30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Thursday, October 25, 2018

Flea Market Finds #134: The Gambler and The Gunslinger

We're heading into the tail end of the flea market season.  Pretty soon, it'll be too cold or wet outside to motivate me to hop out of bed and walk around scouring for stuff I really don't need anyway.  I figure I'll probably hit two maybe three more between now and the new year.

Last weekend, I hit the Branham High School Flea Market that occurs on the third Saturday of every month.  It's fairly small (maybe 50 to 75 vendors), but there were at least five guys out there with sports memorabilia.  Plus this is the only flea market in my area that offers free parking and admission.

I walked away spending only five dollars, but I feel like I got a lot of bang for my buck.

Purchase #1Dollar Bin Cards $2

2007 Bowman Blue #231
2003 Chrome Pro Bowl Premium Jersey #PB-DB

These two cards came from a vendor I purchase from on a regular basis.  He sets up in the exact same place every time and usually has some interesting oddballs like box bottoms and board games.

He knows that I enjoy picking up cheap autographs and relics, so he handed me a cigar box filled with stuff he'd let go for a buck.  Most of the stuff was football, but I was pretty happy to find the Akinori Iwamura autograph for my Japanese player collection.

The only other card that really caught my attention was this super shiny Pro Bowl jersey card.  I don't really collect Bledsoe or the Bills, but this card was just too beautiful to pass up.


Purchase #2Dime Box Cards $1


The same vendor had a dime box as well.  Found about 15 cards that I could use, but narrowed it down to these ten.  My favorite is the Omar Vizquel rookie card which I plan to eventually use for his sports card trifecta.


Purchase #3Quarter Box Cards $1

The next row over, there was a new guy I hadn't seen before with one 5,000ct. box filled with a bunch of 90's football rookie cards.  I probably wouldn't have purchased anything, except I found this piece of buried treasure:

2005 Upper Deck #202

As a Green Bay Packers fan, this is a huge score.  I wasn't collecting back in 2005, so I totally missed out on Rodgers and his rookie cards.  This particular card is short printed and typically sells in the $10 to $20 range.

I didn't have a quarter in my pocket and didn't want to deal with change, so I found these three cards to go along with the Rodgers:



Four legendary quarterbacks for a buck.  Hard to pass that up.


Purchase #4Kenny Rogers Greatest Hits LP $1


I was happy to find three different vendors with record albumsOnly one of them had dollar vinyl though.  I took the time to sift through about eight boxes of his stuff.  This was the only one that caught my attention.

I'm not this huge Kenny Rogers fan, but my mom sure is.  We'd listen to a lot of his music back in the early 80'sGood times.

My next trip to the flea market is scheduled for Saturday, November 3rd.  My buddy and I were actually going to split a booth, but he hasn't been feeling well.  I'm hoping to make it out to the flea market at least once as a vendor in 2019.  I've got a bunch of stuff I need to get rid of.

Today's question of the day:

Did you grow up listening to your parent's music?  Do you still listen to it right now?  What are some of your favorites?

Well that's it for this week.

Happy Thursday and sayonara!

19 comments:

Commishbob said...

Oh, absolutely I listened to my parents music as a kid. They had a lot of Broadway show scores (I remember My Fair Lady getting a lot of play). They also listened to Mantovani and other psuedo-classical stuff. But my Dad was a Herb Alpert fan and I still listen to his albums to this day. I was the one who got him into the Beatles (he loved the Beatles Second Album) so it worked both ways.

Angus said...

As a kid, the first concert I ever went to was to see Kenny Rogers with my mom. That album, along with Glen Campbell's Greatest Hits are the first two albums I remember owning.

My mom generally likes what is often classified as easy listening, as well as Broadway.

My dad mostly liked listening to big band music, and marching bands (both regular and pipe bands).


I listen to all types of music, which includes what both my parents listened to when I was young. My mom has always stated that she liked driving on trips with me because
she knows that I'll bring music that she'll enjoy.

Anonymous said...

I actually had that Kenny Rogers album when I was a kid. I played it a lot on my crappy record player that needed pennies taped to the arm to keep the needle on the record - it got well used and looked it too. It was actually a running joke with my brother about how bad shape that record was in. However, a couple of years ago, he picked up a pristine copy at a thrift store for fifty cents and gave it to me for Christmas (just for a laugh); but there are some great songs on that album - it will bring back good memories from the early eighties.

-anonymous paul-

Chris said...

That Rodgers RC was a quarter?!?? Fantastic find! I don't think I liked any music my mom liked-though I distinctly remember her blasting the Meat Loaf track with Phil Rizzuto's play-by-play. My mom sang along to a few of the 90's alt-rock/hard-rock songs I listened to in high school, (Weezer's "Sweater Song" especially).

Somewhat related to this post (by way of the Iwamura auto)..I've got a recent issue of Sports Market Report with Shohei Ohtani on the cover and it's all about Japanese baseball players "From Ichiro to Oh". Thought it might fit your collection, so if you're interested I can send it your way once I'm done reading it.

Zippy Zappy said...

That Iwamura auto reminds me that I need to nab an auto of his soon too. Loved the guy way back when (more as a Swallow than as MLBer TBH, but still).

As for music, my dad's a huge jazz fan. A genre I wasn't ready to understand then, I've tried getting into it now but I'll probably never end up being a huge jazz-listener. But I can appreciate the artistry of the genre. As for my other parent she introduced me to The Beatles (and ONLY the Beatles), but only the pop/boyband era Beatles which stinks in retrospect.

shoeboxlegends said...

A day out for some exercise, just $5 spent, and that Aaron Rodgers score, nice work Fuji!

Johnnys Trading Spot said...

You need to opt out of sunny CA and move to sunny FL. Never seen a flea market that had an admission or parking fee, and they're open year round. :)

night owl said...

Oh god, Kenny Rogers. I HATED KENNY ROGERS. He was all over the radio when I was a teenager. That horrible Lady song especially. I remember thinking specifically "one day -- ONE DAY -- he will not be popular anymore." In other words, that's a terrible purchase!!!

My dad liked marching bands, western soundtracks and classical music so I'd hear that as a kid. My mom would get into the '70s singer-songwriter folks of the time (John Denver, Charlie Rich, Neil Diamond) but she wasn't a big music fan.

Nick said...

About 99 percent of my current music likes (and dislikes) were inherited from my dad. I'll forever be thankful for that, because god knows the music I grew up with was pretty darn awful.

Matt said...

My father loved Elton and I grew up the same way. I will be talking about this on the blog soon.

90s football card box. Man I would have been all up in that!

The Lost Collector said...

My dad liked Hank Williams Jr. So no.

SumoMenkoMan said...

I always imagine it being sunny and warm throughout the year in the San Jose area.

defgav said...

My mom got me into stuff like Simon & Garfunkel/Paul Simon, Talking Heads, Fleetwood Mac, of course The Beatles greatest hits, Beach Boys' Pets Sounds. Even some classical stuff and Enya which isn't as cool to admit.

TexasSurveyor said...

The albums I remember most in my parents (dad mainly) collection growing up were from Herb Albert and the Tiajuana Brass, Rod McKuen and Willie Nelson. I have a very wide range of musical tastes because of dad.

Baltmoss68 said...

I used to ride with my dad when he hauled freight. He listened to 60s and 70s country music. I wanted to be cool and hate it like my older heavy metal step brothers, but I discovered that I could understand the lyrics and I actually loved the music. Still do. Dad’s favorite was Jim Reeves and he’s in my top ten to tho day

GCA said...

I got into country for a while after taking a vacation with my Mom, her best friend & her husband. It's what we could all agree on. I still don't mind Sara Evans, Martina McBride, Toby Keith etc., but all I really listen to now is the same three or four hard rock stations on satellite radio. Metalhead for life.

Jafronius said...

Great finds, especially the Rodgers. My dad recorded a Chicago radio station doing the Beatles A to Z (the tape had the I's through the P's), and I wore that tape out. I'm a fan of the Fab Four (and the Bee Gees and ABBA) because of the tapes my parents had, as well as early 80's country music and "Yacht Rock" because those were the stations they listened to when I was a kid.

Fuji said...

Commishbob - My brother (the one who gave me his album collection) is a big fan of Herb Alpert. I'm trying my best to appreciate a wide variety of music genres like him.

Angus - My mom and dad love Glen Campbell! Were they into watch Lawrence Welk? Lol. I grew up watching it. Glad you and your mom have bonded over music. Mine too. My dad doesn't really like my music though. Calls it noise.

Anonymous Paul - It's a fantastic album. I know the words to probably 75% of the lyrics.

Chris - Thanks for the offer, but I already have it. My buddy grabbed me a copy from one of the recent card shows. You're right... it has some good stuff in it. I actually picked up an Japanese Ichiro card recently. Sadly it wasn't featured in that issue though.

Zippy Zappy - I'm not the biggest Beatles fan... but I'm pretty sure the stuff I like is the pop/boyband stuff (like Hey Jude, Yesterday, Eleanor Rigby, Blackbird, etc.). I might have an extra Iwamura auto laying around. If I do, I'll send it your way.

shoeboxlegends - That Rodgers is probably my best find in 2 or 3 years.

John Miller - Maybe in 15 to 17 years when I retire. For now... I'll have to deal with parking and admission fees.

night owl - Lol. Now whenever I hear Lady, I'll think of you. I came very close to picking up John Denver for a buck, but it had a scratch.

Nick - Aren't you a 90's kid? There's some great stuff from the early to mid 90's.

Sport Card Collectors - I'm a big fan on Elton too. My brother gave me a couple of his albums.

The Lost Collector - Never grew up listening to Hank. But my college buddy liked him, so I listened to him a lot in the 90's.

SumoMenkoMan - I'm actually glad it isn't sunny and warm throughout the year. I like hoodie weather (cool and overcast).

defgav - Your mom listened to some great groups. Fleetwood Mac is spinning on my turntable as I type. And I cannot tell a lie... I went through an Enya phase.

TexasSurveyor - Second person to mention Herb Albert. I've got one or two of his albums, so I'll give it a shot. My mom was a big Willie Nelson fan too. Can still hear him singing Always on my Mind and On the Road Again.

Baltmoss68 - I was in a similar situation. My brothers listened to 70's rock... and my mom and sister listened to pop and pop country. Always told my friends about my brothers music... but I ended up liking the pop stuff too.

GCA - Outside of Kenny and Willie, I grew up hating country. But I listen to the newer stuff a lot these days. One of my ex-girlfriends opened my mind to it and I've never looked back.

Jafronius - My mom and sister loved the Bee Gees and ABBA, so I grew up listening to them. I still have at least one of their songs floating on a playlist on my iTunes.

acrackedbat said...

the Pro Bowl is pretty groovy for an 03! i OD'd on Kenny Rogers in the 80s. i'm always adding to my vinyl collection, usually Sinatra or Dean Martin these days.