Getting to the Bottom of a Mystery

I was browsing COMC and stumbled upon this Kirby Puckett card - it looked a little off, definitely different from the base card from the 87 Fleer set. Turns out it is a Box Bottom card! Then I wanted to see what else was out there, and I found this gem:

The image is familiar to folks from the recent Stadium Club card, but this was the earlier use of it on cardboard.

No arguments here- Gooden was sensational in 1984.

I targeted a few PC guys and Ted Williams is sporting his Minneapolis Millers uniform. He only had it for one season, but he led the league in Homers and was called up to the Red Sox the following season.

'Ol Satch in his stint as a member of the Saint Louis Browns.

Here's the back of that oddball - much of the selling of baseball cards is once again "through the mails," but websites like COMC make it easy to see the condition of the cards I'm buying.

Had to splurge a little on this one - Minnie Minoso is wearing a White Sox Jersey, but the back of the card says this swatch is from his days in Cleveland. Nice old school wool!

Boxing Day Boon

A buddy of mine knows I collect cardboard and gave me a huge grocery bag full of those little plastic baggies full of cards from thrift stores. There was a lot of junk, a lot of cards in poor condition, a lot of doubles, but there are always gems! Here are some of those finds:

 Some Horizontal Heroes

 Minor league cards of major leaguers - I have a soft spot for Dmitri Young cards because I know he has been a serious collector in his own right. These two on the bottom were the only inserts to be found.

 A pitcher at the plate, and a couple of bat rack shots- I really dig the Steve Stone card - it was the oldest card in the batch.

 A few works of art...

 There was a Huge stack of 1990 Donruss - these were the most exciting cards in the bunch.

A few oddballs (plus Bert)

 I actually didn't have this card before... Not my favorite Blyleven T-shirt. It reminds me of the product placement scene in Wayne's World, though, so I can't be mad.

McGwire is interesting because he's not wearing a helmet... possibly a Home Run Derby shot? Check out the suits sitting in the background...

 The Schmidt card is cool because it is a Box Bottom card - did not expect to see that!

There was also a lot of this:

Do you collect Football? Maybe I can unload, ahem, gift to you some Gridiron greats. I plan on sending Falcons to Jeff, and the 6 shown above I might actually keep, but if you've got a team you collect I should have some free cards to send your way!

Overall, there was a ton of junk, but that just made the gems more fun!

Saturday = Card Show Day!

It's the weekend, and here in the Twin Cities, that means that there's a card show somewhere. This weekend is the smaller of the two regular shows, taking place in Mounds View.

The vintage guy I usually hemorrhage my paycheck to is out of town this weekend, so good news/bad news (!) I came home with a much larger stack of cardboard than usual, after hitting all the dime/quarter/dollar boxes filled with glorious nostalgic junk wax.

There was another vintage seller, and he always brings longboxes of commons. I was able to pick up a nice variety of singles from '57, '58, and '60. I've found that one of the best things about the shows is that you get to know the vendors and you can build a good relationship and start to get some nice deals.

Across the aisle from the vintage seller was a huge stack of dime cards that all produced a nice rush of nostalgia for me. These are Cards that I really wanted as a kid, but wasn't lucky enough to find them in packs or get them in trade with friends.

One of my favorite pick-ups was this Jim Thome Rookie that I bought for a quarter.

He looks so fresh faced! I think that as much animosity as there is between AL Central rivals, one thing that pretty much every fan can agree upon is that Jim Thome is awesome.

Before I leave the show, I always stop in the store and see if I can spend a little bit of $$ for the guy that is hosting the show. I decided to get a Stadium Club Mini-box (thanks in no small part to seeing these posts from View From the Skybox, and all the great photography), so I'll be busting that open this weekend.

I'll leave you with these awesome junk wax box bottom cards, always wanted to have some of these, never really wanted to pay them, but .10 cents is a steal!