Flea Market Flipping = Discounted Koufax Auto

Back in February, I purchased two boxes worth of 2015 Topps jumbo baseball at the Branham Flea Market for $25.  I was able to build a complete base set and add thirty-nine cards to my insert & parallels binders.

In the process of sorting and sifting through the cards, I discovered some of the ar•che•types inserts were missing the silver foil on the front.  After scouring eBay, I noticed that there were only a few listings and some of them were commanding a decent dime.

Now usually, I'm the type of collector who holds onto these kinds of oddballs.  But after discussing it with a few friends, I decided to pull the Tony Gwynn, Jackie Robinson, and Rickey Henderson error cards... and list the rest for $100 or best offer.


I received a total of three offers and ended up accepting $75 for my seven card lot.  After paying $7.80 in eBay fees and $2.59 to ship the cards, I ended up walking away with $64.61.

So what did I purchase?  Check it out...

I've recently decided to build the 1998 Donruss Signatures "Significant Signatures" set and this is one of the Koufax autographs I needed.  A guy on eBay has a bunch with a BIN price of $125 (free shipping).  The autograph is bleeding a little and isn't exactly mint.  However I can't complain too much since I only paid $60.39 for it.

This card goes great with my refractor version:

Notice that his non-refractor version has him pictured during his Brooklyn days... and the refractor version pictures him in his Los Angeles uniform.

I'm still looking for the non-autographed version of the Koufax for my set, along with the serial numbered copy of the autographed refractor version.

Plus I need a handful of other cards from this set:

If anyone has any of these available for trade or sale, please let me know.  I didn't really create any collecting goals this year, but I think I'm going to try to finish this set by the end of the year.  That's assuming these cards are available on eBay for reasonable prices... so I guess we'll have to sit back and see.

Happy Monday and sayonara!

Colossal Crate of Collectibles

The monthly subscription box trend is sweeping our nation... and it has obviously found its way into our blogosphere too.

This past week I received another huge box filled with a variety of collectibles from Wes over at Jaybarkerfan's Junk.  This time around he sent everything from sports cards to comic books to more unopened packs.   There are so many goodies... I guess I'll start with the sports cards.

Here's my very first game-used base card of Ichiro... 

My first Ichiro puzzle/credit card oddball...

The 30th Mark McGwire added to my inserts and parallel binder...

My first San Diego Padres silk card...

My first yellow bordered parallel of Kurt Suzuki...

My fourth Steve Largent memorabilia card...

And my fifth Mark Mulder memorabilia card...

Next up are the sports figures...

2007 Gracelyn Re-Plays Ichiro

I've been collecting SLU's and McFarlanes for years, but neither are very poseable like this Gracelyn figure.

1998 Mattel Court Collection Rodman

Thanks to Kenner... the 90's brought millions of 6" sports figures into collector's homes.  Late in the decade, Mattel joined the party.  This will make a nice addition to both my Laker's shelf and my sport figure card collection.

1998 Kenner SLU Favre

This year the Green Bay Packers will be retiring Favre's jersey number and hanging up his banner at Lambeau.  I won't be able to attend, but I will be hanging up this figure in my office.

Wrapping up this colossal crate are a bunch of other cool collectibles:

The Giants pennant will go to one of my students.  The comic books will be added to my classroom library.  The packs of cards will be opened sometime in the near future.  And the KISS car?  Umm... not quite sure what I'll do with that, but stay tuned.

Thanks Wes for the generous package.  I'll have your package of autographs out to you sometime this week.

Happy Sunday and sayonara!

Huddy and the Hall

A few years ago, Baseball Digest had an excellent article on "under appreciated" baseball players, like Ken Boyer, Dave Concepcion, and Ted Simmons.  The article listed a handful of retired players as well as some current players.

It was nice to see former Oakland Athletic... Mr. Tim Hudson on the list.

His 214 career wins ranks him first among active players... although CC Sabathia is right behind him with 208 wins.  He's second behind only Mark Buehrle on the WAR for active pitchers list.  During his sixteen seasons in the MLB, he's had thirteen "ten win" seasons  and has made four all-star teams.  And in a few weeks he'll finally add a World Series ring to his jewelry box.

Unfortunately these accomplishments might land Huddy in the Hall of Very Good along with Tommy John and Jack Morris, but I guess only time will tell.

Regardless of whether or not he gets a plaque in Cooperstown... he'll always have a special place in my collection... right beside Jason Giambi and Barry Zito.

The three of these guys were part of the super talented Athletic teams of the early 2000's... that just fell short of winning a championship.  All of these guys along with Mark Mulder, Eric Chavez, and Miguel Tejada might only be Hall of Very Good candidates, but they were a lot of fun to watch.

Thanks Matthew (Mr. Bob Walks the Plank) for the awesome cards and the trip down memory lane.  There's a card show next month.  I'll keep my eyes peeled for more Pirates for your PC.

Happy Saturday and sayonara!

Tall & Gorgeous

I like my cardboard, like my buddy likes his women... tall and gorgeous:

Are you familiar with the 1994 Fleer Extra Bases set?  They're the same width as your standard baseball card, but are 1.25" taller.

Now I know there are those who want nothing to do with these due to their oddball size.  But I've always been known to surround myself with oddballs.

However when it comes to the woman of my dreams, she doesn't need to be modelesque...

She just needs to be dependable, prompt, and on schedule.

Hey Jim (GCRL)... thank you so much for the cards and pocket schedule.  It's nice to know that the Twins and their fans are showing Suzuki some love.  I'll start building another stack of Dodgers for you right away.

Happy Friday and sayonara!

Who the heck is Glenn Burke?

Up until a few months ago, I had no idea who the heck Glenn Burke was.  Then one Saturday morning, I started watching a bunch of ESPN documentaries and stumbled across one about the origin of the High-Five:

It dates back to last day of the regular season in 1977.  The Los Angeles Dodgers were facing the Houston Astros and their ace, J.R. Richard.  In the bottom of the 6th, Dusty Baker hit his 30th home run of the season and joined Ron Cey, Steve Garvey, and Reggie Smith to become the first quartet of 30 home run hitters in MLB history.  Glenn Burke immediately followed Baker by launching a home run himself.  It was the first home run of his career.

1978 Topps #562

But it's what happened between those two home runs where history was written.  As Baker headed back towards the dugout he trotted past Burke who had his hand raised up in the air... and that's when Dusty slapped it... producing the first official high five.

It's amazing how quickly the high-five spread, because I started playing Little League baseball sometime around 1977.  And one of my distinct childhood memories is doing the team chant for the opponent after the game, lining up in a single file line, and meeting them at home plate exchanging high-fives.  Even though it took me almost four decades... it's nice to learn about the celebration that's still widely used today.

Sadly Burke passed away in 1995 from AIDs related pneumonia at the age of forty-two.  He's the first and only MLB player to come out to teammates as being homosexual during his playing career.  According to an article published in Jet magazine (October 4th, 1982), Burke thought "his sexual preference was the reason" his MLB career was short-lived.

After baseball, he competed in the Gay Olympics where he won multiple medals.  In 1987 he was struck by a car while crossing the street in San Francisco.  The accident left him with a broken leg and a changed man.

During the final years of his life, he spent time living on the streets of San Francisco as well as spending a few months in San Quentin State Prison.  But there's no need for me to dwell on the negative.

Who the heck is Glenn Burke?  He's the guy who invented the high-five and was Major League Baseball's LGBT pioneer.

Now the only question that remains to be answered is ... how the heck did I miss all of this growing up and living in the Bay Area my entire life?

Happy Thursday and sayonara!