Thursday, November 21, 2024

Flea Market Finds #166: Cards, Cards, & Chicken

I was able to take two quick trips to local flea markets the week before and the week after my trip to Hawaii.  Neither produced any super deals, but I did add a couple of items to my collection.

The first Saturday of the month is the De Anza Flea Market which is held in a community college parking lot.  This one has really boomed over the past year and is almost back to normal in regards to vendors and visitors.

Unfortunately... I only walked away with two purchases that day.  Both are card related... but one of them is currently missing in action.  It was a pair of cheap rookie cards of current players.  I've looked all over the place, but couldn't find them.

The other was this purchase...


Purchase #1Baseball Cards  $1

A vendor had a box with 9-pocket pages filled with baseball cards from the late 80's and early 90's, but this card was in the third or fourth page:

1983 Topps #163

I asked him if he was selling them by the page, the box, or individually.  He wanted $40 for the box, but said I could have any singles for 50¢ each.  I set the Ripken page aside... and flipped through the rest of the pages.  There were lots of hall of famers, but the only other card I pulled out was this:

1993 Los Angeles Dodgers D.A.R.E #45

It has perforated edges... so it must have been part of a sheet.  There were a few other Dodgers... but Pedro was the only one worth the guy's asking price.

If I find the two rookie cards from the other purchase, I'll write about them in my next Flea Market Finds post.  Until then, here are my purchases from last weekend's Branham High School Flea Market...


Purchase #1Southern Pacific Playing Cards $3

A lot of the flea market vendors in my area toss a bunch of random items into crates with no prices.  I don't usually dig through them.  I'm typically looking for sports memorabilia or other collectibles that shouldn't be stored in this manner.

That being said... I'll usually walk by them and peek into them... just to see if anything catches my eye.  That's when I saw this small box:


Inside was this deck of cards:


The deck features landmarks along the Southern Pacific Lines which ran along the West Coast and as far east as Illinois and Louisiana.  One of the first cards I saw was this famous Bay Area tourist attraction:

Golden Gate Bridge

I knew if the price was right, I'd be taking it home with me.  I flipped through the rest of the deck to make sure it was complete (and it was).

Here are a few of the other cards I found interesting:

San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge

This is the "other" major Bay Area bridge.

Emerald Bay, Lake Tahoe

Growing up my family would spend a week or two up in Tahoe during the ski season.  We'd usually stay and spend most of our time in South Lake Tahoe and ski at Sierra Ski Ranch or Heavenly.  However we'd often drive up to Squaw Valley or Alpine Meadows at least once... and along the way, we'd see Emerald Bay.

These days I only visit Tahoe once every two or three years.

However... I drive up to Ashland every summer and along the way, I get a great view of this volcano:

Mt. Shasta

I'm also planning on getting back to my routine of visiting this famous "blogger" town on a bi-annual basis:

Portland & Mt. Hood

I could show off more cool places... but this post is taking up too much of our time.  I'll try to keep the rest of my purchase summaries short and sweet.


Purchase #2Star Wars Read Along Tapes $4


Not much too say about this purchase other than I'm a Star Wars fan who likes crap like this.  If you want to see and hear these books read aloud, click on the links above.


Purchase #31979 San Diego Padres Yearbook $2


One of the regulars at the Branham Flea Market will set aside Padres stuff for me.  Most of the time, it's stuff I already have or Junk Wax Era cards that I'm not really interested in.

But this particular yearbook was from the Brown & Gold Era and featured a four-pack of hall of famers:



There was also a cool photo of the San Diego Chicken crowd surfing:


Not much else to say about it... other than the price was right.  I usually have a price in my head that I'm willing to go up to... and two bucks was my magic number.

Well... that wraps up another round of flea market finds.  I hope to find the other two rookie cards when I clean my office.  When I do... I'll add them to a future post.

Until then...

Happy Thursday and sayonara!

Tuesday, November 19, 2024

A Quick Trip to the Islands


Over Veteran's Day weekend... I traveled 2,400 miles across the Pacific Ocean for Papa Fuji's celebration of life.

Ala Wai Canal

I've mentioned it a few times on the blog, but in case you missed it... both of my parents were born and raised on Oahu.  But they didn't meet there.  They met in Wisconsin while attending college... and spent the rest of their lives together on the mainland.  Earlier in the year, my father returned to Oahu and was laid to rest in our family's plot.

He didn't want to have a service, but thought it would be nice if we could get both sides of the family together for a small luncheon.  My siblings and I were blown away by the number of people interested in attending.  It ended up being a family reunion and an opportunity for many of us to reconnect and catch up.

One of the coolest things was seeing my mother's side of the family interact with my father's side.  It's such a small world.  One of my cousins (on my mom's side) discovered he lives just a block over from another cousin (on my dad's side).


I'm guessing that a lot of them could easily play the "six degrees" game considering the majority have lived their entire lives on the same island.

Personally... I hadn't been back in fifteen years.  It was a quick trip... but I made sure to eat saimin at Zippy's, malassadas from Leonard's, and shave ice from Shimazu's:


Here's a wallet card shot from my hotel room:

Ala Moana Hotel

Although most of the conversations at the party involved reminiscing and family related stuff... baseball made its way into a few of them.

One of my cousins asked me if I was going to continue supporting the A's after their move to Sacramento/Las Vegas.

1977 Hostess #52

I explained that I've been a fan since the 70's... so ultimately I would continue rooting for them wherever they played.

2020 Topps Chrome Refractor #160

I was also reminded that the Dodgers have a huge following in Hawaii.  I spoke with three cousins who were excited about their recent World Series win... and all three are big fans of this guy:

2024 Topps Now #1

All three of these cards were part of a PWE I received from Jim over at cards as i see themThank you Jim!  Looking forward to getting together again for some burgers the next time you're in the Bay Area.

I'd also like to thank Nick over at njwv for inspiring me to purchase this card:

1893 Arbuckle's Coffee #27

Nick and I are both interested in collecting cards related to the Hawaiian Islands and the Bay Area.  Although his photography is much more artistic than mine.

Well that wraps up today's post.  The past few weeks have been really busy with this recent trip and parent/teacher conferences.  However this Saturday kicks off my Thanksgiving Break.  Although I'll be spending some time with family... the plan is to spend at least two or three quality days in the office catching up with care packages, two boxes from Sportlots, and my latest COMC shipment.

Until then... 

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!

Friday, November 15, 2024

Keeping Memories from Fading Away

Whether it's about pulling a $500 Ohtani autograph out of a $3 pack or finding the final card for a forty years set build in a card show dollar bin... card collectors have a way of repeating their favorite card stories.

My buddy Mike started collecting cards back in the 80's... so he had plenty to share over the years.  One of my favorites involved him purchasing a 1984 Fleer Update set with a friend and splitting it up via an old fashion card draft.

1984 Fleer Update #U-43

He didn't remember the entire draft, but he remembered using his first pick on Dwight Gooden and selecting Bret Saberhagen with his second pick.  His friend walked away with Roger Clemens, Kirby Puckett, and bragging rights for the rest of their lives.

Last November, he passed away on his fifty-first birthday... so there won't be any new stories.  But to remember the ones he told and to help keep them from fading away... I've decided to build a collection in his honor.

The inaugural addition is the key card (for Mike) in the story.  When it came to choosing sides in the Clemens vs. Gooden debate... both of us sided with Doc.  In fact I have been wanting to add this card to my collection since the 80's.  I just needed a little motivation to dig into my wallet and pull out the funds.

Mike...  I miss you buddy.  I miss hanging out at shows, walking around flea markets, going on road trips, attending ball games, and going back and forth retelling our favorite card related stories.  I'll also miss grabbing Taco Bravo with you... but don't worry.  This weekend, I'll eat a few tacos in your honor.

Happy birthday buddy!

Happy Friday and sayonara!

Saturday, November 2, 2024

Saturday Night Five: The 2024 World Series Champions

Last night was our first dance of the year.  About halfway through it... one of my students came up to me with tears in her eyes.  She was absolutely heartbroken that her boyfriend wanted to hang out with his friends instead of her.  I let her vent... and eventually her friends came along to cheer her up.  I was grateful for that, because I'm not exactly an expert on middle school romance.  Now had she had her heart broken by a sports team... then I could definitely relate to that.

I had to deal with the fact that the A's were leaving Oakland the entire 2024 MLB season.  More recently... I had to deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers delivering a gut punch to the San Diego Padres.  Not gonna lie... that really hurt.

Heartache is just part of being a fan... and it's something that we all have to deal with.  But that's not the focus of tonight's post.  Tonight I wanted to honor, celebrate, and congratulate the 2024 World Series Champions and their fans by ranking my five favorite Los Angeles Dodgers from this season.


#5Yoshinobu Yamamoto

2021 Topps NPB #128

The Dodgers have a way of landing Japanese pitchersNomoKurodaMaedaDarvishOhtani.

2024 Topps #553

It's not surprising that Yamamoto ended up signing with them too.


#4Mookie Betts

2019 Topps Chrome Refractor #50

I was a fan of Mookie when he was in Boston...

2024 Topps #250

and my fanfare has followed him over to the West Coast.


#3Freddie Freeman

2024 Topps #102

The same can be said of Freddie.

2020 Topps 206 Piedmont Back #7

But honestly... I prefer seeing him pictured with the Braves.


#2Clayton Kershaw

2013 Topps 1972 Mini #TM-23

I've got a thing for lefties... and for a decade or so, Kershaw was one of the best in the game.

2024 Topps #351

It didn't take long before I started following him and collecting his cards.  And for the longest time, he was my favorite Dodgers player.  Until this guy showed up...


#1Shohei Ohtani

2020 Topps 1951 (Blake Jamieson) #16

Are you surprised?  He might have struggled against the Yankees... but his popularity is higher than ever.  

2024 Topps #500

Ohtani is one of those generational guys who is both exciting and likable.  He's easily my favorite current Dodger and right up there with Fernando Valenzuela as my all-time favorite Dodger.

Speaking of heartache... I'm guessing my student will recover from her boyfriend ditching her before any of us are finished mourning the loss of El Toro.

Happy Saturday and sayonara!