Flea Market Finds #161: Small Haul

It's a truly glorious day.  The 2024 MLB season has started... and I'm officially on spring break.  The bulk of it will be spent cleaning, resting, running errands, scanning and sorting cards, and possibly building a few Lego sets while binge watching Shogun.  But I also have a pair of day trips planned.

I'll be driving down to San Luis Obispo one day... and headed over the hill to Capitola another day.  Both trips revolve around food.  I've got a couple of lunch dates and Easter dinner on the calendar.

But the thing I'm looking forward to the most are a pair of flea markets on the tail end of my break.  Mother Nature will ultimately decide whether or not this happens.

She's the reason I've only taken two trips to the flea market in 2024.  The first one was back in early February.  The other took place two Saturdays ago at the Branham Flea Market.

I invited my brother.  He's been thinking about clearing out some clutter and I thought the flea market might be a possible option.  This would give him a chance to see if setting up at one would be worth his time.  I don't think it was his style, but we did have fun hanging out and looking at other peoples' junk.

Although we spent over an hour walking around... I only spent eight dollars on three purchases.

Purchase #1:  1982 7-11 Cup  $1

Ironically... I didn't buy any cards from the lone regular "card" dealer.  He did have some new stuff... but I didn't want to make my brother wait around while I dug through it.

I did grab this Rod Carew cup for a buck though.  He had maybe 15 to 20 of these from various years sitting on his table.  I remember seeing these when I was a kid, so I grabbed it without really thinking if I actually needed it or not.

Purchase #2:  Dollar Box Duo  $2

There's a guy who sets up a the De Anza Flea Market every month who specializes in posters.  He kind of reminds me of that mall store from the 80's with Ansel Adams and Costacos Brothers prints.

He was out there that Saturday (first time seeing him at this flea market) with his poster inventory... but off to the side he had some boxes with a bunch of random stuff in it.  There were a few stacks of cards, so I quickly flipped through them.

After seeing this card, I asked him how much he was asking.  He replied one dollar per card.

1997 UD Legends Autograph #AL-57

I ended up pulling this card and one more:

2001 Star Wars CCG Reflections III Foil (UR)

I'm a sucker for foil CCG cards... especially when it comes to Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, or Star Wars.  I've never played any of them... but for some reason I enjoy collecting them.

When I got home... I was pleasantly surprised that this particular card of Qui-Gon Jinn sells for a decent dime.

On the other hand... I was bummed to discover that the Otto autograph was damaged:

It's a little hard to see, but there's a crease running down the side of the card.  Can't complain too much though.  It only cost me a dollar... and it's a nice addition to the Damage Card PC.

Purchase #3:  Baseball Guides from the 70's  $5

The final purchase of the day was from a book vendor.  He had a bunch of vintage baseball guides for $2 each.  This isn't usually something I'd stop and look at, but while walking by I noticed two with 1972 written on the spines:

1972 The Sporting News Dope Book

1972 The Sporting News Baseball Guide

I collect periodicals from my birth month... or annuals from my birth year, so I pulled these out.

My buddy SumoMenkoMan is a Nolan Ryan fan, so I grabbed this too:

1974 The Sporting News Baseball Record Book

Out of the three books, this one is the coolest.  A fifty year old book... with two baseball (and hobby) legends on the covers.  In fact... I liked it so much, I went out and bought another copy for John over at Johnny's Trading Spot.  Figured he could use it for his Atlanta Braves collection.

By the way... I recently got around to opening up three flat rate boxes he sent me over the past ten months and inside there were a couple of baseball books:

The Samurai Way of Baseball by Robert Whiting

Slugging It Out In Japan by

Warren Cromartie & Robert Whiting

Figured this would be a good time to show them off.... along with this very cool Canadian baseball card that was included in one of John's boxes... which has direct ties to my Japan PC:

1984 O-Pee-Chee #287

Although I don't read a lot of books, I do want to read Slugging It Out in Japan to get an idea of what an American baseball player goes through playing in the NPB.

By the way... my goal is to write at least one more post highlighting some of the stuff from the boxes while I'm on spring break.  So stay tuned.

Until then... have a happy Good Friday and sayonara!