Big Day, Big Sign

It's officially here.  The first day of the school year with warm bodies filling up seats.  That means going over the class syllabus, the school rules, and introducing my seventh graders to middle school.

It's been four weeks since I've had to talk to a classroom full of kids, so if things went as planned... I picked up a Strawberry Acai Refresher from Starbucks on my way to school.  I'm not one of those people who go on a daily basis (more like once a week), but I go enough where a few peeps working the morning crew know me.

Two of them are former students and one them happens to be a huge A's fan.  Last week, he left a special note on my cup and I figured it was a good opportunity to bust out my wallet card.  The drink sorta dwarfs the card, but I never finish all thirty ounces in one day.  It provides me with two days worth of refreshment.

Speaking of big, last week I purchased this big sign for my Oakland A's collection:

1973-74 Fleer Big Signs #NNO

According to the Beckett, these measure 12"x16" and were distributed in 1973.  However The Fleer Sticker Project, says there are two versions of the California Angels signs... so he thinks they could have been released in 1974 as well.

By the way... the sign is a tad bit smaller than what Beckett states.  I busted out my ruler and it measures 7.75"x11.5".  Anyways... this is an item I've been eyeing for awhile now and a vendor on eBay sent me a reasonable offer ($12.80 + $3.37 tax & shipping), so I accepted.

Well that's it for today.  When this post is published, I'll be in front of my first period class.  Hopefully things go smoothly.

Happy Monday and sayonara!

The Blogger National 2025

Once upon a time, it was a dream of mine to attend The National Sports Card Convention.  Things have changed.  I changed.

Don't get me wrong... if the circumstances were right... I might attend.  I'm just not sure it'll ever actually happen.

The biggest obstacles for me are:

#1:  Money

2002 Topps Gallery Baseball Bucks #NNO

I'm assuming the NSCC will never come back to San Francisco.  What does this mean?  It means that if I ever want to attend the show, I'd have to set aside a lot of money for travel expenses (flight, hotel, car rental, food, etc.) plus a hobby budget for the show.

Now I've talked to a few collectors who have attended and they have all assured me it would be worth the money spent... just to experience it.  Maybe they're right.  I'm just not sure I want to wager thousands of dollars to find out they're wrong.

#2:  Timing

1977 Topps #433

The NSCC always takes place at the end of my summer break.  Now that's perfect timing for some.  Me?  It's terrible timing.  Right before I head back into the classroom, my goal is to recharge the batteries and relax.  Attending the NSCC might be tons of fun, but I don't think it meets my definition of "relaxing". 

#3:  Traveling

2018 Topps Heritage News Flashbacks #NF-5

It would be one thing to hop into a car and drive one, maybe two hours to a card show.  I've done that before.  It's another thing to ask me to fly.  Will I do it?  Yeah.  But it's not my favorite thing to do.  

#4:  Crowds

1992 Pro Set Guinness Book of Records #16

I'm also not a fan of standing shoulder to shoulder with strangers.  Now based on some of the videos I've seen on YouTube, things seemed to be spaced out nicely in some areas.  However I saw one clip that showed a crazy long line to get into the show.  If I have to wait more than 15 minutes in line, I'd rather just hit up my local flea market.

This is the biggest obstacle by far and ultimately the thing preventing me from attending the show.  Money, timing, and traveling are all things I could probably handle... especially if I planned ahead.  Not sure I can say the same thing about the crowds.

That's why I'd much rather hang out in Matt's Blogger National... which is a blog bat-around where I have the opportunity to show off recent purchases I made over on eBay (instead of waiting in long lines at the actual National).

Purchase #1:  An Upgrade for my A's PC

1973 Topps #210

The Oakland A's won the World Series the year I was born.  This card celebrates that event.

Back in 2020, I picked up a PSA 6 graded version of this card for under $5, but I started looking for an affordable upgrade right after that.  4 Sharp Corners has listed a few of these with BIN prices of $39.99 (+ $8.75 tax & shipping) in recent months.  I have been sitting on a few eBay gift cards and decided to use one of them on this card.

I know most of you could care less about graded cards... but I'm really happy to add this to my collection of A's World Series celebration cards.

Purchase #2:  Worst Purchase Ever?

A few years ago, I paid $45 for a Clayton Kershaw autograph.  Unfortunately... it wasn't actually autographed.  I just thought it was when I sent the eBay vendor the offer.  This is arguably my worst eBay purchase of all-time... until two weeks ago.

That's when this listing popped up.  It's for a set of 1984 Smokey the Bear Padres cards.  It's a stadium giveaway set that features a lot of cool cards including a second year Gwynn, the San Diego Chicken, and even a card of HOF umpire... Doug Harvey.  Pretty neat, right?  Well that's why I offered the seller $18 (+ $6.38 tax & shipping) right before I fell asleep that night.

The next morning I woke up and saw that he accepted.  I was stoked and couldn't wait to get my hands on this set.  A few days it arrived... and I realized how dumb of a purchase this was.

The first thing I noticed was that the cards were in rough shape.  They look like they've been sliding around in someone's shoebox the past forty-one years.  But that's not even the worst thing about this purchase.

It's missing four cards!  And yup... the Gwynn and Chicken are two of them.  Garvey and the header card are the other two cards missing.  Well... at least it had the Harvey.  It also has HOF manager Dick Williams:

1984 Smokey San Diego Padres SGA #NNO

Anyways... the worst was yet to come.  After feeling like I had been sucker punched.  I headed over to eBay to see the original listing.  And guess what... the seller totally listed it as a "Partial Team Set".

I've got nobody to blame except for myself.

Purchase #3:  A Different Kind of Rainbow

1986 McDonalds Seattle Seahawks Sets

(Blue, Black, Orange, & Green)

Not gonna spend too much time writing about this purchase, since most of you are baseball fans.  

1986 McDonalds Seattle Seahawks #80

If you've never seen these before, they're regional cards handed out at McDonalds back in 1986.  There are four different colored tabs, but each colored set contains the same twenty-four players.

A eBay vendor had listed this lot of four sets (for $45.55) and was accepted offers.  I sent an offer of $38 (+ $7.55 tax & shipping) and they accepted.  This was part of the same $100 eBay gift card from above.

Well that wraps up my trip to the 2025 Blogger National.  I could have included a few other purchases, but I'm saving those for future posts.

In the meantime let's check out some cards I recently received from a blogger who is actually at the 2025 National Sports Card Convention.  Stuart over at S.R. '75 Cards has been spreading O-Pee-Chee love around the blogosphere the past few weeks.  I was very happy to be included.

But before we get to those Canadian cards, here are a few other items he sent for my collection...

1995 Topps #389

I'm not sure how this card has eluded my Gwynn collection the past thirty years.  But thanks to Stuart... I finally have a copy in my Gwynn binders.

He also sent me two new Gwynn inserts:

1999 Pacific Omega Hit Machine 3000 #11 (#'d 2909/3000)

2002 UD Prospect Premieres Heroes of Baseball #HTG2

It's O-Pee-Chee time!

Let's start with some 1992 singles for my A's and Padres collections:

There are a few big names in this lot, but none bigger than Rickey:

1992 O-Pee-Chee #560

Just look at those career numbers he had already accumulated by the end of the 1991 season.  Can you believe he would go on to play another twelve seasons in the MLB?

Stuart also sent me some 1981 O-Pee-Chee cards:

He included three hall of famers:

1981 O-Pee-Chee #229

1981 O-Pee-Chee #254

1981 O-Pee-Chee #261

And for those looking for the French text...

Thank you Stuart for all of these O-Pee-Chee cards and the trio of new Gwynns.  Hope you're having fun at the NSCC.  And thank you Matt for inspiring and kicking off the 2025 Blogger National.  I hope a bunch of other bloggers will join in on the fun.

As for the rest of you...

Happy Sunday and sayonara!

Flea Market Finds #177: Stuff from the 70's, 80's, and 90's

It's official.  I'm finally caught up on writing flea market posts.  Perfect timing too, because in a few days I'll be heading out to the De Anza Flea Market in hopes of finding some hidden treasures.

In the meantime, here's what I picked up two Saturdays ago at the Branham Flea Market.

Purchase #1:  80's Baseball Sets  $100

Remember the guy with the Laughlin sets?  Well... he was back again.  Sadly he didn't have any 70's oddball issues this time around.  But he did bring a few 80's sets.  I picked out these four:

First up is a 1983 Donruss factory set:

1983 Donruss Factory Set

This was the first set I noticed (he had these sets spread out over a few tables).  Although they aren't rare by any means... it's not really something I come across at the flea market on a regular basis.

He also had a 1982 Donruss factory set: 

1982 Donruss Factory Set

Not sure if Donruss released the 1982 sets in cellophane packs (like the other 1983 set above), but this one didn't come with any.  The set was in order though, so it was easy to check for the Ripken:

1982 Donruss #405

The centering is terrible, but I'm happy to add this set to my collection of 80's sets.  Speaking of centering, the key rookie cards in the next set are really clean:

1983 Topps Set

This is one of my all-time favorite sets.  I love the design... and it contains the rookie card of my favorite player:

1983 Topps #83

1983 Topps #482

1983 Topps #498

And rounding out the trifecta of 1983 flagship sets is the Fleer set:

1983 Fleer Set

Unfortunately when I got home, I discovered this set was missing two cards.  Plus Joaquin Andujar (card #1) was sun damaged.  I already ordered all three cards on Sportlots, but it might take a few weeks for them to arrive.

In the meantime, check out the Big Three:

1983 Fleer #179

1983 Fleer #360

1983 Fleer #507

There was another guy who came along and showed an interest in these sets, but the vendor said he'd give me first dibs since I've bought a bunch of stuff from him this year.  He was looking to get $40 for the Topps set and $30 each for the others.  I asked him if he'd take $100 for the quartet and he accepted.

After I paid for these sets, I hung out at his booth.  We talked about him moving soon and him heading out to Arkansas.  We also talked about each of our hobby histories and why he was getting rid of his stuff.  I also found two more sets...

Purchase #2:  More Baseball Sets  $20

1986 Sportflics Decade Greats Factory Set

This is a set that I have been actively seeking for over a decade.  The box wasn't sealed and was in pretty rough shape, but I still wanted it.

I know Sportflics aren't super popular, but they hold a lot of nostalgic value for me.  I never owned this set, but I opened a lot of 1986 Sportflics packs and owned the Rookies factory set.

This set covers the best players from the 1940's to the 1980's.  Here's what the cards look like:

1986 Sportflics Decade Greats #28

These lenticular cards feature three images for the price of one:

It's the trademark characteristic of 80's Sportflics cards.  But the card backs were pretty cool too:

Check out how much information they packed onto the back of this card.  Plus it's so colorful!  They only downside is they sacrificed the athlete's career stats and focused on a specific decade (hence the name of the set).

In addition to the 75 player cards, they also included 51 trivia cards:

1986 Sportflics Decades Greats Trivia Card #32

Okay... enough Sportflics talk.  Here's the other set I grabbed:

1993 Gatorade Detroit Tigers Set

I've never seen this set before, but according to TCDB it sounds like these were handed out as a stadium giveaway.

I thought about opening this set up and pulling singles for my binders (player collections).  I'm going to keep it sealed for now though.

As for the purchase price, there wasn't any negotiation this time around.  Like I said... I really wanted this Sportflics set... and his twenty dollar asking price seemed fair.

Okay.  I've rambled on way too much and we're only through the first two purchases.  It's time to speed up the process...

Purchase #3:  Sega Genesis Game  $15

1993 EA Sports Tony LaRussa Baseball (Sega Genesis)

My streak of picking up new (in package) 90's media continues.  This time it comes in the form of a video game.

While most of my buddies were SNES fanboys in the early 90's... I was a Genesis guy.  Never owned this particular game, but figured it would look cool on my A's shelf.

Purchase #4:  Three for a Buck Singles  $4

Back in May, I bought some cards off of a guy with 3 for $1 boxes.  He was back.  Here's what I picked up: 

You know how much I enjoy Star Wars and shiny cards.  I also found a huge stack of Jackass cards, but only grabbed the Tony Hawk.

He also had two unopened packs of Sport Kings.  I'm still searching for the Richard Petty card for my set build.  How cool would it be to pull one from these packs?

Purchase #5:  80's Wax Pack  $2

1981 Topps Raiders of the Lost Ark

Found this pack sitting in a bin with a bunch of non-sport Junk Wax Era packs and figured I'd save it.

I'll have to see if I already have one for my unopened wax pack collection.  If I do, I'll crack it open on a rainy day when I need some blog fodder.

The guy who sold me this pack, also had some random 80's team sets...

Purchase #6:  Yankees Team Set  $5

1985 Topps & Topps Traded

There were a handful of singles I needed in my 80's base card binder, but the key to this purchase was this card:

1985 Topps Traded #49T

I needed this for my Topps flagship base card run of Rickey.  I was hoping to find this card in a dollar bin, but I got tired of waiting.

Purchase #7:  Vintage Football Stamps  $10

The last purchase of the day was off of the guy I usually start with.  However the past two times he's had a group of guys digging through his boxes.  Anyways... I ended the day by grabbing these two vintage packs of NFL stamps:

1972 Sunoco NFL Action Stamps

Each pack contains 9 stamps.  At the time, I figured this was a killer deal.  How often do you find unopened packs from 1972 for $5 each?  The answer is... anytime you want.  They're listed on eBay for this price or even cheaper.  Oh well... win some, lose some.

Hopefully I'll find some winners on Saturday at De Anza.  Either way... I'll show off my finds sometime next week.

Until then...

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!