First Mall Show of the Year

Card shows used to be so alluring.  Not long ago, I was constantly on the lookout for them in my area.  However the rise in interest for graded and gaming cards has sadly lowered my interest in card shows.  I'm especially turned off by the ones that charge parking and/or admission.

Luckily there is still one local mall show about twenty minutes from my place.  Sure it's flooded with Pokemon cards and slabs, but I did manage to find a few dollar bins two Saturdays ago in between visits with friends.

Most of my purchases revolved around football cards, which isn't very interesting most of you.  So I'll go out of order and show off the lone baseball card purchase first...

Purchase #2:  Dollar Rookie Cards  $3

There was a couple with four shoeboxes filled with top loaded dollar cards.  I spent over twenty minutes standing there going through all of them, while talking to the gentleman about the hobby.

1987 Fleer #269

One of our conversations revolved around how this card was once one of the most expensive in the set.  Anyone remember back in the early 90's when Will Clark was towards the top of Beckett's Hot List?  Remember when this card booked for $35?

2019 Topps Update #US1

The vendor had a handful of cards laid out on top of the shoeboxes to attract customers.  This was one of them.  I'll pick up copies of Vladito's flagship rookie card for a buck all day long.  Unfortunately, this was the only one he in these boxes.

1995 SP #99

It's hard to believe that it took me over three decades to finally add this card to my collection.  I bought a lot of football back in the 90's, but never owned this card.  Sapp was a beast on the gridiron and a first ballot hall of famer.  This is arguably my best find of the day.

The rest of my card show purchases revolve around football cards, but I'll wrap up this post with a vintage baseball card I purchased off of eBay.

Let's continue with my card show haul...

Purchase #1:  Modern Football Rookie Cards  $10

My first purchase of the day was from a guy who had a few rows of cards he had marked at $3 each.  I pulled out five and he charged me $10.  Two of them were for fellow bloggers, but these are for me:

2025 Phoenix #200

2024 Prizm #301

I don't usually go out of my way to purchase rookie cards of quarterbacks who aren't on the Packers or Seahawks, but both of these guys impressed me this season.  Classify this as a FOMO purchase.

I don't usually take the time to go through $3 bins, but this card caught my eye:

2021 Prestige Xtra Points Blue #244 (#'d 003/249)

Micah Parsons is a stud and the Green Bay Packers were right in the thick of things this season until he tore his ACL in December.  Can't wait to see him return next season.

Purchase #3:  Super Bowl Bound QB RC  $3

Two of my friends set up at this show.  Tom specializes in the non-sports stuff, along with higher end sports cards.  While Tony focuses on the cheaper stuff.

I noticed a stack of Drake Maye cards on Tony's table.  This was my favorite:

2024 Topps Chrome #203

Maye had one heck of a season... and on Sunday he'll be facing off against my beloved Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl.  Go Hawks!

Purchase #4:  Bargain Bin  $12

I'm a sucker for bargain bins... and this guy had two boxes filled with dollar cards.  If the card was in a one-touch or top loader, it was two bucks.

Let's start with them:

I figured the magnetics were worth the two dollar price tag alone.  In hindsight I should have grabbed all of his $2 one touch singles at this price.  I also picked up two cards in top loaders:

2024 Leaf Pro Set Pure Green Spectrum #60 (#'d 1/49)

2025 Phoenix Phoenician Penmanship #PHP-MRN

I was pretty excited to add this Joe Namath to my Prime Number PC.  Plus sticker auto or not, I'll always add a Super Bowl MVP autograph to my collection for a couple bucks.

I also pulled out three dollar cards from his boxes.  One is for a fellow blogger, but here are the two for me:

2024 Prizm Silver Prizm #145

2025 Absolute Red Plaid #137

The vendor ended up tossing them into the deal for free.  That was a nice surprise.  I'll definitely look for his table the next time I attend this show.

That wraps up my latest card show haul.  Two hours of entertainment and walking out with a small stack of cardboard made the experience a successful day at the mall (even if there were two baseball cards involved).  There's another show in February, but it falls on the same day as one of my flea markets.  Not sure I'll attend both, but we'll see.

Here's the baseball card I mentioned earlier in the post:

1959 Fleer Ted Williams #67

Greg over at Crocodile Sports Cards show off this Ted Williams card on his blog two weeks ago and I immediately added it to my saved eBay searches.

I was drawn to it, because it features Sam Snead, who was one of those old school golfers that my father talked about when I was a kid.

That leads us to today's question of the day:

Are there athletes that you associate with your parents or other family members?

I'd say Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Joe Montana, Jim Plunkett, and Bart Starr are athletes that remind me of my dad.  As for my mother, Joe Montana reigns supreme.

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!