A Unique Vendor & some Buyer's Remorse

Before last month... I couldn't tell you the last time I walked around a card show.  According to the blog, it was back in September of 2022.  I might have attended one earlier in the year... but if I did... it obviously wasn't memorable.

However after finding out about Mike... I wanted to hang out with some mutual friends who were setting up at the monthly show located about twenty minutes from my place.

The show itself is pretty small, but I ended up spending a few hours there.  Part of the time was sitting around and exchanging stories about our friend.  The rest of the time was exploring the show and catching up with the hobby since I hadn't been spending a lot of time with cards the last six months or so.

I was surprised at the amount of stuff I came home with.  Here's a breakdown of my purchases...

Card Show Purchase #1:  Fleer Stickers $20

One vendor had a bunch of 80's Fleer Stickers sitting in his quarter bins.  He had a little over 200, so I offered him $20 and he accepted.

Seeing these took me back to my childhood when I'd casually toss these aside while opening packs of Fleer.  These days... I pay much closer attention to them.  Stay tuned for a Fleer Sticker post in the near future.

Card Show Purchase #2:  Dollar Bin (Japanese Cards) $5

There were plenty of dealers with slabbed rookie cards, unopened blasters, and colorful Pokemon cards.  That was expected.  What I didn't expect was a dealer who specializes in cards from Japan.

I spent almost an hour hanging out, listening to his story, and checking out what he brought.  I started with his dollar bin (shoebox at the left of the above photo)... 

2017 Calbee #035

2018 Calbee #167

2019 Calbee #095

2019 Calbee Star Card #S-08

He had hundreds of stars like Hideo Nomo, Hideki Matsui, and Daisuke Matsuzaka sitting in his dollar bin.  I was tempted to start pulling them out, but ultimately... I ended up buying four Masataka Yoshida cards from his days with the Orix Buffaloes.

I also grabbed these two Godzilla cards:

Japanese Godzilla Card #35

Japanese Godzilla Card #43

The vendor didn't have any information on either of these cards, but thought they might be from the 80's.

After the dollar bin, I started digging through his $5 bin which contained a ton of 90's and early 2000's Ichiro cards...

Card Show Purchase #3: Japanese Ichiro Suzuki Cards $65

I'll just shut up and let the cards speak for themselves...

1997 Calbee #013

1997 Calbee #165

1998 Calbee #022

1998 Calbee #097

1998 Calbee West Special #W-13

1999 Calbee #198

2000 Calbee #015

2000 Calbee Star Cards #04

2000 Upper Deck Victory Japan #11

2000 Upper Deck Victory Japan Hardball Heroes #H1

2001 BBM Best 9 #B33

If the math doesn't add up... that's because I grabbed duplicates of the Upper Deck Victory cards.  Plus there was a single I grabbed for SumoMenkoMan.

After his boxes, I started looking through his display cases.  Check out this insane rookie patch card of Ohtani:

I obviously can't afford to drop $7,000 on a card, but I did buy a vintage card of the Home Run King...

Card Show Purchase #4:  Vintage Sadaharu Oh $10

1975-76 Calbee #1235

The gentleman had a stack of vintage Oh's... but this is the one that caught my eye.  I love how it captures his iconic flamingo stance.

No idea what it says on the back, but I figured some of you might want to see it:

The other card I grabbed from his display cases was the Calbee rookie card of a guy who may or may not ever cross the Pacific to play in the MLB...

Card Show Purchase #5:  Roki Sasaki Calbee RC $20

2020 Calbee #094

This was an impulse buy... and the credit goes to the dealer for talking Sasaki up.  Based on completed eBay listings... I totally overpaid.

Anyways... if you're not familiar with him, he's the guy who pitched the first NPB perfect game since 1994 back in 2022.  A week later, he nearly pitched another perfect game.  There's a lot of hype surrounding him, but he won't even be eligible to play in the MLB for at least a few more years.

In hindsight, I probably should have just grabbed four more Ichiro cards. 🤣

The final purchase from this dealer was a very cool set...

Card Show Purchase #6:  2009 BBM King of the World Set $25

After the guy talked me into the Sasaki, he pointed out this Sadaharu Oh tribute set.  It's one of those limited edition box sets that BBM produces.

The cover of the box instantly caught my eye... so much that I carefully cut it out and slipped it into a 6" x 9" top loader:

2009 BBM King of the World Box Cover

The back of the cover features his career statistics:

Maybe one of these days, I'll write up a set spotlight post on this set.  Until then, here's one 9-pocket page featuring Oh's time lapsed swing:

Finally there was an insert card featuring a facsimile signature of the legend:

2009 BBM King of the World Printed Autograph #PA7

In hindsight... this purchase helps me cope with the buyer's remorse for the Sasaki card.

I'm going back to the card show again this Saturday.  Crossing my fingers that this guy is there to take more of my hard earned money.

As I walked back to my friends, I saw a guy with three small boxes labeled ten for a dollar, so I stopped and quickly flipped through them.  Here's what I bought...

Card Show Purchase #7:  Dime Box $1

2023 Topps #17

There were three cards that I really wanted.  The Ohtani was one of them.

The Nootbaar (my first rookie card of him) and Brady (no way I'll pass up his cards for a dime) were the other two.  The rest rounded out the buck.

And that wraps up my card show purchases, but I did come home with one more card...

Card Show Freebie: Jake Cronenworth Autograph

2021 Topps Chrome Black Auto #CBA-JCR

Found this card looking through my friend's display cases.  It was a little out of place, since he has mostly high dollar 90's inserts and modern graded rookie cards.  But as a Padres fan, I have hope this guy will bounce back in 2024, so I asked how much he wanted for this autograph.  He told me to take it and buy him lunch the next time we hang out.

Thanks Ben!  I'm going back to the show this weekend and lunch is on me.

Well that wraps up my 2nd post in three days and here are three quick observations:

#1:  I really miss blogging about cards.

#2:  My writing, editing, and formatting skills are rusty.

#3:  I need to learn to keep things simple and straight to the point.

Thanks for taking the time to check out my blog.  Happy Tuesday and sayonara!

Getting Back Into the Game

Happy Sunday!  Are you ready for some sports card posts?

I am fully aware that I haven't been very active in the blogosphere lately.  In fact, this year saw a significant drop in the number of posts I published on this blog.  But I'm hoping to bounce back in 2024.  Cold starts have never worked for me, so if I have any hopes of getting back into a regular blogging routine, I'd better start now.

With blogger care packages, flea market finds, and even a few card show purchases piling up in my office... I was wondering where the heck I should begin.  Then Ryan texted me over the weekend about Godzilla Minus One, which is the latest movie in the franchise.  Not sure if I've ever seen any of the Godzilla movies in the theaters, but I'm hoping to change that this holiday season.

2006 Topps Topps Stars #TS-HM

His text reminded me of a stack of cards sitting on my desk with this Godzilla right on top.  It was part of a care package that Dennis over at Too Many Verlanders sent me last December.  Nope.  That's not a typo.  One year ago.

Since then he's sent me two additional packages and today... in honor of Godzilla being out in theaters (and the Ohtani signing yesterday with the Dodgers)... I'm going to show off the Japanese baseball players (and a few other items) he sent my way.

2021 Topps A&G #23

Dennis has a way of picking cards for my collection.  My Ichiro cards are sorted by year in a binder and this is the first and only 2021 card in it.

He also sent me these three hits I didn't have: 

2021 Chrome Update Autographs #CUSA-KA

 

Arihara only spent a couple of seasons over here and wasn't exactly a household name.

2010 Topps National Chicle Relics #NCR-KF

On the other hand, I feel like the majority of baseball fans around in the late 2000's remember Fukudome.  He had one heck of a MLB debut and his first month in the Bigs was stellar.  There was even a controversial t-shirt he was depicted on that made national news.

2018 Topps Player's Weekend Patch #PWP-MA

Tanaka was a two-time all-star and spent his entire seven season MLB career with the New York Yankees, so he should be a household name among baseball fans.  Anyone else remember him going 24-0 with a 1.27 ERA in 2013 for the Rakuten Golden Eagles?

I'll round out the huge lot of Japanese baseball players with these two Hideo Nomo cards:

1995 Flair Wave of the Future #10

Nomo opened the door for guys like Matsui, Ichiro, Tanaka, and Ohtani and is still the MLB career leader in wins among Japanese born pitchers.  And up until August, he was the career leader in strikeouts.  Yu Darvish passed him up and ironically... Nomo (who works for the Padres) was at the game.

Anyways... getting back the card... at the height of Nomomania, this card was probably selling for $20 to $30.  Probably more in LA.

1996 Topps BIG Topps #NNO

What you're looking at is a really cool insert from the 90's.  C'mon... you know I like oversized cards.  These postcard sized cards were inserted (like box toppers) into specially marked team sets that were sold at Walmart.  I had never owned one of these until Dennis sent me this one.

In an effort to tie in some other items he sent me, here are some new Jake Cronenworth cards for my San Diego Padres PC:

One shiny card really stood out from the bunch:

2022 Topps Chrome Future Stars #FS-9

Those of you who are familiar with Dennis... know that he's a huge Michigan Wolverines fan/collector.  Cronenworth was born and raised in Michigan and played three seasons with the Wolverines before entering the MLB Draft.

I'm super excited for Dennis as his #1 ranked Wolverines are headed to Southern California to play #4 Alabama in the CFP semifinals.  I will totally be rooting for them as well as the Washington Huskies in the other CFP semifinal game.

I'll also be pulling for San Jose State University as they're bowl bound too.  They play Coastal Carolina in the 2023 Hawaii Bowl on December 23rd.  Let's go Spartans!

Here are a pair of Tyler Ervin autographs that Dennis added to my SJSU PC:

2016 Panini Classics Significant Signatures #233

2016 Panini Prime Signatures #212

Ervin was an absolute stud for the Spartans his senior year when he rushed for over 1,600 yards and 13 touchdowns.  Although his NFL career was less than stellar, he did end up playing five seasons with three teams.

David Fales was another Spartan who shined in San Jose:

2014 SP Authentic Canvas Collection #C-30

He was a teammate of Ervin at SJSU from 2012 to 2013 and finished with over 8,000 passing yards during his two seasons there before entering the 2014 NFL Draft.

The Chicago Bears selected him in the 6th Round and his facial expression pretty much sums up his NFL career.

Dennis sent me a bunch of other things, but I'm already over three hours into this post and I'm guessing most of you have already checked out.  But for those of you who stuck around, in honor of the Los Angeles Lakers becoming the first NBA In-Season Tournament Champions, here's one more Michigan native Dennis sent me:

1990-91 Star Slam #1-9

Haven't been a big NBA fan for the past decade or so, but when I was... the Lakers were my team.  I started rooting for them during the Showtime Era and Magic Johnson played a huge part in my fanfare.

Magic attended college in Michigan... but wasn't a Wolverine.  He was a Michigan State Spartan.  I've got no love for them... or the baseball team he has an ownership stake in.  However I will casually root for the Lakers and of course Shohei Ohtani.

Well that's it for now.  I'm going to try to write at least one post a week until the holidays... then fingers crossed... get back into the two to three posts per week routine in 2024.

By the way... thank you to those who left thoughtful comments on my Papa Fuji and buddy Mike posts.  They lifted my spirits during that rough patch and were much appreciated.  I'm very fortunate to be a part of this card blogging community.

Happy Sunday and sayonara! 

Overtime

Almost forgot... if you're a college football fan, head over to Cards on Cards and enter Kerry's College Bowl Pick'em contest.  The rules are simple and there are multiple prizes.  Don't believe me, click here and see for yourself.