Flea Market Finds #167: Periodicals, Magazine Cards, and an Uncut Sheet

Before I get into the first flea market trip of 2025... I wanted to thank everyone who voted in the 4th Annual Nachos Grande End-of-Year Awards.  I was excited and honored to win two categories this year: Funniest/Most Entertaining Blog and Favorite Blog Series.

Writing doesn't come naturally to me, so to be nominated for Funniest/Most Entertaining Blog was a pleasant surprise.

What blog series was nominated?  Well based on view counts, it's not too surprising the honor was given to my Flea Market Finds.  Over the years, they've always received more clicks than my average post.

That's fine with me, because I love walking around the flea market in search of bargains and new additions for a variety of collections.

Unfortunately... due to poor weather I went 0 for 2 in December attempts.  Luckily the new year brought dryer weather.  So on Saturday, January 4th, I woke up early and hit up the De Anza Flea Market.  It was overcast and cold, so more than half of the normal vendors chose to stay home, but by 9am there was a pretty decent amount of people walking around. 

I'm an early bird, so my shopping spree started at around 7am...

Purchase #1:  Baseball Cards  $4

2003 Donruss Classics Legends of the Fall #LF-10 (#'d 0272/2000)

The first purchase of the day was from a familiar face.  I've been buying cards off of Tony for over a decade.  He's a really nice guy who sets up with his buddy Tom at the De Anza Flea Market and some of the local card shows.

He didn't have a lot of new inventory, but I did manage to find a few cheap singles to help get his sales rolling...

The Munson was marked two bucks.  The Soto and Judge were in his dollar box and the rest were in his 50¢ bin.

He packaged everything together for four dollars.

Purchase #2:  Junk Wax Era Singles $4

One row over was a new guy with cards.  He had two boxes filled with cards in top loaders that ranged in price from $1 to $5.

The Ken Griffey Jr. insert and the Fleer base card of MJ were a buck each.  The rest of the cards were in his 3 for $1 bin.  However when he accepted another guy's four for a dollar offer... he passed the deal on to me as well.

Unfortunately... he didn't have a lot of baseball.  The majority of the box contained basketball cards and stickers like this shiny Shaq:

1993-94 Panini Stickers #C

I would have stayed a little longer and browsed through all of his 3 for $1 bin, but cards tend to draw crowds these days.  As soon as I had people on both sides of me, I gathered up my stack and checked out.

Purchase #3:  1990 McDonald's Cup  $1

There was another new vendor who brought out a bunch of McDonald's and Burger King cups from the 80's and 90's.  All of them were a dollar each.  I was tempted to pick up the 1992 Olympic Dream Team cups of Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, but ultimately I set them down and grabbed the one above.

Seeing this cup was a blast from the past.  I owned one just like it back in high school, so I brought it home with me. 

Purchase #4:  Sports Periodicals $3

One of the busiest vendors I came across was this guy with a ton of toys from the 80's and 90's.  He also had tons of random stuff like Rat Fink art and boxes of sports periodicals.  Luckily the sports programs and magazines were on an end cap, so I could flip through them without feeling claustrophobic.

The first thing I pulled out was this Seattle Mariners program from Ichiro's first MLB season:

I also found a promotional issue of Inside Stuff:

It contained an uncut sheet of 1994-95 Fleer Ultra basketball cards:

I'm a sucker for uncut sheets... so I had to add it to the stack.

The last periodical I picked up was this special baseball section of The San Jose Mercury News from 1989:

This came out six months before these two teams met in the 1989 World Series.  Storing old newspapers is a pain in the butt, but I couldn't pass up this piece of history for a buck.

Purchase #5:  Stack of SI for Kids Cards  $10

After going through the guy's periodicals, I strolled down one of his aisles containing mostly Star Wars ships and Happy Meal toys.  In between them was a small box with ticket stubs and a few stacks of trading cards.  One of those stacks contained about 100 early 90's Sports Illustrated for Kids cards:

It's arguably the best bargain of the day with tons of famous athletes.  Here's are a sample of stars:

Unfortunately the vast majority of the cards had been cut like this Tony Hawk card:

1990 Sports Illustrated for Kids #152

Due to these circumstances, they won't be added to my official collection of SI for Kids cards that are stored in binders.  But I will sleeve each one up and put them into my random SI for Kids box.  Cut or not, I'll buy these for a dime any day of the week.

Purchase #6:  A Classic Kid  $1

The final purchase of the day was off of my buddy Pete.  He's my supply guy.  We usually meet up at the other flea market and walk around together.  But on the first Saturday of every month, he sets up at De Anza with his comic book, magazine, and record sleeves.  He also carries penny sleeves, top loaders, and other supplies like pennant holders.

This month he had a random box of cards.  I saw a stack of these purplish Classic cards, so I picked it up and pulled this card out:

1989 Classic #193

It's not one of Griffey's iconic rookie cards... but it's a licensed card of his from his rookie year.  And it's a card that I didn't own.

It's not exactly minty fresh... so he told me I could have it for a buck.  That's a price I could live with.

Well that wraps up my first flea market trip of the year.  There's another one in a few days.  Hopefully I'll be able to find some interesting stuff to share on this blog next week.  Until then...

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!

Technical Difficulties

Last year... Google stopped updating their web browser on my desktop computer, because the operating system is too old.  In an era was cyber security is a priority, as soon as I could afford it... I had to replace my old iMac with a new one.

I wasn't stoked about dipping into savings, but ultimately I bit the bullet and made the purchase at the start of the holiday break.  Although it wasn't scheduled to arrive until the second week of January, I picked it up two days before New Year's.

Unfortunately... when I started setting it up... I immediately ran into huge issue.  My old scanner and hard drive utilize USB cords... which aren't compatible with the new computer.

How did this impact the blog?  Well... no scanner means no new scans... which means no new card posts.  That's why my last post only utilized photos.

The good news is the new scanner has arrived and I've been familiarizing myself with the new photo editing software.  It's time to start hammering out some posts.  I already have a Flea Market Find post planned for tomorrow and another post on deck (just waiting for Roki Sasaki's decision).

In the meantime, here's a final "photo" post to keep you occupied as I warm up the new scanner...

Dennis over at Too Many Verlanders hooked me up with this acrylic Tony Gwynn replica Hall of Fame Plaque.  When you factor in the wooden base, it measures about 7" tall.  Here's a better look at the engraved nameplate:

Space is limited on my Padres shelf... so I've gotta figure out a place to display this awesome addition to my Gwynn collection.  

Thank you Dennis for this awesome Christmas present!  If things went as planned... I shipped out packages to you, John, Stuart, and Reader X right around the time this post was published.

And thank you to everyone else for your patience.

Happy Monday and sayonara!

Pair of Personalized Presents

This post wasn't suppose to be written and published for another few weeks, but an unexpected loss moved up the deadline.

The story begins approximately a decade ago... when my best friend mentioned her cousin's daughter was dating a cornerback on the Oregon Ducks.  Now I love football, but I typically follow the Packers and Seahawks more than college football. Everything I know about Oregon Ducks football comes from ESPN highlights or posts over on Cards on Cards (the #1 Ducks fan in the blogosphere).

So I did a little research on the guy and discovered that Ifo Ekpre-Olomu was the top cornerback in college football.  Holy quack.  Ifo officially had my attention and a new fan.  Unfortunately, he suffered an injury getting ready for their Rose Bowl game versus Florida St.

A few months later he was drafted in the 7th round of the NFL Draft by the Cleveland Browns.  I remember being super excited to see him play and collect his cards.  I went to Sportlots and bought a bunch of his cards.  The collection was eventually passed on to my friend and her mom.

Fast forward to 2024.  My friend took her mom up to Oregon to celebrate Thanksgiving with the family.  I knew she was going to see Ifo, so I asked her if she could get a few of those cards signed.  I wanted to add one to my binder and give the other one to Kerry.  Unfortunately after all of these years, the cards had been misplaced.  Oh well... that's life.

A month later, Christmas morning rolls around and I start opening up my presents.  The first one under the tree was this signed shirt:

Jen had mentioned that she went to the Columbia store while she was up there, but I had no idea she would be buying me this shirt and having Ifo sign it.  Obviously I was super excited... and figured this was the main present.

But there was one more really cool present:

I was blown away by this custom Funko Pop of the two of us with her dog, Tashi.  Here are a pair of custom cards I purchased from Topps a few years ago of her:

I've written about Jen a few times on the blog, but out of respect for her privacy... I always kept her anonymous.  Today is the exception to the rule.

She did a great job of capturing our appearance and interests with these Pops.  She's a total foodie and loves soccer.  While I love baseball, cargo shorts, and flip flops.  Here's a photo of us to compare our likeness to the figures:

This was taken back in mid-December at the Orpheum Theater in San Francisco.  It was my first time seeing a play in almost twenty years. The last time I fell asleep watching The King and I.  Hamilton was much more entertaining.

Thank you Jen for these awesome Christmas presents!  Thank you Ifo for taking the time to sign this shirt for me.  And thank you to all of you who took the time to read this post.

Happy New Year and sayonara!

Wrapping Up 2024

Do you know what Rickey Henderson, Kobe Bryant, Kurt Suzuki, Charles Woodson, Barry Bonds, Doug Wilson, and Marshawn Lynch all have in common?  They all wore #24 at some point in their careers and they're all athletes I really like and collect.

That's why I'm wrapping up 2024 with a celebration of these athletes and twenty-four of their cards featuring clear shots of #24.

The cards will be presented in chronological order... so you'll see streaks of certain players.  That's because some of these players wore #24 during specific parts of their career.

For example, Barry Bonds wore #24 for most of his tenure in Pittsburgh which lasted from 1986 to 1992.  Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of quality examples of his cards featuring #24.  However I was able to dig up two of his early oddball issues with nice photos:

1987 Classic Travel Update #113

1988 Kenner SLU #NNO

Three of my all-time favorite athletes wore #24.  Rickey Henderson wore #35 his first stint in Oakland and #22 right after the Yankees traded him back.  However... he only wore #22 a minute amount of games in 1989.

1992 Donruss Elite Legends #NNO

He worked out a deal with Ron Hassey to acquire #24 (the number he wore in New York) which is the number he wore with the A's from 1989 to 1993, 1994 to 1995, and in 1998.

Charles Woodson wore #24 for the Oakland Raiders.

1998 Bowman Chrome Interstate Refractor #181

He was such a fun player to watch... that I liked him immediately after entering the NFL.  But I became an even bigger fan when he signed with the Green Bay Packers in 2006.

2000 Crown Royale Game Worn Jersey #6

Not sure why he ended up wearing #21 for the Green & Gold.  But when he returned to Oakland in 2013, he went back to #24.

Another one of my all-time favorite athletes is Kobe Bryant.  You won't see any of his early cards featured in this post though, because he wore #8 the first half of his career from 1996-97 to 2005-06.  But he switched to #24 in 2006-07:

2006-07 Finest Green Refractor #25

I acquired most of these Kobe cards during the late 2000's when they were still affordable and I was still opening basketball products.

2007-08 Bowman Draft Picks & Stars Triple Relics #BR-KB

2007-08 Fleer Feel the Game #FG-KB

2007-08 Stadium Club Beam Team Relics #BTR-KB

This one isn't valuable, but it does feature a fantastic action shot of him:

2007-08 Topps #24

Don't worry... there's more baseball coming up.  Just two more Kobe relics:

2008-09 Topps T-51 Murad Relics #T51R-KB

2008-09 Topps Treasury Relics #TTR-KB

Okay... let's transition back to baseball and another all-time favorite player of mine:

2009 Allen & Ginter Mini Printing Plate #105

Kurt Suzuki wore #24 for the Oakland A's in 2008.

2009 Topps Heritage Clubhouse Collection Relics #CC-KS

I'm not sure why he opted to switch to #8 in 2009, but that's the number he wore the majority of his tenure in Oakland.

I've always thought it was cool that Kurt and Kobe both wore #8 and #24.

Okay... one final jersey card of Kobe:

2009-10 Crown Royale King on the Court Materials #10

Okay... transitioning from the hardcourt to the gridiron, we go from The Black Mamba to Beast Mode:

2012 Topps Prolific Playmakers Autograph #PPA-ML

Marshawn Lynch started his NFL career with the Buffalo Bills where he wore #23.  However he was traded mid-season to the Seattle Seahawks in 2010 and wore #24.  That's the number he wore in high school and his freshman year at CAL.

If you're a baseball fan who patiently stuck around, here's a few more baseball cards:

2012 Topps Retired Number Patch #RN-RH

2013 Topps Five Star Autographs #FSBA-RH

2015 Gypsy Queen Autographed Relics #AR-RH

2016 Topps Tribute Ageless Accolades Autograph #AA-RH

2017 Topps Definitive Autographed Relic #DCAR-RH

I'm not sure when it happened, but sometime around 2013 or 2014... Topps started inserting a ton of Henderson on-card autographs into their products.  This flooded the market and allowed collectors like me to start adding them to my collection for $50 or less.

2017 Topps Five Star Heart of a Champion Autograph #FSHC-RH

The Hobby Boom of 2020 changed the way people collected... and drove Rickey's autograph prices through the roof.  I haven't bought a single one since.

Switching sports... here's a San Jose Sharks legend:

2019-20 UD Chronology Canvas Autographs #CA-WI

Doug Wilson only played two seasons in San Jose, but he spent sixteen seasons in the NHL.  He wore #24 the entire time.  After he retired, he would return to the organization in 2003 as their general manager where he built a perennial playoff team.

Let's wrap things up with one last Rickey:

2020 Topps 1985 Topps Baseball Relics #85R-RH

Well there you have it... twenty-four cards of seven guys who wore #24.

Now I know there are a bunch of legends like Willie Mays, Ken Griffey Jr., Miguel Cabrera, Rick Barry, and a bunch of others that I left out of this post.  But I wanted to narrow it down to guys I really, really liked to root for... and collect.

Not a fan of my selections?  Create your own list of 24 cards showing of #24.

Happy New Year and sayonara!