A Whale of a Sort

Summer break is over.  Technically I don't need to report until Thursday, but I've been working in my classroom since early last week.  It takes me a few days to set up my classroom and prep the first three weeks of lessons.

Not teaching summer school forced me to dip into my savings.  Outside of that... it was pretty amazing.  I'll have a recap post posted by the time students arrive on the 17th.

Today's post is a continuation of the Sunday Sort.  Last weekend I opened up three packages from Rod over at Padrographs and sorted everything into categories.  Phase two (which is the focus of today's post) is to sort and integrate the Tony Gwynn cards he sent.

But before we get into that, here's a Gwynn I recently purchased on eBay:

1992 Fleer Ultra Commemorative Promo #NNO

I have been trying to add this card to my 1992 Fleer Ultra master set for years.  It was handed out at the 1992 Fleer stockholders meeting and features Fleer's CEO back in the day.

The back talks about Gwynn and how he signed over 2,000 cards which were inserted into packs of 1992 Fleer Ultra.

I thought this card completed my run of 1992 Fleer Ultra Gwynn cards:

Unfortunately... while looking up this Mullan/Gwynn promo, I discovered that Gwynn also has a 1992 pre-production sample as well.  There are actually nine other sample cards I need to find, but I'm up for the challenge.

Okay.  Let's get to the Gwynns from Rod's care packages.  He sent over 200 Gwynns.  Obviously I don't have the time to scan them all.  In honor of Mr. Padre's jersey number, here are 19 cards that were added to my Gwynn PC...

1984 Fleer #301

Technically, I already have a copy of this second year base card.  But completed sets get priority over player or team collections. 

1992 Padres Police #NNO

1992 Padres Police #NNO

1993 Stadium Club Members Only #538

1994 Donruss Commemorative Anniversary #10

While originally sorting through all of the Gwynns, I thought this was his 1984 base card.  But upon closer inspection, it's from an insert set celebrating their ten year anniversary.

1995 Leaf 300 Club #13

1995 SP Championship Die-Cut #90

1996 Bowman's Best Mirror Image #7

One of these guys is not like the others, but there was a time when I thought Ben Grieve would end up being a superstar.

1996 Leaf Statistical Standouts #2 (#'d 1939/2500)

1996 Pinnacle Aficionado Slick Picks #15

1996 Topps Master of the Game #MG12

1996 Topps Gallery #147

1999 Fleer Tradition Diamond Magic #5DM

1999 Pacific Invincible Sandlot Heroes #17

2000 Fleer Focus Pocus #2FP

2000 Topps #240a & #240d

Much like the commemorative promo card above, I have been trying to complete the five card subset of 2000 Topps Gwynns for a few years.  Split between the two series, Topps highlighted the careers of ten players with a Magic Moments subset.  Each player received five cards that were short printed, which is why set builders may or may not consider their set complete with one of these singles.

2001 Fleer Tradition Grass Roots #13

2003 Topps Record Breakers #RB-TGW

If you've ever wondered how long it takes me to integrate and scan a large stack of cards into my personal collection, this Gwynn sort will help paint a picture.

1994 Donruss Commemorative Anniversary #10

Obviously sorting a few hundred cards usually doesn't take too much time, but thanks to the 90's... I had a lot of trouble figuring out which year some of these Gwynns were produced.  A card might say 1993 in the copyright area, but actually be listed as a 1994 card.  This also forced me to move some cards around in my collection.

Another delay I encountered were late 80's Topps and Donruss variations.  Holy cow.  Why did I ever decide to collect these?  Anyways... looking for missing periods, apostrophes, or asterisks with a magnifying glass took longer than expected.

Toss in a few breaks here and there... and this Sunday Sort took close to five hours.  This is by no means a complaint.  It's just an observation.  There are still seventeen stacks of Gwynns that I still need to integrate into the collection, but I needed to wrap things up and write this post.

Unfortunately... I couldn't stay awake last night and ended up falling asleep before I could finish, so this edition of the Sunday Sort gets to be published on a Monday morning.

Thank you Rod for these awesome additions to the Gwynn collection.

Happy Monday and sayonara!

Hero, Role Model, & Friend

Happy Father's Day to all of the card collecting fathers out there!  This post has been in the works for several weeks now as I finally get a chance to show off some eBay purchases related to my personal hero: Papa Fuji.

However before we get to them, let's show off my Sunday Sort:

This morning I opened up over fifteen packages ranging from PWE's to bubble mailers.

Some of these were eBay purchases, but the majority are care packages from fellow bloggers.  I've sorted them by date.  The oldest is a padded envelope from Dennis (over at Too Many Verlanders) that back to last December.  Not included in this photo are three packages from Rod (over at Padrographs).  The plan is to blog about these care packages over the next few weeks.

Okay... let's get back to Pops.  Back in 2022, my father and I spent a few hours hanging out over the hill on the Pacific Coast Highway.  One of our stops was at the Pigeon Point Lighthouse:

2025 Topps A&G Light The Night Mini #LTN-6

Last year, Topps included it in their Light The Night insert set and I've been targeting a copy ever since.  I honestly was hoping to find one in a card show quarter or dollar bin, but I eventually gave in and paid $2.50 (+ 25¢ tax) for this mini on eBay.

Here are two more photos from our trip:

Another card I purchased with my father in mind was this card commemorating Super Bowl I:

1977 Fleer Teams in Action #57

On Sunday, January 15th, 1967... the Green Bay Packers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs in front of 61,946 fans at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.  My parents were two of those fans.

They had recently moved from Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Southern California and were big Green Bay Packers fans.  As you might have guessed, they're the reason I'm a Packers fan.

They eventually became San Francisco 49ers fans when they moved to the Bay Area a few years later.  They were season ticket holders during the 70's, when this guy was still running the offense:

1997 Upper Deck Legends Auto #AL-81

John Brodie was one of the guys my father enjoyed reminiscing about.  So when he passed away earlier in the year, I wanted to add an autographed card featuring him with the 49ers to my collection.

Two weeks ago, this card was featured in an eBay auction and I was the highest bidder at $16.32 (+ $6.62 tax & shipping).

Love ya Pops!  Thank you for being such an amazing father, role model, and friend.  I hope you're enjoying your special day with Mama.  Miss you both.

Happy Sunday and sayonara!

Flea Market Finds #182b: Saving the Best for Last

One flea market vendor has single handedly made 2025 my greatest year in regards to flea market finds.  Here's a breakdown of my purchases from him earlier in the year:

March:  1982 Sports Illustrated mini posters

April:  1976 Laughlin Diamond Jubilee set & 1984-85 Star Court Kings basketball set

June:  1974 Laughlin Old Time Black Stars set, 1984 Slurpee cups, & 1978 Olde Cards Halsey Hall Recalls set

July:  1982 Donruss baseball set, 1983 Donruss baseball set, 1983 Fleer baseball set, & 1983 Topps baseball set

After July, he didn't set up anymore.  Another flea market vendor bought out the remainder of his inventory and the deals disappeared.

Fast forward to last Saturday.  I stumbled across the vendor who bought the collection.  He had some really cool stuff including vintage hall of famers, 80's oddballs, and even a 1983 O-Pee-Chee baseball set.  Unfortunately his prices were high, so I continued on my merry way.

After I purchased the vintage hockey binder and walking down the final row of the flea market, I made a beeline towards my car passing through a couple of rows.  I was probably only 100ft. from my car when I saw Bill, the guy who had sold me all of those cool oddballs and sets.

He was hanging out with his buddy and only had one item on his friend's table:

I couldn't believe my eyes.  After saying hello and exchanging pleasantries... I asked how much he wanted for the box of sets.

Purchase #4:  Collection of 80's Traded & Update Sets  $120

He asked if I'd give him $120 and I told him if they were complete, we had a deal.  I immediately opened up the 1984 Fleer Update set:

I quickly flipped through it while we talked about his upcoming move to Arkansas and the two big cards were in there:

1984 Fleer Update #U-93

1984 Fleer Update #U-27

I carefully put everything back into the box and moved on to the 1982 Topps Traded.  But before we check that out, here's a look at the entire set laid out on my office floor:

I ended up sleeving every card, put the key rookies and hall of famers in Card Saver II's, and stored all of it in a 400ct. box:

I never, ever, ever imagined a situation where I would own this set, but now I do.

Next up was the 1982 Topps Traded:

1982 Topps Traded Set

The box was slightly damaged, but the key card isn't too bad:

1982 Topps Traded #98T

The Ripken has a printing dot near his elbow and if you look close enough there's some edge issues.  But thankfully this wasn't one of the cards with a damaged corner.

As soon as I saw the Ripken, I slid everything back into the box.  Here's a photo of the complete set:

If you look carefully, you'll notice that six or seven cards have damaged corners.  For $120... that's something I could live with.

As I began to pull out the six twenty dollar bills out of my wallet, he asked me if I would be willing to pay $150 instead.  I knew in my heart that this was a great price too.  But I was down to around $140, so I asked if he'd be willing to accept the price based on a coin flip.  If he won, I'd have to go down to 7-11, pull out some cash, and give him $150.  I he lost, he'd accept the original offer.

He laughed and said it was a deal.  I flipped the coin, he called "tails", and I handed over the $120.

When I got home, I took a closer look at the remaining six sets...

1981 Topps Traded Set

This set's biggest issues were centering and some printing defects, but luckily I already have a copy for my Topps Traded binder.  It'll be paired with my 1981 Topps set.

Here's a look at the two key rookie cards:

1981 Topps Traded #816

1981 Topps Traded #850

1983 Topps Traded Set

This set is probably best known for having one of Darryl Strawberry's first cards:

1983 Topps Traded #108T

It might not be a super valuable set, but like the 1982 Topps Traded set, I needed it for my binder project.

1984 Topps Traded Set

This set was sealed and I already had a copy for the binder, so I didn't bother opening it up.  Like the 1981 Traded set, I will pair this one with the flagship set.

1985 Topps Traded Set

I was surprised to see that I needed this set, because I used to own it when I was a kid.  This is probably the cheapest set in the lot.  Here are the two cards I deemed scan worthy:

1985 Topps Traded #24T

1985 Topps Traded #49T

And rounding out the lot were the 1985 and 1986 Fleer Update sets...

1985 Fleer Update Set

Like the Topps Traded, the two cards I thought were the coolest were the Vince Coleman rookie card and Rickey with his new team:

1985 Fleer Update #U-28

1985 Fleer Update #U-51

1986 Fleer Update Set

This set contains Barry's first Fleer card, but Canseco had a card in the flagship set.  Only this time around he didn't have to share his card with Eric Plunk:

1986 Fleer Update #U-14

1986 Fleer Update #U-20

Both of these sets were new additions to my collection.  I owned 1986 Fleer Update set when I was a kid, but I must have broken it up when I sold my collection in the early aughts.  At this point, I don't have any plans to create an 80's Fleer Update binder, but if I ever do... I only need the 1988 and 1989 sets.

As for my Topps Traded binder project, this purchase got me three steps closer to completing my run.  The only set I need is the 1987 Topps Traded which is readily available.  I actually thought I had it sitting in my collection, but when I inventoried everything a few years ago I couldn't find it.

Anyways... this wraps up my big flea market find from last weekend.  It cost me most of the money I brought, but it was well worth it.

The down side is the gentleman who has sold me all of the cool sets is moving to Arkansas, so I won't be buying anymore stuff off of him.  But the stuff he sold me this year has definitely made a huge impact on my collection.

Thank you Bill!  Enjoy your retirement.

As for everyone else, thanks for taking the time to read this post.  There's no flea market this weekend, but I'm planning to go to De Anza in two weeks.

Until then...

Happy Thursday and sayonara!