If you're a fan of variety, then this post is right up your alley. If you're only interested in sports cards... just scroll down to the 3rd purchase.
The De Anza Flea Market is held on the first Saturday of every month. This is now the third month since it has reopened and they are still struggling to fill up with vendors and visitors. I think part of the issue this month was the flea market took place on a holiday weekend, so hopefully next month will be better.
The good news is there were a bunch of new vendors who I wasn't familiar with. five of my six purchases were made from people I've never seen before.
Purchase #1: 70's Map of Mariott's Great America $3
I'm sure nobody else cares about this map, but this was easily my favorite purchase of the day. The week leading up to the flea market, Bay Area residents were informed that Great America will be closing its doors sometime in the next eleven years.
This was the theme park I grew up at. This is the theme park a lot of locals grew up going to. In a nutshell... this was pretty sad news for a lot of people.
That's why I was super excited to see this folded up map sitting on this guy's table just waiting for me to buy it. Without seeming too giddy, I asked him how much he wanted. I couldn't hand over the three bucks fast enough.
The first thing I noticed is that The Demon (one of my favorite rides) wasn't on it, so I knew it was pretty old. After some research, I discovered that the ride was originally called Turn of the Century, but it was modified and renamed in 1980... which means this map is from 1979 or earlier.
Sorry I blabbed so much about a map nobody cares about. I'll try and keep the rest of the flea market finds brief and straight to the point.
Purchase #2: The Famous Baseball Card Book $2
The Great American Baseball Card Flipping,
Trading and Bubble Gum Book (1st Edition)
I already own two copies of this book (paperback & hardcover), but this copy's dust jacket is a nice upgrade. Even if it wasn't, I still would have bought it for the price.
Purchase #3: Pack of Predators $1
2003 Top Trumps Predators Pack
No idea what this game is, but it's a pack of cards and the price was right. Don't worry, here come the sports cards...
Purchase #4: Bag of Cards $10
This bag was sitting on a tarp partially covered by a paper fan among a bunch of oriental style home furnishings and fishing reels. Luckily I took a few extra seconds to browse this vendor's stuff, because I never would have spotted the bag if I weren't standing right over it.
After pulling out a small stack of cards, it seemed to contain a mixture of new and old baseball and football cards. The guy said I could have the bag for $10, which I thought was fair. When I got to the end of the row, I sat down and pulled everything out to organize the purchase. That's when I found this card:
1991 Topps #333 (2016 Topps 65th Anniversary Buyback)
I love me some rookie cards... especially when they are stamped as a buyback and depict a first ballot hall of famer.
I would have paid $10 for this card alone... even though it's far from being mint.
Honestly... I could have dedicated an entire post to the contents of this bag, but this post is dragging on long enough. I'll trim the fat and share five other cards that caught my eye:
1975 Topps #400
There was a small stack of vintage football cards that were in top loaders consisting of three players: Fran Tarkenton, Franco Harris, and Bob Griese.
2016 Topps Gypsy Queen MVP Mini #MVPM-FT
2012 Topps A&G World's Greatest Military Leaders #ML-8
2019 Topps #100
2001 Pacific Paramount Sample #NNO
Rounding out the scans are two memorabilia cards...
In an age where condition is valued by everyone from flippers to grading card companies... it is hard to imagine someone tossing stacks of cards into a bag and dumping them at the flea market for $10. But I'm sure glad they did.
Purchase #5: MJ Rookie Card $6
Although I didn't know the guy who sold me this card, he was set up with some of my buddies. He had a few dollar boxes, but there wasn't really anything that stood out.
1994 Collector's Choice Silver Signature #661
I found this Jordan in his display case. It was a little more than I would typically spend. But I wanted to buy something to support him and this fits my collection.
Purchase #6: Heritage Error Cards $5
After tossing the MJ into the backpack, I walked over to my buddy's booth.
He showed me a stack of 2021 Heritage that contained a few wrong back error cards. I like this kind of stuff and wanted to support him, so I picked out six of them. He originally wanted $2 per card, but he settled for a crisp five dollar bill.
If you're trying to wrap your brain around who is paired with who, here's a breakdown:
A. Guerrero (front) / Hader (back)
B. Riley (front) / Eflin (back)
C. Arenado (front) / Yelich (back)
D. Hader (front) / Guerrero (back)
E. Eflin (front) / Riley (back)
F. Turner (front) / Sanchez & Kilome (back)
First off... these aren't rare. There are plenty of listings on eBay at very affordable prices. But they are a little mysterious. Typically Topps changes the code at the bottom for variations. Yet all of these have the same code as the regular base cards. If anyone knows the story behind these, feel free to comment on them down below.
Well that wraps up another trip to the flea market. Sorry it took so long to get this post published. I'm still playing catch up after a very busy start to the summer. I'm hitting up another flea market on Saturday, so hopefully I'll have some more finds to write about next week.
Until then...
Did you have a favorite amusement park when you were a kid?
Do you have multiple copies of the same book sitting on your bookshelf?
Happy Tuesday and sayonara!
