Well-Priced Oddballs Galore; Card Show Recap #24 Part 3

I didn't head into Sunday's Baseball card show with as high of a budget as I do when I head to the monthly or bi-annually shows in my area, but I ended up with a variety of cards that rivaled these larger shows.

After passing some time with the dealers that I chat with each time I'm there. I ventured back into the separate room where I bought the Prizm parallels and 3D cards at the beginning of the show.

The vendor made an excellent offer on that group of cards, and he had about a dozen 4-row boxes of cards that looked promising, so I had an idea of where I'd be spending the rest of my time and money.

Usually, boxes of mixed sports cards that aren't priced wouldn't draw my attention, but the prices and variety of the first purchase made me hopeful. These bins were one of the craziest things I've ever seen at my local show, and I couldn't wait to start searching through them.

There was no rhyme or reason involved in the organization, so I simply chose a bin and got to looking. This led to 1/2 of a row devoted solely to 2018 Topps Allen & Ginter hot box cards back when they were silver glossy parallels as opposed to this years' gold foil.

Though I purchased my fair share of '18 Ginter, both packs and individual cards, I never came across a single of these parallels until Sunday's purchase where I found a surplus to add to my player collections.

None of the cards were priced as marked, so I still have no clue what I paid for each individual card. Instead, I just made an offer on a lot, and the dealer accepted it, leading to some incredible deals.

For some reason, many of the hot box parallels featured Cubs and Astros players, 2 teams that are heavily represented in my active player PCs. Though I missed out on Rizzo and Altuve, I'd say I landed most of the big names from the 2018 Houston and Chicago teams.

Seeing this design in person only makes me wish that Topps brought it back for '19 Ginter as well. The gold foil cards are nice looking, but I wouldn't choose them over the glossy silver parallels.

I haven't found any information about this TCMA set from the back of the cards, but they were even more common than the Ginter hot box parallels. Because the vendor was reasonable and there were a ton of cards of players I collect, I picked up a reasonable number of these vintage oddballs.

It seems like the set is from the late 70s or early 80s based on the cardstock as well as the players in the checklist. Most of these guys stopped playing in the early 1970s, leaving a few years between their retirement and the release of this TCMA product.

Whenever it's from, these cards will be excellent additions to my retired player PCs, particularly the card of Lou Brock on the Chicago Cubs.

There was also a selection of green-bordered cards from what appears to be the same set, though pitchers and sluggers are included in this portion.

Most of the players whose cards resembled the ones above were legends from the early 20th century, but there were a couple of names from the 70s just like the 9 above.

When I hear other bloggers or card collectors talk about oddballs, Hostess and Kellogg's are almost always mentioned, but one of my personal favorites, Drake's, is often left out.

An annual release throughout the 1980s, Drake's Big Hitters featured the greatest sluggers in the game in 1 set, usually in a checklist around 30-35 cards. The designs differed slightly each year along with the selection of players.

Looking more closely at the Boggs card, I believe I already have it in his PC, but the Rickey Henderson from '87 is definitely a new addition.

One day, I'd love to find an entire bin, or at least a row, chock-full of these terrific 2002 Topps Archives Reserve refractors, but I'll take anything that I can get from this set for the time being.

These gorgeous reprints combine my 2 favorite things about baseball cards; vintage designs and chrome refractors. These 2 aspects are drastically different, yet when they come together, you can't think about Al Oliver's original 1982 Topps card without a chrome refractor finish.

Chrome cards were also one of my favorite parts of the 2019 Topps Gypsy Queen set as they appeared in a 3-card hobby exclusive box topper.

In addition to the one box of Gypsy Queen that I opened, I tracked down a few more of these singles for my player collections via the show, including the Joey Votto card above. The serial numbered versions, like the Miguel Cabrera blue that I pulled, are unbelievably beautiful.

Deviating slightly from the chrome cards that I had previously spoken of, I'm transitioning to the 2 cards of Ken Griffey Jr on the Chicago White Sox that I picked up on Sunday. After all, it's not every day that you land a card of a player who only had 131 at-bats for the team their shown to be playing for.

In addition to the base card from 2009 Topps, I found the Walmart exclusive black parallel which looks awesome with the Chicago home uniform on the foreground. Griffey Jr is one of my largest PCs, so this duo of White Sox cards will be excellent additions to an extensive player collection.

The Platinum Diamond Anniversary and Cognac parallels from 2011 Topps significantly upped the appeal that regular Series 1 & 2 had.

Though I understand it would be challenging to do something like this every year, I bet Topps could've figured something out for 150 years of professional Baseball instead of choosing a boring gold stamp and calling it a day.

I didn't buy any packs in 2011, so my selection of these terrific parallels is somewhat limited. I was, however, able to change that with the addition of these 4 cards, 1 for the Cubs PC and the rest for player collections.

Last but certainly not least, a want list pickup that was hidden amongst the vintage oddballs and shiny parallels; the Houston Astros team card from 1979 Topps, featuring the entire team in front of the Astrodome.

I don't think I could've ended on a higher note, especially considering the huge variety of different cards that these bins delivered.

Needless to say, I'll be visiting this vendor as soon as I run into him again.