$5 Cards; Card Show Recap #25 Part 2

In what will likely be my final Baseball card haul until Black Friday (I'll either buy cards on COMC or head to the Mansfield show), I decided to vary in what I purchased so that I ended up with a wide range of different cards.

After initially picking up a stack of 90s oddballs and 2010s Red Sox cards, I wandered through the show floor with nothing particular in mind that I was searching for. As is often the case, I didn't have to look that long before I came across something of interest, a 2-row box of cards marked at $5 each.

Once I'd spent several minutes searching through the stacks of $5 cards, I knew where I'd be spending the rest of my time and money at the show. The bin didn't consist solely of Baseball cards, but there were, nonetheless, gems scattered across the 2 different rows.

Whereas I sometimes have to narrow down what I purchase to fit a certain budget, there were exactly 8 cards that caught my eye. Thankfully, I didn't have to swap any of them out and was able to secure every one of them.

The first one I chose was a 1960 Topps card of Brooks Robinson, one of my favorite Flagship designs of all-time. Robinson is one of my gold tier player collections, meaning I have over 100 cards of the 15-time All-Star. This new pickup, however, is now the oldest card that I own of Robinson.

While each of the other 7 cards in this lot is a base card, the Joe Morgan card above is actually the only relic in the group, a bat relic numbered out of 99 from 2016 Panini Pantheon.

I purchased this card with a full understanding of the fact that relics aren't what they used to be because I believed that a $4 HOF relic was too good of a deal to pass up. The concept, however, is where I'm a tad confused.

This bat relic is from a subset called Gallant Gloves, so wouldn't it make much more sense for the memorabilia to be from one of Morgan's game-used gloves? Or if Panini can't get enough gloves to produce these cards, name the card something else.

Still, I purchase inexpensive Hall of Fame relics whenever I get the opportunity, and the Joe Morgan bat relic, despite the contradictory name, fits the bill.

2011 Topps Update is obviously known for the iconic Mike Trout rookie card, but the set is also home to first-year players such as Jose Altuve, Paul Goldschmidt, and Anthony Rizzo.

Though I'll likely never come across a Mike Trout rookie card for a reasonable price, I can at least say that I have some of the other top rookies' cards from the highly sought after set, those players being Jose Altuve and, now, Anthony Rizzo.

Rizzo has been one of my favorite players in the game over the last several years. His consistency, both offensively and defensively, is truly remarkable, and I can only imagine what today's Red Sox team would be like if he was still a part of their organization.

His rookie card might not be the most valuable of the bunch, but I'm, nonetheless, thrilled at the price I paid to add this card to my Rizzo player collection.

The $5 price point was to steep for me to take a risk and purchase a card that I may already have in my collection, so I decided to check my player collection spreadsheets before adding this 1974 Topps Nolan Ryan card to the stack that I was amassing. Sure enough, I didn't have the card, but I do now.

This card, along with a few other .50 cent cards from yesterday's show, is getting me even closer to the 500-card mark that I'd like for the Ryan PC to reach by the end of the year.

The current total, with the additions from the card show, is around 485, and I'd like to get to 500 without explicitly buying 15 Nolan Ryan cards on COMC.

Because league leaders cards, particularly those from the 1960s and 2010s, often feature multiple players whom I collect, I need to have some way to decide which player collection the card will go towards.

I have a rule that the card will go to the highest-ranking player who also happens to be one of my player collections. I don't have a PC for Sandy Koufax (though I really should), so this 1967 Topps card, noting the '66 NL wins leaders, will go to Juan Marichal.

There's something about rookie cup cards, particularly those with the tall trophies from the 1960s, that never fails to captivate my attention. Plus, vintage rookie cup cards are a nice, inexpensive alternative to rookie cards, yet they're a tad more interesting than just a simple base card.

The condition of this 1968 Topps Tom Seaver card might not be too stellar, but the All-Star rookie trophy along with the extremely fair price helps me look past the crease down the middle of the card. Not to mention, the '68 Topps base set design happens to be one of my favorites.

The final 2 cards from the 8-card purchase are set needs, the first of which I have been trying to track down for quite some time now. I'm talking about Hank Aaron's final Topps Flagship card, an iconic shot of the true home run king as a member of the Milwaukee Brewers.

As is typical for the 1976 Topps set, the card features a daring color combination (pink and purple) that Topps was, somehow, able to pull off. Before Sunday's show, I hadn't seen a fairly-priced '76 Aaron card, so it was huge for me to check such a major card off the list.

Now, as far as I know, there isn't another big card like Aaron's standing in my way of completing this set.

 The most critical pick up from yesterday's show, undoubtedly, would have to be the 1961 Topps Willie McCovey card above, another major set need, of mine that I can now cross off the want list.

Unlike '76 and '79 Topps, there are several expensive veteran and 1 rookie (Juan Marichal) cards standing in my way of completing the 1961 Topps set. While I was able to make progress at The National, there's still a long way for me to go if I want to complete this 589-card set.

Adding this McCovey card to my collection is huge because it's another Hall of Famer, not to mention a high number, that I don't have to worry about.

But with Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, and most of the All-Star cards still on my radar, I'll have to hope that another bargain like this comes my way.

My Top 5 Chicago Cubs Cards

As far as Chicago Cubs cards go, I always seem to have better luck when pulling fantastic Cubs hits than I do for any other MLB team, including my favorite club, the Boston Red Sox.

I tend to miss out on pulling big-name Red Sox hits from packs of cards. Case and point, my top 10 Red Sox cards list, a countdown that consisted of 10 total cards, only 2 of which I actually pulled from a pack of cards. The rest were either purchased or have always been a part of my card collection as long as I can remember.

Contrary to my inability to pull Red Sox hits, I have incredible luck when it comes to the cards of my 2nd favorite team, the Chicago Cubs. Rather than doing a top 10, I decided to narrow it down to the best of the best by doing a top 5 instead. 

Besides, I bent the rules slightly by including 2 cards at spots #5 and #4, but the point I'm trying to make is pretty clear. Although some cards on this list were purchased at the Baseball card show, the Marlon Byrd stamp card, numbered to 10 on the back, as well as the cards at #3 and #1 were cards that I pulled out of a pack myself. 

Starting with the oldest cards to make this list, let's take a look at my top 5 Chicago Cubs cards.

#5 1969 Topps Billy Williams and Fergie Jenkins autographs

Careful research on the part of my Dad helped land us these 2 TTM autographs of 2 of the greatest Chicago Cubs players of all-time, both of whom played on the iconic 1969 team. I've since acquired another autograph of both of these superstars, but the authentic signed 1969 Topps cards will forever be my favorites.

If I remember correctly, the Billy Williams autograph was free while the Jenkins set us back just $10. That's 2 autographs of Hall of Famers and some of the greatest Chicago Cubs to ever play the game for half the price of a blaster box of cards. It's just pretty hard to believe that these 2 incredible cards came in behind 4 others.

#4 2002 Topps 206 Joe Tinker and Johnny Evers bat relics

This was probably the toughest decision to make, but ultimately, I decided to place the Tinker and Evers bat relics above the Williams and Jenkins autos. I mean, I could find other autos of those 2 superstars if I wanted to, but bat relics of 2 guys who played at the beginning of the 20th century are extremely hard to come by.

As a matter of fact, I wouldn't be surprised if 2002 Topps 206 produced some of the only bat relics ever made of Tinker and Evers. These cards are absolutely beautiful, especially thanks to the artwork on the minis. If only I could track down one of these of Frank Chance. Then, the iconic trio would be complete.

#3 2018 Bowman's Best Anthony Rizzo red auto

I've barely had this card in my possession for a month, yet it has already become one of my favorite cards in my entire collection. Pulled from a holiday mini box of 2018 Bowman's Best, I was able to land this spectacular red refractor autograph of Anthony Rizzo, serial numbered 2/10. 

As you can imagine, it was quite a moment when I pulled this incredible card from a pack, because it added to what is already a wide variety of Chicago Cubs cards, specifically, the cards on this list. In a year in which I added many impressive cards to my collection, this Anthony Rizzo autograph remains one of the best.

#2 1954 Topps Ernie Banks

It felt odd putting this card at #2 instead of #1, but I'm certain that I'm making the right decision. Regardless, it's still insane to think about the fact that I have, in my possession, a Beckett 3 graded rookie card of Ernie Banks AKA Mr. Cub, one of the greatest hitters in Baseball history.

Although the centering is the primary reason for the low grade, it's still surreal to me that I even have this iconic card. The 1954 Topps set may have been shaky, but Ernie Banks' rookie card is the high point of the entire set for a number of reasons, including the perfect use of the 2 photos and the retro Cubs logo in the top right corner.

#1 2017 Topps Heritage Clubhouse Collection Quad Relic Patch

This is not only the greatest Chicago Cubs card that I own but also the greatest card in my entire Baseball card collection as well as my favorite. Better yet, I actually pulled this hand-numbered 1/1 from a hobby box of 2017 Topps Heritage, a mere 4 months after the Cubs ended their 108-year World Series drought and defeated the Cleveland Indians in the Fall Classic.

Every player's jersey swatch on this 9.5 Beckett graded quad relic features a patch of 2 colors or more, hence why this is the 1/1 quad relic patch instead of the standard quad relic numbered to 10. As impressive as it was to see tri-color relics for Kris Bryant and Addison Russel, I was impressed to see Billy Williams appear on this card, especially with a duo-color jersey swatch as well.

Not a single card in my collection, whether I obtained it before or after the Cubs quad relic, has overtaken the 1/1 card is my favorite card in my entire collection. Plus, the fact that it features 4 Chicago Cubs makes this unbelievable card even more special.

'61 Commons and Graded Rizzo's; Card Show Recap #16 Part 3

For the remainder of my time at Monday's Mansfield card show, I ended up focusing solely on 2 different things. The first was cards from the 1961 Topps set, and the 2nd ended up being new additions to my Anthony Rizzo player collection.

With new Red Sox additions and dime cards serving as the primary focus for a majority of the time that I was there, I wanted to make the most of my remaining time and allotted budget by expanding the selection of cards that I brought home. 

By doing this, I could also accomplish one of my primary goals for this card show; track down some cards from the want list. The way I was able to do this was by purchasing some commons from the oldest set that I'm currently trying to piece together; 1961 Topps.

Last summer at The National, I was able to make some significant progress with the 1961 Topps set thanks to a major purchase of discounted cards from a vendor at the show. It was that significant purchase that confirmed my mission to complete this set and with my key rookie cards already in my collection (Santo, Williams, and Yastrzemski), there aren't a ton of key names still left to chase down beside Mickey Mantle, a card that's likely to set me back quite a lot of money.

I was able to put together a reasonable stack of 15 cards for an even more reasonable price with each card costing either $1 or $2 each. 1961 Topps isn't a huge set at only 589 total cards, but the set is home to dozens of Hall of Famers and, because of how old it is, even the costs of low-numbered cards can be a bit higher than one would expect. 

Because of that, any dent I can make in the set is extremely helpful towards my goal of completing the entire set within the next few years.

With 15 more cards going towards my set, I'm now 291 cards away from completing this product. While that may seem like, and still is, a lot more cards to track down, this 15-card purchase from Monday's show set me over the halfway mark which isn't too shabby considering I haven't even been collecting this set for a full year.

I must admit, 1961 Topps commons and graded Anthony Rizzo cards are a pretty strange combination for this blog post, but towards the very end of the card show, I ended up making my way towards a dealer who had marked down prices on all of his PSA and Beckett graded cards, including a surplus of cards of Cubs 1st baseman, Anthony Rizzo.

For the price of 2 retail packs of Topps Series 1, I picked up a graded yellow parallel from 2014 Bowman of the 3-time All-Star, numbered out of 99 copies on the back. While I first thought the bright yellow parallel would be too much for this card, I've grown to appreciate the untraditional color the more I look at this Beckett graded card.

It's kind of hard not to get sucked in by bright colored refractors and parallels, especially if it's a rookie card of one of your favorite players in all of Baseball. While this purple refractor from 2011 Bowman Chrome isn't serial numbered, the rookie card is graded at a PSA 9, and it just so happens to be my first rookie card of Anthony Rizzo, showing the slugger with the team he got his first hit with, the San Diego Padres.

And while Anthony Rizzo first played in the big leagues with the Padres, the 2-time Gold Glove award winner was originally a prospect in the Red Sox organization before he was traded for Adrian Gonzalez back towards the end of 2010. 

Much like the Bowman Chrome card was my first rookie card of Rizzo, this 1st Bowman card is my first ever card of Rizzo as a member of the Red Sox. Better yet, it's graded at a 9.5 by Beckett with some nice sub-grades, including a 10 for the surface. 

I could have paid $1 more for a black parallel graded at a 9, but I went with the higher grade and lower price instead, and I don't think I could've been happier.

Seeing Red

At the end of the holiday festivities, I stopped by my LCS for one last mini box of 2018 Bowman's Best. I thoroughly enjoyed my first box break of the product and did very well overall. I didn't want to set my expectations too high, but I was hoping for another big hit out of the 2nd purchase.

However, I'm not going to do an entire recap of the 2nd Bowman's Best purchase like I did for the first. That's because one of the hits was so unbelievable that it deserves its own post. The hit I pulled was downright jaw-dropping, especially out of a prospect-based set like Bowman's Best.

I'll get straight to the point and show off the card which has since become one of the greatest hits I've ever pulled in my life.

Veteran autographs out of Bowman's Best are hard enough to pull. Red refractors are near impossible. I managed both, of Anthony Rizzo no less, in a card that I'd go as far to say is the 2nd greatest pull out of a pack of cards in my entire life.

It was a moment full of excitement and joy as soon as this card came out of the last autograph pack after what had been an average box so far. It's made even better by the fact that the auto is on-card, and the red refractors are numbered out of 10, and mine specifically is 2/10. 

I knew that there were veteran autos in Bowman's Best, but the autograph checklist is around 85% prospects with the last 15% being rookies and veterans. Rizzo has been my favorite Cub for years now, and this isn't my first stellar pull of his. Back in March of 2018, I hit a flip stock parallel, limited to 5 copies, out of Topps Heritage.

I'll have to make a point to get this card graded at some point soon, the sooner the better. Not only was it incredibly unexpected as I was thinking the last auto would be some no-name prospect, but it's one of the lowest numbered cards I've ever pulled, and it's most definitely the lowest numbered autograph.

Rizzo's been a consistent player for years now, one of the most dependable hitters in all of Baseball, in fact. He's had 4 straight seasons of 100 or more RBI and is a career .270 hitter with a .233 average in 2013 still weighing his career stats down a bit. 

He'll be 30 later this year, and if he keeps up what he's been doing, he could end up in Cooperstown one day in the future. Moreover, my player collection of his is within 10 cards of 100, making him one of the most collected players in my collection considering everything I've pulled of him.

Even with all the other veteran autos in the set, I don't think I could've asked for a better name than Rizzo.

A Quick 2-Card Twitter Package

Back when I received my first ever Twitter trade package earlier this week, I had intended to also show off a smaller package that I had claimed around the same time. 

Another Twitter user who I've since followed pretty closely since making this trade, I claimed a couple cards from Baseball Card Addict Jenny from a $1 per card lot she had posted a few weeks ago. This small purchase allowed me to gain access to yet another Twitter user who I'm in the process of completing another purchase with that will be finalized in the next few days.

As for these 2-cards, they came from a lot that had already been up for a couple hours by the time I got to it. Therefore, many of the cards I was looking to claim had already been taken by other collectors. However, this didn't stop me from getting my hands on this beautiful X-Fractor from 2013 Topps Finest of former White Sox ace, Chris Sale.

Not only is 2013 Finest one of my favorite Finest sets in recent years along with 2014 and 2016, but the throwback uniform Sale is also wearing adds to the uniqueness of this card. I'm not entirely sure if it's the same jersey he cut up years later in an event that eventually became a scandal, but it's an absolutely terrific card regardless, especially considering how fantastic it looks as an X-Fractor.

Similarly, the 2nd card is also from Topps Finest, though this is a Prism refractor and not an X-Fractor like Sale. With that being said, both of the parallels styles have their own plus sides, and one of my favorite things about this 2015 Topps Finest Anthony Rizzo card is the way the Prism refractor looks in contrast to the classic Cubs home uniform in the "modern art" Topps Finest set from 2015.

Another special thing about this Rizzo card is that when I updated the inventory, it turns out this card is my 70th total card of Anthony Rizzo, establishing him as one of my largest active-player PCs along with Joey Votto, Andrew McCutchen, Adam Jones, and Buster Posey. Keep in mind, Rizzo made his debut in 2011 and although he had over 300 at-bats in 2012, he didn't start playing full seasons in 2013, meaning he's already been able to reach 70+ cards by only playing for around 6 seasons.

I know this was a pretty quick post, but I really wanted to be able to demonstrate how buying from the right people on Twitter can lead to some fantastic cards for even better prices. If you haven't considered it yet, trust me, Twitter cards are definitely worth it.