Came For Supplies, Left With a Bit More

It's not always intentional, but I often find that a quick trip to my LCS for organizational supplies turns into a reasonable Baseball card purchase. Like today, for instance, when I left the card shop with the penny sleeves and top-loaders that I needed along with a stack of Baseball cards as well.

The perennial dime box pickups will be showcased at a later time, but for now, I'll be concentrating on the cards in the $1-$3 range that I chose for myself. 

Every month or so, the card shop that I visited earlier today replenishes these boxes with new cards, featuring rookie stars, retired players, or serial numbered cards.

At a place like the Baseball card show, I could see these same cards going for twice the amount of money that I paid at my LCS. It's likely that the sheer volume of memorabilia that card shops sell allows them to price some cards slightly lower, including the cards in the $1-$3 range that I carefully selected. 

After scanning through the dime bins and locating what I needed for supplies, I found myself with around $10 left in the budget for any other cards that I wanted. Ultimately, I wound up with 7 cards in this price range, including a wide variety of cards from all 3 categories that I previously mentioned. 

The only disadvantage of buying $1 vintage cards is that I often end up with cards of lesser-known players and not guys that I collect. The advantages are every other factor in this case. 

As my Dad is quick to tell me, vintage cards aren't going to be common and available forever, and when it comes to teams that I'm fond of, I have no problem sparing $1 per card. In addition to the Red Sox and the Cubs, the Pirates, Expos, and Oakland A's are among my favorite Baseball teams. 

In particular, the Pittsburgh Pirates and their fabulous uniforms and players throughout the 60s and 70s put them in the top 5 on my list of favorite MLB franchises. 

Unbeknownst to me until I looked up his age just a few moments ago, Vladimir Guerrero Jr turns 20 years old today. Still, after spending multiple seasons in the minors, Baseball fans, including myself, are anticipating the MLB debut of this renowned, talented player.

Although I expect more combo cards to be produced that show Vlad Jr. with his father, this specific piece is from 2016 Bowman, Guerrero Jr's first season in the Toronto Blue Jays' organization. If he pans out the way he's supposed to, Vlad Jr. could continue a family legacy like no father and son ever have before.

2 years after the 2017 Bowman set was released and I'm still finding myself loving these chrome reproduction cards as you'll see later on as well. I've seen enough of these reprint cards to have a reasonable idea about the checklist, but this is the first time I've seen Hank Aaron's reprinted 1948 Bowman card, for he wasn't even in the original '48 Bowman set.

Aaron's my favorite player in Baseball history, so I take as many opportunities as possible to add to my player collection of his. That's why this 2017 Bowman reproduction wasn't the only card I picked up of the (former) home run king today.

In what could quite possibly be my first serial numbered card of Hank Aaron, I selected an amethyst parallel as my most expensive card of the day ($3). 

From 2017 Topps Museum, a set that I've purchased many individual cards from beforehand, the unique colored parallel is combined with an iconic uniform and a simple black border. If the cards from this high-end product weren't so hard to come by, I could definitely envision myself attempting to complete this eye-catching base set.

On most days, a Hank Aaron parallel numbered out of 99 copies, would be the highlight of a quick trip to my LCS. However, for the mere price of $1, I was able to pick up an unbelievably low-numbered card. 

In one of the greatest deals I've ever gotten for a single card, I purchased this Phil Rizzuto orange refractor for only a buck, and it's serial numbered out of 25 copies on the back.

Based on the 1951 Bowman set, Rizzuto's card features a background reminiscent of the original set. At the same time, however, the orange border somehow works with the vintage-style design.

Serial numbered 9/25, the card backs also remind me a lot of the early 50s Bowman product. The card back of the 1 original card from 1951 Bowman that I own, Casey Stengel, has its similarities to this reprint.

Rizzuto is one of the player collections that I don't get the chance to add to all that often, much less a numbered card. 2 HOF numbered cards plus 5 other cards for either $1-$2 each. Honestly, it's hard to beat that when you're only going to your LCS for supplies.

A Dime Box Search to End 2018

Well, 2018 hasn't officially ended quite yet, but a shortage of supplies prompted a quick trip to my LCS earlier today where I found myself in a familiar spot; searching through the owner's dime boxes.

In the past, the dime bins at this card shop have rivaled even the best of the boxes that I see at the show. Low numbered cards, high-end base, and major players that I collect are all typically found within these boxes. 

This time around, the owner had replenished the boxes, big time, along with an entirely new box being added to the group.

There are a lot of posts that I'd like to do over the next few days, meaning some will carry over into 2019. The last 2 decades of ranking Topps sets, a recap of my 2018 collecting goals, and a general end of year post featuring my thoughts on 2018 cards and best pulls are all posts that are on the radar for the next few days.

Even with all those posts left to do, I prefer posting highlights from the dime boxes as soon as I possibly can. With the cards still fresh in my mind, I express my thoughts on the cards in a much clearer way.

Oddballs aren't necessarily a strength of these dime boxes, but that didn't stop me from tracking down a few of them, consisting mostly of big-name player collections. I'm a huge fan of the A-Rod Donruss Originals card as well as the Mantle from 2007 Topps Chrome.

On the other hand, the Ken Griffey Jr. Member's Choice and whatever parallel this is of Joey Votto from 2018 Donruss Optic are nice additions to 2 of my fastest growing player collections.

Topps has been running the Bowman Holiday promotion for a little over a month now if I remember correctly. Like last year, I still don't see the appeal of these "holiday" cards that have nothing more than a new logo thrown in the upper right corner. 

Still, it's hard to complain about the set with big names like Trout and Kershaw winding up in the dime boxes. 

Topps has made a point to include no shortage of retired players in many of their sets today, but they haven't necessarily featured names like Vida Blue or Ken Griffey Sr. It seems like the same group of Hall of Famers can be found in year after year of Stadium Club and various high-end sets, but it's a lot more exciting to find cards of sometimes forgotten stars from back in the day.

Tony Gwynn is one of the recently-formed player collections that I created a couple weeks ago along with Corey Kluber, Max Scherzer, David Price, and Robin Yount. Gwynn isn't a guy I see too often at the card show or shop, which is part of what makes finding this Panini Donruss variation card so rewarding, even if it is unlicensed. 

It's been a few months since I've gone through the dime boxes at this shop, so I didn't really have an idea of what to expect out of the bins. While I've seen high-end in these boxes before, I can't say I've seen a selection this strong with 2018 Topps Museum being thoroughly represented. 

I hadn't seen this set design before today, but I'm more interested in the players I found, specifically the Hank Aaron card from his days in Atlanta.

With my Anthony Rizzo player collection hovering around the 90-card mark, any card I'll take almost any card I can find to bring that player collection closer and closer to 100 cards. If nothing else, the collection grew by a card today, thanks to a bronze parallel from the same 2018 Topps Museum product.

It may be from a couple years ago (2014), but I got a similar feeling when I found the Will Clark card to when I spotted the Griffey Sr. and Vida Blue. I was pleased to add to player collections of guys I believe to be underrepresented by card companies, mainly Topps, today. 

It's pretty easy to find a card of a guy like Greg Maddux card in the dime bins if I looked hard enough. Will Clark, now that's a bit more of a challenge.

The duo of cards shown above from 2018 Topps Triple Threads was my very first look at this product entirely just like I saw my first cards from 2018 Topps Museum as well. Even with just 2 cards of drastically different players, I was able to get a sense of what this years' set is like. 

I'm especially fond of the matte finish to the cards, something that could help the surface stay in better shape than having a glossy finish on the front of the cards.

But the biggest surprise of the entire search of the dime boxes was finding 2 original 1965 Topps cards, both in reasonable shape. Granted, I'm not familiar with Mike De La Hoz nor Russ Nixon, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to add 2 cards to my collection from one of my favorite sets of all-time.

The Nixon will be added to my Red Sox binders while the Braves card will have a spot in my older vintage card binders. I've always loved the mini pennants of the 1965 set, and the classic Red Sox logo is another plus. 

And if there's any hope of me completing the 1965 Topps set someday many, many years from now, I'll need every card I can get.

Another New Card Shop Discovery

With a couple errands in need of being done yesterday afternoon, I found myself getting closer and closer to one of the card shops I often stop by for dime bins, supplies, and the occasional inexpensive box. 

With the intent to pick up some supplies as well as maybe a pack or 2, I decided to keep heading in the direction of the shop when it occurred to me that there was, in fact, another shop in this area.

For years, I had been trying to stop by this store, but the hours simply didn't match up to when I could go by for a visit, and on the few occasions where they did match up, it would be near a holiday or a Sunday, and the store would be closed.

But this time, I called ahead to make sure they were open and sure enough, they were. Without really thinking, I found my way to this store, a place I had been wanting to stop by for a while now.

First and foremost, this place was absolutely insane. It consisted of a couple different rooms filled to the brink with boxes, packs, Boston sports memorabilia, binders, boxes, and just about anything else you could think of. It was definitely overwhelming, especially since I had never been here before which partially contributes to why I was there for an entire hour.

I picked up 2 things at this newly-discovered card shop, the first being a sealed pack of 2013 Panini Hometown Heroes which I'll be showing today. The 2nd thing was a much appreciated birthday gift courtesy of my Dad which I'll be posting sometime in the upcoming week.

I've always thought Hometown Heroes was a prime example of what a well-made unlicensed product looks like. The 24-card pack ended up costing me nothing due to the purchase of my previously-mentioned early birthday gift which I'll be showing within the next couple of days.

#62 Justin Verlander

Around half of this set is dedicated to modern players, those who were stars back in 2013. As for the set design, it certainly has a retro feel with a well-placed logo to go along with some red stars on a yellow background with a red pennant in the front that resembles 1965 Topps. Unlike '65 Topps and other retro sets, the colors don't change depending on the card. It's red and yellow through and through.

#20 Frank White

The other half of the set focuses on fan-favorite players, primarily from the 1980's and 1990's, an era very often under-represented on modern-day cardboard, likely because of the sheer number of cards produced throughout those 2 decades. Though some names make me feel like I need to brush up on my baseball knowledge, it's nice to see players like Frank White in the product, because it's not every day I can add a new Frank White card to my player collection of his.

#77 Bobby Witt

#100 Felix Hernandez

It's sad that Hernandez's ERA got so bad this year that he was regulated to a bullpen role. It almost makes you forget there was a time he was card #100 material.

#16 Dennis Eckersley

In some cases, Panini doesn't even try to cover up the no logos. There are numerous examples, including cards within this set, in which they use images that cover up part of the cap. However, choosing too many of those images no doubt can get repetitive, so I suppose there are some cases in which they just have to show the no logo head on.

#73 Tony Gwynn

Like I said, there are plenty of examples in which Panini chooses a particular photo in order to hide the no logos on the cap and jersey. Frank White's card from earlier in the pack and Tony Gwynn's card here to an excellent job at that.

#30 Paul Molitor

#87 Mike Krukow

#115 Matt Cain

#172 Mickey Tettleton

As far as Panini card backs go, this set is above-average due to it's improved utilization of the space provided. Granted, there are still multiple examples of dead space, and I wish they had included more stats, but the colors work even better on the card backs than they do on the fronts, and the blurbs about the players are always interesting quick reads.

#129 Jack Clark

#186 Tim Salmon

#144 Roger Clemens

#102 Max Scherzer

#160 Tom Brunansky

#R9 Darryl Strawberry Rivalry

One of my favorite insert sets in recent memory, Rivalry highlights 1 player that played on different arch-rival teams and shows that player in both uniforms on the same card. Johnny Damon and Wade Boggs are among players I believe are in this set, for they wore both Red Sox and Yankees jerseys. However, before pulling Strawberry in the pack, Lee Smith (Cubs and Cardinals) was the only one that I had.

#154 Dave Stieb State Stamp

Falling at approximately 1 per pack, the state stamp cards take a standard base card and place a gold stamp in the top right corner, highlighting the state that player was born in. It's another great concept of the set, though I would prefer a smaller sampling in order to choose a different design besides the base set. 

Nevertheless, the card I pulled is of a player not even from the U.S. It's Dave Stieb, born in Ontario, Canada. I don't know about you, but I find that pretty cool.

#CH3 Randy Johnson City Hall

I'm not exactly sure of the premise behind these City Hall insert cards considering there must be some kind of the idea behind them. However, I do know this insert set can be added to the long list of Panini cards that would work multitudes better if only they had the licensing rights.

#231 Luis Gonzalez

#221 Fred McGriff

#208 Mark Lemke

#233 Matt Moore

#242 Albert Pujols

Ending the pack with a player I collect sure isn't bad, especially since I've seen much more obvious logoless caps and helmets in the pack than Albert Pujols here. I think it's because of the shininess of the helmet. If nothing else, it serves to slightly distract you whereas the cap does not.

I'll admit, it's not as great of a set as I remember, but the new card shop certainly is an exciting place. Once a couple weeks to a little over a month pass from the purchase of the birthday gift that I have ready to go tomorrow or Tuesday, you can bet I'll do what I can to take another trip to the shop.