30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Sunday, September 21, 2014

Flea Market Finds #71: Quarter Bin Vintage + Blonde Ambition

When:  Saturday, September 20th
Where:  Branham Flea Market
What:  Sports Cards and Laser Discs
How much?:  $18

When I woke up yesterday, I almost rolled over and went back to sleep.  Thankfully, I didn't.  This school year has been a little crazier than usual, so I figured the fresh air would do me some good.  It did.

My friend and I walked around the small high school flea market and while she looked for cookbooks, I looked for cardboard.  There's always a fair share of sports cards at this flea market, however with only $40 in my pocket and two card shows coming up next weekend... I knew I wasn't buying anything unless:

A.  It was cheap.
B.  It was something I really, really wanted.

Purchase #1:  Quarter Bin Bonanza $4


I'm not sure if you did this, but when I first started collecting cards in the early 80's... I used an old shoe box and recipe dividers to store my cards.  About halfway through the flea market, I stumbled upon a woman who had a similar setup.  She had sorted her cards alphabetically by teams and thrown the cards in the box without any penny sleeves or protection.

I could tell by the color of the card sides that these weren't your everyday, run of the mill early 90's Donruss and Fleer junk wax.  Before I even reached for the stack of A's, I asked the lady what she was selling the singles for.  As soon as she said 4 for a dollar, I knew it was worth it for me to look, so I dove in.

I immediately discovered the 75T Fingers and Hunter, which got me excited.  Unfortunately there wasn't much to get excited about from the Angels to the Mets.  The lone card I pulled from the Angels, Astros, Blue Jays, Braves, Brewers, Cardinals, Cubs, Dodgers, Giants, Indians, Mariners, and Mets was a 75T Garvey.


But as soon as I hit the Orioles... things began to flow and I began pulling cards left and right.  When the dust settled, I had extracted sixteen cards from her box.  They weren't in the best condition, but that's okay... because I enjoy collecting cards with a little character.

Best of all, I had a great time talking to the vendor about sports and collecting.  We covered everything from Rowland Office to O.J. Simpson.

Does it get any better than hanging out a flea market and talkin' cardboard?


Purchase #2:  Madonna Laser Discs $1


I continued to shop with the "Quarter Bin" lady when I noticed that she had a bunch of sealed laser discs.  They took me straight back into the 80's.

One of my buddies in elementary school had a laser disc player and I was totally jealous of him.  The lady had a bunch of Disney movies, but the two that caught my eye were these Madonna concerts.

I've been a fan of her since the days of Borderline and Into the Groove.  It's just a shame that I have no way of ever watching them, but they're cool nonetheless.


Purchase #3:  1974 Topps #250 Willie McCovey $8


I have wanted to build this variation team set for several years and now that I own the McCovey... it's time to get to work.

This card has been sitting in my friend's display case for a few months now, so I finally pulled the trigger and bought it.  I know I didn't secure it for $5 like Marcus...all the way to the backstop, but I grew tired of waiting and figured $8 was a fair price for the condition.


Purchase #4:  Shoe Box Smorgasbord $5


There aren't any vintage Mickey Mantles or Tony Gwynn autographs in this box.  But there were a few cards that caught my attention.  Unfortunately... this post is starting to drag on, so wrap things up and write about the five dollar mystery box either tomorrow or Tuesday.

In the meantime, let's talk Madonna.

Are you a fan?  Favorite song?

Happy Sunday and sayonara!

25 comments:

  1. There's a Madonna music video where at some point she's dancing in some room and windows are opening and closing - some kind of peep show booth. And at the end of the video she dances off down the street with some kid. It's too late and I'm too tired to figure out the song, but I really like that video, even though I couldn't tell you why. A lot of songs that never got released as singles are really good, too.

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    1. Open Your Heart - Great song. Totally forgot about that one until you mentioned it. I'd definitely put that one in my Top 5.

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  2. Like the Fisk and Yaz. Holiday is a great song from early in her career.

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  3. Everybody should have a Washington Nat'l Lea. team set. Have fun collecting it!

    I'm not a particular fan of Madonna, but for some reason I enjoy "singing" background vocals to "Material Girl": Li-ving-in-a-ma-tee-ree-al-world

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  4. Madonna is a guilty pleasure for me. Favorites include "Oh Father", "Don't Tell Me", "Like a Prayer" and pretty much all her early hits.

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  5. Can't say I'm a Madonna fan, but those are some sweet quarter pickups! I'll own a copy of that '74 McCovey...one day.

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    1. After I got home... I immediately went to COMC to see what the McCovey was selling for over there. I found several copies under $5. Oh well... at least my friend and I were able to help each other out.

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  6. Can't say I'm a fan . Congrats on your McCovey. I remember pulling mine from a pack back in 74. The other cards should be pretty easy to find

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    1. That's awesome. I have memories of pulling 1987 Topps Cansecos. Not quite the same :(

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  7. MADONNA was a fan when she first came out I was in H.S. and she was kinda hot for what was around those days in the music industry as for a song i'd go with Papa Don't Preach!

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    1. Several of my friends had crushes on Madonna back in the day. I was more of a Belinda Carlisle and Susanna Hoffs kind of guy.

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  8. Not a huge Madonna fan, but I don't dislike her either. Just not my type of music. Nice cards though! Gotta love the vintage cards of star players for a quarter!

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  9. I'm pretty 'meh' on Madonna. But I am a fan of one of her videos, "Material Girl" because my buddy Robert Wuhl appears in it. He plays a Hollywood flunky employed by Keith Carradine and they open the video discussing her performance.

    Screen cap here

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    1. You're friends with Robert Wuhl? The guy from Bull Durham? Awesome!

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  10. A guilty pleasure for me as a late high schooler was going to the teen dance club and dancing. I was never a huge Madonna fan, but Vogue was always fun to dance to. I tended more towards Ministry and Nine Inch Nails back then in 1989/1990 though.

    Great pickups as always, Fuji!

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    1. Yeah... by the late 80's, early 90's I was more into rap... and eventually grunge. But when I was kid... it was all about pop.

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  11. Laserdics! Awesome. I probably stopped thinking about those in 1989.

    Re: Madonna. Not much of a fan but I find myself drawn to her slower songs, Power of Goodbye, Don't Tell Me, Live to Tell, etc.

    Oh, and the local high school has a flea market with cards AND you have 2 cards shows coming up next week????? You really know how to hurt a guy.

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    1. Sorry buddy. If you think you're in pain... talk to my wallet next Monday. The good news is there isn't any shows until early 2015 after this weekend.

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  12. Enjoyed her performance in A League of Their Own.

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    1. I'm pretty sure I haven't seen it yet. One of these days I will.

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  13. I'm ok with Madonna. I don't know if I have a favorite song. Maybe "Borderline".

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  14. A child of the 80's, I was exposed to no end of Paula Abdul, Tiffany, Debbie Gibson, Michael Jackson, Milli Vanilli, and yes, Madonna. I can't say I've ever willingly revisited any of them, but if I were going to it would be Michael Jackson's classic, "Thriller," and Madonna's first album.

    More than any of that, let's talk 1974 Willie McCovey! Heck of a pick up right that, Master of the Flea Market. I'm telling you, Fuji, next time I'm in San Jose I'm looking you up for a Flea Market day together!

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    1. Definitely. Just let me know when you're coming to town.

      Btw... Michael Jackson's early stuff is very cool.

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  15. Inspired by these flea market posts, I happened to see on Craigslist that a local flea market dealer was having a 50% off sale on older unopened boxes of cards "until they're all gone" an d"prices as low as $4". So for the first time in a couple of years, I made an effort to hit the flea market. Even got the blessing from my better half and rolled in with a cool Benjamin to spent.

    Then I got there and found the "sale". It was clear that all of the prices were stuck at roughly 1998-2000 territory. 1988 Donruss box? $15. 1992 Score box? $20. So even at 50% off, the prices were still over what I could find on eBay. That "$4 box" that was mentioned in the Craigslist add turned out to be 1989 Topps Big Series 2. So after all that effort, I ended up leaving with a dejected $100 bill in my pocket. And he really wanted to jump in the ring with the other money at the flea market, but he just couldn't find anything to make the tag. Please make a tour of the Southeast sometime soon, and spread whatever influence you can on the "antuqie mall mentality" flea market dealers around here!

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    1. When I retire in twenty years or so... I'd love to travel the country and hit up flea markets... assuming I'm still interested in the hobby.

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