The National Recap: Meet my Mets

So I finally got around to sorting out my purchases from last weekend's National Convention.  I wound up securing just north of 200 new-to-me Mets cards towards my collection.  That's not too bad, I suppose, considering I didn't have any lists with me.

I thought for sure I would have done more damage than I did, but then I think about how long of a process it is to go through a dime box.  And multiply that by a few dozen.  As many of you  know, it's a joyfully painstaking process going through all those cards fishing for what you're after.  The first-world problems of a card collector, right?

I've scanned a solid majority of my singles for eyeball consumption on this very blog.  I hope you enjoy!

I'll kick off the proceedings with what was undoubtedly my favorite find of the show.  In the lead-off spot, you see should-be Hall of Famer Gil Hodges in all his '62 Topps glory.  I've wanted this card for a long time, so when I found it in a discount vintage box for a buck, I mentally high-fived myself.  It has a pretty pronounced wrinkle down the center (which you can't readily tell from the scan), but it doesn't lessen my happiness in any way.

This was my first purchase of the show, actually.  What a great way to kick off my seminal trip to the National! I think it was the Almighty's way of telling me that I was in the right place!

Here are some of my other well-worn vintage acquisitions.  Each cost me anywhere from a dime to a buck...

I did pretty good for my Hodges collection.  These two were from the same dollar box as the '62.

I did alright with my Tug McGraw content, as well.  Again, these won't be going off to PSA or BGS, but that's not why I'm collecting anyhow.

I thought for sure I already owned this Ken Boyer card, but I grabbed it just in case.  Good thing I did!  This is my first card of Boyer as a Met.

Badly cut, but otherwise in pretty excellent condition.  I couldn't say no to this Grote card for just a quarter!

I love this card.  For a quarter, I loved it even more.

Have you ever seen such beautifully rounded corners?  Who cares; '69 World Champs!

I had to have this Cleon Jones "Batting Leaders" card, even if it's cluttered up by those other two guys.  (Juuuust kidding, folks...no nasty emails, please!)

I can't recall for certain, but I think that '76 "Victory Leaders" card was in a dime box.  It has some minor pen scribbling on the back, so maybe that's why.

No huge 'white whales' or anything like that, but a pretty satisfying collection of pre-1980 Mets.

Now, onto the more recent stuff...

Lots of Piazzas.

One of the dime boxes had a pretty steady run of Piazza cards, so I was pulling 'em like crazy.  In all, I think I wound up with 25 new Mets cards of the newly-minted HOFer.

I considered the day a ringing success when I found a card of Dae-Sung Koo (center).

Alfonzo to Zeile, and all points in-between.

The Upper Deck Shinjo and GQ Ike are two of my favorites.

I really regretted not having a list when I found a booth that had a bunch of '80s Fleer in great condition for a dime each.  I've got so many holes in my team sets, but who can keep 'em straight?

I really wanted to make a dent in some 2016 sets.  Among others, I struck out with Ginter and Finest, but at least I found a good portion of the Gypsy Queen cards I  needed.

I'm now missing just one card from this year's Stadium Club Mets set -- Gary Carter.

More randomness.  Some assorted parallels, from gold to matrix to ice.

2009 OPC black parallels and some Turkey Red color variations from 2006.

Gold -- from Fleer Ultra and Bowman.  I think '96 Ultra takes the cake with the completely gold treatment.

Bowman Chrome-y Mets from the past couple decades.  I was excited to find the Lucas Duda rookie.

More chrome.  The 2010 Murphy is a refractor, too.  Man, you can't even imagine the mark-up on Daniel Murphy stuff nowadays.  It's crazy!  I spent a dime on this one.

A six-pack of '95 Topps Cyberstats.

Minor league Mets.  The Jay Payton is actually a phone card.  The pin number wasn't even scratched off on the back.  I might use it to try and call mom later.

This card is very thick, so a nine-pocket page wouldn't do.

Ditto for Dilson.

And the Kid.  (What a great card of Gary!)

Hungry for some oddballs?

I sure could go for a nice grilled cheese sandwich made with Kraft singles.

Or perhaps some pancakes and sausage links from Denny's?

Kraft Mac 'n Cheese might do the trick, also.

Okay, enough with the food.

Should I?

Is that an order or a suggestion?

And, let's wrap it up with some not-Mets content.  Because, well, I do collect other stuff, also.

Verrrrrry happy to find a bunch of these guys for just a dime each.  I'm still working on building this insert set, so this certainly helps.

Okay, so I did manage to sneak one Met into this grouping.  I never made any promises!

*****

When the dust settles and I have a chance to input all of my new cards into Zistle, I should barrel past the 9k mark in my Mets collection.  My unstated goal at the start of the 2016 calendar year was to try and reach 10-thousand unique Mets cards.  Barring a minor miracle, I'm not going to reach that milestone.  But, I've still got four-plus months to play with, so we'll see what happens.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my National haul!

MK