Flea Market Finds #130: The Holy Grail of '86

As I've mentioned in previous posts... life has been pretty hectic the past month or so.  Allergy season hasn't helped.  The good news is that it's also flea market season... which has allowed me a few hours each weekend to take my mind off of things and if I'm lucky... add some collectibles to my collection.

Two weekends ago, I walked around the De Anza Flea Market and came home with a variety of items.  There weren't any big ticket items, but it was my largest flea market haul in quite some time.

Let's see what I found...

Purchase #1:  Michael Jordan Kenner SLU's  $20

These days, I typically won't spend more than a buck or two on Kenner Starting Lineups.  However... I'm a sucker for Michael Jordan pieces.  Anyone else remember the era when these three figures sold in the $80 to $100 range?


Purchase #2:  Highland Mint John Elway  $5

Highland Mint rookie card replicas are another 90's item I enjoy picking up from time to time when they're reasonably priced.  Each bronze card came housed in this thick screw down holder.  Since I don't have the storage space, I took mine out.  Here's a better look at the card and full color COA:

The lady who sold me this also had a pretty nice copy of his rookie card too, but she was asking $25, which seemed a little steep.


Purchase #3:  Jose Canseco Rookie Card  $2

1986 Donruss #39

There was a guy out there who looked like he was selling off his sports memorabilia collection.  He had tons of old baseball programs, sports posters, newspapers, sports figurines, and a variety of sports cards.

The only thing I was semi-interested in was an incomplete 1985 Topps baseball card set.  However... the guy was pretty firm with his $25 price tag.

As I was digging through the last few boxes, I found this Canseco rookie card sitting inside one of an older A's program.  I set it aside and asked him about it when I was finished.  He told me to make him an offer, so I replied $2.  He accepted.  Gotta wonder if he would have taken a buck.


Purchase #4:  1998 Fleer Ultra Series One Box $10

I normally don't have a lot of interest in 90's football boxes, but 1998 is an exception.  This box might contain a gem mint Peyton Manning, Randy Moss, or Charles Woodson rookie card.  Only time will tell.

Well that's it for now.  Two days left of the regular school year.  It's hard to believe that I'm wrapping up my 20th year in the district.  In fact... Peyton Manning and I were rookies the same year.  Too bad he gets to relax and make Papa John's commercials, while I've got another 15 to 20 years in the classroom.

What about you?

What were you up to 20 years ago?  Collecting?  Working?  In diapers?

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!

Saturday Night Five: The Brown Box

What's the best way to take your mind off of work?  Well the past few weeks, it's been getting my daily steps in, then rewatching the first season of The Handmaid's Tale on Hulu.

When I came home today, I switched things up and opened up a package I received from P-town Tom over at Waiting 'til Next Year.  He had recently sorted two 5,000ct. boxes and offered to send fellow bloggers cards of their favorite team.

Two weeks later, this brown box showed up in my mailbox:

That's a 400ct. BCW box filled with lots of late 80's/early 90's Oakland Athletics cardboard.  Since I'm running a little short on time, I've decided to utilize my Saturday Night Five format to help keep the scanning to a minimum.

However before I show off my five favorite cards from the package, here's a look at the contents of the entire box:

As you can see... Tom hooked me up with a bunch of 1990 Donruss, 1990 Fleer, 1990 Score, 1991 Donruss, 1992 Topps, and a bunch of other colorful cardboard mixed in.

Always... without further adieu... let's check out the Saturday Night Five...

#1:  1993 Upper Deck #49

1993 Upper Deck is one of my favorite sets from the 90's and this card is one of the coolest in the set.  It depicts McGwire with his new Bash Brother... Ruben Sierra who was acquired in the trade that sent his former Bash Brother to the Texas Rangers.


#2:  1982 Donruss #19

Mike Norris will go down as being the first Oakland Athletic to be featured on a Donruss Diamond King card.  Not Rickey Henderson.  Mike Norris.  With that being said... I was a pretty big fan of Norris back in the early 80's.


#3:  1985 Woolworth's All-Time Record Holders #17

Speaking of Rickey... there's no way he wasn't going to make an appearance on this list.  I may or may not already have this card, but I do know that I've been trying to add this 44-card box set to my collection since I was a teenager.


#4:  2011 Topps #04

Tom sent a few different Kurt Suzuki cards... but this was my favorite.  


#5:  1992 Score #500

I've never been a fan of 1992 Score until tonight.  I think I've always just lumped it in with a bunch of other early, sub-par Score designs.  But after taking a few seconds to look over this card, I realize I probably need to take a closer look at this set.

I'll go ahead and wrap up this post with an interesting Cooperstown fact that was on the back of Tom's note:

Thank you Tom for this generous box of Oakland Athletics baseball cards.  I recently purchased a large collection of sports cards.  I've sifted through it once and pulled out the keepers.  The next step will be to copy you and sort the rest by teams.  As soon as I've accomplished this, I'll be sending you the Cubs.

Until then...

Happy Saturday and sayonara!

Worth It In The End

Seven days left of the regular school year.  It's been a crazy few weeks.  There are a lot of changes going down in our district.  Teachers and administrators are being transferred left and right.  Some people are happy about it.  Others aren't.  Either way... it's been one of the most dramatic endings in my twenty years of teaching in my district.

I'm not a huge fan of change, so hopefully I'll be sticking around at my site a little longer.  But you never know.  We're employees of the district... and not our site.

One of the things I'd miss the most about being at my current school is the annual honor's field trip a few of my friends and I are in charge of.  Every year, we take the kids with 3.50 GPA's or higher to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk:

We give up about twenty hours of our free time to count money, build lists, contact chaperones, build more lists, verify chaperones, organize packets for chaperones, purchase and divide tickets, and create one final list to ensure things go smoothly on the day of the field trip.

It involves a lot of groaning and moaning, but with support of administrators it becomes one of the highlights of our school year.

Today all of our hard work paid off.  The photo above was taken this afternoon from the Santa Cruz Wharf.  Weather was perfect.  Food was amazing.  And outside of one student getting sick and half of our buses arriving late... the field trip was a success.

Anyways... I apologize for not publishing the contest results sooner.  The past two days were a little hectic.  But I was able to copy down all of the names into a MS Word document on Sunday night.  This morning I woke up extra early to conduct the randomization on random.org and here are the contest results:

Grand Prize Winner:  CaptKirk42

Congratulations CaptKirk42!  You'll be receiving a Nationals/Expos/Orioles care package with a minimum of two hits, five 2018 Topps Series One packs, and this certified pack pulled autograph for your Orioles PC:

Email me your mailing address and I'll try to get your prize shipped out to you sooner than later.

Runner Up Winners:  Matt Prigge, Sport Card Collectors, sg488, hackenbush, and jeremy1um.

Please email me your mailing address along with a list of the teams (any sport) you collect and I'll put together care packages for you as well.

A special thanks goes out to Sport Card Collectors who plugged the contest on his blog.  As promised, you'll receive three bonus packs of 2018 Topps Series One in your care package.

Thank you to all of you who participated and left comments on my blog posts.  Just like that field trip to Santa Cruz... this contest was a lot of work... but it was totally worth it in the end.

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!

Upon Closer Inspection

When you're sitting in front of 25k sports cards, you don't have the time to sit down and appreciate each card individually.  Well... I guess you could.  But I didn't have three months to spare, so I flew through the collection my friend sold me as fast as I could.

Yesterday, I opened up a PWE from Sport Card Collectors, quickly downshifted, and slowed things down, so I could appreciate and soak in the knowledge that each card had to offer.

Like a barracuda attracted to shiny objects, I was immediately drawn to lustrous gold parallel of Yoenis Cespedes:

2014 Topps Archives Gold #110 (#'d 003/199)

In addition to it's beautiful shine, I was also drawn to the card's design.  With each passing year, I enjoy the 1986 Topps baseball card design more and more.

It's one of the first sets I attempted to build when I was younger.

The red and black card back design was embedded into my brain after countless hours of sorting these cards.  Back then, I actually would take the time to read the Talking Baseball box featured on some of the younger players in the set.

Upon closer inspection... this particular card took me back to the 1988 World Series when Canseco hit a grand slam early in the game.  Unfortunately this memory is often buried by the fact that Kirk Gibson hit one of the most memorable home runs in World Series history.

2018 Topps Heritage Baseball Flashbacks #BF-RJ

Next up is a new Reggie Jackson card for my binder.  He looks so young in this photo.  Collecting in the 80's, I'm more used to seeing him when he was in his mid 30's to early 40's.

Upon closer inspection... I learned that Reggie peaked early.  I never knew his 47 home runs in 1969 were a career high.  Had to check Baseball Reference to verify and sure enough... it's true.  In fact, can you believe that he only had two seasons with 40 or more home runs?  

2015 Topps Opening Day Stadium Scenes #STA-JF

The third card was this interesting insert card featuring Sean Doolittle signing for fans at the Oakland Coliseum.

Upon closer inspection... I was disappointed that Doolittle's name isn't mentioned anywhere on this card.  Heck... there's a chance this isn't Doolittle.  What I do know is that the photograph was taken by Jordyn Fernandez.  

2018 Topps Heritage Then and Now #TN-15

Sport Card Collectors is now four for four.  No dupes so far.  This card will be added to my Hunter PC.

Upon closer inspection... I learned that Sam McDowell was probably better suited for this card instead of Catfish.  But I'm not complaining.  If this had been a McDowell/Sale combo card, it wouldn't be residing in my collection.

The streak is over...

2018 Topps Opening Day MLB Opening Day #OD-24

This Davis is the first dupe in the PWE.  That's okay though.  One of my graduating 8th graders is a die-hard Athletics fan.  I'm gonna pass it off to him.

Upon closer inspection... I learned that there are only two players to hit more than one home run on Opening Day for the Oakland Athletics.  It took about 15 minutes of doing research, but I finally figured out that Jason Giambi is the other guy.

Last... but not least:

2014 Topps Update Target Red #US-75

By the time Punto arrived in Oakland, his best years were behind him.  In fact, his tenure with the Athletics was kind of a blur to me.

I remember him being on the team, but can't remember any specific highlights.

However upon closer inspection to the front of Punto's jersey, there's a small patch I had never seen before.

But through a little research, I discovered it's the logo for Step Up to Cancer which is a charitable program.

Thank you SCC for this awesome PWE!  I hate to admit this... but when it comes to collecting... I often live my life in the fast lane.  But thanks to these cards... I was able to slow down for awhile, sit back, and appreciate cards like when I was nine years old hanging out on my porch opening packs with my friends.

Happy Saturday and sayonara!