The Philly Show Fall 2024: Part Two- Tailor Made

The contents of the first post on my findings at the latest Philly Show, in the considerably adequate suburb of Oaks, enough of a hike outside Philadelphia that the traffic has to be taken into account yet not enough to make an entire day around it, may have came off as basic, or understandable. There were some cool cards in there, some stuff I don't find particularly often, but you can see a lot of that and go 'yeah, that'd probably be in a ten cent bin somewhere'. 

Today...the cards I'll be discussing are a little more unusual, at least for me. These are the kinds of dealers that I hope for, the kind that keep me on my toes and, moreover, keep me sifting through for ages. Despite the success I had at the other tables, these are the ones I'll be remembering. 

First, the higher priced cards of the day for me:

Dealer #1: 3 for 1s

I remember specifically this was my first purchase of the day, not just because of the price difference but because when I scouted out which tables I'd be going back to, this one was the first one where I could actually park myself in front of the bins and start searching. This was all slightly higher-end than most quarter bin fodder, hence the 33c price, and promised inserts and rookies and all sorts of stuff. Finding a 2002 Diamond Kings insert of Eddie Mathews was certainly a good start.

What was assuring was that when this guy said 'inserts', he didn't just mean modern stuff, though, rest assured, they'd be there. 2000s Heritage inserts, people. Ones I don't see at most shows, not for under a dollar. This was extremely promising.

This is something I'm not sure if the dealer spotted, and I certainly didn't. I threw this into my pile seeing that it was a 2019 1984 insert I didn't have, and a rookie of the ferocious Pablo Lopez. Then, as I went through my findings from this dealer I noticed the '150 years' insignia, turned the card over and found out it was numbered to 150. Those are the happiest accidents at shows. I've found short prints, parallels, all sorts of stuff by accident. So getting this for 33 cents was pretty cool.

Yes, there were modern Topps inserts. Of course there were modern Topps inserts. I think I've committed to collecting Clarke Schmidt now, seeing as we share a surname and all.

There were also shinier, early 2000s Topps inserts as well. The dufex in that Bowman Walker insert is fantastic.

A decent amount of parallels from all across the last 20 years. I always like finding gold parallels of players I collect, and all of these apply. Phillips is from back when Topps numbered their Heritage Chrome cards to 1959 instead of 959. 

Continuing with my set-finding tear, these three were all 2010s Archives short print needs. McBride was from the 2012 set, Welch and Lynn from 2013. Together they were a buck, as opposed to finding them separately for a buck each regularly.

Requisite XRCs. I forget if I had Gray's already but Castellanos's was new to me, and a needed addition.

I threw this one in because I get a terrific vibe about Nick Yorke, and I still don't think the Sox should have given him up so easily.

Dealer #5: A Mirage of a Sportscar Sitting in the Mojave

One of the great things about the Philly Show, as I have been attending it sporadically for fifteen years now, is that sometimes you find a dealer, or a ten cent bin, or anything, that feels like they set up specifically for you. I've discussed these at many Philly Shows. People who have bins of 2000s-era stuff, star cards to specifically fit my player collections, wild uniform finds, all of those. And this, folks, was one of those.

Here is how incredible these 10 cent bins were. I was about to leave. I'd marked off all the places I'd remembered on my initial scouting trip around the convention center. I was gonna just...hop in my car, get home, brave the traffic. And then, around the corner from the last bin I'd been at, there was a table I hadn't seen yet, sort of tucked away around a cross-section. They were selling lots of stuff, a lot of bobbleheads and Philly wear, lots of higher priced cards as well. And it was a family affair, it was a guy running the booth but his daughters coming back from the fudge line, sort of helping out. 

And so I go up, and there's 10 cent bins, and I'm like 'well, shit, now I have to look.' And to give you an idea, after a good 20 or so minutes of me thumbing through boxes, another person asked to swap one from under me, and as he put the one he was just working through in its place, said 'there's some REALLY good stuff in this one. This while I'd already discovered that the contents of these boxes were, not just rare, off-the-beaten-path 90s and 00s stuff, but stuff I never see at card shows.

Me starting this section out with a Vladimir Guerrero insert from a Sports Illustrated set, marked by a wonderful photo I'd never seen before, should whet your appetites. Folks,...

PACIFIC PRODUCTS...WERE IN THIS BOX. A great deal of them. Pacific Private Stock, a set I didn't even know existed til a couple years ago. A bunch of that.

RANDOM TOPPS FINEST BASE CARDS...WERE IN THIS BOX. Of actual star players. Like that's the thing, these were star cards. Hall of Famers. Guys I collect. TONS of Vladimir Guerreros and Jim Thomas, a dime apiece. I was wowed.

TOPPS GOLD LABEL AS WELL. And from there, these boxes just kept topping themselves.

Random Donruss Preferred inserts. That Molitor one is a subtly cool one.

Some DK base cards I still needed, all Hall of Famers.

A mess of early 2000s Fleer Tradition. They had a bunch of the 2001 set as well.

A surprising amount of 2000 Upper Deck, a set I only see periodically. I adore that Randy Johnson shot.

Hey, how about this- a set I had never even heard of. 2000 Upper Deck Hitter's Club. I assumed these were both UD inserts, turns out this is a whole-ass set. Why 3K is an insert set from it, which is pretty cool, and the base is...essentially proto Pros & Prospects.

Oh, and a surprising amount of Fleer Ultra as well, reminding me how much I adore the early 2000s Fleer Ultra sets. 

The 2002 set is underrated. I'd never seen that Damon before.

Okay, I HAD seen that Hoffman before but it was wonderful to finally own it. 

This guy had a lot of 2000s-era Fleer Greats sets, and I threw in a Fall Classic card to complete the page. I love finding modern cards of some bums-era Dodgers. 

Late-career Braves aces, courtesy of Upper Deck. I wish we'd have gotten more cards of Smoltz actually pitching as a Red Sock, as they're all just publicity photos pretty much.

I did a lot of damage on player collecting here. There were a mess of CCs. Somehow that 2011 Heritage one was new to me, I love that one.

A TON of Mussinas. This is just the highlights. 

A bunch of Posadas, including a Bowman Heritage I rarely see in the wild, and a rare 2008 SC one.

And, knowing me this was bound to happen, a metric ton of Bernie Williamses, all needs. They also had the Pacific image variation, which was pretty cool.

And one more late-era Rickey for the road, from 2001 Leaf Rookies and Stars.

After going through the majority of his 10 cent bins, I'd accrued 150 cards, the most of any table that day. The guy behind the counter, seeing how much I'd gone through, and how exhaustive I'd been, gave 'em to me for 10 even. Not only does he have killer dime bins, but he gives a great deal as well. Gotta love somebody like that at a card show.

Now, clearly I spent a good portion of this Philly Show playing catch-up on my sort of lost year in the hobby, getting a lot of cards I could have found in packs had I bought more of them this year. But after that, when it was just about seeing how deep the well of this show ran, and seeing how many really cool, rare, fun stuff people were selling, it became a really enjoyable, substantial card show. And I'm glad I went.

I can't say if I'll be there in December, or how frequently I'll be posting about cards in the coming months, but know that this card show was exactly what I needed.