However... the De Anza Flea Market only comes around once a month, so I threw on a hoodie, picked up some Starbucks, and made my way out there. There were a lot of vendors set up. Probably the most I've seen in awhile, although it seemed like half of them were selling holiday decorations or stocking stuffers. Thankfully there were a handful of vendors with sports cards sprinkled in here and there.
Purchase #1: 1956 Topps Baseball $5
One of them was a friend who had a small stack of vintage in his display case. Five dollars seemed a little steep, but he's taken care of me in the past and it was my turn to return the favor. At least they're two guys I've actually heard of and are in decent condition for being nearly six decades old.
Purchase #2: Blubber by Judy Blume $1
Last month was National Bullying Prevention Month and one of the YouTubers I follow is participating in an anti-bullying read-a-thon. I figured I'd join in and read one of my childhood favorites.
Purchase #3: More Baseball Cards $2
I'm always on the lookout for the random first-time vendors with boxes of cards hidden among all of their other items...
This box was filled with 90's inserts, parallels, and the occasional autograph. Most of the cards had card shop price tags from back in the day, which wasn't a good sign. I was relieved to hear that the sets were only five bucks and singles were one to two dollars each.
A few months ago... I would have spent $20 to $30 with this guy. But I decided to save my money and only pick up cards that really stood out to me.
1992 Classic Best Minor League Auto #BRTA
If you collected baseball cards in the early 90's... then you remember Mr. Taylor. He was the first pick in the 1991 MLB Draft and Baseball America's top prospect before the 1992 season. I'm sure this card was on plenty of peoples' Hot List. These days he's considered one of the biggest busts in MLB history.
2000 Pacific Prisms Dial-A-Stats #9
On the other hand, Griffey was one of the best players in baseball during the 90's and this particular card is both unique and hard to find.
It features a dial that spins around and shows off the number of home runs Griffey hit during different seasons. Fifteen years ago, Pacific inserted these in their Prism packs at a rate of one per 193 packs. That's a little more than eight boxes!
Purchase #4: Super Awesome! Wax Packs 25¢
That's not a misprint. Three packs for a quarter. I have no idea what these are... but they're trading cards at 1970's wax pack prices. Stay tuned. I'll be busting these sooner than later.
Purchase #5: Inside Out Blu-ray/DVD $14
And wrapping up my day at the flea market was the most expensive purchase of the day. I don't usually purchase new movies... but this is one of my favorite movies of 2015. The sad thing is...
This single purchase exceeded all of my other purchases combined... and that includes the $2.50 churro.
Happy Tuesday and sayonara!
Extra Innings
If you're interested in winning a cool sports print of one of your favorite athletes... head over to Sport Card Collectors. Click Here
10 comments:
I hope this doesn't spoil the surprise, but this is what you can find in Super Awesome trading cards:
http://mcphee.com/shop/super-awesome-trading-cards.html
And, yes, it's super awesome.
Brien Taylor... prospects will break your heart.
A big box of 90s inserts!? Lucky guy.
I'd have a field day with a box of '90s inserts. Great finds!
Man! You find all of the good stuff! I really want that Griffey too!
(thanks for the plug on the contest)
Great stuff Fuji! That Griffey is awesome! Never seen it before. The Brien Taylor auto is a great piece of history!
I remember going to shows as a kid and people were guarding their Brien Taylor's like they were rookie Mickey Mantle's.
night owl - thanks for the link. those cards look pretty awesome. excited to tear into them.
zippy - very, very true.
tlc - i didn't buy the whole box... just two singles. although the guy wanted to sell the whole thing for $50
nick - 90's inserts rule. but in the end... there were only two cards i had to own.
sport card collectors - yeah... one of my favorite griffey inserts in my collection.
daniel - thanks. i'm still hoping to one day add the topps gold brien taylor autograph to my collection.
matthew - lol... me too. while everyone else was chasing taylor... i was hoarding van poppel. not sure who got the better end of the deal.
Nice Griffey find. 90's insert box would have been great to go through. When you open that Awesome pack, but that bad boy up on APTBNL!
will do... hopefully this week.
Post a Comment