Flea Market Finds #161: Dollar Deals

Walked around the Branham Flea Market last month and made three purchases from three  vendors.  For the sake of this post... I've decided to split up the first purchase into five one dollar purchases... since that's how it essentially played out.

The gentleman who sold me these items is a regular I've dealt with on numerous occasions.  He has a variety of stuff ranging from magazines to bobbleheads to 7-11 cups... with sports cards sprinkled in here and there.

Purchase #1a:  1990 Barry Colla Don Mattingly Box Set $1

This box set was the first item on his table that caught my eye.  Barry Colla is a local photographer who put out a bunch of player sets back in the late 80's and early 90's.   

Here's a look at the twelve card set that came in the box: 

A few well-cropped action shots... but overall these give off a Broder-like vibe.  Hard to complain though when each card costs less than a dime.

Purchase #1b:  1980 Dodgers Police Starter Set $1

Inside of his display case, he had some Dodgers Police cards in a Ziploc bag.  Half of them were cards from the 1980 set which features some really cool action shots: 

The cards are a little beat up, but the only player missing is the Pedro Guerrero.  I probably will just pull a few of the singles for my binders and pass the rest along to any Dodger collectors who need them.

Purchase #1c:  1982 Dodgers Police Starter Set $1

The other half of the Dodgers Police cards were from the 1982 set.  It contained all of the players, but the playoff highlight cards were missing.  The lot did come with a World Series trophy card... but it's pretty beat up... so I tossed it into the Damaged Card PC before I took the photos.

Here are my two cards that stood out from the lot:

Dave Stewart and Fernando Valenzuela were two of my favorite pitchers from the 80's and pretty much the reason I purchased all of these Dodgers cards.

Purchase #1d:  1991 Marathon Chicago Cubs Lot $1

This stack of Cubs cards were also sitting inside of his display case.  I've never seen them before, but according to Beckett they're part of a twenty-eight card set that was handed out at a Cubs game in 1991.

Maddux was the key to me picking up this lot and was well worth the dollar.

Purchase #1e:  Cheap Vintage $1

The vendor had a small lot of vintage sitting in a box.  Each card was individually priced and I just couldn't pass up these three... 

1966 Topps #4

There's just something special about finding a miscut card like this in the wild.  Like a bruised banana at the grocery store, I'm guessing this card was passed up a few times.  Me?  I'm honored to own it for a quarter.

1971 Topps #544

This is one of those cards I remember wanting back in the 80's.  It's such a great photo of a Bay Area fan favorite.  Sure it has rounded corners and several creases... but the price (50¢) was right.

1976 Hostess #122

There probably won't be many shots of the Oakland Coliseum in the background after 2025, but luckily there are plenty of 70's quarter bin cards like this one to collect.

Purchase #2:  Billy Joel 52nd Street 8-Track $1

When I was a kid, my parents had an 8-Track player in one of their cars.  Not sure what happened to all of their tapes, but my eyes lit up when I saw a stack of them sitting on this lady's dollar table.

Billy Joel isn't my favorite artist... but he's had a fair share of hits.  This might not be considered one of his iconic albums, but it has one of my favorite songs of his:  Rosalinda's Eyes.  Thank you Freaks and Geeks.

 

Purchase #3:  Not A Dollar Deal $8

The final purchase of the day almost didn't happen.  This couple must have bought a storage unit or something, because they had several tables set up and covered with everything from old books to cups and saucers.

My eyes were drawn to some new Panini World Cup sticker albums and comic books sitting on the ground which required me to walk around their tables to get to.  They ended up being kind of pricey, but as I headed out I noticed a shoebox filled with cards in toploaders.

They were $3 each or 10 for $20.  I pulled out these four and he accepted my $8 offer:

2023 Topps Heritage Clubhouse Collection Relic #CCR-SP

This was the key card in the purchase and the first step towards my Perez sports card trifecta.  His 2010 Bowman Chrome Prospect card is pretty cheap... but an on-card autograph of his is going to set me back about $50.

In hindsight, I probably should have handed over the three bucks and passed on these other three cards:  

2019 Topps WWE Summer Slam Relics #MR-SN

But here are the latest additions to the Japanese Athlete PC.

2021 Goodwin Champions Autographs #A-KG

2021 Skybox Metal Universe Champions Autographs #19

I should have taken a few minutes to look up these autographs of Ken Gushi (auto racing)... since they only sell for around a buck on COMC.  Oh well.  Win some, lose some.

That wraps up my most recent trip to the flea market.  Not sure if I'll be able to make it to any flea markets in May.  Last weekend, I cancelled my trip because it rained.  There's another one in two weeks, but I have my nephew's graduation party.

Not too disappointed though.  I've got several Sportlots packages, a COMC package, and a few more blogger care packages waiting to be cracked open.

Until then... happy Thursday and sayonara!

The Destroyer and Snips

What do Tom Hume and Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope have in common?  The both premiered on May 25, 1977.

1982 Topps Coca-Cola #9

Since most of you could care less about Star Wars, I had to lure you in with this oddball issue of former Cincinnati Reds relief pitcher.  Here's another baseball card for you:

1978 Topps #202

What's the significance of this card?  Well on the day Hume made his MLB debut, he got lit up by the San Francisco Giants and was forced out of the game after giving up four hits, walking one batter, and allowing five earned runs in one-third inning pitched.  He earned the loss and left the game with a 135.00 ERA.

On the bright side, the Reds fought back, but still lost the game by one run.  George Foster had a huge game... as he hit two home runs while driving in three.  That was the season he hit hit a staggering 52 home runs.

It was the first time someone cracked the 50 home run mark since Willie Mays hit 52 in 1965. And it wouldn't happen again until Cecil Fielder returned from Japan to hit 51 in 1990.  This might not seem that special, since twenty guys (three in the past five seasons) have done it since.  But from 1966 to 1989 (a span of twenty-four seasons), Foster was the only guy to accomplish this feat.  That's pretty special.

And in the spirit of May the Fourth, here are a few things for the Star Wars fans out there.

Let's start off with this Lego set I built this morning:

Meet Ahsoka Tano.  She was Anakin Skywalker's padawan during the Clone Wars.

Lego Brick Headz #150 (Set #40539)

I have a bunch of Lego sets waiting to be built, but I chose this one specifically because it's small.  At one hundred sixty-four pieces, this set took me less than thirty minutes to build.  Here's a look at the Brick Head next to a mini figure and standard size card:

Although I'm not the biggest fan of the Brick Headz line... I picked this set up because Ahsoka is one of my favorite characters.   This build motivated me to dust off and update my Lego shelf in the office:

I'll wrap things up with a few Star Wars cards that John over at Johnny's Trading Spot added to my collection:

1996 Decipher Star Wars A New Hope Expansion CCG #NNO

1999 Decipher Star Wars Young Jedi CCG #58

First up are a pair of CCG cards from the 90's that show off two of the franchise's finest females.  Who do you favor?  A New Hope's Princess Leia Organa or The Phantom Menace's Queen Amidala?

The next pair are two of my favorite characters from the original trilogy:

2022 Topps Chrome Star Wars Galaxy #7

2022 Topps Chrome Star Wars Galaxy #10

Who is your favorite Star Wars character?

Thanks John for giving me more blog post material.  By the way... any chance you have an extra 1995 Bowman Fernando Lunar card laying around?  He was an Atlanta Braves prospect in the mid to late 90's... and is the only MLB player to be born on the day Star Wars: A New Hope premiered back in 1977.

Happy Saturday and May the 4th be with you!

A Short Break from Baseball

The 2024 NFL Draft is finally over.  No.  I didn't watch it, but I did keep an eye on who the Seattle Seahawks and Green Bay Packers drafted.

Let's face it.  As much as I love baseball (my favorite sport)... neither of my teams are doing well.  In fact, I've been following the A's and Padres more closely this year than last year... and neither have winning records.

That's why today is a good day to take a short break from baseball and focus on some football cards and memorabilia that a few fellow bloggers sent my way.

Let's start off with this cool postcard featuring my all-time favorite football player:

Rod over at Padrographs included this in his latest care package.  At first I thought that it was signed on the front.  But while trying to figure out the history behind this postcard... I discovered it's a facsimile signature.

There's also another facsimile on the back:

It's printed on the left side with the Bible verse.  Steve did sign his first name when he responded to Rod's question.

At one point, I climbed into the #1 spot in the TCDB rankings among Largent collectors.  I've slid back down to #3 and was hoping this postcard would help me out.  Unfortunately, I couldn't find it on their site.  No worries... it's still a cool collectible for my collection.

I received another Largent autograph from another Pacific Northwest blogger:

1997 Upper Deck NFL Legends Autograph #AL-8

Kevin (aka The Diamond King) included this with some Japanese MLB cards (that I'll show off in another post).  The signature is a tad bit faded, but if you look closely you can see he signed it across his legs.

I actually have a copy of this card for my Largent collection, but this card is a huge addition to my Damaged Card PC.

Next up are some Seahawks and Packers rookies and inserts from Woody over at Sports Card Forum:

I don't open up a lot of football, so it's nice to add rookie cards of guys like Boye Mafe and newer inserts of Brett Favre:

2022 Donruss Press Proof Blue #368

2022 Score First Ballot #FB-BF

Woody also tossed in this sweet rookie card of Kam Chancellor:

2012 Topps #157

I've always been a huge fan of hard hitting safeties... and Bam Bam is one of my all-time favorites.  A member of the Legion of Boom, he was selected to the Pro Bowl four times in his first eight seasons.  Sadly his career was cut short with a severe neck injury.  However it's only a matter of time before he becomes a member of the Seattle Seahawks Ring of Honor.

Moving along, let's check out this jersey of the #2 pick in the 1993 NFL Draft that Chris, The Collector sent me last year:

Before Russell Wilson wore #3 for the Hawks... Mirer did.  Although he's remembered by many fans as being a bust, I'll proudly wear this jersey during the season.  I'm sure there will be a ton of kids who are scratching their heads wondering who this guy is.  But it'll give some of my coworkers a chance to reminisce (and probably laugh).

Chris also sent me some cards... including this rookie card of Seattle's leading rusher the past two seasons:

2022 Panini Chronicles #PA-13

And some cool San Jose Sharks cards:

2018-19 UD MVP NHL Player Credentials Access #NHL-JP

2021-22 OPC Platinum Red Surge #298

Don't really have enough new Sharks to justify it's own post... so I figured I'd lump it into this one.  Sadly... I haven't been following the San Jose Sharks as closely as I did when Patrick Marleau, Joe Thornton, and Joe Pavelski were teammates.

In fact there are only a handful of guys I can name on the current Sharks roster... and William Eklund is one of them.

Let's wrap things up with two more football items: 

1993 CARDZ Team NFL The Flintstones Set

The first is a complete set of Flintstone NFL cards from John over at Johnny's Trading Spot.  Last Christmas I found a partial set of these in my office.  I started purchasing singles on Sportlots, but now it looks like I don't have to anymore.

I'm sitting on a bunch of cards that need to be scanned from Johnny.  He sent me several care packages dating back to last year that I'm still organizing.  Not going to be able to fit them into today's post, but I will wrap things up with a baseball card he sent me that's related to the gridiron:

2019 Bowman Chrome Prospects #BCP151

I know the Broncos and their fans wish they could forget Russell's tenure in Denver... but I'm still a fan of him.  There was part of me that was secretly hoping he'd be traded back to Seattle this past off season.  Hopefully he can lead the Steelers past the Wild Card round this upcoming season.  If he does... I'll quietly root for him unless he ends up facing his old team or the Packers in the Super Bowl.

Hope at least a few people out there appreciate this football post as much as I appreciate the bloggers who sent me these cards and collectibles.

Thank you Rod, Kevin, Woody, Chris, and John!  Happy Saturday and sayonara!