Flea Market Finds #69: Rock n' Roll & Miller Lite Ladies

My summer has officially reached the end of the tunnel.  Tomorrow morning I'm walking out my front door and reporting back to work, where I'll be greeted with two days worth of staff development, classroom decoration, and lesson plan preparation.  On Wednesday, the students arrive as I kick off my 17th year of teaching.

Outside of my first few years of teaching, this year will probably prove to be the most challenging as I inherit two new curriculums to go along with the class I usually teach.  But you didn't come to my blog to read about work.

You're here for cards.  So let's wrap up my 2014 summer with some classic rock n' roll and some fine lookin' ladies.

On Saturday, I walked around the Branham Flea Market and found a bunch of packs of 1985 Rock Star Concert Cards.  I ended up buying everything the lady had, which was one full box of 24 packs and a partial box containing 19 packs.  She offered everything to me for $40, but I countered with $30 and she accepted.

If you love 80's rock, then this set is for you.  It contains everything from The Police to The Rolling Stones.

If you're interested in seeing some singles, please check out Nick's post over at Dime Boxes.  He blogged about some card his father game him a couple of months ago.

I also opened up a pack of these this afternoon and posted it up on A Pack To Be Named Later.

I set aside a few of the packs for my non-sports unopened pack collection:

I'm going to keep the full box and probably sell the remaining packs on eBay to recover some of the money.

There were a bunch of other vendors with sports cards...

But I kept my wallet in my pocket and held onto my money for a few Five Star autographs I'm targeting on eBay.

Speaking of autographs... I thought I'd wrap up my final summer post with the 1998 San Diego Pad Squad:

My former boss hooked me up with this poster when she found out I was a Padres fan.  Her daughter was a member of the team and was kind enough to autograph it for me:

For those who may not be familiar with The Pad Squad, they're a dance team and part of the San Diego Padres outreach program.  Here's a video of them in action...

Is there anything finer than the Swinging Friar, the Pad Squad, and some Gangnam Style?

I hope all of you are enjoying your weekend.  Happy Sunday and sayonara!

Flea Market Finds #68: Nothin' But 90's

The 90's were the Sports Card Industrial Revolution.  During the decade, card companies produced more creative ideas than all of the other decades combined and if you're anything like me... you ate it up.  Unfortunately all good things must come to an end.

Eventually creative cardboard ideas began to dry up and so was my credit.  By the late 90's, I had maxed out several credit cards with sports cards shouldering most of the load.

It's during this period of my life when I dove into adulthood headfirst.  I became a teacher and started making better, more responsible choices.  I cut up my credit cards and slowly paid off my debts.  I sold off the bulk of my collection and bought my townhouse.  Last, but not least... I promised myself I'd never travel down that road again.

Obviously that was short lived.  I'm collecting again and still drawn to the innovative and ingenious pieces of cardboard produced in the 90's.  But this time around I'm being more responsible with my money.  It also helps that most of the cards produced during that era are worth much less these days.  Yesterday's flea market purchase is the perfect example.

When:  Thursday, August 14th
Where:  Capitol Flea Market
What:  Three Sports Cards 
How Much?: $3

There were probably four or five guys with sports memorabilia, but I fought the urges and walked away with only one purchase.  One guy had several boxes filled with top loaders priced at a buck a card.  It was filled with a little bit of everything:  vintage, inserts, autographs, memorabilia cards, rookie cards, base cards, and parallels.  I pulled out ten cards.  Unfortunately he wasn't willing to give a bulk discount, so I narrowed the stack down to three.

Purchase #1:  Two Inserts and a Rookie Card $3

1998 Leaf Rookies and Stars Crusade #103

Yesterday was the first time I've ever seen one of these inserts in person and now I know what all the hype is about.  This card is absolutely stunning.  The "refractorish" foil really helps the Medieval "coat of arms" card design stand out.  It's even cooler that this "green" version goes perfectly with the Oakland Athletics' colors.  One day I hope to add the Tony Gwynn and Greg Maddux to my collection.

1997 Pinnacle Certified Epix Purple Season #E10

I never figured out this multi-tiered, cross product insert set, but I've always liked them.  For a buck, this card will make a nice addition to my Brett Favre PC.

1998 Bowman #1

The final card I grabbed is this Peyton Manning rookie card.  I've always admired the Manning's work ethic and the way he's approached the game.  Even though values have dropped a lot over the years, I was still surprised to find his rookie card available for a dollar.

Well that's it for now.  This is my last weekend before I report back to my classroom.  I'm hoping to make it out to at least one more flea market, but if not... at least I ended things on a solid note.

Happy Friday and sayonara!

Rebel Without A Cause

Back in January, I decided to avoid creating hobby resolutions for myself in 2014.  This year I just wanted to have fun and avoid the pressure of completing goals that in all likelihood wouldn't be met.

On the other hand, I have been trying to collect within a specific set of rules this year.  One of the rules I established was to limit my spending on relic cards to five dollars or less.  Although I'm a huge fan of owning a piece of game used memorabilia, the fact is you never can truly know if it's legit.

I usually keep my relic card purchases in the $1.00 to $2.50 range.  Every now and then, I'll spend a little more for a Rickey or Ichiro, but rarely do I break the five dollar limit.  But in the past two weeks, I've suddenly become a hobby hooligan who's starting to break his own rules on a regular basis.

It started with this 2001 SP Game Used jersey card of Ken Griffey Jr., which I picked up off of eBay for $10 ($7.51 + $2.49 shipping):

This card completes my Griffey sports card trifecta.  I actually own a couple of memorabilia cards of The Kid, but both feature him in his Cincinnati Reds uniform.  I really wanted to have all three cards of his trifecta picture him as a Mariner.

At first I didn't feel comfortable breaking my own rule.  However... at least I had a specific reason for buying the card.

Then things escalated.  My second purchase took things to the next monetary level and I officially became a rebel without a cause.  I stumbled across this card last week at one of my favorite online shops...

Now I'm not a Cleveland Indians fan, nor can I claim to be a Tris Speaker collector.  Heck... for all I know the pieces of wood embedded in the card are from some kid's t-ball bat.  Nevertheless, I was immediately drawn towards this card for a couple of reasons:

#1.  It's Tris Speaker... one of the greatest hitters of all-time.
#2.  It cost me only $21.95 (free shipping).

There have been three recent completed sales on eBay and all of them have gone for $49 or more.  That was enough to make me look the other way, ignore my five dollar rule, and lure me to the Dark Side.  Who knows what my anarchistic future looks like.

My new theme song should be....

Or how about this...

Wait.  I'm not cool enough to have a theme song.  Maybe after a few more high priced relic card purchases, I'll qualify for one.

Until then... let's hear your thoughts:

Are there any hobby rules that you've created for yourself?  How often do you break them?

Happy Hump Day and sayonara!

Let's Play Some Ball!

Thirty years ago, Milton Bradley produced a board game called Championship Baseball.  At the time, I was twelve years old and if I had to guess... I'd say that this game's target audience was my age group.

However up until a few years ago, I had no idea this game existed.

Each game included a set of thirty cards produced by Topps.  Over the years, I've seen my fair share of singles from this set in quarter bins, but didn't know too much about them.

Then a few months ago I stumbled across the actual board game, while walking around the flea market.  I was pretty impressed with the overall setup of the game.  When constructed, the board becomes a pretty cool looking stadium with an actual score board.

boardgamegeek.com

But if you know me, the baseball cards were the key reason I was interested in the game.  They have a solid card design that sort of fits the "oddball" genre.  The only downside (at least for me) is the airbrushing of the team logos.

Most of the card backs feature 1983 statistics, along with dice combinations that were used in the game.  The game was obviously designed to be high scoring, because based on his card Rickey would have reached base safely ten out of twenty-one times.

The four pitchers in the set didn't have the dice combinations printed on their cards.  Instead they had the standard 1983 statistics on their backs.

Complete board games will typically cost you $20 to $30 on eBay.  I picked up a sealed game for $24.99 (free shipping) back in May.  If you're interested in just the cards, they'll typically run you $6 to $12 delivered on eBay.

Alright... are you ready?  Let's play some ball...

Happy Monday and sayonara!

Vegas Vacation

There's nothing like an unplanned trip down to The City of Sin... except my experience wasn't filled with alcohol, strippers, and late night excursions.  Instead my trip revolved around sports cards, home cooked meals, and quality time with Mama and Papa Fuji.

You could call it the Vegas Vacation Trifecta.

#1.  My parents aren't getting any younger, so I try to spend as much time as I can with them.

#2.  I was in a dire need of a vacation.

#3.  There were cards that needed to be dropped off.  Plus I wanted to go through my collection and scan a few cards.

To top it off... I actually beat the odds and walked away with more money in my pockets.  Thank you Willy Wonka and Mr. and Mrs. Goldfish!

I figured some of the winnings would go towards taking my parents out to a nice dinner and paying for the trip.  I also decided to treat myself to a new PC addition, since there's a card shop a few miles from my parents' house.  It's a pretty nice shop with friendly employees and a great selection of wax products.  Unfortunately there wasn't anything I had to have, nor were there any bargains that caught my attention.

But that's okay... I found a few cards on COMC that I wanted.  Best of all... I finally had enough in my inventory to justify a shipment.  So Wes if you're reading this... after months and months of keeping you waiting... I'll finally be able to ship your package.

Don't worry contest winners.  I haven't forgotten about you.  By the time you're reading this post, I should have your packages in the mail.  There are also a few other packages going out to people as well.

There are only nine days left of summer vacation and I'm still haven't finished sorting all of those 5,000ct. boxes.  The good news is that I'm still finding a lot of cool cards.  Add those to the cards I just scanned at my parents' house and I should have plenty writing material for the next few months.

Happy Saturday and sayonara!

Wait.  I just realized there aren't any cards in this post.  Let's solve this problem with one of my favorite players off all-time who happens to be a Las Vegan:

Maddux might have been known for his time in Atlanta and Chicago, but I'll always appreciate the time he spent with my favorite team... the San Diego Padres.