Card Show Recap

I hit a fairly big card show on Sunday for the first time in quite a while. Partly planned, partly on a whim. If you had asked me a month ago, I was definitely going. If you asked last weekend, probably not. But come Sunday morning I decided I would check it out.

This shows happens 2-3 times a year and probably has about 100 tables, give or take. I don't know how you guys do it, but I am a fairly frugal shopper. I like to make my way through the maze, see what's everybody's got, and then decide what to buy.


The first pass through I noticed something I never really paid attention to before joining the blogosphere. I didn't take a picture but dime boxes are real and they are spectacular! And it seemed that most of the tables selling singles had them.


From one dealer, I picked almost 500 cards for $30. And he threw in a box to hold them. But it wasn't just a random 500 or so cards. I got to hand pick them! Lots of different brands ranging from the early 80's to last year. Here are some "steals" I came away with for myself for less than a dime each.

1990 Swell Don Kessinger

1985 Topps Shawon Dunston Rookie

A trio of mint condition Lee Smith rookies? Check! Check! Check!

A couple of non-Cubs I'll be hanging onto (unless somebody really wants them) because I couldn't pass them up for a dime:

1987 Topps Mark McGwire

1993 Topps Gold Randy Johnson

A little more than half of them were Cubs cards but I also picked up some neat cards to fill some trade packages I have going out.

Marcus has some Padres cards coming his way:

Cliff has some Astros and Phillies.

I could have spent a lot more time (and money) going through those dime boxes but after 20 minutes or so, I was suffering from "card-collector's neck" and needed to move along. Going to a weekend long card show on a Sunday is a double edged sword. Everything is kind of picked over but you can get some deals on stuff left behind. 

I picked up 16 Cubs ice cream helmets for my ever increasing signed collection. These were originally a buck and marked down to $.50. Since I bought them all, they were just $5.

This complete set of 1990 Senior League cards was just $2. Lots of good old-timers in it. First time through the set, I noticed 2 different Fergie Jenkins cards, Bill Madlock and Bobby Bonds among some other former Cubs.

Not sure if I overpaid for this at $3 but I thought it was worth it. It's an unopened 4-pack of cards from Baseball Talk. I guess these cards played sounds or something when used in conjunction the player. I somehow missed these growing up so I have no idea. Glad Ryne Sandberg was showing on top.

My older son came along with me and talked me into buying team issued sets for 3 of the Carolina League teams we'll be seeing later this summer plus the Top Prospects set. Hopefully some of these guys will still be around to get autographs from.

Guess I have to go organize my 300+ new Cubs cards now...