Given my geographic location it’s pretty common that during my thrift store hunting I come across Oakland A’s and San Francisco Giants items.
While nothing moving forward likely won’t ever match a find from five years ago (Thrift Treasures 27) in which I acquired multiple autographs from the Bash Brothers years, I still get excited when I see A’s collections from that era.
Case in point my find from this week.
Sitting on top of the showcase at a local thrift store was a bag full of Oakland A’s Stadium Giveaway card sets and some misc. other cards.
The giveaway sets ranged from 1986-2010, most of then were Mother’s Cookies sets which appeared to be mostly complete. Well, the thrift store was selling the cards 20 for $1.
I managed to get into to store 20 minutes before they closed so I was able to search feverishly through the sets and other cards and managed to find 30 cards that cost me $1.50.
We’ll start with the “big” one here. This is a 1986 Mother’s Cookies Jose Canseco rookie-year release.
This was a relatively tough card to find in the Bay Area during Canseco’s hay day and it has always been one that I wanted to acquire. Needless to say it was a steal at a nickel.
Speaking of Canseco, I pulled all of his cards, and those featuring fellow Bash Brother Mark McGwire, and Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson from the sets. I love these Mother’s Cookies releases.
Here are a few more A’s from 1997-2000, and some mid 2000s releases. I like the Disabled Veterans Barry Zito releases; neat considering the work Zito did fot Strikeout For Troops. 
A few Nick Swisher SGA cards for Chris Olds at Beckett.
Giants Reliever Santiago Casilla, an integral role player for the 2014 World Series Champions, started his career on Oakland under the name of “Jairo Garcia.” Here’s a 2004 release under that assumed name, and then a 2008 release under his real name. Interesting to note the vitals on the rear of the cards.
So, growing up in the Bay Area, I was around for the years in which Kevin Mitchell was the man for the Giants. I totally forgot he played about 50 games for Oakland in 1998 during his final tour on the Major Leagues. This just doesn’t look right.
A pair of 1988 Nestle cards featuring former Giants star Will Clark and current Giants pitching coach Dave Righetti.
That find from five years ago had lots of autos. This find had just one, a rookie-year 1999 Just Mark Mulder. The numbered insert was a bonus.
And the last two cards were giveaways during a game in Sept. 3, 2001, during Cal Ripken Jr.’s final tour through Oakland. As ugly as they might be, these aren’t easy to find. I actually sold one a year or so ago for $30.
Total cost of these treasures: $1.50 (a nickel per card)
You can see more Thrift Treasures posts Here
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