Flea Market Finds #119: Another Shoebox and Vintage Star Wars

Good things often come in small packages.  That's exactly what the Branham High School Flea Market is.

There are three major flea markets that I attend and Branham is by far the smallest.  However when it comes to finding reasonably priced collectibles, it's my favorite one to browse.  Last weekend there were five vendors with trading cards.  I made purchases from three of them.

Purchase #1: Water Damaged Shoebox $5

The first vendor's setup focused on action figures, lunch pails, and other children's collectibles.  Sitting off to the side was this water damaged shoebox filled with 80's and 90's baseball cards.  75% of them are 1982 Donruss.

Let's get this out of the way.  There weren't any Ripken rookies to be had.  

There were also a handful of other cool rookie cards:

Plus a slew of stars for my 80's binder:

And some errors and corrected versions from this set:

The vendor wanted $10.  I offered him $5 and he accepted.  If anyone out there is building this set, there's a good chance that I can help you out.

Purchase #2:  Just the Hits $10

Box Bottom Guy was back.  He didn't really have anything new in terms of singles... but he told me he'd accept any reasonable offer.

I was excited to find one of Verlander's first trading cards and one of those nickname autographs.  But my favorite card is the 2001 Topps American Pie Woodstock card of Maury Wills.  Topps did a great job with this set's design.

I felt $10 was a fair offer for the five hits... and he agreed.

He also threw in a few things I found from his dollar bin:

80's Baseball Calendars

1985 Topps Super #7

2003 Donruss Classics Timeless Tributes #128

This purchase was proof that if you take care of a valued vendor, they'll take care of you.

Purchase #3:  Vintage Star Wars/Star Trek Stickers  $10

I met a woman who was selling off her son's Star Wars collection.  There were a lot of cool items, but I settled on these $2 packs of stickers.  I grabbed all eleven and she gave them to me for $10.

Most of the stickers were in really nice condition... and I was really surprised at how popular the Star Trek stickers are.  But my favorites were the Empire Strikes Back letters:

That wraps up my Branham Flea Market Finds.  I'm on Spring Break this week, so tomorrow I get to walk around the Capitol Flea Market, which is about five times bigger... but not necessarily five times better.

Happy Wednesday and sayonara!

Obsession w/ Ink

A while back, one of my coworkers showed off her back, which was completely covered in tattoos.  The artwork was pretty amazing and badass.  I've considered getting one, but never settled on anything that I'd want to see for the rest of my life.  I mean it's so permanent... well kind of.

For now... I'll just stick to collecting another type of ink:  autographed sports cards.

My obsession started back in the mid 90's with products like Signature Rookies and Be A Player that offered a guaranteed autograph per pack.  Eventually I started chasing the tougher to pull autographs like Stadium Club Co-Signers and Fleer Autographics.

Two decades later, I'm much more selective in the autographs I choose to add to my collection.  For the most part, I no longer add sticker autographs unless the price is right or there's no other option.  I'm also pretty picky about card designs and have no problem waiting until the card falls into my price range.

Today I'm taking on the fifth installment of Tony's 30-Day Baseball Card Challenge, which happens to be showing off a certified autographed card of one of my favorite players.  And since autographs are my favorite thing to collect, I figured I'd show off five certified autographs from five of my favorite players.

Without further adieu...

#1:  Tony Gwynn

2007 UD Masterpieces Stroke of Genius #GW

Framed and signed on faux canvas, this autograph set is truly a thing of beauty.  Adding Tony in his late 80's brown and orange uniform makes this one of my favorite autographed cards in my collection.


#2:  Rickey Henderson

2016 Topps Strata Signature Patch #SSP-RH

I realize that there are some collectors are traditionalists who believe baseball cards should be made only out of cardboard.  If they ever held one of these, they might change their minds.  There's a reason, I named it my favorite card of 2016.


#3:  Greg Maddux

2016 Topps Tribute Rightful Recognition #NOWGM

For years, Greg Maddux autographs were out of my price range.  His printing plates were too.  Thanks to Topps, there are plenty of both floating around our hobby... which allowed me to pick up this signed printing plate at a very affordable price.


#4:  Steve Carlton

1999 Century Legends Epic Signatures #SC

There are so many beautiful autographed card designs out there today, I'd be hard pressed to choose one.  But the 1999 Century Legends Epic Signatures would definitely be in the discussion. 

#5:  Ichiro Suzuki

1993 BBM #239

My latest addiction is picking up autographed rookie cards.  This card represents a few things.  It's my first and only autograph of Ichiro.  It features one of Ichiro's official Japanese rookie cards.  And it represents my most pricey single card purchase and is easily one of my favorite signed rookie cards.

Well there you have it.  Five of my favorite certified autograph cards signed by five of my favorite baseball players.

Some of you may have noticed that one of my favorite players was left off the list.  That's because I couldn't figure out which of the following cards is my favorite:

2007 SP Authentic By The Letters #125

Now that I have revealed my obsession with collecting ink... how about you?

Are you into tattoos, autographed cards, or both?

And if you haven't joined in on Tony's 30-Day Baseball Card Challenge...

What's your favorite autographed card of your favorite player?

I hope all of you enjoyed a safe holiday weekend.  Happy Monday and sayonara!

Easter Giddiness

The Oakland A's and San Diego Padres have each dropped three in a row.  And the San Jose Sharks lost on Friday night.

Despite the recent struggles of three of my favorite sports teams, this weekend has been pretty rock solid.  Yesterday, I went to the flea market, found some vendors with cards, and added a few things to my collection which I'll post later in the week.

And this morning, before heading out to Easter brunch, I spent over an hour opening up two care packages and sorting cards.  It made me feel as giddy as a little kid hunting for Easter eggs.

Here's what I discovered...

Package #1: ARPSmith's Sportscard Obsession

Adam sent me a small flat rate box stuffed with goodies.  There were nine cards I needed for my 1986 Donruss set:

I'm down to needing only 34 more cards... and the Jerry Koosman was the final Diamond King I needed.

There was also a partial 1988 Mother's Cookies A's set, which featured a ton of star power:

Seeing the likes of the Bash Brothers, Stew, Eck, and the Cobra reminded me just how loaded those late 80's Athletics rosters were.

Speaking of the Bash Brothers, Adam loaded me up with inserts and oddballs of both guys:

Plus he included a bunch of other A's base cards, inserts, parallels, rookie cards, and oddballs for the collection.

I'll start building a nice San Francisco Giants care package for you... plus I should be able to return the favor and help you with some of those Hometown Heroes insert sets you're building.  Stay tuned Adam.

Package #2:  Nomo's Sushi Platter

A few weeks ago, Michael hit me up on Twitter (@SpiegelMichael) about the possibility of working out a trade.  I explained that I'd be down for a blind trade if he was willing to wait a few weeks until my Spring Break.

He was... and last week I received his trade package that included a little bit of everything... starting with two new Hideo Nomos for my binder:

He also sent me a bunch of "hits" for my Japanese baseball player collection:

In addition to the "hits", he also brightened up my day with some refractor "shine":

Next up are some Oakland Athletics' "hits":

And a pair of IP or TTM autographs:

And rounding things out were a handful of Steve Carlton and Tony Gwynn inserts:

Thank you Michael and Adam for these generous packages.  I had a blast sifting through the cards, putting them into my binders, and scanning them for my website.  My goal is to have your packages in the mail by the end of the week.

Happy Easter and sayonara!

Playing Favorites

Do you have a favorite baseball card of your favorite player that is valued at less than $15?

If so, then you too can enter Peter's contest over on his blog:  Baseball Every Night.

1983 Topps #482

Most of you already know which direction I'll be heading in with my response.  Ever since I started this blog, I have made it loud and clear that Tony Gwynn is my favorite athlete of all-time.  I've also confessed my love on numerous occasions for the 1983 Topps baseball card design.

The price restriction isn't a concern either.  Had Peter asked us to write this post twenty-five years ago, I might have had a hard time finding Gwynn's 1983 Topps rookie card for under $15.  However these days you can easily find a nice copy for under $10 and if condition isn't an issue, I've seen these sell for under $5.

1983 O-Pee-Chee #143

Honestly... the only problem I'm having is deciding if I like his O-Pee-Chee rookie card better.  Both cards utilize the exact same photos and are almost identical in design.  I go back and forth between which card I like more.  The O-Pee-Chee features the brighter card stock, bilingual text, and is rarer, but the Topps card is the one I'm familiar with from my childhood.

I've flip-flopped numerous times over the past five years and I'll probably continue to do so over the rest of my life.  But since Peter's contest entry requires one card.  Today, I'm going with:

Congratulations Peter on your 1 Year Anniversary and thank you for hosting this contest.  I'm really looking forward to reading all of the contest responses.

Happy Friday and sayonara!

Extra Innings

Two days after publishing this post, I realized that my 1983 Topps Tony Gwynn rookie card also covers my Day 4 submission to Tony's 30-Day Baseball Card Challenge.