active in the blogosphere lately.  In fact, this year saw a significant drop in the number of posts I published on this blog.  But I'm hoping to bounce back in 2024.  Cold starts have never worked for me, so if I have any hopes of getting back into a regular blogging routine, I'd better start now.

With blogger care packages, flea market finds, and even a few card show purchases piling up in my office... I was wondering where the heck I should begin.  Then Ryan texted me over the weekend about Godzilla Minus One, which is the latest movie in the franchise.  Not sure if I've ever seen any of the Godzilla movies in the theaters, but I'm hoping to change that this holiday season.

2006 Topps Topps Stars #TS-HM

His text reminded me of a stack of cards sitting on my desk with this Godzilla right on top.  It was part of a care package that Dennis over at Too Many Verlanders sent me last December.  Nope.  That's not a typo.  One year ago.

Since then he's sent me two additional packages and today... in honor of Godzilla being out in theaters (and the Ohtani signing yesterday with the Dodgers)... I'm going to show off the Japanese baseball players (and a few other items) he sent my way.

2021 Topps A&G #23

Dennis has a way of picking cards for my collection.  My Ichiro cards are sorted by year in a binder and this is the first and only 2021 card in it.

He also sent me these three hits I didn't have: 

2021 Chrome Update Autographs #CUSA-KA

 

Arihara only spent a couple of seasons over here and wasn't exactly a household name.

2010 Topps National Chicle Relics #NCR-KF

On the other hand, I feel like the majority of baseball fans around in the late 2000's remember Fukudome.  He had one heck of a MLB debut and his first month in the Bigs was stellar.  There was even a controversial t-shirt he was depicted on that made national news.

2018 Topps Player's Weekend Patch #PWP-MA

Tanaka was a two-time all-star and spent his entire seven season MLB career with the New York Yankees, so he should be a household name among baseball fans.  Anyone else remember him going 24-0 with a 1.27 ERA in 2013 for the Rakuten Golden Eagles?

I'll round out the huge lot of Japanese baseball players with these two Hideo Nomo cards:

1995 Flair Wave of the Future #10

Nomo opened the door for guys like Matsui, Ichiro, Tanaka, and Ohtani and is still the MLB career leader in wins among Japanese born pitchers.  And up until August, he was the career leader in strikeouts.  Yu Darvish passed him up and ironically... Nomo (who works for the Padres) was at the game.

Anyways... getting back the card... at the height of Nomomania, this card was probably selling for $20 to $30.  Probably more in LA.

1996 Topps BIG Topps #NNO

What you're looking at is a really cool insert from the 90's.  C'mon... you know I like oversized cards.  These postcard sized cards were inserted (like box toppers) into specially marked team sets that were sold at Walmart.  I had never owned one of these until Dennis sent me this one.

In an effort to tie in some other items he sent me, here are some new Jake Cronenworth cards for my San Diego Padres PC:

One shiny card really stood out from the bunch:

2022 Topps Chrome Future Stars #FS-9

Those of you who are familiar with Dennis... know that he's a huge Michigan Wolverines fan/collector.  Cronenworth was born and raised in Michigan and played three seasons with the Wolverines before entering the MLB Draft.

I'm super excited for Dennis as his #1 ranked Wolverines are headed to Southern California to play #4 Alabama in the CFP semifinals.  I will totally be rooting for them as well as the Washington Huskies in the other CFP semifinal game.

I'll also be pulling for San Jose State University as they're bowl bound too.  They play Coastal Carolina in the 2023 Hawaii Bowl on December 23rd.  Let's go Spartans!

Here are a pair of Tyler Ervin autographs that Dennis added to my SJSU PC:

2016 Panini Classics Significant Signatures #233

2016 Panini Prime Signatures #212

Ervin was an absolute stud for the Spartans his senior year when he rushed for over 1,600 yards and 13 touchdowns.  Although his NFL career was less than stellar, he did end up playing five seasons with three teams.

David Fales was another Spartan who shined in San Jose:

2014 SP Authentic Canvas Collection #C-30

He was a teammate of Ervin at SJSU from 2012 to 2013 and finished with over 8,000 passing yards during his two seasons there before entering the 2014 NFL Draft.

The Chicago Bears selected him in the 6th Round and his facial expression pretty much sums up his NFL career.

Dennis sent me a bunch of other things, but I'm already over three hours into this post and I'm guessing most of you have already checked out.  But for those of you who stuck around, in honor of the Los Angeles Lakers becoming the first NBA In-Season Tournament Champions, here's one more Michigan native Dennis sent me:

1990-91 Star Slam #1-9

Haven't been a big NBA fan for the past decade or so, but when I was... the Lakers were my team.  I started rooting for them during the Showtime Era and Magic Johnson played a huge part in my fanfare.

Magic attended college in Michigan... but wasn't a Wolverine.  He was a Michigan State Spartan.  I've got no love for them... or the baseball team he has an ownership stake in.  However I will casually root for the Lakers and of course Shohei Ohtani.

Well that's it for now.  I'm going to try to write at least one post a week until the holidays... then fingers crossed... get back into the two to three posts per week routine in 2024.

By the way... thank you to those who left thoughtful comments on my Papa Fuji and buddy Mike posts.  They lifted my spirits during that rough patch and were much appreciated.  I'm very fortunate to be a part of this card blogging community.

Happy Sunday and sayonara! 

Overtime

Almost forgot... if you're a college football fan, head over to Cards on Cards and enter Kerry's College Bowl Pick'em contest.  The rules are simple and there are multiple prizes.  Don't believe me, click here and see for yourself.