At The National Day Two . . . trying to meet some goals

 I could not find any of the four OPC cards I needed to complete my set, but I did get closer to getting a complete Alou Brothers run from their playing days. This 1965 Jesus Alou was a high number, I had to go to about three different vendors that had '65 albums before finding this copy.

 Four more 1948 Bowmans! Enos Slaughter (top right) was the big ticket card of the day. These four, plus one from Wednesday night brings me to a total of 38 of 48 cards from the set. I might finish it before the next National!

 Ah, Kennys. I asked every vendor in the room if they had a copy of the Vargas Topps Acetate card, and this was the closest I could get.

This one was also numbered to just 10 copies.

 Three more for the 1956 set- I saw several tables with commons for $2-3 each. I decided to hold off on those to save up for meeting some other goals.

 Always room for dime box finds.... some highlights

From this big stack.

This was one big goal for the National - find an unopened pack of something older than I've ever opened before. The 1975 Mini pack was cheaper than the 1976 and 1977 packs, so I decided to pull the trigger on this one. I'll open it up some time later on...

A 1964 Venezuelan Update: New Lot from the National

I didn't exactly meet my goal of adding another 10% of the set, but I'm very happy with what I did find:

 A nice mix of teams and players.

 Best of all, the backs are all clean!!

 Fred Whitfield has the last card in the 1965 OPC set, and he's nearly the last card in the VZ set as well, sitting at #367 out of 370 cards.

 Here were the two biggest names in the lot, both managers.

Again, clean backs!

So, I added just 14 instead of 37, and I still went slightly over my budget. It was harder to find these in good shape than I thought it would be...

 Current Progress: 117 / 370, or roughly 32%

My Twins FrankenSet - Page 5

I've seen a few FrankenSets out there - for example John has a Braves set and a Uniform Number Set, Tom has a Cubs set, Nick has the Dime Box FrankenSet, Robert has a serial numbered card set, Night Owl has a night card set. Jeff's got a White Sox FrankenSet. I'm sure there are many others. Tell me about yours in the comments!

I decided this would be a good way to at least start organizing my Twins cards.

My own "rules" for the set are pretty simple -
1. Each card should be a Twins player in a Twins uniform (and exclude multi-team cards)
2. If at all possible, each page should have 9 unique players and 9 unique sets
3. Have Fun (Mandatory)

Here's Page 5:

 And the backs:

#37 Chuck Knoblauch 1991 Fleer Update
#38 Danny Gladden 1987 Topps Traded
#39 Corey Koskie 2001 Fleer Platinum
#40 Phil Hughes 2015 Topps Heritage
#41 Rod Carew 2005 Leaf Sportscasters Red Fielding Glove /50
#42 Rick Aguilera 1992 Score
#43 Kent Hrbek 1988 Score
#44 Brad Radke 2003 Donruss Studio
#45 Kirby Puckett 2005 SP Legendary Cuts

The oldest card on this page is actually pretty recent. It's Dan Gladden's first Twins Topps card - he stuck around just long enough to earn two World Series rings and now he's back doing the radio broadcasts. I like his style and delivery, but his play by play has some room for improvement. Sometimes it takes awhile to figure out if a play was a hit or an out, if I don't listen from the beginning, it might take a couple innings to hear what the score is.

I like the Radke card because it features the architectural marvel that is the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome! Didn't take long to add another Puckett card to the Frankenset, either!

Let's Make a Deal: More Vintage Trade Bait

I get a little enthusiastic at the card show some times, and I end up with a small stack of vintage that I already owned or didn't have on a list... If anything below interests you, send me a message (there's a form on the right side of the blog) and let's make a trade.

Nothing earth shattering, but maybe you're working on one of these sets or maybe you collect these teams or players?

At the National Day One . . .

"overwhelming" in an understatement to describe what entering the room for the first day of the National Sports Collectibles Convention was like. There are so many tables!! I had no idea where to start, but my quest to find '65 OPC, '64 Venezuelan Topps, and the 2015 Topps Clear Kennys Vargas were my main points of focus on day one...

 A little strange to me that the grader spelled Buck's last name incorrectly, but I have to believe there aren't too many certified Autographs from the Kansas City Monarchs' great first baseman and coach. Had to go for this one!

 Finished the mini-collection of 1960 Topps Managers!

 Some fun vintage Bowman - one card closer to finishing the 1948 set and now I've started on 1949 with "Bow Wow" Arft and "Happy Rabbit" Rojek...

 ELMER! I finished the Valo Topps run about a week ago, now I'm working on the remaining Bowman cards.

 From the same table as Buck O'Neil, these three were $10 each. Love Andre Dawson's signature, and you can't go wrong with Moose or Alou.

 Choo Choo Coleman rookie, A Then and Now with Zoilo (Zorro) Versalles, and the famous batboy card from 1969 all to the tune of .50 apiece.

The Vintage Guy from MN that I buy a ton from is at the Show - booth #526. He always has tremendous deals on vintage and he's very very easy to work with. He has quarter boxes of vintage! and 50 cent boxes, and some great prices on the bigger names as well. If you are heading to the National Today of Tomorrow, he's worth your time!

I did end up finding some Venezuelan Topps, but I'll save that for another post.

Can't wait for day two (I already know it was a good one!)