Card Show Pickups (Football)

This is the last of my posts on card pickups from the card show.  There is still some football going on in the form of the XFL so a Sunday post is appropriate.  Who doesn't like Peyton Manning?  Dude was nothing short of great and also a fun dude.  These two were cheap pickups and no brainers.

  Some current key Falcons though as much as like Devonta Freeman he may not be long for the team.  His big contract and declining production will make him hard to keep around.  Tough decisions ahead for the cap strapped Falcons.

John Elway is an all-time favorite of mine.  Christian McCaffrey is a guy I wasn't all in on his first season but I quickly saw the error of my ways.

Todd Gurley, Georgia Bulldog alum, didn't match his production of  '17 or '18 last season but I'm still a big fan.  Not a ton of football cards from this show but it's always random as to what I'll find or end up picking up.  But it is always a fun time.

Card Show Pickups (Basketball)

My basketball pickups at the show were all from the same guy who had a ton of older basketball cards.  I could have picked up so many more but I'd spent most of my money by the time I stopped at his table.  This 1982  Alex English was a nice find.  I've always loved him as a player.  He was so smooth on the court and dude could flat out score.

These 1980 Topps spotlight three greats, and Hall of Famers, from the game.  I remember Gilmore more from his Spurs days but man he was a beast.  He shot 58% for his career while leading the NBA in shooting percentage six times.  Dr. J was, Dr. J.  Wes Unseld looks scared right there and he should be. Bill Walton was already past his days with the Trail Blazers on this card but he'll forever be remembered for bringing Portland a championship.  And as crazy short his career was he is forever ingrained in the brains of fans across the NBA thanks to his short run with the Celtics.

A couple of PC guys here with Marques Johnson and Jack Sikma.  Both these guys would be great today.  Johnson was  "point forward" before there was such a thing and Sikma could pass and had a sweet mid range jumper.  DJ was a guy whose career in Phoenix is mostly forgotten by most fans.  Seems like we remember him winning a title for Seattle and of course his run with Boston but he played on some darn good Suns teams.

That Bulls card has some of my all-time favorites in Gilmore and Theus while another is on that Atlanta card in Dan Roundfield.  They all bring back so many memories.  

Sweet Lou Hudson is gracing the front of a 1977 Topps card as is Billy Knight there.  Dan Roundfield is on a 1978 card in his pre-Hawks days.  Some fun finds.  If I'd known what this guy had to begin with (these binders were behind the table) I could have spent all of my money there pretty easily.  

These tall boys are hard to store but still a favorite of mine.

Card Show Pickups (Baseball)

Pitchers and catchers report this week so baseball it is to start the week.  These are pickups from the card show in October.  In my first walk around the room I saw a guy who had 50+ Acuna cards for $2 each.  About the same number of Trouts.  I made a mental note to hit him first after my initial look at all the tables.  Big mistake.  In the maybe 10 minutes between visits to his table someone had grabbed every Acuna and Trout the man had.  Lesson learned...  I still grabbed one Acuna card before I left.  Kind of felt like I just had to at that point.

If I'm grabbing singles of cards they'll be personal collection guys like all these here.  While I like the look at the Glavine in orange card I still shudder at seeing him as a Met.

Ichiro is actually a guy I started collecting really late in his career.  Better late than never for a dude who could hit like nobodies business.  The photos, though different, on the Upper Deck cards are great looks at that iconic preparation he'd do during an at bat.

Well maybe Austin Riley isn't a PC guy yet but I kept an eye out for his cards and came across this one on the cheap.  The big question is can this guy make adjustments to major league pitching. Pitchers made their adjustments in pitching to him and his hitting took a major turn for the worse after a great start to his career last year.

Finally found this 2018 Topps Update SP Chipper and couldn't be happier.  I really like the photo no matter how goofy it may be to some.  Could have easily snagged it online but the price at the show was much better.  The card shows are always great and looking through singles is fun.  Just never seem to have enough time to dig through all the boxes.  I'll show off the basketball and football pickups in future posts.

1990-1991 Upper Deck Hockey High Series Box

1990-1991 Upper Deck High Series Hockey:  At the card show last month I went a little out of my normal collecting lane and picked up this hockey box. It was Upper Deck's first foray into hockey and they did a great job.  These have a great design and plenty of subsets.  Even though I'm not a knowledgeable hockey guy this was a fun box and I have plenty to show off.  Where else do you start except with Mario Lemieux and The Great One.

And you can't get enough Brett Hull...at least not enough of Brett Hull singing Gloria...

These team checklist art cards are a favorite of mine across all their sets.

As expected Upper Deck has some great photos in this set.  The High Series packs have a mix of all 550 cards from the first series and high cards.

All-Star Game cards with in-game photos are great!

The young players were seen in plenty of subsets including the World Junior Champions, All-Rookie Team, and Draft cards.

Eric Lindros was under an exclusive contract with Score but Upper Deck still managed to get him in on cardboard via the World Junior Championship cards.

Plenty of stars in this set.

Retired Greats were also in the set as part of the Heroes of the NHL subset.  Great inclusion.  There were Award Winner cards as well.  

 The inventor of the Zamboni received some love on cardboard and Wayne Gretzky's card commemorating his 2000th point.

Yet another subset showcasing young players with the Star Rookie cards.  This is a great set. It hits all the marks with a good design, plenty of star power, and lots of variety with the great subsets.  For not a lot of money this was too much fun.  I'm glad I came across this box and might seek out more cheap hockey boxes in the future.

This set also featured the first release of Upper Deck's popular Young Guns cards.  

BREAKDOWN:

432 – Total Cards

2 – All-Star Game
23 – Young Guns
22 – World Junior Champions
20 – Heroes of the NHL
17 – Team Checklists
14 – Star Rookie
8 – Award Winners
5 – Number 1 Draft
4 – Hologram
3 - Checklists
3 – All-Rookie Team
2 – Accomplishments
2 – Frank Zamboni

1991-1992 Upper Deck Basketball Locker

1991-1992 Upper Deck Basketball Locker:  I've seen these lockers at card shows in the past but I decided to grab one at last months card show in St. Louis.  There were six lockers in the series with mine being #6.  Each had a different photo of Michael Jordan on the side.  This is a great set with Upper Deck nailing it with their first basketball set.  This Drexler has a great photo of Drexler about to lay it in in after what I'd think was him stealing the ball.  Karl Malone is flat footed in the back ground on the other end of the court.

These team checklists are a big highlight of the set for me.  I love the art Upper Deck put on these cards across the different Upper Deck sets.  There were more than one per pack in my pull which seemed out of the norm but I'm OK with that.

A few of the stars I pulled.  Drexler makes another appearance in the Karl Malone card.

A few good rookies in this pack.  Would have liked to have seen Dee Brown doing a dunk.

A few of the NBA Draft cards.  The clothing styles takes me back!

A few personal collection guys.

This is what the lockers look like (not my photo).  I busted an entire box in the past and would probably do it again if given the chance.  I really like this set.

This is the only hologram I pulled but it is of a great player and PC guy.  I was really happy with how this card scanned.  This locker was fun and brought back a lot of fun memories.

BREAKDOWN:

84 – Total Cards (12 packs X 7 cards)
25 – Team Checklist
8  – NBA Draft
7 – Rookie Standouts
2 – Checklist
1 – Hologram

2019 Stadium Club Hobby Box w/auto and 1/1

2019 Topps Stadium Club:  I didn't have a plan when I attended the Sports Collectibles Show in St. Louis Sunday but did have the thought of picking up a Stadium Club hobby box in the back of mind since they were first released.  Sure enough there was a dealer with two boxes so I grabbed one at $85.  While the autos aren't anything to write home about I did pull a big hit in this Khris Davis Chrome Chrome SuperFractor 1/1.  I didn't even know there were Stadium Club Chrome cards.  I'm a big fan of Davis so this is an awesome pull.   These fall 1:5,976 hobby packs.  I did put it up on eBay.  I sell very few cards but knew there would be a market for this card.  I'm not in this for the money but on those rare occasions I get something decent these help fuel the hobby budget.  Definitely stoked about this pull.

  Neither of my two autographs really move the needle though Richards did pitch to a 1.93 ERA in 23 innings for Tampa Bay this year.

That Bader card is one of my favorite photos.  That emotion right after a play is awesome when caught in a picture.

I love me some retired greats and there were 29 in this box.  That Bagwell is my favorite for some reason.  Probably the beard and that Astros jacket which isn't a Houston color and design you see often.

  I like the Power Zone design and really liked pulling these two PC guys.

That Hosmer is a Red Parallel.  The Beam Team doesn't do much for me.

This Christian Yelich is the one variation I pulled.  Most variations seem to be a bit more of a special photo but hey a variation is a variation.

More nice photos.  Alex Bregman is hoping he and he Astros can turn things around tonight against the Nationals.

Some horizontal love.

This was a really fun box.  I love the photos of which retired greats are a big part of.  I rarely pick up hobby boxes and this one didn't disappoint.  Tomorrow I'll show off more cards from this box.  

BREAKDOWN:

128 – Total Cards
29 – Retired Greats
10 - RC
6 – Red Parallel
2 – Chrome
2 – Warp Speed
2 – Power Zone
2 – Black Foil
2 – Emperors of the Zone
1 – Variation
1 – Box Topper
1 – Beam Team
1 - Rainbow Foilboard #/25

Card Show Baseball Card Finds

Grabbed some random baseball cards and packs at the card show and here they are.  I don't have near enough Greg Maddux cards and was able to help out my personal collection a bit with some of his cards.

Some more Maddux cards and the Ronald Acuna card I chased so much earlier in the year.  

The 1983 Topps baseball are a favorite of mine and I grabbed a pack while at the show.  I thought I had a nice pull with three hall of famers.  It is always fun to open these as there are so many memories from when I was a younger collector and opening these packs all the time. 

BREAKDOWN:

15 – Total Cards

1 – Piece of Gum 

Grabbed a pack of the 2010 Topps Attax baseball card game and a 2010 Topps Opening Day Attax bonus pack.  I didn't realize they were the same product at the time.  These aren't bad looking cards really though the ratings take quite a bit of space but that's just a part of these kinds of cards.  

BREAKDOWN:

2010 Topps Attax Baseball Card Game

6 – Total Cards

1 – Foil Card

1 – Code Card

2010 Topps Opening Day Bonus Pack Attax Cards

4 – Total Cards