30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Saturday, October 19, 2019

A Hallmark Keepsake

While walking around the flea market this morning, I noticed a bunch of vendors with Christmas ornaments.  It makes sense.  Christmas is less than 70 days away.

One lady had a bunch of Hallmark ornaments which she was selling for a few bucks each.  Off to the side, she had a few sports ornaments which she said were $15 each.  I haven't decorated a Christmas tree in years, but some of those Hallmark ornaments came with cards back in the 90's and early 2000's.

A few weeks ago, I picked up two of those cards in a dime box at the Serramonte Mall Sports Cards, Toys, and Collectibles Show.  Unfortunately they didn't come with the ornaments, but for that price I could live without them.

1996 Classic Hallmark #HK1

Nolan Ryan had retired a few years earlier, but card collectors were still fascinated with MLB's All-Time Strikeout King in 1996Two decades later, you can still find the ornament and card for under $5 (free shipping) on eBay.  Not quite the best investment piece, but cool nonetheless.

1996 Score Board Hallmark #HK2

While Hallmark teamed up with Classic to produce the Ryan card... they teamed up with Score Board to produce the Hank Aaron.  I'm guessing this had to do with licensing/contract issues.  It also explains why these two cards feature different designs.

Neither card is rare or worth a lot of money.  However they're both neat oddball additions to my hall of fame binders.

If you're interested, Hallmark produced a few other cards over the years.  Here are some scans I found on COMC:







Out of all of these cards, I think the only one I own is the Magic Johnson.  There's a chance I own one of the Shaquille O'Neal cards too.

What about you?

Did you ever collect Christmas ornaments or Hallmark trading cards?  Are you excited that Christmas is just around the corner?

I'm really, really, really looking forward to the two weeks off from work and spending some time with the family.

Happy Saturday and sayonara!

12 comments:

Dennis said...

Hey, cool! I have a few of those ornaments for sure. If I remember I'll dig them out soon. I might have some of the cards as well, can't remember.

gcrl said...

we have quite a few hallmark ornaments, but i think the only sports related ones are a jackie robinson one that i bought on ebay a couple of years ago and a ken griffey jr that my mom found at a garage sale and gave to me many years ago. i thought about picking up the nomar ornament, since he's a dodger, but never did. i don't have any of the cards.

The Shlabotnik Report said...

Mrs. Shlabotnik is a huge Cal Ripken fan and those ornaments came out back when we still set up a tree, so the ornament is in the attic with all of our disused Christmas decorations, and the card is in my Ripken binder.

Johnnys Trading Spot said...

Yes, I have several of the baseball cards. When it comes to the ornaments I might have one or two, but really I love the "Ornaments" insert put out by Pacific back in the day, they're awesome.

Commishbob said...

We don't celebrate Christmas like we did when our kids were young and at home but I still enjoy the season.

I have that Jeff Gordon Hallmark card. I used to collect NASCAR stuff and Gordon was one of my guys.

Jeremya1um said...

I don't really collect ornaments, kind of just accumulate them over the years.

I am not really excited about Christmas. It is going to be crazy at work for the week before Thanksgiving/Chrismas/New Years, it will mean a bunch of family gatherings, and I don't want to think about how much money we are going to (over)spend on gifts and everything. For just one year, I would like to celebrate it without presents, no big get-together, and just have a simple meal with my wife and son, go to church afterwards, and read the Christmas story and maybe watching Home Alone or some Christmas movie.

Base Card Hero said...

They must have teamed up with Upper Deck in the late 1990's to churn out that Gretzky. I can't believe I have never seen these.

Thanks for showing them off.

The Lost Collector said...

I definitely had that Shaq ornament card.

SumoMenkoMan said...

Love Christmas ornaments and the Christmas season!

Matt said...

I used to collect everything then my house became fuller and smaller so I no longer do it.

The Snorting Bull said...

I have a bunch of baseball ornaments, but I do not specifically collect them.

Fuji said...

Sorry I've been bad about replying comments left on my blog. I'm gonna try to be better about replying on a more frequent basis. There are only so many hours in the day though.

Dennis - Hope you show them off on your blog. I'd love to actually see photos of the ornaments.

gcrl - There's a Jackie Robinson ornament? I might need to track that one down for my collection.

The Shlabotnik Report - It's nice when you spouse is a sports fan. Makes things easier when you wanna buy new items for your collection.

Johnnys Trading Spot - I love those Pacific Ornaments too. Wrote up a review of my set back in the day.

Commishbob - I'm glad I'm not the only one who doesn't celebrate Christmas as much as I used to. I'm sure when my nieces and nephews start having kids it'll become a big holiday within my family again though.

Jeremya1um - That's kinda what Christmas is for me these days. I only buy presents for my nieces and nephews, my friends' little girls, and my best friend and her family. Wait. Actually... that is a lot of people I buy presents for ;)

Base Card Hero - Yeah. Pretty sure UD has had an exclusive with Gretzky since 1990.

The Lost Collector - I think I might have a copy too. Gonna have to do some digging.

SumoMenkoMan - I love the two weeks I get off from work ;)

Sport Card Collectors - I'm with you on that buddy.

The Snorting Bull - You should write a post and show them off on your blog. I'd love to see what kind of baseball ornaments are out there.