It's A Crime To Pay More Than A Dime (Part II)

Here's the second half of what I got at last month's card show. The first post can be seen here.

Anytime I see cards from the 1977 - 79 Topps sets, I usually end of buying a few. As I've mentioned on this blog before, these are the first sets that I collected and I have finished none of them.

Another early set (for me) that I haven't finished is 1982 Topps. I'm not sure if I need this card or not, but the price was right.

I wasn't sure if this was an Eric Davis rookie card or not (it is), but I was pretty sure I needed it.

I mentioned this on my blog before, but both card shops in my area sell 1500 ct boxes of commons for ten bucks. I've gotten a lot of the 1987 Donruss Rookies set via them, but I'd never gotten the Palmeiro card.

The same story pertains to this 1989 Score Update Jim Abbott.

There were plenty of Ken Griffey Jr. promo cards, but I liked this one from the 1992 National Sports Convention in Atlanta, Ga the best.

He had some vintage hockey as well (late 70's), which are also sets that I collected as a kid (but of course didn't finish). I've got wantlists somewhere for these, but didn't buy any of the hockey cards because I don't need very many and don't know which ones they are.

He also had a lot of late 70's basketball as well. I only grabbed these 1980-81 Topps, which was all he had for this set. I should have picked up a lot more of the other vintage basketball, because unlike the hockey sets from this time period, I only have a handful.

He also had some vintage football. I only bought a couple of cards (like this 1977 Ray Rhodes), and I regret not buying more. Maybe they'll still be some at the next show.

Yes, I wish I had bought more.

I picked this card up because I have foolish visions of trying to complete this set.

He had a lot of Drew Bledsoe cards. I picked up two that I knew I didn't have. This one from 1993 Classic Four Sport...

...and from a set I really like, 1994 Action Packed Quarterback Challenge.

I paid slightly more that a dime for this 1979 Red Sox program (but not much more).

My memory must be failing me, because I don't ever remember Rick Averbach...

...or Dennis Marinez.

The program was scored though.

The game was August 16, 1979 and the Red Sox won 7-5. Allen Ripley was the winning pitcher and Mike Proly was the loser. Fred Lynn, Bob Watson and Butch Hobson all hit home runs for the Red Sox.

Another nice and cheap haul for me!

It's A Crime To Pay More Than A Dime

If you live in my area, and are forced to listen to the radio like I am (because that's all your work van has), you've probably heard a auto commercial numerous times that uses that catch phrase. I can't stand the commercial (and usually change the station), but it's highly appropriate for this post.

There usually aren't any card shows in my area during the summer, so I wanted to be sure that I made it to the April show. I brought more than my usual $20 budget, but I "didn't pay more than a dime" for any of the cards.

The first order of business was to take care of what I needed for Topps Series 1.

I found a dealer who had a decent amount and I was able to pick up forty eight of them. That leaves me with just two cards I need!

If anybody has..

26 Chris Davis/Mike Trout/Nelson Cruz LL
188 Greg Bird (RC) - New York Yankees

...I'd like to make a trade for them.

I remembered to bring one of my wantlist books with me, and the same dealer had singles of a couple other sets that I've been working on.

So I picked up twenty-two of 2012 Topps Heritage...

...and nine from 2015 Topps Series 1.

At this point I had made my way over to the table that I usually frequent...the dealer with all of the oddballs. I was initially disappointed, because there weren't many oddballs to be had, and at first glance I really wasn't all that interested in what he had on his table. I was ready to leave when I saw a few boxes to the side of loose cards and after rifling through those, I was able to pick out some beauties.

We'll start off with this 1976 Hostess Card of Willie McCovey.

Then we'll move on to this 1974 Frank White rookie.

Two cards from 1976 Topps came home with me...a Mike Flanagan rookie and this Dwight Evans.

I grabbed what I could of 1977 Topps.

Some of these I already had, but they were better copies...mostly because my initials weren't scribbled on the card.

Additionally, the back of the Red Sox checklist was "checked". It didn't deter me from buying it, in fact that made me want it more.

I might have some of these 1978 Topps cards as well, but they would be upgrades over what I have. And no, I didn't get two of the Mike Easler rookies on purpose. I didn't realize it until just now.

I had been looking for the Jerry Remy card for quite awhile...really since 1978, so I was very happy to finally pick one up.

More from the show on the next post!

Baseball Bloggers Beware, This Is About Football Cards

Since this post is about football cards, I'm sure a lot of you will zoom right by it. But for those of you who don't, I often buy those 100 card baseball repacks that are $4.99 at Target. But they haven't had any for a while, so I was forced to buy the 75 card football repack that includes one pack as well. These repacks also boast that one in four boxes has a "hit".

I generally buy one of the other three boxes, but this time I was lucky because I was hit with a "hit".

Now don't get me wrong. I do feel a twitch of excitement whenever I see one of these cards show up, regardless of who it is.

This is a jersey card of William Green from 2002 Press Pass. I have no idea (or don't remember) who William Green is. So pardon me whilst I do some research....

Ok, he was a first round pick of the Cleveland Browns in 2002. Beset by alcohol and drug problems, he was out of football by 2006. He is now an ordained minister.

2013 Score was the pack that was included.

Inside the pack was another hit! Zoinks!

I have no idea who Chris Givens is either. Time for more research....

He led the Rams in receiving yards his rookie season (not a bad way to start your career), but has declined since (a good way to end your career). After being traded to the Baltimore Ravens last season, he signed with the Philadelphia Eagles just last week.

Even though I was "forced" to buy this repack, it wasn't so bad after all.

Through The Mail

I have to admit getting a bit jealous about reading posts about autos that other bloggers have gotten from retired or current players through the mail. I also have to admit I've wanted to do this myself, but have no idea the proper way to achieve some level of success. So I'm asking the blogosphere, what's the best way you've found to go about doing this?

I'm Getting Around To It

"I'm getting around to it."

I've said that countless times over the past few months. Right now I am so far behind in just about everything. Case in point: I received these two cool cards from Matt from the awesome blog "Bob Walk The Plank" over two weeks ago and I haven't even thanked him, much less posted them.

2015 Topps Tribute. These are cards I will never be able to afford. So I have to wait for Matt to send me things like this very, very cool Koji Uehara relic.

How did Matt know that Jim Rice is my favorite player of all time? Maybe I mentioned it somewhere, or maybe he's just that good. (Not that I'm being greedy or anything, but if you ever happen to see anything from Ellis Burks...)

The Jim Rice auto will fit in nicely next to the 1972 Phil Gagliano auto. Someday I'll have this all filled with Red Sox.

Thank you Matt!

Another Card Show, Another Satisfied Customer (Part II)

Hello everyone, here's the second half of what I bought at the last card show I went to. You can see the first post here. That post had all the cards, this is all reading material.

Of course, when I saw the 1977 Red Sox yearbook, money was no object. It was going to be mine.

Even though I started collecting in 1977, I don't remember watching any Red Sox games, so this yearbook was full of players I never saw or don't remember seeing play.

Just like I used to mimic Dennis Eckersley's pitching motion, I also used to do the same with Luis Tiant. Sad to say I was extremely wild when doing this. In fact, the safest place to be was at the plate, because the ball was coming nowhere near you.

I remember Bob Montgomery more as the Red Sox announcer than the Red Sox catcher. This was also the last year he got a page all to himself.

I have never had a Labatt's Blue Label.

The back cover always featured an ad for Magnavox. Back then they were boasting "Computer-sharp color...Computer fast". You also could "whisk instantly, silently, directly to any of the 82 VHF or UHF channels".

There also was the 1979 yearbook ripe for the picking.

I've heard that players didn't like these uniforms because they felt like they were wearing pajamas. For me though, these are my favorite Red Sox uniforms.

PROSPECT UPDATE

Both Steve Schneck and Burke Suter never made the majors.

Mike O'Berry played in 43 games for the 1979 Red Sox before being traded for Ted Sizemore.

Allen Ripley was 5-6 in 2 seasons for the Red Sox before being purchased by the San Francisco Giants in April of 1980.

And here is the obligatory back cover Magnavox ad. 

But the yearbooks weren't what got my attention. This was.

A program from the 1986 American League Championship Series between the Red Sox and Angels.

It's a typical program and it was a nice look back at all the players on the 1986 team.

It also had a story reviewing the 1986 season which also brought back memories.

These were the radio and TV announcers back in 1986. Joe Castiglione is still doing the radio broadcasts and here you see Bob Montgomery as an announcer instead of a backup catcher.

The scorecard inside was unused (and also gave me an opportunity to scan it very badly).

Did anybody ever watch "The Baseball Bunch"? It was on Saturday mornings around here. I would watch that, then cartoons until "This Week In Baseball" was on.

Most of the advertisements in the program were beer. Nothing wrong with that.

The last couple of pages had a little bit about the Angels.

But included with the program was the coolest part:

A ticket stub from Game 1!

I was expecting to pay probably five or ten bucks for this and then putting the two yearbooks on top of that plus the cards from the previous post, I was probably going to go over my twenty dollar budget.

Would you believe all of this only cost me nine dollars? Six dollars for the cards and a dollar a piece for the yearbooks and program. I have no idea where this guy finds all of this cool stuff, but at these prices, I'm more than happy to take it off his hands.