Between work craziness and a much-needed vacation, I missed the October card show. Since there was no proper “September” show, it’s now been over two months since I was last able to attend, something that doesn’t seem too significant since it hasn’t been long since I was reluctant to do anything with the general public. Thankfully, the same day I last attended a show, I also purchased a small collection off Facebook Marketplace that has kept me busy sorting and organizing ever since. Busy enough, in fact, that I now realize I never showed off my recent acquisitions!
The last couple of posts here have been long commentaries – this is no such thing. This is show and tell. Here’s what I was able to pick up at the last show I attended.
I spent most of my time at the dime and quarter boxes, as usual, where I was able to pick up some needs among stars seen as “tainted” by most. I’ve reconsidered my position on the “PED” guys over the last few years, and believe that for the most part we should consider these players as belonging to a particular era, just as we did dead ball era players. As such, I’m drifting back to the players of my youth who will likely need to wait a few decades before gaining entry to the Hall of Fame as anything other than a paying customer. These were mostly quarter cards.
Here, I found a bunch of 2000s prospect cards, including some bona fide superstars. I was particularly happy with the Adrián Beltré and David Ortiz, but I couldn’t pass up adding a Toe Nash I hadn’t previously encountered.
Also among the dime boxes were a bunch of 2002 Bowman Heritage, including many “black box” short prints. The early Joe Mauer and Adrián González cards were the big draw for me here – absolute bargains to me for a dime.
I was also able to pick up most of the 2000 Upper Deck Yankees Legends set, and as it turned out, the few that were missing were already in my collection. I’m not a big Yankees fan, but I still couldn’t pass it up.
The only two cards I spent more than a dollar on were football cards. I have basically three categories of football cards I’ll ever buy – Oregon Ducks alums, Hall of Fame rookies, and underpriced cards I might be able to turn into stuff I actually want. I like football, but I have to be somewhat selective about what I actively collect. I was able to pick up two 1989 Topps Traded rookies that had eluded me over the years – Barry Sanders (the card I was really after) and Troy Aikman, who was a throw-in of sorts, but who does fit the “HOF RC” criteria. The Pacific Favre was another dime box card, which fits criteria #2 and 3, as well as a fourth category, which broadly speaking is “stuff I like more than keeping a dime.”
That’s it for tonight. I’ll be back soon to show off what I found in my first Facebook/Craigslist find in over a year. Spoiler: like the cards above, there’s nothing I can retire on, but it’s stuff I consider fun… which is what this is supposed to be about, right? Thanks for reading!