1954 Topps Bill Skowron Rookie Card
Archive for rookie card
William “Moose” Skowron (Dec. 18, 1930 – Apr. 27, 2012)
Posted in In Memoriam with tags baseball, baseball cards, Bill Skowron, Moose Skowron, rookie card, Topps on April 27, 2012 by Cardboard IconsThrift Treasures XLV: 2012 San Francisco Tri-Star Show Haul 3/3
Posted in Thrift Treasures with tags baseball, baseball cards, Bo Jackson, Jerry Rice, Michael Jordan, Nike, Nolan Ryan, Ray Bourque, rookie card, Thrift Treasures, Topps on April 19, 2012 by Cardboard IconsWell, I made it. I managed to scan the remaining 200 cards that I bought at the Tri-Star show. And if you thought Part One and Part Two of this special Thrift Treasures series were awesome, I’m telling you …
YOU
AINT
SEEN
NOTHING
YET!
1990 Score Bo Jackson FB/BB
This is Part Three of Three
I’ve been going to this annual card show consistently for the last six years. And it was not until three years ago that I learned that the real point of going to these shows was to swoop in on the bargains that are hiding in the dime boxes.
I used to go to the show to look at cards I could not afford, buy some packs and supplies and leave with a handful of cards that really didn’t satisfy my appetite.
But over the years I have learned that I can pretty much buy any card I really want at any time; and a lot of the packs at the show might have been touched by a dozen too many hands if you catch my drift. So why waste my money and time to go look at stuff that is always accessible to me? What’s not always available are super cheap cards. Now when I go, I spend 90 percent of my time digging through bargain bins, 5 percent looking for bargain bins that don’t exist, and 5 percent looking at the autograph area where the athlete’s are hidden behind a blue curtain hoping to catch a glimpse of a legend.
OK, enough of that diatribe.
The following cards are ALL from the same dealer. The sign on the table said 25 cents each, or 100 for $10.
Do the math and that’s a dime each if you find enough.
Trust me, I found enough.
In the end, these all came out to 10 cents each. I found 200 cards that had to come home with me. There were probably another 100 I could have settled on owning, but this was the FIRST table I stopped at. I spent 90 minutes here and I wanted to see what other treasures I could unearth.
Let’s kick things off in grand fashion.
1992-1993 Upper Deck Team MVP Michael Jordan
Meet Michael. He’s kind of a big deal in the hobby. Even his most basic card should not be in a dime box. And now consider that this is an insert … and he’s holding the NBA’s biggest prize. He’s no stranger to the trophy, and he’ll be no stranger in this post. This card alone holds a Book Value of $25.
1959 Topps San Francisco 49ers Checklist
I was in San Francisco, right? Why was this card still sitting in this box?
vintage Fleer baseball A's sticker
I love these vintage stickers. I still have all of the stickers from the Fleer packs I opened in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Maybe I’ll met my kids play with them when they are older.
Let’s stick with vintage for a few …
1974 Wonder Bread Paul Warfield
1974 Wonder Bread Larry Csonka
1971 Topps Game Inserts Frank Tarkenton
1970 Kellogg's (Blank Bank) Bill Nelsen
1978-1979 Topps Stan Mikita
1981 Kellogg's George Hendrick
1974 Topps Ron Santo
1974 Topps Larry Bowa
1974 Topps Eddie Mathews
1968 Topps Tony Perez
1970 Topps Tony Perez
1974 Topps Tony Perez
1970 Topps Joe Morgan
1972 Topps Joe Morgan
Some random old school Garbage Pail Kids stickers. I still can’t believe my mom was buying these for my sister and I when we were 5. Crazy.
Here’s that Michael Jordan guy again …
2 1992-1993 Upper Deck McDonald's Michael Jordan Holograms
I remember when Upper Deck and McDonald’s collaborated for this set. I never had the fortune of pulling one of these holograms, although I did wind up with a dozen Tom Gugliotta and Alonzo Mourning rookies. ugh … Guess I got the last laugh though.
Who likes wrestling legends? These two might look familiar from earlier in this series.
1987 WWF Topps Bartolo Colon Andre The Giant
1987 WWF Topps Hulk Hogan IA
And baseball legends?
1993 Topps Archives 1953 Series Ted Williams and Mickey Mantle
1991 Foot Locker Bo Jackson
6 1994 Action Packed Roberto Clemente cards
Some randomness …
1990 Leaf John Smoltz
1994 Mother's Cookies Rookies of the Year -- Tim Salmon / Mike Piazza
1994 Mother's Cookies Rookie of the Year -- Tim Salmon/Mike Piazza -- still in wrapper
1996 SPX Bound for Glory Mike Piazza
Hey, look, it’s Michael Jordan again …
1989 Hoops Michael Jordan and David Robinson IA
And some more randomness …
1997 Circa Super Boss Bernie Williams
1998 Donruss Diamond Kings Bernie Williams /10,000
1998 Topps Mystery Finest Borderless Greg Maddux
1998 Topps Etch-A-Sketch Greg Maddux
1990 Action Packed Barry Sanders
1995 Leaf Limited Gold Don Mattingly
1991 Upper Deck Holograms Emmitt Smith
1997 Upper Deck Power Package Barry Bonds
1996 Leaf Limited Steel Gold Hideo Nomo -- w/ Protective Coating
Look, it’s Mike again…
1992-1992 Upper Deck Holograms Michael Jordan #AW1
1991-1992 Upper Deck Holograms Michael Jordan #AW4
You know you love holograms!
1991 Upper Deck Holograms Hank Aaron
1989 Score Joe Montana
And now some mini player collections …
1989 Score Jerry Rice
6 1987 Topps Jerry Rice
1996 Summit Turf Team Jerry Rice /4000
The Iron Man …
1984 Topps Cal Ripken Jr.
1986 Fleer All-Stars Cal Ripken Jr.
1992 Fleer Team Leaders Cal Ripken Jr.
1992 Ultra Award Winners Cal Ripken Jr.
The Big Hurt …
1992 Donruss Diamond Kings Inserts Frank Thomas
1997 Topps All Stars Frank Thomas
1998 Metal Universal Language Frank Thomas
1993 Upper Deck Clutch Performers Frank Thomas
1998 Metal Universe Diamond Heroes Frank Thomas
1997 Topps Interleague Finest Frank Thomas / Sammy Sosa
1991 Stadium Club Frank Thomas
The Kid …
1987 Moeller High School Unauthorized and 1988 Spirit Ken Griffey Jr.
3 1991 Fleer All-Stars Ken Griffey Jr
The Ryan Express …
6 1989 Upper Deck Nolan Ryan triple exposure
6 1989 Upper Deck High Series Nolan Ryan w/ Football
I know I am not the only one who remembers how hot these Nolan Ryan cards were. Especially that high series card where he’s throwing a football. You know you still love it.
And of course Jordan again …
Quick short story.
As I was digging through these boxes, the seller was sitting behind the table somewhat frantically shuffling through some stacks of cards. I was doing the same, pulling out dozens of stuff as you can see. Then I come across a little black box …
Just as I add it to my stack, the seller slumps his shoulders and is clearly dejected. He mutters the following:
“Oh, you found it.”
He immediately stops shuffling and stands up. From that moment on, he is watching me like a hawk as I am pulling out dozens more cards.
He didn’t say much else, and I was not about to offer to allow him to keep the cards. That’s a bad precedent to start … and it’d be bad etiquette for him to ask me to give it back to him. If we started down that road, there is no telling what else he might ask me to give back to him.
Here’s what was in the box … the 1991 Nike promotional set featuring Michael Jordan and Spike Lee.
Classic stuff.
Not bad eh?
Well …
THERE’S MORE!
While I would have been pleased to purchase everything shown above for a dime each, I would not have gone out of my way to pimp my finds on Twitter. You know I had to uncover some rookie cards.
8 1988 Topps Traded Tino Martinez rookie cards
Another 1981 Topps Dan Hampton rookie card
1981 Topps Dwight Clark rookie card
1990 Action Packed Junior Seau Rookie Card
3 1984 Topps Roger Craig rookie cards
1980-1981 Topps Mike Ramsey rookie cards
1978-1979 Topps Doug Wilson rookie card
1974 Topps Bucky Dent rookie card
1974 Topps Gorman Thomas rookie card
1979 Topps Carney Lansford rookie card
1985 Topps Orel Hershiser rookie card
1981 Topps Kirk Gibson rookie card
5 1989 Upper Deck Randy Johnson rookie cards
1990 Bowman Frank Thomas rookie card
4 1990 Score Frank Thomas rookie cards
1989 Donruss Ken Griffey Jr. rookie card
2 1991 Topps Chipper Jones rookie cards
These Topps Chipper Jones rookies are some of my favorite cards of his.
But I like the 1991 Upper Deck rookie better.
I found a few of those …
BUT … There weren’t just two of them …
… or four of them …
… or six of them.
Try 32!
32 1991 Upper Deck Chipper Jones rookie cards
Don’t ask me who needs 32 of these. There is no way I pass on these when they cost a dime each.
Who wants to see more rookies?
That Barry Sanders guy was pretty good …
6 1989 Pro Set Barry Sanders rookie cards
Say what you want about Barry Bonds, but he is the Home Run King. Think I found any of his rookies?
Maybe one …
Maybe two …
Maybe three …
Nah.
How about 15!
15 1987 Topps Barry Bonds rookie cards
OK … now we’re hitting the home stretch.
I promise.
1977-1978 Topps Darryl Dawkins rookie card
4 1993 Bowman Andy Pettitte rookie cards
1971 Topps Dave Concepcion rookie card
Now the final three …
1993 Topps Derek Jeter rookie card
2 1977 Topps Bruce Sutter rookie cards
And lastly …
Is that a …
What the puck!?
Yep.
It may not be pretty, but that IS a 1980-1981 Topps Ray Bourque rookie card.
Did I mention these were all a dime each?
Total cost of these Treasures: $20
Simply put this was the greatest card show haul I’ve ever had. And I thank you for taking the time to view this post, as well as the other two parts of this series. If you care to revisit them, or view them for the first time, click the links below.
Part One // Part Two // Part Three
Thrift Treasures XLV: 2012 San Francisco Tri-Star Show Haul 1/3
Posted in Thrift Treasures with tags baseball, baseball cards, Hulk Hogan, rookie card, Sandy Koufax, Thrift Treasures, Topps, wrestling, WWF on April 14, 2012 by Cardboard IconsIt’s a beautiful thing when you wake up on a Friday, have the day off work and the only real plan is to hit the first day of an annual three-day major card show.
It may have been Friday the 13th, but there was no bad luck for me when it came to cards. I was headed to the annual Tri-Star Productions card show in San Francisco with a pocket full of cash and a plan that included bargain hunting. The end result is one that will be absolutely impossible to match in the future.
In fact, my haul included some 300 cards, some of which will blow your mind given the prices at which they were purchased. But because there was so much acquired at the show, I’ll have to break the haul into three blog posts. They’ll all be documented as “Thrift Treasures” because the prices I paid were pretty much on par with what I would have paid at a thrift store. Unbelievable.
This is Part One of Three:
Where do I start? We’ll kick things off with a dealer who had a vast array of clearance items. He had probably six 5,000 count boxes full of cards priced at a dime each, a box of cards in Top Loaders that were 2 for $1 each, and then some PSA graded cards he wanted a buck each. Insane.
The following cards are ALL from this one dealer:
How ’bout a little PSA 10 action?
There were at least 50 cards in the PSA bargain bin, but a lot of them were 7s, 8s and 9s. Had I not already been jaded by some other deals, I probably would have went to town on this one box. Instead I bought only the pictured Gem Mint 1990 Topps TV All-Stars Dwight Gooden. There is one on eBay for $17.99 Buy It Now, and the description says there are 4 graded as Gem Mint by PSA. I guess I have one of them now. Cost: $1
***
We’ll work backward and show the cards that were the most expensive next. These next two were 50 CENTS each. Seriously?!
1964 Topps League Leaders card featuring Sandy Koufax, Warren Spahn and Juan Marichal
1977 Topps Andre Dawson rookie card
***
In one of the 5,000 Monster Boxes, the seller had about 3,000 1975 Topps cards all in plastic sleeves. There wasn’t much quality left in there when I hit those, but I did locate a few Steve Swisher rookies. Until yesterday I had been unable to obtain even one of these. Cost: 10 CENTS each
4 1975 Topps Mini Steve Swisher and 1 1975 Topps Steve Swisher rookie card
***
In a small sandwich bag stuffed in a two-row shoe box were some over-sized cards that everyone seemed to pass on, probably because they had no clue what they were. Me? I knew EXACTLY what they were. They were 1989 Topps Baseball Talk! I had only seen people play with them, and had never owned any personally because they were too expensive and not readily available to me. The bag contained 30 of these cards, which feature plastic record-type discs on the back which play audio clips when inserted into the machine that plays them. I thought about buying them all, but really, there were only 10 that felt like must-haves. The seller didn’t care if I only took the ones I really wanted, so … I did! These were all 10 Cents each.
1989 Topps Baseball Talk Don Mattingly
1989 Topps Baseball Talk Cal Ripken
1989 Topps Baseball Talk Nolan Ryan
1989 Topps Baseball Talk Ralph Kiner
1989 Topps Baseball Talk Al Kaline
1989 Topps Baseball Talk Eddie Mathews
1989 Topps Baseball Talk Roberto Clemente
1989 Topps Baseball Talk Ty Cobb
1989 Topps Baseball Talk Babe Ruth
1989 Topps Baseball Talk Hank Aaron
How awesome was that? Got all ten of those for a buck. And because I like to have fun with numbers, want to guess what the Beckett high book value of that small lot of Baseball Talk cards is? Just $103.50. Yeah, a C-Note.
***
Anyone like hockey? I don’t actively collect hockey, but I do know rookie cards. Did I mention these were 10 cents each?
197701978 O-Pee-Chee Mike Milbury rookie card
1982 O-Pee-Chee Steve Kasper Rookie Card
1986-1987 Topps Gary Suter rookie card
1977-1978 O-Pee-Chee New York Rangers checklist
1992-1993 Upper Deck Hockey Heroes Wayne Gretzky Header Card SP
1972-1973 Topps Guy LaFleur
***
A pair of football rookies — 10 cents each
1981 Topps Dan Hampton Rookie Card
1987 Topps Randall Cunningham Rookie Card
***
Let’s move onto some baseball …
I like Nolan Ryan. I like his cards. I really like his cards when they are ten for a buck.
1990 KayBee Nolan Ryan
1992 Topps Gold Winner Nolan Ryan
1992 Topps Gold Winner Nolan Ryan Record Breaker
1991 Stadium Club Nolan Ryan -- I actually got two of these.
1982 O-Pee-Chee Nolan Ryan
***
…And Rickey Henderson …
1983 Topps Rickey Henderson
1988 Starting Lineup Rickey Henderson
1992 Flopps Stickey Henderson
***
Eight baseball stars …
1993 Upper Deck George Brett / Robin Yount SP
1992 Topps McDonald's George Brett
1992 Topps McDonald's Ken Griffey Jr.
1988 KayBee Cal Ripken Jr.
1995 Summit Nth Degree Cal Ripken Jr. CL
1981 Kellogs Steve Henderson
2011 Topps Diamond Ichiro
2001 BBM Best 9 Hideki Matsui
***
Some baseball rookies/prospects:
***
And we’ll close the first part of this series with a slew of “vintage” wrestling cards. This is where good gets awesome.
2 1987 Topps WWF Stickers WWF Logo
1987 Topps WWF Stickers Andre The Giant
1987 Topps WWF Stickers Randy Savage and Elizabeth
1987 Topps WWF Stickers Hulk Hogan
2 1987 Topps WWF Stickers Bret Hart
1985 O-Pee-Chee Bobby "The Brain" Heenan
1985 O-Pee-Chee Jim Neidhart rookie card
1985 O-Pee-Chee Hulk Hogan and Vince McMahon
3 1985 Topps "Macho Man" Randy Savage In Action cards
1985 Topps WWF Sticker Lou Albano
1985 Topps WWF Sticker Jesse Ventura
1985 Topps WWF Sticker Iron Sheik
1987 Topps Macho Man Randy Savage w/ Elizabeth
7 1987 Topps Hulk Hogan cards
4 1987 Topps Bret Hart rookie cards
And the grand finale … a flying elbow from the top rope …
1985 O-Pee-Chee Randy "Macho Man" Savage w/ Elizabeth rookie card.
Oooooh, yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! That Macho Man Canadian rookie card is in great condition and might be worth grading. Raw copies of this card are upward of $20 easy.
Total cost of these treasures: $9.50
Think those were awesome?
I’m just getting started.
Stay tuned for the next part of this special Thrift Treasures series.
Part One // Part Two // Part Three
Clearance retail Chrome hitting stores; Strasburg rookie auto refractor pulled
Posted in Box / Pack Break with tags baseball cards, Giancarlo Stanton, Jason Heyward, Mike Stanton, rookie card, Starlin Castro, Stephen Strasburg, Topps, Topps Chrome on April 12, 2012 by Cardboard Icons
Who doesn’t love a deal, especially when they come in the form of marked-down collectible baseball cards.
True clearance prices for sealed packs of baseball cards in a retail setting are rarely seen. Most stores blow through product before there is a chance for it to sit around. And in the cases where stock has collected dust, the packs are sent back to the distributor and then they are repackaged in another form.
And in the occasions where cards are marked down, they usually are brands that are not super appealing. Well, in some Toys R Us stores right now, you might find something that is appealing — 2010 Topps Chrome baseball, and in some places 2010 Bowman Chrome baseball.
The 2010 rookie class is one that continues to be at the front of the hobby even two years later.
Nationals’ pitcher Stephen Strasburg, Cubs shortstop Starlin Castro, Braves outfielder Jason Heyward, Marlins outfielder Mike (Giancarlo) Stanton and Indians catcher Carlos Santana are the five names that led that fairly deep rookie card class. And in Topps chrome you have a shot at their rookie cards, as well as signed versions that can be worth big money.
Toys R Us appears to have been restocked with loads of 2010 Topps Chrome rack packs which feature three sealed retail packs (4 cards per pack) and a retail exclusive pack of three orange refractor parallel cards. The original price on these packs was $9.99. These are now available to you for $4.99.
And while the odds for any autograph are tough, and the chances to land one of the aforementioned five rookie studs are even worse, the opportunity is there. And no one is passing up that chance when it comes at basically $1.66 a pack.
I’ve visited three Toys R Us stores this week and found Topps Chrome in each of them, and in one store I actually located a blaster of 2010 Bowman Chrome for $12.99. (I opened it, it was bad …. really, really, bad.)
Needless to say I cleared out all of the Topps Chrome packs, and it is always fun to look back and see this many refractors.
And those rookies? Yeah, pulled a few of those too:
Even a few shiny ones:
But nothing, and I mean nothing, compares to the feeling when you beat the odds and pull the main card in the set from a retail pack:
2010 Topps Chrome Refractor Autograph Stephen Strasburg /499
Happy hunting.
New Addition: 2000 SPX Ben Sheets USA Auto rookie
Posted in New Addition with tags baseball, baseball cards, Ben Sheets, rookie card, SPX Upper Deck on March 24, 2012 by Cardboard IconsStop me if you’ve heard this before:
2000 SPX Ben Sheets autographed rookie card /1500
He’s a stud, a work horse with an over powering arm, a wicked curveball, and great mound presence — a can’t miss pitching prospect.
Every few years or so, some kid with a cannon for an arm whizzes through his high school’s opponents in dazzling fashion and scouts rave for days about how he is the next Nolan Ryan, Walter Johnson, etc.
In the late 1990s, Ben Sheets was one of those guys. No, check that. He WAS the guy.
Sheets was blessed with THAT right arm. With THAT curve ball. And was said to be in THAT pedigree.
Hell, he even led Team USA to a Gold Medal in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.
Sheets was THE man. His rookie cards were crazy hot, and given the time period he arrived on the hobby scene, nothing was hotter than this 2000 SPX autographed rookie card.
Pack-seeded autographed rookie cards were still a pretty new thing in 2000. And we all know that a hot rookie plus an autographed version of his rookie card from a pretty good product equals good coin.
Flashforward to 2012. Sheets hasn’t pitched in a Major League game in more than a year and could be done at age 33. Injuries hurt his career, another common theme among young, stud pitchers. Sad, but true.
Of course all of this is a recipe for an iconic rookie, one deserving of being added to the Cardboard Icons rookie collection.
About a week and a half ago I was lurking on eBay and lo and behold look what popped up, the 2000 SPX Ben Sheets autographed rookie card. There are 1,500 of these, so they aren’t rare per se. But they’re still being offered for at least $20 in most cases. Remember, Sheets is a Gold Medal winner and a four time all-star afterall.
But you all know I didn’t pay $20 for this. Hell, I didn’t even pay $15 or $10.
Try $2.69 (plus $3.25 shipping).
Yep, this iconic card was acquired for about the price of two retail packs.
That’s a score worthy of a gold medal.
