The Starrs Are Aligned

When it comes to blogging... my timing is terrible.  I'll see things on ESPN or on other blogs that inspire a post, but I don't have scans ready to go.  On other occasions... I'll have card images saved and ready... but no time to hammer out a post.

Well... the stars must have been aligned, because I was just thinking about Chris (a.k.a The Collector) yesterday.  The Green Bay Packers are hosting the San Francisco 49ers for an important game for both teams... and Chris is a fellow Packer backer.

This morning I was catching up on reading card blogs... when I discovered (over on Diamond Jesters) that he had taken down his blog.  I hope things are okay with him and his family.  Not sure if he'll ever come back to the keyboard, but if he's reading this... I wanted to let him know that he'll be missed.  He was one of those bloggers who put a lot of time and effort into his blog posts.  I hope he eventually brings it out of retirement, because his All-Time Teams and History of the Athletics are two series I was looking forward to reading again one day.

Anyways... getting back to the perfect timing... today I opened my COMC shipment from October (sorry... I'm a little behind) and wanted to show off the four Packers I picked up:

1998 Topps Chrome Hidden Gems Refractor #HG6

I bought this card back in April for $8.75.  I know this was a blog inspired purchase... but I can't remember the blog that inspired it.  Possibly Chris?  It also could have been Matt over at Cards over Coffee.  We share an interest in 90's inserts and parallels.

Next up is a Brett Favre promo card:

1993 Action Packed Rookie Update Prototypes #RU2

Pretty sure this was also a blog inspired purchase.  Maybe Billy (Cardboard History)?  Sorry... my memory sucks.  But I love 90's promo cards... especially ones that are less than a buck (74¢).

The final two cards are seat relics from Milwaukee County Stadium:

2001 Topps Archives Stadium Seat Relics #AS-PH

My parents are the reason I root for the Green Bay Packers.  They met and married in Wisconsin... and were Packers fans until they moved to the Bay Area in the 70's.  

2001 Topps Archives Stadium Seat Relics #AS-BST

I purchased these two cards ($7 for the Hornung and $13 for the Starr) in their honor, because they attended games at Milwaukee County Stadium back in the late 50's.

Tomorrow... their 49ers face off against Chris and my Packers.  Both teams are fighting for a playoff spot... and need to win this game.

Back in September, Chris sent me a padded envelope with some cards for me and my students.  There was exactly one Packer and one Niner:

2023 Donruss Optic #249

2023 Donruss Optic #173

If these two cards are being used to predict tomorrow's outcome... then normally Bosa would blow away Wicks.  But Bosa is out tomorrow... so the Packers have a chance.  Go Pack go!

Here's a 9-pocket page highlighting the rest of The Collector's care package:

Thank you Chris!  Hope everything is okay.  You'll be in my thoughts as I watch the big game tomorrow.

Let's go Packers!

Happy Saturday and sayonara!

Flea Market Finds #166: Cards, Cards, & Chicken

I was able to take two quick trips to local flea markets the week before and the week after my trip to Hawaii.  Neither produced any super deals, but I did add a couple of items to my collection.

The first Saturday of the month is the De Anza Flea Market which is held in a community college parking lot.  This one has really boomed over the past year and is almost back to normal in regards to vendors and visitors.

Unfortunately... I only walked away with two purchases that day.  Both are card related... but one of them is currently missing in action.  It was a pair of cheap rookie cards of current players.  I've looked all over the place, but couldn't find them.

The other was this purchase...

Purchase #1:  Baseball Cards  $1

A vendor had a box with 9-pocket pages filled with baseball cards from the late 80's and early 90's, but this card was in the third or fourth page:

1983 Topps #163

I asked him if he was selling them by the page, the box, or individually.  He wanted $40 for the box, but said I could have any singles for 50¢ each.  I set the Ripken page aside... and flipped through the rest of the pages.  There were lots of hall of famers, but the only other card I pulled out was this:

1993 Los Angeles Dodgers D.A.R.E #45

It has perforated edges... so it must have been part of a sheet.  There were a few other Dodgers... but Pedro was the only one worth the guy's asking price.

If I find the two rookie cards from the other purchase, I'll write about them in my next Flea Market Finds post.  Until then, here are my purchases from last weekend's Branham High School Flea Market...

Purchase #1:  Southern Pacific Playing Cards $3

A lot of the flea market vendors in my area toss a bunch of random items into crates with no prices.  I don't usually dig through them.  I'm typically looking for sports memorabilia or other collectibles that shouldn't be stored in this manner.

That being said... I'll usually walk by them and peek into them... just to see if anything catches my eye.  That's when I saw this small box:

Inside was this deck of cards:

The deck features landmarks along the Southern Pacific Lines which ran along the West Coast and as far east as Illinois and Louisiana.  One of the first cards I saw was this famous Bay Area tourist attraction:

Golden Gate Bridge

I knew if the price was right, I'd be taking it home with me.  I flipped through the rest of the deck to make sure it was complete (and it was).

Here are a few of the other cards I found interesting:

San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge

This is the "other" major Bay Area bridge.

Emerald Bay, Lake Tahoe

Growing up my family would spend a week or two up in Tahoe during the ski season.  We'd usually stay and spend most of our time in South Lake Tahoe and ski at Sierra Ski Ranch or Heavenly.  However we'd often drive up to Squaw Valley or Alpine Meadows at least once... and along the way, we'd see Emerald Bay.

These days I only visit Tahoe once every two or three years.

However... I drive up to Ashland every summer and along the way, I get a great view of this volcano:

Mt. Shasta

I'm also planning on getting back to my routine of visiting this famous "blogger" town on a bi-annual basis:

Portland & Mt. Hood

I could show off more cool places... but this post is taking up too much of our time.  I'll try to keep the rest of my purchase summaries short and sweet.

Purchase #2:  Star Wars Read Along Tapes $4

Empire Strikes Back (1997)

Classic Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (1995)

Not much too say about this purchase other than I'm a Star Wars fan who likes crap like this.  If you want to see and hear these books read aloud, click on the links above.

Purchase #3:  1979 San Diego Padres Yearbook $2

One of the regulars at the Branham Flea Market will set aside Padres stuff for me.  Most of the time, it's stuff I already have or Junk Wax Era cards that I'm not really interested in.

But this particular yearbook was from the Brown & Gold Era and featured a four-pack of hall of famers:

There was also a cool photo of the San Diego Chicken crowd surfing:

Not much else to say about it... other than the price was right.  I usually have a price in my head that I'm willing to go up to... and two bucks was my magic number.

Well... that wraps up another round of flea market finds.  I hope to find the other two rookie cards when I clean my office.  When I do... I'll add them to a future post.

Until then...

Happy Thursday and sayonara!

A Quick Trip to the Islands

Over Veteran's Day weekend... I traveled 2,400 miles across the Pacific Ocean for Papa Fuji's celebration of life.

Ala Wai Canal

I've mentioned it a few times on the blog, but in case you missed it... both of my parents were born and raised on Oahu.  But they didn't meet there.  They met in Wisconsin while attending college... and spent the rest of their lives together on the mainland.  Earlier in the year, my father returned to Oahu and was laid to rest in our family's plot.

He didn't want to have a service, but thought it would be nice if we could get both sides of the family together for a small luncheon.  My siblings and I were blown away by the number of people interested in attending.  It ended up being a family reunion and an opportunity for many of us to reconnect and catch up.

One of the coolest things was seeing my mother's side of the family interact with my father's side.  It's such a small world.  One of my cousins (on my mom's side) discovered he lives just a block over from another cousin (on my dad's side).

I'm guessing that a lot of them could easily play the "six degrees" game considering the majority have lived their entire lives on the same island.

Personally... I hadn't been back in fifteen years.  It was a quick trip... but I made sure to eat saimin at Zippy's, malassadas from Leonard's, and shave ice from Shimazu's:

Here's a wallet card shot from my hotel room:

Ala Moana Hotel

Although most of the conversations at the party involved reminiscing and family related stuff... baseball made its way into a few of them.

One of my cousins asked me if I was going to continue supporting the A's after their move to Sacramento/Las Vegas.

1977 Hostess #52

I explained that I've been a fan since the 70's... so ultimately I would continue rooting for them wherever they played.

2020 Topps Chrome Refractor #160

I was also reminded that the Dodgers have a huge following in Hawaii.  I spoke with three cousins who were excited about their recent World Series win... and all three are big fans of this guy:

2024 Topps Now #1

All three of these cards were part of a PWE I received from Jim over at cards as i see them.  Thank you Jim!  Looking forward to getting together again for some burgers the next time you're in the Bay Area.

I'd also like to thank Nick over at njwv for inspiring me to purchase this card:

1893 Arbuckle's Coffee #27

Nick and I are both interested in collecting cards related to the Hawaiian Islands and the Bay Area.  Although his photography is much more artistic than mine.

Well that wraps up today's post.  The past few weeks have been really busy with this recent trip and parent/teacher conferences.  However this Saturday kicks off my Thanksgiving Break.  Although I'll be spending some time with family... the plan is to spend at least two or three quality days in the office catching up with care packages, two boxes from Sportlots, and my latest COMC shipment.

Until then... 

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!