One-Stop Shopping

For the first time since I've been attending the monthly card show at my local firehouse, I visited exactly one seller's table.  Two hours later and $20 poorer, I left the fire hall.  I didn't even make a circuit around the room.  I went straight to the dime-box table of one of the best regular sellers, hunkered down and got busy.  It was a satisfying show, to say the least.

For your enjoyment, here's a sampling of my 200-card haul.

First, a couple of my favorite photos, both from the tremendous 2008 Upper Deck flagship set.

You know the best part about these cards?  They aren't even the player's regular base card.  The Glavine is a "Season Highlights," while Zimm's celebration shot is nothing more than a team checklist.

Sticking with future-HOF pitchers who spent their glory years in Atlanta -- and also remaining with the Upper deck theme -- here's a Greg Maddux card I couldn't leave behind.

Man, did UD ever nail the essence of Maddux the fielder with this one.  This might be my new favorite Maddux card.

I really love these OPC inserts from 2008 Upper Deck.  Wright was one of the handful of players I found from this same set.  And what can you say about Piazza in a tuxedo?  Exactly.

Two ferocious run-producers, adorned with golden borders.  2003 Topps is a great-looking set, and it's even better in gold.  As for 2005, I'm still unsure what my ultimate feelings are.  It's certainly a colorful design, albeit a tad busy.

I'm always a fan of cards that celebrate a player's nationality.  Especially when it's one of my favorite players.

Remember when Topps made cool inserts like this?  This year's "Cut to the Chase" insert is both flashy and bold, which is a step in the right direction.

All-Star cards were also much better a decade ago.  An abundance of wasted space?  Yes.  But at least the background is holographic, which is a nice (and hypnotic) distraction.

Back to the future now with two 2012 inserts.  A floating-head sticker from Heritage and a deckle edge from Archives.  Pujols is a guy I've collected for a while now, while I finally decided to collect Bautista last summer. Both of these are neat odds 'n ends for their respective collections.

Hall of Famers was a sort of theme for me while going through the various dime boxes.  Nothing vintage, mind you, but plenty of cool cards of hallowed players from recent sets.

National Chicle was a pretty attractive set, and this Musial has to be one of the best from the checklist.

I've noticed that very few collectors/bloggers have anything positive to say about last year's GQ set.  I guess I must have bad taste, because I think they're quite good.

I was pretty successful when it came to finding Seavers.  I like this one a whole lot because it utilizes a photo of Tom Terrific from his second go-round with the Mets.  You don't find that very often when it comes to latter-day Seaver cards.

I told you I found some good Seaver cards.  Anytime I can find these glittery refractors from 2011 Lineage for a dime, I consider that a big win.

Ditto for these less-glittery, but just as enticing and shiny Lineage refractors.

More glitter, this time from 2011 Topps Update.  I totally love the HOF variation cards!  And to think, I used to avoid non-vintage cards of olders players.  Actually, I used to think they were a waste of time.  Boy, was I missing out.  I can thank the world of sports card blogging for opening my eyes and changing my attitude on this subject.

These were some of my favorite pick-ups from Sunday's show, but perhaps not the ultimate highlights.  Thanks to one particular dime box, I was able to amass all but one card from a recent 50-card insert set.  Additionally, I put a decent dent into another insert set from a few years back that I had previously ignored.

More on each of those cases later this week...

MK