Philly Show 12/4/21: Part Two- Utter Non-Cents

 

So. I'd had some success at this particular Philly show. I'd brushed with some oddities, some cool stuff, but I wasn't convinced yet. 

And I was already slightly discouraged. One of my heroes, Jim Thome, was signing at this show, and his auto prices were way out of my budget. Hearing 'okay, tickets 1 to 120 for Jim Thome' every so often did remind me what could have been. Of course, there's always other shows. A friend of my dad's was there, with a pennant from the 1980 World Series, looking to get Manny Trillo's signature for it, which would leave him with only 3 to go [I assumed he'd already gotten Pete Rose, who was at this show]. Of course, he had a well-paying job and right now I'm only freelancing. Things to look forward to.

Anyway, I soldiered on, looking for more low-price bins with some gold in them.

Dealer #3- Dimes of the Past

This table seemed to be a multi-generation team. The father handled the more traditional dime boxes and card show staples while the sons were working mojo sales and acquisitions. There were a bunch of dime boxes at this table, but some were out of reach, and this was my last table of the day before my hard out. So I just picked through what was there, and I still managed a great deal of stuff. On a lot of online card-buying sites, I don't like stealing the Ozzie Smiths, cause they're usually more sought after, so I've never gotten this 1995 Pinnacle one, in mid-backflip. Now I do.

This guy's stuff seemed to emphasize junk wax a bit more. Lots of 80s stuff in here, commons and all, and some 90s and early 2000s stuff. None of the recent stuff that littered the rest of these tables. This was sort of refreshing. Yes, some of this stuff can be a little on the nose at these, but you never know what'll pop up. For instance, these 90s inserts I've never been able to get most of, including a lot of early Dream Teams. And that Yount from 92 Fleer I'd seen on the blogs before, but needed to own.

A surprising winner in this bin? Donruss Studio! Found a lot of Studio stuff lurking around here. I never even run into 96 Studio at all, it's very underrated. 

Also, it should be evident that a lot of this bin was specific player collections, lots of different prevalent figures in the 90s and 00s, Hall of Famers and stars. 

I'm still looking for little inklings of the Stadium Club Members Only sets, which were cool if rare these days. These two, of Brett and Yount collecting their 3000th hits in 1992, are definitely worth it. An early indication of graphic editing prowess from Topps.

There was also a nice row or so of Yankees, which did benefit this specific Yankee collector. Another Members Only card, another Donruss Studio, and that very cool Hitters Inc subset from Score 96. Boggs' eyes just say 'i'm gonna have to ask you to exit the Dairy Queen'.

This box also had a TON of Bernie Williams. This isn't even all of them. For a Bernie collector like me, this was very good news. A lot of fun ones in here, like the sleeveless fit in 96 Score, the very thick 2001 Topps HD card, the realization that there is, in fact, a set called 2002 Upper Deck Ballpark Idols, and the random Soriano card I threw into this scan because I wasn't paying attention.

Some sets you don't see very often, like 2002 Leaf and 1994 Flair. 

And then you had these ones from 2005 Fleer Tradition, commemorating several major league stints that had already concluded by the point of release. How had I never gotten that Alomar before? That is a cool one. 

The king of this specific dime bin? Hideo Nomo, surprisingly. There were LOTS of Nomo cards. And, like Bernie, it appealed directly to the kind of weirdo who collects him. Like, I have tons of 2004 Skybox Autographics from my entry into the hobby, and somehow I didn't have this one yet. 

ALL OF THESE were new to me. So many new Nomos. That 98 Pacific Online one of Nomo BATTING is insane. Heck, a couple of these were sets I glimpsed in Nachos Grande breaks that alerted me to the existence of these cards. So this was...something.

There were even issues from Nomo's other MLB stints. I got one of each. Also, today I learned that 2001 Donruss Signature Series is, in fact, a baseball card set that exists.

Alright, I hinted at them. Let's...let's get to the nickel bins.

Dealer #4: FIVE CENTS FOR THESE???

I had to, like...triple take. Okay, the sign said '.05, baseball'. Which was great. But...you look at the quality of the cards in here, and you go 'these can't possibly be selling for a nickel each'. These are...GOOD. Am I reading this wrong? Does .05 mean 50 cents actually? Sure enough, these were legit nickel bins. And so everything in this next section I got for 5 dollars altogether. It was also the table I got the most cards at. God bless nickel bins.

This table's contents were spread out, but most were centered around the last 10 or so years of cardboard. There was, though, a surprising amount of inserts from 2007 SP Authentic, including a much-needed depiction of Kenny Lofton's time in Arlington. I'll point out that this was the year that DHL put out the ad about how often Lofton gets traded, and he was, in fact, traded during the season. 

Hey, you know what these nickel bins had that I didn't think they would? Set needs. Maybe not a TON, but a few. This 67 McCovey reprint went towards the Cards Your Mother Threw Out set that I keep remembering I'm collecting.

The top 3 here went towards my 2020 Archives set. The bottom 3 I already had, but they just go towards my regular binders now.

A few team collection things in here. Various catch-ups from 2020 A&G and such. 

A few legends SC base cards I believe I did not have. The Mays definitely looks new, and incredible, to me.

As I said, lots of 2020 A&G, so I stocked up on legends. Great to see Larry Doby, that McCovey looks to be from around the end of his career [79 or 80], and always nice to see Molitor as a Blue Jay.

Boggs as a Ray was the shocker. Did not expect to pick up 2 different 98 Rays A&G cards yesterday.

Two different 00's Archives issues of Henry. Hank Aaron for a nickel is...odd and rare.

This box had a ton of recent inserts. YES, FIVE CENT INSERTS, I GENUINELY COULDN'T BELIEVE IT. Even if it was a lot of recent Topps inserts, I had to get these 4 fringe HOF pitchers ya don't see often. I barely have any Jim Bunning Tigers cards anyway.

Not just Topps inserts. Inserts from all over. An Edwin Diaz insert from 2019 Finest that looks super cool. A Lindor insert from 2020 Optic that's well designed. Five cents! Sure!

Lots of Diamond Kings inserts too, which I'm always looking for. These always look really cool. 

Some dispatches from the 2018 Topps Salute series, a very minimal idea for an insert set that still had some cool ideas, like showcasing throwbacks. Edwin's looks awesome.

Assorted ones from 2018 and 2017. More Cutches, including a Giants one!

Legends in the Making is a cool one from 2018, I like finding new ones. That Meadows is a great one, cause his Pirates tenure is kinda being lost to time about now.

These were my first 3 from 2020 NBCD. 

And more recent Topps reprint inserts. Again, Adam Jones' Arizona tenure is fun to see on cards, and it's nice to find a cheap Expos Raines, too.

A lot of 2020 Turkey Red in here, including another D-Backs Jones, some favorites of mine, and a Shin-Soo Choo before he'd head back to Korea.

Some legends as well. Glad they picked Dale Murphy, and really cool that they went with an Eddie Murray photo from his return to Baltimore in 1996.

One hell of a sunset card for CC. Absolutely beautiful. A LITERAL sunset card. Doesn't explain why there was also one on Gary Sanchez's. Maybe the sun was going down on his ability to hit over .200.

A fun insert idea from last year's A&G, Field Generals. Glad they included Munson.

Finally, a few from 2019 Topps' Stars of the Game retail insert. The second I saw they had some of these, I knew exactly what I had to look for, and I hoped it'd be there.

It was.

The very elusive insert of Andrew McCutchen as a Yankee. Finally mine. And only for a nickel. Beautiful.

I was gonna leave after this, as I was approaching my hard out, but I did have a bit more left in the budget and needed something bigger. So I did what I ended with last show, though much less shamefully:

Dealer #5: $3 Hits

Because...you never know. These ones seemed a bunch better than the last $2 bins I had last show. Better selection. More gems hiding. Like this, from 2003 Bowman, a piece of Victor Martinez's jersey from the 2002 Futures Game. For a guy that would become a major star for Cleveland and Detroit, this was a great find.

Both of these, in my opinion, should have been priced higher. As good as Machado is, only 3 bucks for a bat card? And Konerko's a hero in Chicago. Heck of a swatch, too. But no matter, these were very nice finds.

Like last time, not many autos, but I did find a rare depiction of Corey Dickerson as a Philadelphia Phillie, on a very cool on-card auto. Fits my niche perfectly.

And finally, bat cards of two guys I grew up rooting for on my teams. Damon I watched win a World Series. Abreu was a hero for both of my teams. Both of these are very cool.

And that's when I took my winnings and left the casino floor. A much better Philly show, with much more geared towards my collecting interests. I hope the next one is just as satisfying, and has as many nickel bins.