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
1995 SP #99
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.
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!
Didn't Clark have an 86 Fleer Update release? If so it was probably going for more than the 87. I had his 86 Topps Traded and 87 Topps as a kid.
ReplyDeleteA couple sports related names that stand out to me, as far as my dad goes, pretty much anybody on the 69 Mets team - Swaboda, Harrelson, Seaver, Kranepool etc.
Boxing - Roberto Duran, Ali, Foreman
My mom always brings up the Yankees but never knows any of the players lol. Ask her about 60's related music and you're gonna need a Snickers bar cuz it's gonna be while.
Great finds! I can't imagine an '87 Fleer card worth $35 LOL
ReplyDeleteMy mom is a huge Bo Nix and Garrett Anderson fan, and my older brother likes Mike Trout. Those are the two family members I can associate players with, and they're mostly modern players.
My mom always brought up the 1960s Hawaii Islanders she grew up following and listening to on the radio. Bob Duliba was one of the guys she mentioned in that story and I wrote a TTM request to him about that (return with a nice note from him is here: https://njwv.wordpress.com/2020/02/02/last-ttms-of-2019-1st-ttms-of-2020/ ).
ReplyDeleteI will never tire of seeing those Ted Williams cards!
ReplyDeleteI remember watching golf and racing with my Dad back when I was a kid, so Nicklaus & co. as well as Bobby Unser, AJ Foyt, Bobby Allison, etc. will always remind me of those times.
ReplyDeleteJust this past week, my girlfriend started collections of Peyton Manning (Denver only), Brett Favre, and John Riggins.
My father was a huge New York Rangers fan, so I always think of him in connection to the Rangers of my childhood... Brad Park, Eddie Giacomin, Rod Gilbert, Ron Greschner, Walt Tkaczuk, Jean Ratelle... My father was very upset that the Rangers traded Park & Ratelle to the Bruins for Phil Esposito and another player
ReplyDeleteThat’s a nice Ted Williams card! I have a couple cards in my collection that remind me of my folks (66 topps Jim lefebvre for my dad and 78 topps Tom Seaver for my mom). I also associate my dad with some other athletes. He talked about sandy koufax and don drysdale a lot, and dean chance to a lesser degree, along with 50s era Montreal canadiens like rocket richard.
ReplyDelete1) For a big guy Sapp could get up in the air. Man, those were good days. Nice Fleer Williams card. Ted loved his fishing (and golf), when I lived near him before he passed and close to where his museum is, his handler would tell you do NOT talk about baseball, only fishing and golf unless he brings it up.
ReplyDelete2) Nope, lol.
Love the Williams fishing card. I don't really use the magnetic one touches., but I have some sitting around. If you ever make it up this way, remind me and they are yours!
ReplyDeleteVery nice to know that you had a very good day at the mall show. Congrats on the great pickups.
ReplyDeleteI always enjoy seeing your flea market and card show pickups. You got some really nice stuff here- Parsons and Rypien are two that I would have grabbed for sure. Rypien was the first auto card I ever had in my collection; I sent him a TTM request as a kid after Washington won SB26 and he signed a 1990 Score card for me. I still have it 😁
ReplyDeleteAthletes that remind me of family: Trevor Linden(wife’s fave), Denny McLain(father in law’s fave), Russell White (Cal RB in the early ‘90s, my sister met him at a Walter Camp dinner), Cam Atkinson (my nephew’s hockey team faced Cam’s in hs) and maybe Darryl Strawberry? My mom liked him but I can’t recall her watching a Mets game to see him play.
I don't have those Darts! lol!!
ReplyDeleteI like the Reid too. May need to find one
Are you a Sapp collector? I didn't know that. At one time I had a Select Certified Gold Sapp, I will have to go through my old football stuff some time and see if I still have it or anything else Sapp.
ReplyDeleteDorsett for my mom, My mom went to high school with Dorsett. He was a few years younger and she didn't know him but he was the football star on their team. Franco for my dad just happened a few years ago. There was a Bradshaw roast here in Phoenix a few years ago during Super Bowl weekend. My dad got to go and sat at a table with Franco. They started talking and it turned out that my dad graduated with Franco's wife. (she had never meet Franco yet) Not my parents, but I also associate Dan Marino with my uncle. They got in a fight back in high school and Marino broke his nose. I had never known the story until I was in my late teens and dad found out I was collecting Marino cards.
Absolutely. One brother got mad at me and hid my 1964 Billy Williams one day. Another brother had ever Ron Santo card from Topps. A third brother and I always talked about why there was a Bob Knepper Kellogg's card on the refrigerator for such a long time. And my favorite - my mother didn't care for cards, but she liked Daryl Lamonica because a relative played with him in college. So, she kept his card in her purse for years.
ReplyDeleteA former uncle helped carry Hank Gathers off the court. HIs arm is visible in a Sports Illustrated photo of the incident.
ReplyDeleteRafer Johnson dated one of my mother's friends.