There are some things I know to be true. One of them is that a certain San Francisco Bay Area thrift store ALWAYS has a trough full of cards priced at 10 cents each. Whether or not they are worth that much is always up for debate, but they are there for the picking.
It’s the same store at which I bought the reprinted of the first Sports Illustrated magazine, a piece I posted yesterday. I actually bought the cards in this post along with the rookie edition of SI, but figured the magazine was so awesome it had to be shared on its own.
If you follow me on twitter, you may have already seen what I saw at this shop.
Looks like a mess to a lot of people.
I think it looks like potential.
Normally I would have spent the next hour or two pouring over this entire box to purchase anything I found interesting. But on this day I didn’t have the luxury of time. I had to do a cursory search. Read more »
“The most furious trading in the U.S. nowadays goes on not on Wall Street or the Chicago grain market but among youngsters out to collect a connoisseur’s fistful of baseball trading cards. The cards come as dividends with the purchase of a one-cent or five-cent package of bubble gum. But the dividend seems to have more pull than the puff-and-pop stuff.” — Sports Illustrated, Aug. 16, 1954.
That’s the opening paragraph from Sports Illustrated writer Martin Kane’s piece titled “The Baseball Bubble Trouble,” which appeared in the very first issue of Sports Illustrated. The article documents the legal woes in 1954 between gum manufacturers Topps and Haelan Laboratories. (Note: SI.com has the entire article available for your reading HERE)
Before this week, I knew one thing about the first edition of the popular sports magazine: It contained a tri-fold of reprinted 1954 Topps cards, something that I have been wanting to get a hold of.
Well, look who finally got one … from a thrift store! Read more »
So about a week and a half ago I tweeted this picture seconds after exiting one of my local thrift stores. At that time I located a bag full of “vintage” cards, the years obviously consisting of 1975 to 1980. Was it a “true” vintage find? I guess that is up for debate.
But what’s for sure is that the cards within were worth more than the $5.99 price tag that was on the bag. For less than the price of three 2012 Topps retail packs, I was going to get my vintage baseball fix and hopefully find some rookies for my collection.
Boy did I hit the jackpot.
As it turned out, there were more than 60 1975 Topps Minis in package.
SIXTY!
A package consisting of that many 1975 Topps Minis would have sold to me for double the sticker price based on principle alone.
No huge names in the mini lot, but some recognizable ones:
Yogi Berra, Sparky Anderson, Manny Sanguillen, Bill Buckner, Bob Boone, Jose Cruz, Steve Yeager, Greg Luzinski and more.
The best, in my opinion, is this bad boy:
1975 Topps Mini Mario Mendoza rookie
A mini rookie card of the player whose name is probably best known for being associated with a poor batting average – the Mendoza Line.
Obviously that was not all that was in the package. Before we get to the rookie cards, here are a few more random cards.
1971 Kellog's football cards
While researching these three football cards, I became aware that Tom Barrington — running back for the Saints — only has two cards in existence. One is a Saints team issue, the other is THIS card. Pretty awesome. I should get the team issue and call myself a super collector.
2001 Private Stock Premiere Date Freddie Mitchell rookie /99
Too bad I didn’t get a hold of this card like five years ago when he was actually relevant.
2004 Bazooka Alex Rodriguez game used jersey
Super random … a mint game used jersey card in a bag of vintage cards. Weird.
1974 Topps Walter Alston w/ LaSorda, Gilliam, Adams and Basgail
I love this card because it features two legendary Dodger managers, one at the end of his coaching career and one at the beginning. Alston led the team from 1954 to 1976. Lasorda was the skipper from 1976 to 1996.
1976 Topps Dave Duncan
This is NOT Dave Duncan’s rookie card, but this is awesome.
And now … THE ROOKIES:
Count ‘em! More than 60 rookies cards for my ultimate rookie collection. I’ve noted this before, but I am working on a project that involves obtaining a rookie card* of every player who stepped foot onto a Major League field, or had a rookie card produced. This lot goes a long way in filling those years from 1976-1980. No huge names, but some recognizable ones. Here are my 5 favorite from the bunch:
1974 Topps Bucky Dent rookie card
1974 Topps Jerry Hairston rookie card
1979 Topps Danny Darwin and Billy Sample rookie card
1980 Topps Dickie Noles rookie card
1980 Topps Jerry Don Gleaton rookie card.
If you want to see more of the rookies, you can check out my on-going project: The Rookie Card Project.
And finally, not pictured, are roughly 300 “commons” from 1974-1980. Any one working on any of these sets or interested in trading for teams?
Popped into one of the thrift stores on my way home today and found something that made me laugh.
It’s a silver Oakland Athletics belt buckle.
But if you look close enough, you’ll see it’s not just any A’s belt buckle. It’s a NICK SWISHER Oakland A’s Belt Buckle!!!
Who wouldn’t want a likeness of Nick Swisher that close to their junk?!
I believe these were stadium giveaways, probably sometime in 2006. The belt buckle is sponsored by Chevrolet, which is evident with the Chevy logo on the bottom right.
But not less than 30 minutes after I found those items at one thrift store on the south side of town, I found a massive stash of cards at a vintage store on the north side of town.
And they were for sale for a nickel a piece.
If this sounds familiar, that’s because this is the thrift store where I’ve found dozens of cards in the past. They usually just chuck all the cards into some cardboard box or plastic container and let whomever have their pick.
Sometimes I am the first person to get to them; sometimes I am the last. Judging by the 20 cards I scored for a buck on this day, I’d say I was probably the second or third person to hit these mounds.
With that, I present the 20 treasures that have been added to my collection:
1989 Mirage Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles stickers #1 and #8
Gotta lead with what brought us the dance — Turtles.
I like(d) Turtles. Not turtles like this kid, but these Turtles. These were cool dudes back in the day. I dug the movies, the video games and cartoons. I even had a few toys and cards. But not until this day did I ever own a TMNT sticker.
Cowabunga, dudes!
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My one regret from my thrift trip was buying this Madonna ProSet Super Stars card instead of the Yo! MTV Raps Vanilla Ice card. The Ice Man would have gone perfectly with the Turtle stickers.
This Favre rookie was actually in the first fist full of cards that I picked up from the boxes. Along the way I found traces of a 1991 Stadium Club football box that had been opened and I kept waiting to uncover a Favre. Sadly there was none. And on that note, this was the only Favre. Classic card.
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1991 Classic Basketball Draft Picks certificate of authenticity.
Speaking of Classic … how bad does a set have to be that the one and only card I decided to buy for a nickel is the certificate of authenticity? I LOVED these certificates of limited edition. Why? Because nothing says limited like 450,000 sets produced.
Speaking of bad …
Ultra inserts. Bleh. I dig those red top loaders though. Totally worth a nickel each.
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1991 Upper Deck Joe Montana
Dude! LOVE this card. The large Upper Deck poster version of this triple exposure card was pretty bad ass back in the day, too. Can’t pass on this for a nickel.
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1991 Upper Deck Steve Young
I like this card because it shows Steve as a backup to the aforementioned Montana. Nothing says backup like having your helmet resting on its side. Too bad this guy never turned out to be any good. Oh wait …
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Can’t pass on a few Michael Jordans, can we?
1991-1992 Upper Deck Michael Jordan All Star
1991-1992 Upper Deck Classic Confrontations Magic Johnson vs. Michael Jordan
1991-1992 Skybox Bulls Starting Five
One of these guys is not like the other …
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A quick break in the action for some random non-sport items.
Not much of a comic card guy, but I do buy the chase/insert cards when I find them this cheap because you never know who will want it.
My kids LOVE Toy Story … I’ll give these to them after this post hits the ‘Net.
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OK, back to sports …
2004-05 Topps All-Star Support Tim Duncan / Kevin Garnett
2003-2004 Upper Deck LeBron James box set #10
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And now, the top 2 cards from the haul…
1990 Action Packed Rookie Update Jeff George
Was there anything bigger in 1990 football than Jeff George AND Action Packed? Twenty-two years later we laugh, but this was a killer combination back then. Still an epic card.
1993-1994 Upper Deck SE Johnny Kilroy special
And last but not least, Mr. Johnny Kilroy. This guy was a stud. Never seen anyone perform like him. Such an epic player, a sure bet Hall of Famer. He had mad hops. He actually reminded me a bit of Michael Jordan …
@heath_day Loved the autographed ones. Don & Eddie used to sell the crap out of those from like 11 p.m. to 2 a.m. -- Before the Knife Show. 6 hours ago
