A Trip to the Hobby Shop...at the Shore.

So, I mentioned previously that my sister-in-law and her husband gave me a nice belated birthday gift when we all got together this past weekend down the shore in Stone Harbor.  It was a hand-written $20 gift coupon from a little baseball card shop called Pitchout Sports Cards in Avalon, NJ, which is the town just north of S.H.

Now, I had no clue there was even a card shop in Avalon, so I was excited to get over there and spend my twenty bucks.  Beach be damned!  Okay, maybe a bit harsh, but the forecast was calling for showers, so it wasn't the best beach day anyways.

After a late Saturday breakfast, Mrs. K and I hustled over to Avalon and strolled around a bit til the shop opened at around 10:30 a.m.  It was a complete hole-in-the-wall type of joint...but, aren't all of them mostly?  I think I've been in restrooms that were larger than the interior of this shop, but it was crammed full of glass display cases and boxes full of cards from all the major sports, so that's all I needed.

There was a time, in my younger days, that I would not go into a shop like this because I knew the shop owner would watch me like a hawk.  Now, that I'm a crusty, post-30 old fart, they can stare at me all they'd like -- enjoy the show!  Besides, I had some money to spend...

After sifting through most of their baseball boxes and finding nothing beyond over-priced singles (dime and quarter boxes have ruined me), I picked up a couple of over-priced 2011 Heritage hobby packs.  This was unavoidable, since I'm in '11 Heritage mode.  Got some pretty decent pulls, including an SP of Robinson Cano and a Baseball Flashbacks insert of Mickey Mantle.

I <3 Topps Heritage.  (Yup, that just happened.)

Meanwhile, Mrs. K was going through the football boxes, ooh-ing and aah-ing at all the great Redskins cards she found.  I try to humor her, since I'm a fan of the Buffalo Bills (save your jokes).  But, she actually did manage to draw my attention to the football section, where I was able to find some great early-80s football cards.  I know this is a baseball blog, but I'm also a football collector who happens to have a weak spot for Topps cards from this period.  These are my three favorites:

Three HOFers....one with helmet hair.

The cards are in great shape and weren't too unreasonably priced.  The Payton card was the most expensive of the three above, and I didn't mind what I paid for it.  I love the '84 set and I didn't own any cards of his previously. Fouts' cards always have appealed to me for some reason (certainly having zilch to do with his broadcasting abilities).  And, well, the Art Monk was especially for Mrs. K, since she couldn't stop marveling at this helmet hair.  [Ed. Note: Can't say I blame her!]

Anyway, those are just the main highlights.  Overall, it was a fun way to spend a portion of an otherwise cloudy, rainy afternoon down the shore.  And it was a great gift idea; thanks Ashley and Jim!