Showstoppers

Sometimes you go to a card show and wander around aimlessly from table to table hoping to stumble upon something halfway worthwhile.  Others, you get sucked into the timeless vortex of one or two tables and barely make it to three quarters of the show.

The latter of these two scenarios was my more recent experience, as the firehouse in my locality had its monthly show this past weekend.  I hadn't made it out to the show the past couple months, so I was overdue for some discount box rummaging.  I was at the show for a little over two hours and made it to a grand total of three tables in that time.  Needless to say the gettin' was good!

The Gary Carter card above was one of about 20 2004 Fan Favorites singles that I stumbled across for a dime apiece.  Fan Favorites is one of those sets that is on the 'automatic' list, meaning that if I ever see one in a dime box, it automatically gets pulled without a second of consideration.  Even though I'm mainly working on the 2005 set, I can't turn down these things no matter the year.

Also for a dime a pop, I was able to knock out 33 base cards from my still-active 2014 Heritage want list.  I was shocked at how many cards that I still needed.  And, never mind the short prints, that's a story for a different book.  Anyhow, that leaves me still just five cards shy of completing the 425-card base checklist.  Not too shabby!

This pesky Anthony Rendon rookie was a card still M.I.A. from my 2013 Topps Update set.  I think I'm down to maybe three or four that I still need in order to put this set to sleep.

And, winding down the set-collecting motif, I found 20 '77 commons for my ongoing pursuit of that vintage set. Most were pretty beat up, but some were actually decent.  Hey, for just a nickel each, you can't really quibble with the condition a whole lot, can you?

Okay, enough with this rigid set-collecting stuff, onto the singles and so forth.  Here are some of the dime-priced highlights from my recent card show visit.  I'll try to include as little commentary as possible.  After all, you're here to look at cards, not read my prattlings.

First, the Mets...

Hooray for oddballs!!

One of the most exciting finds.  This one is a refractor.

A Pacific mini.  I had no inkling that such things even existed.

Almost bought this d'Arnaud rookie card several times off eBay.  Glad I didn't!

Tom Terrific for a dime.  Never gets old!

Coincidentally, Harvey is slated to make his 2015 Spring debut today versus Detroit.  Many of us Mets fans will be anxiously glued to the TV or radio for this one.

Okay, and now some of my favorite dime-priced non-Mets from the recent hunt...

Was pretty surprised to find this.  Normally, some of the other annoying vendors comb through the dime boxes from this particular seller and pluck out cards like this to re-sell for ridiculous markups.  I've seen it happen and have been pretty pissed about it.  Thankfully, I got there early enough before gems like this could be snatched away.

From 2001 Topps Traded.  I totally forgot about El Duquecito, who never lived up to the expectations that he perhaps was unfairly saddled with.  The Cuban import went 0-6 in three big league seasons with New York and Milwaukee.  Right or wrong, I was almost as excited to find this as I was the Wacha.

Wow, this one blew me away.  As scary as that Donny Baseball t-shirt is, that's how amazing this photo is!

Gotta come clean, I had no idea Julio ever played for the White Sox.

Love finding minor league cards of guys I collect.

Or cards like this, featuring a player I collect in his college duds.

Not just a minor league Mike, but a red foil parallel or a minor league Mike.

Early Bernie with the aviator glasses.

Mid-90s Stadium Club inserts put to shame anything Topps trots out there as inserts nowadays.

Go back to my previous post in regards to my unhealthy liking of Canseco.

Ditto.

I still haven't scored any of the new-age Topps Tek.  But, the old stuff is probably better anyhow.

Remember these All-Star inserts from '91 Fleer?  I think they were only inserted into rack packs, right?  I could be wrong about that.  All I know is that I had awful luck pulling them back then.

Found a few great addition for my Jose Fernandez collection.

I guess I'm just a bad baseball fan, because in addition to pleading ignorance about Julio Franco's time in Chicago's South Side, I also don't recall Bobby O pitching in the Bronx.  Perhaps coincidentally, both were one-year stops and both happened during the '94 strike shortened season.

Okay, I think that will suffice.  You get the idea.  These shows are dangerous.  It's impossible to leave the place spending less than 20 bucks.  At least when the show is really good and all the best vendors are there.

It's probably a very good thing that these are but once a month!

MK

Zistle the Third

Another Zistle trade!  My third in the past month, give or take. And, another success.  This time, it was fellow Zistler reyoung68 who reached out to me regarding a swap.  He had lots of good stuff on his trade list, but I settled on nine cards that touched both my Mets and Horizontal Heroes needs.  Oh, and a guilty pleasure...but more on that later.

First, the Mets.

The "Titanic Taters" insert set from Score '97 is one that was unknown to me previously.  But, lo and behold, it exists! And, not only that, but it contains a Met in the form of Todd Hundley, who mashed his share of taters for the Mets in the mid-to-late '90s.  As you can see above, lots of foil-y and silvery goodness.

Long-time Met hurler Bobby Jones delivers a pitch on a sunny summer afternoon at Shea.

There are a few Mets pitchers whose batting prowess comes to mind readily when recalling their careers, including guys like Doc Gooden and Mike Hampton.  I don't think Mark Clark is on that short list, but this is a neat card nonetheless.

I think 1999 was one of Upper Deck's true boo-boos of the decade of the '90s.  It's just not a nice looking design in any way.  However, this is a great photograph of big Mike, framed quite nicely.  The foil embossed ASG logo is a nice touch, also.

In many of Leiter's Mets-era cards, Fleer Ultra did an awesome job of capturing varying aspects of the New Jersey southpaw's distinctive windup.  I really like this one.  Looks like Al is warming up at Wrigley.

I love to find cards featuring a Met wearing a cap honoring the brave men and women of the New York City Fire Department, Police Department, OEM or Port Authority Police.  The Mets wore these caps in every game (I believe) following the WTC tragedy in 2001.  So, there are a number of cards from the various 2002 sets in which these caps pop up.

And now onto a couple of A-1 editions for the frankenset.  And each contains what you might consider a "web gem"...

This one I had to, had to, HAD TO get my mitts on.  Becker, who also happened to play a brief spell for the Mets, is pictured making a leaping, Jordan-esque snag in the gap.  Looks like Oakland's ballpark, maybe.  [Ed. Note: Uh, yeah, Kaz, a little reading comprehension and common sense would do ya good!] And, of course, you've got the old SportsChannel logo on the outfield wall.  This one grades a 10 out of 10 on the scale of amazing cardboard!

Another former Met, Lastings Milledge, goes full extension for a dying liner or blooper.  2009 Topps has some pretty terrific action shots sprinkled throughout its base set.  This was a no-brainer for the frankenset, and an easy way to get Milledge into the mix.

Finally, a card that I guess I oughta apologize for.

I suppose I kinda, sorta collect Jose Canseco.  I especially like the cards from later in his career when he journeyed between places like Toronto, Boston, New York and Tampa.  I saw this one on the trade list and was taken by it immediately.  It's a classic shot of the famed baseball villain.  Multiple bats resting over his shoulder. Big, bold Jays logo displayed on the warmup jacket.  And a smirk that could relay a thousand words.

Aw heck, on second thought, I make no apologies for this one.  This is a great card!

And there you have it.  Zistle trade No. 3 in the books.  These things are fun; I gotta try to rustle up a few more soon!

MK