Back at the Mansfield Show Part 2: Card Show Recap #6

Picking up from where I left off yesterday, I'll be continuing my card show recap from the President's Day Mansfield show, which is my 2nd time ever at the Mansfield card show.

The David Ortiz card at the top of the post is a perfect example of the value I found at the show yesterday. The card is an onyx parallel card from the 2012 Topps Triple Threads set of none other than David Ortiz. I found this card in a Red Sox bin full of other numbered cards and picked this one up for just $3. I like the onyx color a lot because it's a bit unusual for a color choice. It seems like Topps combined black and blue into a dark color that matches the color of Ortiz's helmet and the words "Boston" on his jersey really well.

I also decided when I walked into the show that I would find a Rafael Devers rookie card. I eventually found a vendor who was selling lots of different 2018 Topps base cards and inserts. Because the show is close to Boston, he had all the Devers rookies together and marked for $3 each. It was a bit pricey for a 2018 Topps base card and ended up costing me the same as a David Ortiz card numbered to 50. However, I felt it was worth it to get this card of Devers because of how well he did after being called up last season, hence how he's able to have a rookie card symbol and a Topps Rookie Cup logo all on the same card. 

As I continued to look around at the show, waiting for a bin or display to consume my time, I found some extremely colorful cards that instantly caught my eye. Due to how colorful and bold of a set it was, I thought it was some kind of insert set. But when I checked the card backs and saw regular numbers, I was surprised to learn that this was 2014 Topps Finest, a set I had never seen before. I found 2 cards from the set and immediately decided they were well worth it for a dime. The first was of Eric Hosmer, the recently-signed free-agent in a throwback jersey. The other was of the late Jose Fernandez (RIP). 

I actually found a ton of cards of Fernandez and while it was difficult to think about the tragedy while shuffling and purchasing cards of him, I decided it was a good way to carry on his legacy. He was so dominant and touched the lives of everyone who he played with. A pitcher with the heart and talent of Fernandez deserves to be remembered.

The same vendor who sold me the Devers rookie card also had a dime bin with different groups of products. One of the groups included the Now and Then inserts from 2017 Topps Heritage High Number. I pulled a few of these last years, but none of them were of star players like Posey and Harper. I don't usually see Mike Trout in the dime bins given that all of his cards, even if they're just base cards, tend to cost more than other players.

I continued to look through this vendor's dime bins when I discovered that he had something I hadn't bought so far at the show. In fact, I had barely bought these cards over the last 3-4 card shows. 

I'm talking about vintage cards.

The dime bins were loaded with true vintage cards from the early 70's. There were a lot of cards from 1973 Topps in particular as showcased by the 3 cards shown. I chose the Cesar Cedeno because he's one of the players I collect while my dad chose the Vada Pinson, Gene Clines, and Rennie Stennett because of how much he enjoyed watching each of those 3 players play in the 60's and 70's.

It wasn't just the early 70's that were heavily represented in these dime bins. There was a slew of 1977 Topps cards, including quite a few players I collect like my 2nd Cesar Cedeno card of the show. 1977 Topps is a very underrated set that doesn't give enough credit considering that it isn't really part of the "golden era" of Topps that was the 60's through mid 1970's. 1977 began a new era of cards and I enjoy the set a lot, however, it had never been a set I'd collected or seen all that much in the time I've been collecting. 

After finding some vintage 70's cards in the bin, I continued looking through the rows and eventually came across a continuation of this dime card timeline when I found some early 80's cards, specifically, 1980 Topps.

Another personal favorite set of mine was the next one I found in the timeline. Commonly referred to as the "hockey stick" design, 1982 is without a doubt my favorite Topps set of the 1980's. The cards that I found were all of the players who played for the Reds either in '82 or some point in their career. This included 3 in action cards of Joe Morgan, George Foster, and Ken Griffey as well as a base card of Griffey.

The next cards were not a dime each but were still a good enough price that made me decide to go for it and purchase 4 of the Silver Pack 1983 cards from 2018 Topps. These were going for $1 each, so I decided to be cautious and buy cards of players who I heavily collect and like. To no surprise, this ended up being all Red Sox and Cubs players. I picked up 2 retired players' cards, 1 from each team as well as 2 current players' cards, 1 from each team. This ended up being Boggs, Sandberg, Benintendi, and Rizzo, 4 players I was very happy to get. Sadly, there was none of Kimbrel, but I cannot complain about who I got. 

It's almost like my own custom silver pack. Each silver pack is 4 cards and this way, I don't have to buy a whole hobby box to get one. Instead, I can go to the show and get the perfect silver pack for $4 total. I'll definitely take that over getting it with a hobby box.