From The Snow To A Show

Guess what? It snowed here again....and again...and again.

It snowed out this past Saturday (insert surprised expression here), and the forecast was for 3 - 5 inches. I let my dog out a couple times Saturday night and it was snowing pretty good. I was hoping to hit a card show on Sunday, so as long as we didn't get much more than that, it wouldn't be a problem.

3 - 5 inches of snow is nothing in this area, it's when we get a foot or a foot-and-a-half that I limit driving in it to something absolutely necessary. As much as I love cards, they don't fall under that category.

So when I woke up to somewhat clear roads (and sun!) on Sunday morning, I grabbed my lists and headed to a card show.

This is the only show I go to that is "local" to me. By "local" I mean, not an hours drive each way.

The card show is at an Elks Club, and as I got there, I couldn't see the sign that was usually there advertising it. I thought "Don't tell me they cancelled it!", but as I drove into the parking lot I noticed the sign perched way up high upon a snowbank.

I've thought about setting up at this show, but like most shows in my area, there isn't a lot of people there. If someone is next to me looking through cards, most often it's a dealer from another table, as was the case a few times at this show. Most shows that I go to, if I hear the dealers talking to each other, they'll most often say they aren't doing that well sales-wise.

I've said this before, but I used to do shows in the early 90's. I never really did all that well. I always made table, but usually not much more than that. I seemed to not have what someone was looking for, or if I did, they didn't bring their list... you know how it goes. So I've been contemplating this for the better part of the last few years...and I'm still contemplating.

So enough of that, let's get back to the show. I've got my list, plus a list from someone that I've owed cards for months, and I start to hit the tables. Usually when I go to a show, I'll look at all of the tables first before I decide where I'm going to spend my money.

(Note to card show dealers...if you have a dime box, I'm coming back to your table first. You can blame Nick for this.)

This is from the 1991 Upper Deck Final Edition set, which I just should buy and not waste my time with singles. I wanted to see what this was going for on eBay, and I found a listing for a graded PSA 10 GemMint copy for...wait a minute...people pay to have these cards graded?

That alone deserves a forehead slap. So for the low price of $5.99 plus $3.00 shipping, this card could be yours.

Or you could do what I did, and go to a show and get it for 10 cents. It's up to you.

Lets move on.

1994 Mike Piazza Tombstone Pizza. This will fit nicely with the Mike Greenwell that I picked up at the last card show I went to. It's a thirty card set. So at this rate, twenty-eight more shows to go and it will be done!

I've gotten a few of the 2008 Upper Deck National Baseball Card Day set, so when I saw this I grabbed it.

A few months back I got a good starter set of 2013 Topps Chrome from a monster box I bought at my LCS. One of the dealers had a bunch of singles so I picked up thirteen of them.

I also snagged another one from the 2008 National Baseball Card Day.

I'm still quite a few away from finishing 2013 Topps Update, and I was able to eliminate twenty-four off of my want list.

I found two more for my 1992 Upper Deck Minor League set.

I was also able to find a lot of oddballs, like this 1981 Fleer Baseball Star Reggie Jackson...

...and a couple of 1980 Burger King cards. This is the first time I'd seen these.

More oddballs. Seven from the 1989 Ames 20/20 Club set...

...and eight from the 1988 Kmart set.

I don't have very many from the 1987 Fleer Star Stickers set...

...and this is the only card I have from the 1986 Yoo-Hoo set.

This one is pretty cool. It's from the 1994 Kraft Singles set.

If you pull up the top you can see his stats, or his "batting record" as they call it.

And if you pull the tab all the way up and flip the card on it's back, you have a Pop-Up Andy Van Slyke!

Like the '91 Upper Deck Final Edition set, I should probably just buy the '86 Topps Traded Set rather than buy singles, but this Joe Sambito was calling to me.

As was this 1990 Topps All-Star Set Nolan Ryan.

This is from the 1991 Stadium Club Charter Member Set. I was not a charter member back in the day, so I was not privy to these at the time. Apparently, the prestige of being a charter member is not what it used to be, and us nonmembers are able to scoff up some of these cards at discount prices.

According to BaseballCardPedia there were two printings of this set, although it doesn't mention why. The first printing has one asterisk by the copyright date (in the lower left-hand corner), the second has two. My card has two. Second printing.

I also picked up a few cards from the 2001 Fleer Red Sox 110th Anniversary set. You would think I would have been all over this, being a Red Sox fan. Not when it's $5.00 a pack. I also picked up my first Pumpsie Green card.

As you can see, I've saved the vintage for last. I really hadn't planned on getting the one '67 Topps card and the two from the '69 set, but I had spent so much time at one dealer's table and not seen anything I liked, I felt like I should buy at least something. They were only 50 cents a piece, so it wasn't like I was going to break the bank. He had a couple of boxes of 60's and early 70's vintage for that price. If I was doing those sets I would have bought a lot more.

While I was just about finished looking through what he had at his table, I became aware that all the cards on the table behind me were his as well. There was about six monster boxes, side by side...and all dime boxes!

Needless to say, in addition to those three cards I just mentioned, a good chunk of what you see posted I got at his table, or should I say tables.

Even though I'm mainly focusing on my 1979 Topps set, I can't turn down '77 and '78's for a dime apiece.

I picked up this card for no other reason that I know I need it.

I ended up spending a couple of hours there and pretty much only bought from two dealers. Like most shows I attend, the majority of tables contain only "hits", and I think you all know by now that I'm not going to spend 10 bucks on a "maybe it's a jersey or maybe it's a tablecloth" memorabilia card.

Especially when I can get all of this for less than that.