A Bunch of Booty

Okay.  This post doesn't contain any attractive ladies.... and none of these cards were acquired through plundering or pillaging.  But the cards in this post are highly treasured.

I'll kick things off with a card I purchased yesterday at the Niles Antique Faire and Flea Market in nearby Fremont, California.  This was my first time attending this street fair and I was pretty impressed.  Basically they close off a few streets in the Niles Historic District and vendors set up with antiques and other goodies you'd normally find at a street fair.  Plus all of the surrounding neighborhoods host block sales.

There were a few people with sports cards, but nothing at a price point that caught my eye.  However my friends and I found a really cool vintage toy vendor from Sweden who had a few 9-pocket pages of trading cards.

While one of my friends was looking at some 1947 Goudey Indian Gum cards, I noticed this pirate card of John Evans:

1933 World Wide Gum Sea Raider #33

I've seen these cards before, but didn't know much about them.  So I did a quick internet search on my phone and discovered that this is a pretty popular set with high number singles sometimes fetching good money.

I asked my friend how much the guy wanted and she said $4 each.  There weren't any completed listings for this card on eBay, but there are three up for sale ranging from $199.99 to $489.99.

Not exactly sure what the deal is with these cards and why they're priced so high... but $4 seemed like way too good of a deal to pass up.

My other friend found a set of Pyrex bowls that she really liked, so I bought it for her.  By the way, if you have any older Pyrex dishes... you should know that their popularity has really blossomed in recent years.  I've spent way more money on Pyrex this month than I have on trading cards.

Anyways... moving along.  When I came home I opened up a PWE from Peter over at Baseball Every Night that contained this:

2019 Topps NBCD #20

This is one of the National Baseball Card Day trading cards produced by Topps.  

Chapman is one of the bright young stars on my beloved Athletics.  However I haven't quite dove into collecting his cardboard yet... because his stuff often commands top dollar and I'm still having flashbacks of collecting cards of Eric Chavez... who Chapman is often compared to and whose cards can be purchased for pennies on the dollar.

That being said... I assure Peter that I'll treasure this card.

The final item of today is this promotional DVD sent to me by a reader:

2000 Beastie Boys Intergalactic DVD Single Promo

Tom, who has sent me cards in the past, read my post about my fanfare for the Beastie Boys and was kind enough to add this really cool item to my collection.  I was originally going to open it up and watch it... however he mentioned that these might be rare.  So I decided to keep it sealed... but he did inspire me to finally go out and buy the Beastie Boys Video Anthology (The Criterion Collection) after years of adding and deleting it to my Amazon shopping cart.

Thank you Tom for this very unique item for my very small Beastie Boys collection.  It will be treasured.

By the way... if you've never seen the Intergalactic video and you have a few minutes, I'd say give it a shot:

Hopefully... YouTube allows it to play on my blog.  If not, you can watch it over there by clicking here.  It was directed by MCA and reminds me of a Godzilla film or something.  Plus it's a pretty good song.

Okay... let's wrap things up with today's question of the day:

Are there any athletes you enjoy collecting, but you're hesitant on purchasing their cards because they're too expensive or you deem them overpriced?

That's it for today.  Have a great week!  Happy Monday and sayonara!

It's Getting Kinda Hectic

This is one of the busiest times of the year for me.  My life is so crazy, I even passed up a card show today with Mr. Haverkamp.  In the words of German Eurodance group Snap!... it's getting, it's getting, it's getting kinda hectic.

It all starts with work.  The arrival of a new school year typically means memorizing 160 to 175 new names, establishing rules and expectations, and helping students transition from having one sixth grade teacher to six seventh grade teachers.

This year there are two additional factors which are making my head spin.  Our school has adopted a homeroom (zero period), which involves a tad bit more planning.  On top of that I'm teaching a new class with very little curriculum handed to me.  So I've been working hard to develop both short term and long term lesson plans for this class.  It's not the first time I've developed curriculum, so the job will get completed.  It's just a lot of work at the front end.

Anyways... I'm not looking for sympathy.  I'm just giving all of you a heads up that my blog posts will probably be shorter in length for the next month or so which may or may not be a good thing for my readers.

There's also been a delay with all of the care packages I owe.  My COMC order didn't arrive until early this week.  For a few years now, my tradebait has been depleted... so I rely on sites like COMC to help me find things for you guys.  I had hoped to have it in my hands during my summer break, but it didn't work out that way.

I'm not exactly sure when they'll go out... but I'm gonna bust my butt to make it happen sooner... than later.

Okay now that I've updated you all with what's going on in my life... let's get to a care package sent to me by Jeremy over at Topps Cards That Never Were.  He hooked me up with a really, really, really nice card for my Buster Posey collection:

2010 Topps Target Vintage Stock #2

At first glance, this just looks like Buster's base card rookie.  However in the upper lefthand corner, you'll notice the old school Topps logo.  And when you turn the card over, you'll see the vintage card stock:

Now I don't really have a Buster PC, but he's a Bay Area legend... which means that I enjoy picking up singles of his every now and then.  A few years ago, I started targeting his different rookie cards and this is one of the ones I really, really, really wanted.

He also sent me this Buster:

2018 Donruss #167

I love my MLB logos, but I've gotta admit this card is awesome.  Last year, I commented on at least two or three blogs about the eye appeal of this card.

I'll wrap things up with a pair of customs created by Jeremy:

If you're not familiar with Jeremy's blog, he's another card blogger with excellent custom card making skills.

Todd Van Poppel made his MLB debut on September 11, 1991... so he missed being included in the 1991 Topps set.  That was his lone appearance of the season and he got knocked around quite a bit by the Chicago White Sox.  But before Dan Pasqua and Carlton Fisk got to him in the top of the 4th inning... he actually pitched really well.  He struck out five of the first six batters he faced.  Frank Thomas, Robin Ventura, and the aforementioned Fisk were three of those guys.  Not too shabby, right?

As for the Dave Stewart custom... it highlights his 1989 World Series accomplishments... where he took home the MVP Award.  Stew is one of those guys that doesn't get a lot of recognition... but did you know that he's the last MLB pitcher to win 20 games in four consecutive seasons?  Like Buster, he's another Bay Area legend.

Thank you Jeremy for the care package!  As soon as I build these care packages, I'll make sure to include one for you.  The good news is I don't know a lot of Tampa Bay Rays fans, so I should have something to send your way without having to head over to COMC.

Here is today's question of the day:

In regards to work or personal life, is there a busy time of the year for you?  If so, when?

Happy Saturday and sayonara!

A Few of My Favorite Things: The 2000's & 2010's

My weekend road trip posts interrupted and distracted me from my Blog Bat-Around series featuring A Few of My Favorite Things.  But I'm back.  Only this time I'm gonna wrap things up and combine the 2000's and 2010's into one post due to lack of time.

School is back in session and I'm teaching a new class this year, which means that I won't have as much time on my hands as I did a few weeks ago.  Although I'm pretty passionate about developing new curriculum, I've got to admit that I feel a little out of my league for this class.  But nobody wants to hear me whine... so let's get into some of my favorite cards, movies, and music...


2000's Baseball Set: 2001 UD Decade 1970's Jerseys

The plethora of memorabilia cards in today's products combined with vague COA's have tarnished the allure of this little niche in our hobby.  But there was a time when pulling a game-used jersey card out of a pack meant something.  And these jersey cards fit that description.  They were pretty tough pulls compared to today's standards... as they were inserted into 1:168 packs... or 1:7 hobby boxes.

Between the vibrant colors and the similarities with the 1975 Topps design... 2001 UD Decade 1970's is one of my favorite products from the 2000's.


2000's Movie:  Gran Torino (2008)

I grew up watching Clint Eastwood films like Escape From Alcatraz, Firefox, and Heartbreak Ridge.  And in college I went back and watched some of his movies I was too young to appreciate when I was a kid like Dirty Harry, A Fistful of Dollars, and High Plains Drifter.

But if I could only watch one Eastwood film for the rest of my life, it'd be Gran Torino.  If you have a Netflix account and have never seen it... I highly recommend it.

2000's Song:  One Mic (Nas 2001)

Nas is one of the most lyrically gifted rappers of all time.  Choosing his best song or even my favorite song would take way more time than I have to invest... so I decided to go with this one.  It's one of his more popular songs from the early 2000's... and rightfully so.


2010's Baseball Set:  2013 Five Star Autographs

Figured I'd wrap up this run of my favorite baseball card sets with another autograph set.  Ever since I laid eyes on the 2013 Five Star autographs, I started adding as many affordable ones to my collection.

Its simple design really allows the signature to stand out... and the checklist isn't too shabby either.


2010's Movie:  Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

I almost went with one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, since I've enjoyed most of them.  But then while looking through my small stack of Blu-ray movies, I came across this gem of a film.

I was a huge fan of the original Mad Max and The Road Warrior films... and kinda thought this movie wouldn't be able to live up to it's reputation.  It did though... and then some.


2010's Song:  Play It Again (Luke Bryan 2013)

There are plenty of songs from the 2010's I've enjoyed... but honestly most of them lose their appeal after awhile.  I was listening to some country before my students arrived yesterday and this song came on.

It has a catchy tune... and tells a story... which is why I enjoy a lot of different pop country songs.  I realize it isn't for everyone, but I'm pretty grateful that one of my best friends opened my ears to it thirteen years ago.

Well that wraps up this series featuring A Few of My Favorite Things.  A huge shout out goes to Chris over at The Collector for kicking off this Blog Bat-Around.  It provided me with six blog posts and a lot of reminiscing.

Let's go ahead and close things up with today's question of the day...

Are you more inclined to listen to hip hop or country?  Do you have a favorite hip hop or country artist?

I'm definitely more into hip hop... and if I had to pick a favorite rapper or rap group (outside of the Beastie Boys), I'd go with A Tribe Called Quest.

Thanks for taking the time to read this post.  Happy Thursday and sayonara!

Extra Innings

Collecting Cutch is giving away a Troy Tulowitzki autograph on his blog.  It's simple to enter, supports a good cause, and features some nice eye candy.  Check it out here.

Road Trip Pt. 3: Greatest Flea Market On Earth

Welcome to the third and final leg of last weekend's Southern California road trip.

On Sunday my buddy Mike and I headed over to the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena which claims to be the greatest flea market on earth.

Was it?  Well... here's my experience.  I'll let you be the final judge.

First off... the flea market has a tiered system for admission.  The earlier you go in, the more you pay.  We arrived at around 7:30am, so admission was $18 per person.  That's not a typo.  $18 per person.  When you add $15 for parking, we were already at over $25 per person just to get inside.

If you're wondering what I usually pay, here's a list of fees for my local flea markets:

A.  De Anza:  $5 Parking and Free Admission
B.  Branham High School:  Free Parking and Free Admission
C.  Capitol Flea Market:  Free Parking and $2.25 Admission (on Sundays)

Now to be fair... we could have waited until after 9am when admission drops down to $9 and there's supposedly a bunch of free parking there.  However since we were new to this flea market, we sucked it up and paid for premium parking.

Okay... let's get to the shopping.

The flea market is organized into sections: arts and crafts, new merchandise, antiques and collectibles, and vintage clothing.  Originally, we planned on walking around the entire place to get our money's worth.  However about halfway through we remembered that there was another flea market that we had success at back in 2014, so we decided to cut out early and only walk around the antiques and collectibles section.

Purchase #1:  Wax Packs  $5

There were a few guys who had sports cards, but only one had decent deals.  I'm not sure if he owned a card shop in the 90's or bought a storage unit, but his stuff was priced to sell.

I ended up pulling 40 packs out of this bin.  As you can see from the photo there was a bunch of oddball issues.  I ended up targeting Pacific Senior League and Best minor league packs with some umpire trading cards and Baseball Enquirer packs to round things out.

Purchase #2:  Wax Boxes  $6

If you like cheap wax, then you might appreciate his three dollar wax boxes.  The selection was pretty limited, but these two boxes caught my eye:

Okay... so I'm sure most of you are shaking your head at The Baseball Enquirer box... but believe it or not, I've always wanted to build this set.  As for the 1990 Pacific Senior Baseball cards... there's one card I'm hoping to find.  If I end up pulling it, I promise to write about it in the future.

Purchase #3:  1992 Marvel Masterpieces Box  $15

Another vendor had a few random non-sports packs and boxes.  This one definitely caught my attention.

If I had to pick my best deal of the road trip, it would come down to either this box or the 70's Topps cards I purchased at the Coin Depot.  Now if you're not familiar with Marvel cards, then this box looks like any ordinary 90's Marvel trading card set.  But this happens to be one of the most popular comic book trading card sets from that era.

A quick check on eBay reveals that people pay anywhere between $80 to $110 for sealed boxes.  I don't normally flip things for a profit, but there's a good chance that I'll throw this box up on eBay one of these days to help cover the cost of admission and parking.

Purchase #4:  1993 Marvel Masterpieces Packs  $7

In addition to the box, I also grabbed these packs.  He was asking 50¢ each, but I offered him $7 for the twenty packs and he accepted.  These are not as popular as the 1992 product, so I'll probably eventually open these up and build the set.

I don't remember seeing anymore vendors with cards after this purchase... and within thirty minutes we were back in the car headed to the Saugus Speedway Flea Market.  Unfortunately... neither of us found anything to purchase there.

The final stop of the road trip was at Harris Ranch.  Can't remember what Mike ordered... but I had a fat juicy ribeye steak with a twice baked potato... which was the first solid food I had eaten all day and quite possibly one of the best purchases of the trip (outside of the first bean and cheese burrito at Del Taco).  Did it make up for the Rose Bowl Swap Meet admission and parking fees?  Nah.  But overall... I'd say that the road trip was a success.  Memories don't always come cheap.

What about you?

Would you be willing to pay $18 to get into a flea market with no guarantees you'd find anything to buy?

Obviously... I did.  But I don't think I'd do it again.  At least not at the Rose Bowl.

Okay... my students arrive tomorrow and I've gotta bring my "A" game.  That means I need to get some rest.  Hope all of you have a great week.

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!