30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Monday, July 8, 2013

Card Show Adventures

Two weekends ago, I attended the Serramonte Sports Cards and Collectibles Show.  It's not quite The National Sports Collectors Convention, but it's easily my favorite card show of the year.  There are a variety of vendors featuring sports cards, non-sports cards, toys, antiques, artwork, and comic books.

Unfortunately, after dropping $143 during my last two trips to the flea market... my hobby budget was completely tapped out.

My solution?  Tap into July's budget.  Let's check out the damage:

Purchase #1:  Autographs & Memorabilia Cards $20


I'm a huge fan of digging through dealer's bargain bins.  One gentleman had $2 relics and autographs, but if you bought ten, you received two more for free.  As soon as I pulled the Jose Canseco, Randy White, Nat Moore, and the pair of surfers... I was on the hook.  It took me almost 30 minutes to finalize my final seven picks.


Purchase #2:  1999 Salvino/Team Best Wax Box $5


I'm always looking for cheap wax to bust... especially when it features oddball stuff like Salvino's Bammers.  Not my finest purchase... but I can't wait to kill 20 minutes in front of the television and bust this.


Purchase #3:  Autographed Comics $8

Ironman #300 signed by Tom Morgan
Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #63 signed by Scott Hanna, Barry Kitson, and Dennis O'Neal

Last November, I picked up nine autographed comics at the De Anza Flea Market for $25.  The same guy was set up at the show, so I picked up two more.  This time, I had to pay a little more for them.


Purchase #4:  More Memorabilia Cards $8


The same guy with the comic books also had sports cards.  I know memorabilia cards have lost their luster over the years, but it's hard to walk away from them when they're 40¢ each.

Purchase #5:  Vintage A's Memorabilia $27

1971 Oakland A's Scorecard

1972 Oakland A's Yearbook/Scorecard

1973 Oakland A's Yearbook/Scorecard

1981 Billy Ball Poster

I've been emailing back and for with one of my readers, who mentioned that he had some A's memorabilia I'd be interested in.  And he was 100% correct.  I grabbed these vintage A's yearbooks and score cards.  But the centerpiece of the purchase was definitely this amazing 1981 Billy Ball Poster/Calendar.

He also threw in these five issues of Topps Magazine:


Thanks Jim!  It was great to finally get a chance to hang out and talk sports cards in person.  


Purchase #6:  Hideki Okajima Autographed 8x10 $7


I know several people who go out and obtain in-person autographs for a living.  One of them recently hit up the Sacramento River Cats and was lucky enough to grab this Japanese guy's autograph.

I was hoping for a Hiroyuki Nakajima autograph for my collection... but I have no problem settling for an Okajima.


Freebies #1:  1988 Tony Gwynn Kenner SLU


I've been collecting Kenner SLU's the past two decades and Tony Gwynn has been my favorite player for longer than that.  But ironically, I've never owned his rookie piece.  Until now.  My buddy recently purchased a huge toy collection that contained this figure and generously donated it to my collection.  Thanks Mike!


Freebies #2:  Jeffrey Leonard and Lloyd Moseby Autographed 8x10's


Each vendor received a coupon that could be redeemed for a free autograph.  Mike gave me his, so I picked out the Jeffrey Leonard photo.  Then another one of my friends threw down another coupon (thanks Dave!), so I grabbed the Lloyd Moseby.  Neither of these guys will end up in Cooperstown, but they weren't exactly scrubs either.

Overall... I spent a bunch of money that I shouldn't have, which means that July will be a slow month for me.  But that's okay... at least I'm walking away with a box of Salvino's Bammers.

Happy Monday and sayonara!

15 comments:

Sean said...

Sweet finds. You got some awesome deals on those memorabilia cards!

night owl said...

My eyes went right to the Raines and Lopes relic cards. But then I saw the early '70s A's yearbooks and forgot all about them. I love '70s yearbooks. Those by far are the best of the lot. Very nice.

Dawgbones said...

Call me weird but I really like the Conseco relic...

The Lost Collector said...

Solid haul! Very impressive stuff. Those yearbooks must be a blast to flip through.

Commishbob said...

Yup, the Owl is right, 70s publications are just great stuff. Hard to top the fun of leafing through those things, the old ads, little blurb stories about long forgotten benchwarmers. Even better if they are scored.

Fuji said...

Thanks guys. And I want to say that all three of them were scored. I'll have to write up a post that shows off the scorecard and reviews the game.

Anonymous said...

awesome pick ups. love the jeff leonard auto...he always had an intense look but that signature is quite nice! Plus the Billy Ball Poster is really cool too.

Play at the Plate said...

I definitely would have picked up that Jeremy Wariner. He's pretty well known around here since he's a local and went to Baylor.

Ana Lu said...

Autographed comic books? That's sweet! Do you have any Spider Man auto comic?

Corky said...

A double dose of Zach Miller and a very cool Tim Howard multi-colored relic, nice purchases.

I have a quick question, does the back of the Zach Miller relic card say where the jersey piece came from? Unless the jersey is from his ASU days (though it is the wrong red for an ASU jersey) I don't know when he would have worn a red jersey outside of practice.

Fuji said...

Panini was vague... just mentioned that it was an event worn piece of his jersey.

Fuji said...

No Spider Man... but I have a few signed issues. If you're bored, you can check them out here:

http://fujiapple.weebly.com/comic-books.html

Greg Zakwin said...

Great deals on those hits! Congrats on some cool pickups!

Brendan Taylor said...

That Oaklmad A's with the Viad Blue is classic!

Jafronius said...

Nice finds on the relic cards. Congrats on finally picking up the Gwynn SLU. That's the one I have in my collection (out of box). Got a Jeffrey Leonard too...not sure why.