Quality Over Quantity; Card Show Recap #22

With all the breaks that I've taken before and after my trip to the 2019 National in Chicago, it's been just over 3 months since I last purchased cards at one of the local Baseball card shows.

My last time at one of these shows was the Memorial Day Mansfield show, so it's rather fitting that my first show back is the same, only on Labor Day. Even though I haven't taken a break from collecting, it's odd to go such a long period without interacting with the vendors that I've come to know.

I visited my local show (about 25 minutes from my house) a couple of weeks back, but the purpose of that trip was to get supplies at an unbeatable price. This time around, I was ready to buy cards once again after I took a month-long break following The National.

As soon as I arrived, however, I knew that simply purchasing cards would prove a challenge. The show was more crowded than I'd ever seen before, so much so that moving around and looking at a vendor's cards was difficult.

I came to the show hoping to buy some singles, particularly from the new 2019 Panini Chronicles set, so I maneuvered my way to the show's case breaker and began talking to him about the recently released product.

Though I'd watched a couple of Chronicles box breaks before heading to the show, there's a lot to see when it comes to this set, so I loved being able to search through the stacks at my leisure. With over 25 brands featured in this product, there's a lot of ground to cover.

Ultimately, I picked up a few singles to start my 2019 Chronicles collection. I don't foresee myself doing anything with this product except buying and opening packs. I absolutely loved this set back in 2018, and I don't expect the 2019 release to change that.

Being that members of the 2018 rookie class are in their sophomore years, it's easier to acquire cards of stars like Rafael Devers and Shohei Ohtani from any of 2019 Chronicles brands, from the retail exclusive Unparalleled to Timeless Treasures.

I realized early on that my best bet was to stick primarily to veterans so that I could sample as many sets as possible. From the online breaks that I watched, I knew some of the brands I wanted to buy from before I even got to the show.

One of those sets was the all-black Obsidian cards, a Football release that Panini plans to use for Basketball as well. The cards are heavy given that they're not very thick, and they feature an all-black background and modern design.

The Obsidian card that I chose is actually a purple parallel (more noticeable in-person) of the 2018 NL Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom, serial numbered out of 99.

Spectra was one of my favorite products in last year's Chronicles set, so I knew that I was on the lookout for inexpensive cards from this brand as well.

Because these cards are a 2 per box hobby exclusive, I didn't know if this was possible, but this neon pink parallel of Max Scherzer (#/75) proved me wrong.

2 serial numbered cards of 2 NL Cy Young award winners all for just $4. When I say you can't beat Chronicles for value, I'm not kidding.

Although I wanted to avoid the rookies due solely to the prices, I couldn't pass up this gorgeous Titan card of Fernando Tatis Jr. Having this card in-hand confirms that Titan is one of the most beautiful brands in this year's set.

For the same price as the deGrom and Scherzer cards, I couldn't pass up this gorgeous card of my favorite rookie from this year's class.

I haven't made a decision on this yet, but I'm thinking about starting a PC of Tatis Jr like I have for Craig Kimbrel once the 2020 season starts and non-rookie cards of his will be available.

I could've spent all of my time and money buying singles from Chronicles and discussing the set, but with almost 100 vendor tables at this show, I knew I had to move around.

I had in mind that I wanted to buy some Ozzie Albies rookies given that he's one of the most underrated rookies from the 2018 class, and I was able to do just that thanks to another vendor that I recognized from past shows.

Albies is currently hitting .287 with 19 homers, 71 RBI, and 14 stolen bases in his 2nd full MLB season, but he's being overshadowed by quite possibly the hottest player in Baseball, his teammate Ronald Acuña Jr.

I don't know if Albies will ever have a chance to shine playing alongside Acuña, but I do know that he's one of the youngest and most talented all-around players in the game. At just 22 years old, he has the potential to be great.

The first 2 cards will go into the Ozzie Albies player collection that I'm working on creating, but the 2018 Topps Archives insert above will go towards that set. 

I don't remember which Topps set these Coming Attraction cards originally appeared in, but Topps dynamically recreated them with all the talented rookies from last season. Slowly but surely, I can see myself completing this insert set as well as last year's Archives base set.

When I crafted my card collecting goals for 2019, I listed, among other things, that I wanted to reach 500 cards in my Nolan Ryan PC by the end of the year. Well, today is September 3rd, and I've just now crossed the halfway mark.

The Fleer All-Star card above is my 475th Nolan Ryan card, meaning I have roughly 4 months to add 25 new cards if I want to meet that goal. I guess I thought this goal would be a lot easier to accomplish, so it looks like I'll have to hunt through the dime boxes quite a lot if I want to make this happen.

At this moment, one could make a strong case that Mookie Betts and Mike Trout are the faces of MLB given that they're both young, generational talents. 

While I would rank Trout above Mookie, Betts has been climbing the ranks ever since his 2016 AL MVP runner-up season, and I don't see him stopping anytime soon.

This is why I need to add Mookie Betts cards to my collection whenever it's convenient, for you never know when the prices for his cards could soar just like Mike Trout's.

Red Sox cards are always on my radar wherever I go, especially their young and talented players like Betts, Devers, and Andrew Benintendi. At the last show, I splurged on some monster hits for the Red Sox PC and while I didn't spring for any super expensive cards this time around, I added a nice Benintendi card to the PC.

I've always loved Benintendi's 2018 Topps Heritage card; the pink circle and the rookie cup, in particular, give it a very vintage feel. I was actually surprised to see this card (#/999) for just $3, but I didn't have any complaints as I gladly added this card to the stack I was amassing. 

And for the same price as the Benny chrome card, I picked up a nice fan favorites auto of an integral part of the late 60s and early 70s Chicago Cubs teams. Don Kessinger, who has a beautiful signature, by the way, made the All-Star team 6 times as a member of the Chicago Cubs.

The autograph is from last year's set and uses the 1971 Topps design effectively. This fan favorites signature comes after an extremely successful 2019 Topps Archives purchase that I also made over the weekend.

Not a single card included in this post cost me more than $3, but I was still careful about which ones I chose. At one point, I tried to search through the dime bins, but I wasn't feeling very inspired. I guess, at yesterday's show, I cared more about quality than quantity.

Sensational Red Sox Hits; Card Show Recap #21 Part 3

The more I think back to Monday's Memorial Day Baseball card show, the more I realize that it will go down as one of the greatest shows that I've ever attended in my life, even including my trip to The National last year. 

Thus far in my mini recap series, you've seen my posts about player collection additions and an entire 2019 Panini Prizm hobby box recap of the box that I purchased before leaving the show. 

Per usual, however, I've saved the best for last. This rather brief post, dedicated solely to Red Sox cards, features my top pickups of the entire Mansfield show. 

Specifically, there are 2 cards that I bought that have the potential to be a couple of the most valuable cards in my collection someday in the future. Even if that does not happen, the 2 autos are absolutely gorgeous, truly some of the most beautiful cards that I've seen in a while.

As the title suggests, the 3rd and final recap post from my trip to the Baseball card show on Monday is devoted solely to Red Sox hits. 

This post, somewhat shorter than the other 2, features 5 relic cards or autographs of Red Sox players that I purchased towards the end of my time at the show on Monday. As the post progresses, I'll be working my way up to the crown jewels of the entire visit, the 2 previously mentioned autographs.

But first, I have to begin with cards that may not be as glamorous or valuable as the final 2 autos of this post, but they're still, nevertheless, nice additions to my always-growing Boston Red Sox PC. Starting things off, for only $2, is a jersey relic of Don Baylor from SP Legendary Cuts.

Considering the incredibly low price, this card is an absolute bargain, especially since the jersey swatch is both a reasonable size and game-used. I'm just noticing now that the beige/sepia background features a scorecard from an MLB game, a minor detail that I appreciate.

Admittedly, the card isn't going to knock your socks off, but it's a well-made 2000s jersey relic nevertheless. I'm always looking to add inexpensive Red Sox relics to my collection, and for only $2, it was pretty much a no-brainer for the Don Baylor card above.

Next up, a game-used bat relic of a player whom I associate more with the Red Sox than Don Baylor, perennial Gold Glove outfielder Dwight Evans. Across the 19 seasons in which he was a member of the Boston Red Sox, Evans won 8 Gold Glove awards in RF.

The relic, on the other hand, honors Evans' offensive abilities as he finished his career with well over 1,300 RBI and nearly 400 home runs. Although the gold Archives stamp directly over the bat relic is something that has always bothered me about these cards, I've grown used to and accepted it as a part of these relics.

The wood bordered 1987 Topps set is a nice accompaniment to the bat relic, and I'm really fond of these Archives relics as a whole. I don't remember the price of this one, but I recall purchasing it for a reasonable cost.

At this point in the post, it's time to shift our attention over to the 3 Red Sox autographs that I purchased during my time at the Mansfield Show on Monday, all of which are from the Topps Five Star product. 

A high-end set that delivers just 3 cards per box, I believe that this brand includes only autographed cards; some of them are serial numbered, like the Jim Rice auto above, others may not be.

Speaking of the Jim Rice auto, I appreciate how elegant and pristine this card looks, from the gorgeous on-card auto to the background choice and, especially, the banner that contains the player's name. 

To my knowledge, every Topps Five Star autograph is on-card, but I could be wrong about this. My one critique would be the print run (386) is not only an extraordinarily odd number but a high number as well. You'd think something around 250 or 300 is more appropriate, but I suppose that's what allowed me to purchase this card for a moderate price.

This is my first autograph of Jim Rice, and it's a spectacular and beautiful card, especially considering it only cost me half a blaster box in money. However, I will admit that the next 2 cards were far more pricy, but neither myself nor my Dad regrets splurging in order to add these beautiful autos to our PC.

The first of the 2 magnificent Five Star autos that I alluded to earlier is from 2017; a rookie auto of Andrew Benintendi from their Golden Graphs mini-set. Although the scan makes it challenging to see the on-card auto, rookie symbol, and the player's name, I can assure you that all the factors of this card are more profound in-person.

Serial numbered out of a mere 25 copies, this card has to be one of the most beautiful autos that I've ever seen in my life. The black surface is perfect for the bronze ink that Benintendi signed with, and I adore the purple and gold combination as far as the borders are concerned.

Although I don't typically stray away from purchasing cards from high-end products, I've never done something quite like this; a top tier rookie auto from a high-end set. However, I've been pondering buying a Benintendi auto for well over a year now, and I feel as if he's a consistent enough player for this investment to be worth it.

In the case of the final Five Star auto and card from Monday's show, it's yet another player who's auto I have been chasing for over a year. As of late, he's been swinging an insanely hot bat, and the dealer at the show admitted to me that he hadn't changed the prices on the player's autos following his hot streak.

So, it was at that moment in which my Dad and I collectively decided that we would be splurging and buying not 1, but 2 sensational Red Sox rookie autos from Topps Five Star, both numbered out of just 25 copies. 

This time, the card was from 2018, and the rookie was Rafael Devers who's currently hitting .325 with 7 homers, 31 RBI, and even 7 stolen bases. He's making a strong case to be a starting All-Star for the AL this season and is even putting up numbers that could, ultimately, land him in the MVP discussion.

A performance like this from Devers is not unexpected, for many suspected that he'd have a breakout year in 2019. As of now, that is coming to fruition and as a result of his recent performance, we felt it was time to invest in a Devers auto as well.

Certainly, both of these rookie Five Star autos are absolutely gorgeous, and I'm a huge fan of both Benintendi and Devers as they are incredibly different yet talented stars. 

Now, more so than ever, I'll be cheering for Benintendi and Devers as individuals in addition to the team as a whole. Although I cherish the cards simply because of how stunning they are, it wouldn't hurt for Devers and Benintendi to continue playing at a high level for years to come.

A Wide Range of PC Pickups; Card Show Recap #21

Let me preface the next few posts by declaring that today's Memorial Day Baseball card show was one of the most bizarre shows that I've ever attended, and I mean this in the best way possible. 

Although the cards featured in today's post aren't anything out of the ordinary for me (mostly player collection pickups), the Baseball card show, as a whole, was insane.

Looking back at my goals for today's show, I definitely departed from the objectives that I set for myself. Rather than searching through the dime bins and chasing down specific cards, I went for quality over quantity.

While I certainly wanted to adhere to my goals, I have no regrets about any of the purchases that I made. As you'll see in the following days, I went in a few different directions earlier today, including picking up a couple of players whose autographs I've been thinking about purchasing for over a year now.

Later this week, I'll get into my autograph pickups and the packs that I opened. For now, I'll start things off with a look at the group of player collection additions that I gradually purchased throughout today's show.

As I mentioned, today was one of the few shows that I've ever attended in which I avoided the dime bins altogether. I'm not always going to have this quality over quantity mentality, but it was a departure from my usual visits to the show.

Across the 2ish hours that my Dad and I passed at the show, we continuously added new cards to our player collections, both together and separately. While I was walking around the show at the beginning of the day, unsure as to what to purchase, my Dad grabbed a stack of cards that were priced 4/$1.

The cards that he ended up with consisted primarily of retired players' cards from the early 2000s, just like the 4 Mike Schmidt cards above. Although I have a ton of cards from this era, the 4 major card companies (Donruss, Fleer, Topps, and Upper Deck), produced an unprecedented number of sets, resulting in a huge volume of cards like the 4 above.

Greg Maddux is an example of a player who benefited tremendously from the significant production of cards in the 90s and early 2000s. His superstar status allowed for an insane number of Maddux cards to produced. 

Maddux has always been one of my favorite players to collect, and the cards above symbolize exactly why this is the case. Despite the 250+ cards that I have of the 4-time Cy Young award winner, we're constantly finding new ones to add to his player collection.

The affordable prices and the wide availability of these cards is what allows me to grow my player collections up to gold and even platinum tier status. Even on the rare occasions when I opt not to go through the dime bins, a Baseball card show hasn't passed in which I haven't picked up new cards for my PCs.

The Nolan Ryan card in the top left corner is from an oddball set called Starline from 1990. It may be the sole card of Ryan's that I picked up today, but it will, nevertheless, help me towards achieving my goal of 500 cards of the all-time strikeouts leader by the end of 2019.

Since 2017, Topps Inception has produced some of the most beautiful base cards out of any high-end set. The white backgrounds with a gorgeous splash of color resemble a more lavish version of Allen & Ginter.

The boxes, although not outrageously expensive, deliver just 7-8 cards for around $60-70. Because of the significant price per card, I'll likely never buy a box of Inception, but that won't stop me from keeping an eye out for the base cards from this beautiful set for some of my top tier PCs.

Up until 2015, I typically avoided new releases in favor of trips to the Baseball card show, so I never collected the Diamond Anniversary and Cognac parallels from 2011 Topps. 

Years later, I'm making up for the lost time by occasionally adding one of these beautiful parallels to my collection. Today, it was "Mike" Stanton and his 2011 Topps rookie cup card that I picked up for short money towards the end of my time at the show. 

Even though I didn't see all of my goals for today's show to fruition, I got my desired sampling of the parallels from 2019 Panini Prizm from the show's case breaker. I didn't want to go too crazy with these cards, so I limited myself to only a few parallels that piqued my interest.

Among the cards that I chose were 2 red mojo refractors, numbered to 299, of George Springer and Andrew McCutchen. Prior to the show, Collecting Cutch asked me to keep my eyes open for any low-numbered McCutchen cards, a request that I was more than happy to abide by.

If you haven't bought the red mojo card already, I'd be pleased to send it your way.

In addition to the 2 red mojo parallels, I was captivated by 1 additional parallel of a guy that I collect from 2019 Panini Prizm; a snakeskin parallel of Kris Bryant numbered to just 50 copies. 

Panini, especially with Prizm, Chronicles, and all of their Basketball and Football products, are insanely creative when it comes to parallels. Seeing this bizarre snakeskin parallel only makes me wish that they'd have the MLB license, for I cannot imagine how much these cards would improve if only Panini could use Baseball logos.

After directing most of my focus towards modern cards from the post-2000s, I gravitated towards a couple of vintage cards as the show came to an end. Specifically, I picked up 2 base cards of Johnny Bench that I'd yet to acquire for his player collection, one of them being his 1973 Topps card.

Most of my viewers know my feelings on the 1973 Topps set; I love the photography but feel that the base design is far too boring. However, the product is home to a surplus of unique images and angles that separates the photos of '73 Topps from that of virtually every other Topps Flagship product.

For a few dollars, the '73 Bench card was an easy choice and a fabulous pickup. Then, I stumbled upon another card of the HOF catcher that, even taking the condition into account, was priced at a bargain.

For far less than the price of a blaster box, I acquired Bench's 1969 Topps All-Star rookie card that, aside from the surface, is in excellent condition. For whatever reason, vintage rookie cup cards have evaded me, for I don't have all that many of them in my player collections.

Now, I have a fabulous new rookie cup card for my Johnny Bench player collection, thus becoming the oldest card in my Bench PC. I've seen reprints of this iconic card before, but I never thought about owning this beauty myself. 

That all changed today, thanks to an unusual visit to the Mansfield Baseball card show.

To be continued...

My Goals For the Memorial Day Mansfield Show

As I alluded to during my frankenset post from earlier this week, I'm thrilled to announce that I'll be going to the Memorial Day Mansfield show this Monday after a month-long break from attending Baseball card shows.

Following the intensity of the Shriner's show towards the end of April, it was necessary that I took a reasonable break from Baseball card shows in order to put all my new cards away and categorize them online.

Usually, I don't opt to set goals for myself when attending Baseball card shows only because I feel like they sometimes limit what I can and cannot purchase.

Because Baseball card shows, specifically the Mansfield one, are unpredictable, I never quite know what I'll come across. While I'm certainly setting these goals with the intent of accomplishing them, I don't want to be restricted because of the goals that I set.

Therefore, consider the following 5 objectives "loose goals" of sorts. Yes, I'll do what I can to accomplish each and every one of them, but my primary objective for Monday's show is to enjoy myself and come home with a wide range of different cards and even some pieces of memorabilia.

#1 Go through the dime bins

Let me put it this way; it's noteworthy when I go to a Baseball card show and don't look through the dime bins. That's how essential they are to virtually every show that I attend, and I don't expect anything to change this Monday.

I always gravitate towards a certain vendor whenever I purchase dime cards, and I fully expect him to be at Monday's Mansfield show. He always puts together spectacular dime bins, no matter the occasion, so I definitely foresee myself passing some time at his booth and returning home with a sizeable stack of cards for 10 cents apiece. 

#2 Work on vintage sets

Whether I end up pursuing set needs from 1961, 1976, or 1979 Topps, I'd like to make some progress with at least 1 of the 3 vintage Topps sets that I'm currently collecting. Granted, 1976 and 1979 aren't products that are commonly sold by dealers, but I should have little to no problem tracking down at least 1 vendor selling individual cards from this set.

I'm still missing a few notable cards (Clemente, Mantle, and Marichal's rookie card, to be exact), but I've yet to reach the point in which I have to go online and seek out certain cards. For the time being, I can concentrate on the set as a whole and locate commons for an inexpensive price.

#3 Open at least 1 pack

While I'm not willing to overpay for any 2019 Bowman mega boxes that I may find at Monday's show, I would like to open at least 1 pack of cards, preferably hobby. There's always a couple of vendors at this show who sell hobby packs directly out of the box, so I'll definitely turn to them if and when the time comes.

Obviously, 2018 Panini Chronicles, one of my favorite products from last year, is high on my list, but I also wouldn't mind testing out the new 2019 Panini Prizm. There's something so satisfying about opening packs of cards that I just have to test my luck with at least one of them at the upcoming show.

#4 Locate parallels from 2019 Panini Prizm

Speaking of packs, the 20+ different parallels from the recently-released 2019 Panini Prizm have intrigued me, so much so that one of my objectives for the Memorial Day show is to locate at least one of them, most likely from the show's case breaker.

My only criteria when looking for these parallels is whether or not I collect the specific player; that's it. Other than that, my mind is totally open to whatever unique parallels come my way, whether it's snakeskin or donut circles.

#5 Find some non-Baseball card memorabilia

The Mansfield show has delivered some fabulous non-Baseball card pieces of memorabilia in the past, including these exclusive McDonald's glasses featuring iconic Topps Baseball cards. 

While I don't expect to find something quite as noteworthy as these glasses, my 5th and final objective is to find some piece of memorabilia to take home with me. This could be a poster, pennant,  or anything else that's not a typical Baseball card.

I'm certainly not trying to avoid cards altogether, but I am trying to add some variety to my Baseball card show haul. Hopefully, with goal #5 as well as the other 4, I'll be able to accomplish this.

Focusing on Red Sox Cards; Card Show Recap #16

With my want list in-hand and certain goals rolling around in my head, I made the trip to the Mansfield card show today after being absent from shows completely for around 2 months.

With roughly 1 show per month, the Mansfield card show is a bigger shown than the Woburn show that I usually attend. It includes some of the same vendors as well as new dealers like the one I bought a lot of Red Sox cards from today.

I usually stay away from setting goals for myself at card shows simply because there's no real guarantee that I'll be able to find exactly what I'm looking for. 

However, I've learned that setting general goals, such as "pick up some nice Red Sox cards," can be accomplished while I might not have as much luck with a more specific goal like buying a certain card.

So when I walked into the card show earlier today, I had a mission to find some Red Sox cards in addition to some dime box pickups and a little bit of vintage. I'll begin today by showing what I was able to find for Red Sox cards, and you'll soon see that there was quite a wide range of different Sox cards for sale.

As I previously mentioned, the dealer I bought most of these Red Sox cards from doesn't sell at the Woburn show, so I took advantage of the fact that he was present at the Mansfield show by going after a few players, in particular, one of them being Rafael Devers.

Despite his injuries and batting average struggles in 2018, I still have high hopes for Devers, and apparently, Baseball America did as well with the A+ grade that they gave to the 3rd baseman in the 2017 Bowman's Best set. 3 of these cards will be going to the Devers player collection while the Heritage New Age Performers is a need for the 2018 set.

While I don't foresee myself buying a box of the product, I enjoy picking up singles from Topps Heritage Minor League of players that I collect in order to add some unique cards to my player collections. For $1 each, it was a no-brainer to pick up these 2 inserts of Devers from the 2017 product back when he was with the Red Sox's AA-affiliate, the Portland Seadogs.

If the card costs me a dime, I usually don't have a problem with unlicensed cards. With that being said, it takes something special for me to spend a few dollars or more on a card without MLB logos. 

Numbered 94/99, this silver framed parallel from 2018 Panini Diamond Kings is an elegant looking card dominated by dark and light grey shades. It's not your usual Red Sox card with tons of red on it, but that's part of the reason why I picked this card up for Devers' player collection.

Because he had a better overall 2018 season than Rafael Devers, Andrew Benintendi's cards were a bit more expensive, many of them more than I was willing to pay. He's still one of my favorite Red Sox players, so I picked up a couple of nice, non-numbered parallels for the Benintendi player collection nonetheless.

Unfortunately, this particular vendor did not have a section of his boxes dedicated to Craig Kimbrel like he did for other Red Sox players, but a little digging around resulted in me finding one of his rookie cards from 2011 Bowman for just a dollar. 

I also spotted an Archives encased auto of Kimbrel today, but my dad wisely advised me to hold off on his cards until he signs in free agency, either with the Red Sox or another team.

One thing that I was very pleased with was the variety of Red Sox players whom I purchased cards of today. Thanks to the vendor's excessive selection of both past and present stars, I was able to add to many of my Red Sox player collections. 

Included in the cards I purchased today was a few different high-end cards, including a Boggs and Bogaerts base card from the 2017 Topps Tribute set, cards that, in my opinion, are unnecessarily too thick.

Topps Triple Threads is usually a set that breaks the typical serial numbering of parallel cards from sets like Bowman Chrome and Topps Finest. With orange parallels out of 150 and greens out of 259, I was pleased to see affordable, high-end parallels of 2 of the greatest players in Red Sox history. 

It's a tough call, but I'd have to say the Williams is my favorite of the 2 because of the improved base set design with the 2018 Triple Threads product.

This is definitely a first for me; a Home Run Heroics card from 2004 Upper Deck Play Ball, featuring the box score from the game in which Ted Williams hit his 500th career home run. 

Easily one of the coolest cards I picked up today, the card has an old-time feel which is something I believe Upper Deck was going for with their Play Ball product. It's a pretty crazy card, and it's opened me up to an insanely cool insert set that I'll have to take a look at later on COMC.

The best word I can use to describe this 2004 Fleer In-Scribed Induction Ceremony relic card of Carlton Fisk is "awesome,' because this silver and black card takes the relic card to a whole new level. It's serial numbered out of just 100 copies, and this is one time where I'm actually thankful for the plain white jersey, for it goes well with the simple colors across the rest of the card. 

Every detail of the card is meticulously chosen, and it shows, big time, with this card already becoming one of my favorite relics in my collection.

Told you today was an excellent day for Rafael Devers cards. In addition to all the cards I showed before, I purchased my first-ever coin card today, also from 2017 Topps Heritage Minor League. Included on the card is a nickel that was minted in 1968, and the colors throughout the card really do embody what the 60s sets were all about.

For someone who doesn't plan on buying a box of Heritage Minor League, I certainly bought my fair share of Devers cards from that set today.

But even with coin cards, parallels, and a few oddballs as well, it was this Carlton Fisk relic card from 2010 Topps Triple Threads that captured my attention more than any other card today, and not just because the card is numbered out of 27, Fisk's jersey number from his time in Boston.

Rarely do you see a card that consists of as many bats or jersey pieces as this Carlton Fisk relic, spelling out his successes from the 1972 season. His All-Star appearance, Rookie of the Year award, and Gold Glove award are all spelled out in pieces of his bat as well as the season that he accomplished all these feats.

I picked up my first Triple Threads letter relic, for the lack of a better word, a couple of weeks ago, featuring Chris Sale and numbered to 9. Now, I'll have a Carlton Fisk to accompany the Sale card, and it's the crown jewel of a stellar selection of Sox cards from today.

A Pleasant Surprise; Card Show Recap #15 Part #3

Before the Black Friday show, I hadn't been to the Mansfield sports card show in a number of months for a number of reasons. Non-Sunday shows not being possible, wanting to save money for The National, and it not being a weekly show all contributed to the fact that I wasn't able to attend for quite some time.

This time, the main question was not if I could attend, but if I wanted to take part in the COMC Black Friday sale instead. Ultimately, I chose the baseball card show and could not be more happy with my decision. 

Not only did I come back with a nice variety of cards, but I also received a pleasant surprise from someone I met in-person for the first time while at the show.

I've been trying to attend the Mansfield show the same day as fellow Red Sox fan and loyal reader Mark Hoyle for months now, but as I said before, it hasn't worked out. If I remember correctly, we were at a show or 2 the same day earlier this year but hadn't realized that until the show had been over for a couple of days.

Mark seems to be a regular at the Mansfield sports card show, and his Twitter page is chock-full of awesome Red Sox cards and memorabilia finds from previous trips. Once I had been at the show for about 15 minutes, we met each other at the front and chatted for a little while. 

Before we parted ways, he generously handed over a package of 1976 and 1979 Topps cards from the want list, much to my surprise and appreciation. To make things even more special, he told me that a majority of the cards included in the box were pulled by him out of packs back when he was a kid. Don't worry, Mark, I promise I'll take care of them.

After completing 1972 and 1975 Topps having been completed over the last 6 months or so, I reminded myself it was time to turn my attention towards these 2 sets with more emphasis on 1976 due to it being the older of the 2 70's sets that I'm currently building. That time hasn't quite come yet, but I also haven't spotted much or any '76 or '79 Topps at the shows I've been attending.

One of the most underrated Topps sets I can name, 1976 Topps takes a page out of '75 Topps' book by featuring bold color combinations just like 1975 Topps did. What helps to separate 1976 Topps from the latter is less emphasis on the colors and more on the images and equally colorful jerseys.

There are only so many colors and combinations out there, meaning sometimes in a Topps set, a couple of teams need to share a certain shade or duo of different colors. Despite all of this, 1976 Topps does an excellent job at making certain that the set doesn't get redundant.

In addition to having a perfect-sized checklist of 660 cards, teams with the same color combo, at least in this instance, have the colors flipped in order to create a wider range or unique cards across the set. 

I'm no vintage set guru, so I can't say for certain if something like this has been done before, but even if it has, it shows why '76 Topps is one of my favorite sets in a decade full of some of the best sets ever made.

Because 1976 Topps is a set from the middle of the 1970s, it means there are plenty of cards with colorful uniforms, action images, and intriguing backgrounds. Out of the 30 or so cards from the set that Mark generously gave me, these 4 were my personal favorites due to how well they represent the decade that the set is from. 

In particular, Nyls Nyman (awesome name) and his red White Sox jersey show the short-lived red-striped uniforms that, combined with light green, gives the card a slight Christmas feel.

Moving on, Mark was kind enough to send me off with another 30 cards or so from 1979 Topps, the 2nd 70s set I'm piecing together and yet another example of an underrated product. With the perfect placement of the retro Topps logo on the baseball, '79 Topps also includes color combinations and bright banners that vaguely resemble '76 Topps in some way or another.

Like the lot of 1976 Topps cards, I instantly picked out some favorites amongst the 1979 cards with Gene Tenace on the Padres taking top prize as my favorite of the entire group. Even though 1979 was the last year of the 70s and times in baseball were changing, the colorful uniforms that became so popular throughout this decade would be able to live on for a little while after.

Team cards are featured in both sets, but only 1979 Topps includes prospect cards, a concept that would be expanded upon throughout the 1980s, becoming rookie stars and/or future star cards including the same number of players, 3. Of the 6 total players between the Mariners and A's prospect cards, Bud Anderson and Dwayne Murphy are the sole names that I can recognize.

Thanks to Mark and the Mansfield sports card show, I was able to have an incredible Black Friday without spending hours in line at Target. Instead, I ventured through dime boxes and was the recipient of a wonderful box of cards that will go towards my completing of these 2 70s sets.

Thanks again for the cards, Mark. I truly appreciate it.