More 90's Awesomness!

The Sunday Sort continues.  This morning hit up the farmer's market, Trader Joe's, and did some laundry while cleaning the kitchen and listening to some card podcasts.  This afternoon I have set aside a few hours to focus on sports cards.  I started by cleaning off most of my desk by putting cards into binders and boxes.  Then I cataloged a couple of recently completed sets and put them away.

The rest of my Sunday afternoon is dedicated to a care package from Dennis over at Too Many Verlanders and hammering out this blog post.  A few weeks ago, I received a padded envelope with three team bags filled with cards for several of my PC's.

Let's start off with a few Hideo Nomo cards that stood out...

1995 Topps Traded & Rookies #124T

I pretty much figured that I owned all of Nomo's pack pulled (non-parallel) rookie cards.  However... I didn't recognize this card.  Topps dropped the ball in 1995 and didn't include him in either of their flagship series.  However they produced three cards of him in their Traded & Rookies set.  I already have his Star Watch subset card in the binder, but I was missing the other two.  Now I just need his All-Star card that has him paired with Randy Johnson.

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about how much I enjoy collecting cards from the 90's.  These next two cards are perfect examples of why...

1997 Pacific Crown Collection Prism #114

I'll admit that I wasn't really into Pacific products back then.  Their use of gold foil was excessive.  However I liked it when they embedded acetate portrait shots into some of their base sets.  This card is awesome and the concept was a precursor to their Invincible line.

This next insert is interesting and attractive...

1998 Pinnacle Inside Behind the Numbers #19

Back in 1997 and 1998, Pinnacle produced a product that was distributed in cans.  Not packs.  Cans.  I remember opening up a bunch of the football and a handful of the baseball.  However this is the first time I've ever held one of these gorgeous Behind the Numbers inserts.

The card back talks about a couple of notable Dodgers who wore #16 before Nomo.  In 1998 he was traded to the New York Mets where he kept that jersey number.  However when he returned to LA in the early 2000's, Paul Lo Duca was wearing that number, so Nomo switched to #10.

Here are six more 90's Nomos that Dennis included...

He also sent me this game worn jersey card:

2002 UD Authentics Retro Star Rookies Jerseys #SR-HN

Nomo spent one season in Boston... and in his very first game with the franchise he pitched the second no-hitter of his career.

According to Upper Deck, this jersey swatch was worn in an official Red Sox MLB game.  What are the odds that he wore it during the no-hitter?

Next up, let's check out some Rickey Hendersons he included.  The note he included specifically mentioned this "ticket stub":

1991 SilverStar AuthenTicket #NNO

Back in the early 90's, a company called Field of Dreams produced a few different holograms that were each paired with a commemorative ticket stub.  I have received a few of these "ticket stubs" from bloggers over the years... including another one from Dennis, one from John at Johnny's Trading Spot, and one from Angus at Dawg Day Cards.

Here are a couple of Rickeys that I didn't have...

1994 Innovative Confections Disc #1

I've held plenty of MSA discs over the years, but I wasn't familiar with this one.  I tried looking into how these were distributed, but I couldn't find anything outside of the checklist on TCDB.

Here's the other Rickey I have never held in my hands until today...

1993 Metz Baking #NNO

I'm pretty sure that I've seen singles from this set before, but I don't know if I have owned any before today.  And even if I have one sitting in a binder somewhere, this is my first Rickey... and my first Metz Baking unopened pack.

Here are a few other Rickey Hendersons that Dennis sent my way...

The final Rickey suffered a factory flaw:

1991 Stadium Club Members Only #NNO

It's pretty obvious that the foil triangles were printed much lower on the card than it should have been.  What you might not notice is that this card is completely missing the Members Only stamp that's usually printed right under the player's name.  I love oddities and errors like this.

Dennis knew this and included two other cards that fit into this category:

1974 Topps #232

1996 Topps Gallery #32

These aren't foil misprints, but they are poorly miscut cards.  Off-centered cards are pretty common, but miscuts like these aren't.  Recently I have noticed that these are gaining in popularity among collectors on YouTube, so I'm always excited when they arrive in blogger care packages.

I'll wrap things up with the rest of the highlights from TMV's care package:

Zach Charbonnet is a Michigan Wolverine who was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in 2023.  Unfortunately he tore his ACL against the San Francisco 49ers during their playoff run last season.  He's close to returning, but the Hawks officially ruled him out for tonight's game against the Kansas City Chiefs.  They have struggled on offense for most of this season.  Hopefully his return change that.

He also included a fat stack of Japanese baseball players... including a shiny Fujinami, a numbered Satozaki, and a cool Ichiro insert.

Thank you Dennis!  I've been putting together a stack of stuff for you.  Not sure when I'll get around to shipping it out... but until I do... I'll keep adding things to it.

Happy Sunday and sayonara!

The Japanese Jackie

Back on September 1st, 1964... Masanori Murakami became the first Japanese baseball player to play in a MLB game.  His time with the San Francisco Giants only lasted a little over a season, but his place in baseball history will hopefully be remembered forever.

I had the opportunity to meet Mr. Murakami back in 2015 and I have slowly been building a collection of his cards ever since.  Last month, I purchased two autographed inserts of him off of eBay...

2025 Topps First Pitch #FP-2

This card captures Murakami throwing out the first pitch at Oracle Park on May 17th, 2024 in celebration of the 60th anniversary of his MLB debut.

2024 Topps Japan Edition 1989 #89J-48

This card features a cool koi border design and was inserted into 2024 Topps Japan Edition packs.  I'm not 100% sure, but based on the scoreboard it looks like Mashi posed for this photo at Wrigley Field either in 1964 or 1965.

Both of these cards were part of auctions that I won for a combined price of $64.09 ($26.19/$29 + $12 shipping + $4.74 tax).  Before bidding, I researched CGC x JSA pricing... which begins at around $15 per card if you're submitting items in bulk.  With that knowledge, I was very happy to win both of these auctions.

After playing for the Giants in 1965, he was ordered by the NPB commissioner to return to the Nankai Hawks for the 1966 season.  Thirty years later, Hideo Nomo became the second Japanese player (born in Japan) to cross the Pacific to play in the MLB.  Since then over seventy guys have followed their lead including one of the greatest contact hitters in the 21st century and one of the greatest players currently in the game.

Each year, it's exciting to see who will follow in Murakami, Nomo, Suzuki, and Ohtani's footsteps.  This past season fans watched guys like Munetaka Murakami, Kazuma Okamoto, and Tatsuya Imai make their MLB debuts.

Kenny (over at Torren' Up Cards) recently sent me ten pack of 2026 Stadium Club NPB.  It'll be interesting to see if any of these guys eventually come over to the states to play:

Some of you might recognize Tsuyoshi Shinjo (in the #3 spot).  He spent a few seasons with the Mets and Giants in the early 2000's.  These days he's managing the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters.

2026 Stadium Club NPB #139

Can't say that I recognize the other nine guys, but maybe one of them will be the next Hideki Matsui or Masahiro Tanaka.  Only time will tell.  Until then, I'll keep collecting cards of NPB players in hopes that one day I'll get to see them play at Oracle Park or Sutter Health Park.

Thank you Kenny for donating these Stadium Club cards to my collection.

Happy Sunday and sayonara!

Flea Market Finds #192: Nothing Too Crazy

Sorry for the lack of flea market related posts.  It's not for a lack of trips or even purchases.  The big change is the amount of time I dedicate to writing posts... which has significantly declined.  Over the summer, I was focusing on itemizing and organizing my collection.  And the start of a new school year is always hectic.  The good news is things begin to stabilize in October.

The bad news is card related deals are drying up faster than ever.  That's why I've started targeting other items while walking around the flea market.  Two of these items are featured in today's post and were purchased this past Saturday at the De Anza Flea Market.

Here's what I purchased...

Purchase #1:  Pair of Sets  $1

I'm officially at the point in the hobby where I get excited to find cheap overproduced retail box sets from the 80's.  I have purchased stuff from this vendor a few times over the years, but like other card vendors... his prices are becoming unreasonable.

1988 Topps Woolworth Baseball Highlights Sets (x2)

However he had a plethora of these 33ct. box sets... and was asking a buck each or $20 for a case of 24.  He didn't hide the fact that he wanted to dump them, so I offered him a dollar for two and he accepted.  One of them will go into my boxed set collection.  The other will be opened up, possibly featured in a future post, and the singles will either go into player collections or added to care packages.

Purchase #2:  Cassette Tapes  $8

Outside of trading cards, LP's and cassette tapes are my favorite things to look for at flea markets.  Unfortunately, the competition is stiff in this area as well.  Luckily I found a guy with some tapes I was interested in and he had reasonable prices.  $3 each or two for $5.

I found three...

U2 Live Under A Blood Red Sky

I went through a U2 phase back in the 80's where they were one of my favorite bands.  Never actually owned this album, CD, or cassette... but I recognize most of these songs.  I was very happy to add this to the collection.

Steve Miller Band Greatest Hits 1974-78

My brothers are over a decade older than me, so we weren't exactly close when I was a kid.  In fact, they were more like uncles than siblings.  But they were definitely the cool kind who exposed me to classic rock of the 70's.  I've had this CD in my collection for decades.  My brother gave me his LP a few years ago.  I'm pretty sure I owned the cassette tape back in the 80's.  If not... I own a copy now.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Coming Out Of Their Shells

Never knew this cassette tape existed, but as soon as I saw it... I wanted it.  Based on a YouTube video, it looks like you could purchase a these at Pizza Hut for $3.99 back in 1990.  I'll never actually listen to it, but if I ever build a TMNT display in my office... I'll add this to it.

Purchase #3:  Charlie Hustle Autograph  $5

Yeah.  Yeah.  Yeah.  There's no guarantee that this signature is real.  And even if it is... his autographs are far from rare.  I don't care.  I wasn't going to pass this up for five bucks.

1984 Gateway First Day Cover

This first day cover silk cachet commemorates Pete's 4,000th hit on April 13th, 1984.

The vendor who had this had an entire table filled with old magazines, programs, and photos.  While flipping through the stacks, I came across a sleeve containing a few different commemorative covers.  Only two were signed.  The other featured Len Barker's signature.  Rose was worth the risk, but not Barker.

Purchase #4:  Dollar Cards  $2

After digging through the programs and purchasing the Rose, I started digging through the guy's dollar box.  This was one of those boxes where cards are literally tossed into it... half of which were completely unprotected.

Sitting on top was a small stack of 70's Hostess cards... which caught my eye.  Unfortunately there were poorly cut and the biggest name I saw was Davey Lopes.  But I did find this 90's parallel:

1993-94 Stadium Club First Day Issue #186

Karl Malone wasn't a good father and if you ask Magic or Kobe... he wasn't a good teammate.  But he was one heck of a power forward.  Not gonna lie.  When I saw this card in a heavily worn penny sleeve, my eyes lit up.  Anyone else miss the days when parallels weren't pulled from every pack?

I'm glad I continued to dig, because I found an even cooler card:  

1976 Kellogg's #19

Unfortunately this card was floating around in the box without a penny sleeve.  However somehow the cardboard gods spared it from any cracks.  The back is pretty stained though:

I'm not going to complain.  I'll buy uncracked 70's Kellogg's cards of any familiar name for a dollar all day long.

Purchase #5:  Box of Old Postcards  $20

Another side collection I have been building are vintage postcards... especially one depicting places I've been to.  I haven't counted, but I'd estimate you're staring at two to three hundred postcards.  I flipped through a couple of stacks, compared them to some purchases I have made online, and figured it was well worth the price.

If you'd like to see some in a future post, comment down below.  If not I'll eventually sort and file these away.

Purchase #6:  A Wood Box  $5

Last month, I saw this gentleman with a bunch of affordable handmade boxes.  I stopped at his booth to see if he'd be willing to make some custom boxes for my card collection.  Unfortunately he was busy with several customers, so I never got a chance to ask.

I was happy to see him again this month. but he doesn't do custom builds.  I pulled out a top loader and discovered that it fit perfectly sideways in this particular design.  I purchased one.  Haven't figured out how I'll use it.  But if I do within the next month... maybe I'll grab a few more.

Well that wraps up my most recent trip to the flea market.  Nothing too crazy, but I found some baseball cards to purchase.  That always counts as a win.

Positive or negative... I'd love to hear your thoughts on my finds.

Until next time...

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!