The Eras Post

Heat waves suck.  Blog Bat-Arounds rule.

Yesterday Mother Nature turned up the heat in my area and doesn't plan to cool things off for at least the next four or five days.  My happy place is in the mid 50's to mid 60's.  I can tolerate temps into the mid 70's, but anything in the 80's becomes miserable.  Today the temperature will peak in the high 90's.  Not cool (both literally and figuratively).

But what is really cool is when bloggers support each other's Blog Bat-Arounds.  It's been awesome reading everyone's contributions to Kenny's which asked people to write about their proudest collecting achievements.

On Friday, Matt over at Cards Over Coffee started another one.

Taylor Swift had The Eras Tour.  Bloggers have The Eras BBA.

The challenge if you choose to accept it is to discuss your favorite era of card collecting and show off any recent additions to these collections.  I chose the word "challenge", because it was way too hard to pick a single era for my response.  On any given day, my favorite card collecting era will likely come from one of these three...

A.  The 80's

I'm going to start off with the decade where I officially dove into card collecting.  I absolutely loved opening packs and looking for rookie cards of guys like Ron Kittle, Vince Coleman, and Mike Greenwell.  When I was a kid, they were easily my favorite thing to collect.  These days you can add in regional issues like 7-11 discs, Granny Goose A's, and Mother's Cookies SGA sets into the mix.  Yup.  I love the 80's.

I couldn't think of any 80's regional issues that I've purchased recently, but here's a Roger Clemens rookie card I purchased on eBay back in April:

1985 Donruss #273

You may (or may not) remember the 1985 Donruss factory set I picked up at a flea market back in January for $15.  Unfortunately, it was missing the Clemens.  It took a few months, but I finally completed the set for $6.81 ($4.99 + $1.82 shipping/tax).

B.  The 90's

As Matt pointed out in his post, the most innovative cards were produced during this decade.  It was card companies competing against each other at its finest.  Thanks to the 90's we have cards made out of acetate, metal, wood, and leather.  The shiniest parallels came out of that decade.  And that was the decade that introduced pack pulled autographs and game-used memorabilia.  Plus there were things like holograms, die-cuts, embossed cardboard, Dufex technology, etched foil, tree ornaments, and a bunch of other things I'm forgetting in the moment.  Yup.  90's cards were innovative and awesome.

Unfortunately a lot of these cool 90's cards are skyrocketing in popularity and prices, so I haven't purchased any from eBay or at any card shows.  Luckily, I started reorganizing my collection over the summer and I came across hundreds of cool inserts that were hidden in boxes.  Here are three that I figured Matt might appreciate and fit this segment of the post:

1999-00 Topps Gallery of Heroes #GH6

1997-98 Skybox Z-Force Zensations #18ZN

1997 Fleer Metal Universe Marvel Metal #1

I did find some cool baseball inserts too, but I like to showcase some basketball and football every now and then.

C.  The 70's

One of my favorite things to collect are 70's lenticular Kellogg's cards.  I feel like my dream flea market find involves stumbling across a collection of non-cracked Kellogg's cards at a reasonable price.  It's not likely to happen, but this collector can dream.  Those cards alone make this era a personal favorite.

But I also love collecting 70's cards of athletes I grew up hearing about on television and reading about in magazines.  My two binders dedicated to 70's baseball are arguably the ones that I flip through the most on a regular basis.  I just love staring at classic designs like 1972 and 1975 Topps and flipping through pages filled with The Swingin' A's.  Yup.  The 70's rocked.

I rarely add any 70's Kellogg's cards to my collection these days.  Like 90's stuff... they're too expensive for my budget.  It's even less common for me to share a card I purchased at a flea market before I feature it in a Flea Market Find post.  However I picked up this lovely lenticular at the De Anza Flea Market yesterday:

1976 Kellogg's #19

I have a few Flea Market Find posts that I need to hammer out.  But the next one I publish will feature this weekend's haul since you've gotten a sneak peek.

Thank you Matt for starting another round of Blog Bat-Arounds!  I hope others will join in on the fun.  The more, the merrier.  Reading your responses will make this heat wave I'm suffering through more bearable.

Happy Sunday and sayonara!

Flea Market Finds #191 : A Kitty, a Signed Ball, & some Comics and Cards

I'll start off this post by pointing out that I skipped #190 in my Flea Market Finds series., because I'm reserving the spot for purchases made back on May 2nd at the De Anza Flea Market.  One of the purchases was a large collection that I have not touched in months.  It's one of those things that I'm excited to document, but it's a project that will likely take one to two weeks of dedication.  

In the meantime, I have decided to skip ahead to the purchases I made on August 1st at the De Anza Flea Market.  I remember it was a pretty hot day, so I only made one pass through.  It was also my first time walking around that flea market in three months, so I was in the mood to shop.  Luckily, I found some interesting items to add to my collection...

Purchase #1:  Hello Kitty Bobblehead  $3

2015 San Francisco Giants SGA (6/28/15)

Okay.  Maybe a Hello Kitty bobblehead isn't considered interesting, but even with damaged packaging... $3 was too cheap to pass up.

Purchase #2:  Signed Baseball  $3

A few minutes later, I saw this baseball sitting on a lady's table:

Rawlings MLB-L Baseball

Anyone recognize this type of baseball?  Although it says official, I'm guessing these were not used in official MLB games.  Anyways... I decided to buy it because it was signed on the side panel:

I realize the odds of this being a legit Mickey Mantle signature is low, but I beat the odds back in 2015 when I purchased a Willie Mays signed baseball for $8.  I eventually had it authenticated by PSA/DNA and it passed.

I no longer have any connection to any autograph certification companies, so most likely this ball will just sit in my baseball collection as a mystery.

Purchase #3:  Decks of Cards  $10

About halfway through the flea market, I had only seen a handful of vendors with trading cards.  Most had the late 80's overproduced stuff at outrageous prices.  My friends set up too, but I didn't find anything in their cases either.

However a few spots down from them, I found a guy with a collection of card decks.  I ended up grabbing these five:

1988 US Games American Authors Card Game

1994 Bicycle San Francisco Giants

2003 Hoyle Iraqi Most Wanted

2000 Action Publishing Politicards

2004 Action Publishing Politicards

2026 has been the year of purchasing playing cards for me.  These were more affordable compared to the 2004 The Real Deal John Kerry Presidential Deck I purchased back in March.

Purchase #4: Star Wars Comic Run  $23

Seems like every vendor with trading cards believes their sitting on a gold mine.  That's not a good thing for bargain bin collectors like myself.  Although I did find a few cool cards like another 1990 Score B&W Bo... I just can't justify spending $20 for a card that will sometimes pop up in dollar bins.

That's why I've started targeting a few other items in recent months like cassette tapes, playing card decks, and comic books.

One vendor had a long box filled with 90's Dark Horse Star Wars comic books.  Not sure if I have ever mentioned this, but I'm a huge fan of these books.  Unfortunately this guy wasn't blowing out his collection, but his prices were slightly lower than eBay comps.

I was interested in a few different runs, but ultimately I went with the Shadows of the Empire story line:

1996 Dark Horse SW: Shadows of the Empire #1, 2, & 3

1996 Dark Horse SW: Shadows of the Empire #4, 5, & 6

This comic book series fills the gap between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.  I never actually read the comics, but my friends and I played the N64 game back in the mid 90's.

Purchase #5:  Football Sets  $25

With temperatures rising, I came close to leaving early and skipping the final two rows.

I'm glad I didn't, because I finally found some reasonably priced sports cards.  This couple had several three row monster boxes filled with 90's cards, but they were asking $100 per box.  Two guys were sifting through them and wanted to buy all three until they heard the price.

I'm not a fan of digging through boxes that someone else is already going through, so I looked into their 660 and 800ct. boxes that were off to the side.  Two stood out to me.  One had a complete 1987 Donruss baseball set.  The other looked like this:

The lady wanted $25 for each, so I put the baseball set down and asked her if she'd take $20 for this box.  She countered with $23.  Then I offered her a coin flip challenge.  If they win, I pay $25.  If I win, I pay $20.  Yup.  I lost.

That being said, I was pretty shocked at the going rates for the 1990 Score Supplemental set:

1990 Score Supplemental Factory Set

Can you believe that these sets are selling in the $100 to $140 range on eBay?  Emmitt Smith's most popular rookie card is main draw, but it also contains rookie cards of Lincoln Kennedy and Junior Seau.

There were also a bunch of these 1990 Pro Set Update sets inside the box:

1990 Pro Set Update Set

There's also a rookie year card of Emmitt in these sets too, but they haven't quite boomed in value.

Purchase #6:  A New Album  $5

The final purchase of the day was a new copy of this 70's record album:

1972 Fleetwood Finley's Heroes LP

I already have a framed copy hanging up in my office.  However for five bucks, I couldn't pass up it up.  If you'd like to listen to the album, click here.

Sorry there weren't more cards in this particular flea market haul, but I did find two vendors with bargain boxes at last weekend's flea market.  Depending on how hectic things are around here, I should have a recap of that trip up sometime next week.  As for recap of the De Anza Flea Market back in May, that could be posted in a few weeks... or a few months.

Until then...

Happy Wednesday and sayonara!

A Sweaty Sunday Sort

It's hot here.  Too hot.  The kind of heat that makes me skip the farmer's market and grocery shopping.  That means more time to clean the house and sort some cards.

Today I targeted three packages Rod over at Padrographs sent me back at the start of summer.  I thought it was gonna take me a few weeks to get to them, but it ended up taking a few months.

There's obviously way too much to cover in a single post, so I decided to focus on what he's best known for: autographs.

Let's start with some familiar names...

2011 Topps #178

It's been over a decade since Bell sprinted onto the field at Petco, but I'm guessing most Padres fans can picture it in their head.

Let's take a trip back to the 80's...

1985 Mother's Cookies Padres #1

Dick Williams was the manager of the Padres when I started rooting for them during the 1984 World Series.

1985 Fleer #30

If you followed baseball back in the 80's, then you're familiar with Dravecky's story.  If not and you're interested, click here.

What you might not know is that his signature changed after he had his left arm amputated.  If you ever see a signed ball, photo, or card of his with his first and last name on the same line, then it was before his surgery.  These days, he's signs his last name below his first.

1990 Donruss #302

Did you know that Mark Davis is one of five pitchers to win a Cy Young Award while representing the Padres?  He was also part of the trade that sent Dravecky to the San Francisco Giants.

I wish I could write about all of the autographs that Rod sent my way, but it's getting late and I really want to publish this post tonight.  But feel free to check them out... and offer any comments on any of these guys down below:

Not all of the autographs from Rod were of the TTM or IP variety.  Here are the pack pulled autographs:

2013 Leaf Perfect Game Showcase Jersey Auto #JA-JN1

When I saw this card, his name sounded familiar.  Then I looked him up and was reminded of the time he broke into someone's house, got kicked in the face, and tasered.  On the brighter side, he's still playing pro ball in Mexico.

2013 Bowman DP&P Autographs #BCA-HR

2020 Bowman Platinum Top Prospects Auto #TOP-59

2022 Prizm Draft Picks Signing Sessions #SS-DM

Rod went big and sent me this really cool Topps buyback autograph of Goose Gossage:

2024 Topps Archives Signature Series (1987 Topps #380)

This is only my second Gossage autograph featuring him with the Padres... and my first with him signing across his face.  I was very surprised to see this card slide out of the small flat rate shipping box.

But I was even more surprised to see this framed and matted signature:

Yup.  That's a cut signature of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar... one of the greatest basketball players of all-time.  When I turned it over and saw it, I was left speechless.

He also sent me an autograph of this lesser known Laker:

2012-13 Absolute Rookie Auto #182

Not gonna lie.  I've never heard of Mr. Johnson-Odom.  But he does share the last names of two famous and popular Lakers legends:  Magic Johnson and Lamar Odom.

Let's wrap things up with the final two autographs he sent me...

1991-92 Score Canadian Bilingual #554

Brian Hayward was one of the Minnesota North Stars players chosen by the Sharks as part of the special dispersal draft in 1991.  He's credited as being the goalie in the first win in franchise history. 

A few years ago Rod sent me a relic card from Harmon's NCIS days.  It was one of my mom's favorite television shows.  And now I have an autograph to go with it.

If you're wondering why he's featured as a quarterback for UCLA, that's because he was their starting quarterback in 1972 and 1973.  The thing I mainly remember him for is his role in Summer School.

Obviously there's a lot of other stuff I need to cover in regards to Rod's care packages, but it's already Monday in some parts of the country, so I'm going to wrap this up here.

Thank you Rod!  And thank goodness the temperature has finally dropped into the 70's.

Happy Sunday and sayonara!