TTM Triumph #19: A Hoops Sampler

I had originally planned on this post being the first of four covering recent trades, but I have been a bit of a funk lately, and because of that, I have been having much difficulty in putting those together. So instead, you're going to get a post that was much easier to write.

When I started sending out TTM requests a couple of months ago, I decided that for as a side project I was going to try and get as many cards from the 1989-90 Hoops set signed as I could. I decided on that set for many reasons. The number one being that I thought would be actually feasible to either get every card signed either through my own efforts or via purchase. Even with the couple of players who passed away very young (i.e. Reggie Lewis), there are still plenty of authenticated cards out there for purchase. I was thinking of trying an older set, but there a few players in pre 1980 sets that are almost impossible to find an on card signature of.

I have shown a couple of signed cards from this set before, but I decided to group together a few of the most recent one's for this post. I had some trouble finding the rest in my cluttered photo files, so there will only be six featured here. And in case anyone is curious, I am currently up to 27 signed cards out of the 353 card set.

So as mentioned, here are a few of the most recent returns:

 Randy Wittman: Was part of the Hoosiers team that won a national title in 1980. Current head coach of the Wizards.

Jimmy Rodgers: Has six championship rings as an assistant coach.

Kenny Walker: Probably best known for winning the 1989 Slam Dunk contest. Also, it's really neat that his signature includes his nickname "Sky" (between Kenny and Walker).

Jack Sikma: Future Hall of Famer. With all this nonsense about Yao Ming being elected (bull jive) to the HOF, it's absurd to think that Mr. Sikma hasn't been voted in yet. On a different note, did you notice this autograph. I think most people would consider this less than ideal because of the smudge, but I think it's absolutely wonderful due to the partial thumb (logical assumption) print. A lot of people can say they have a Jack Sikma autograph, but how many can say they have a Jack Sikma partial fingerprint!

Walter Davis: 1978 Rookie of the Year. 6 time All-Star. In his prime he could put up points with the best of them.

Spud Webb: Always a fan favorite and again, probably best known for winning the 1986 Slam Dunk contest. He ended up having a solid 13 year career, despite many "experts" saying he couldn't ever make it in the NBA. From what I have gathered he doesn't sign through the mail very much anymore, so I would like to think he did so for me because of my awesome letter.

Jim Peterson: A very underrated player. Known primarily for his defensive skills, but could also provide offense when necessary. He was also a very solid backup for Hakeem Olajuwon and Ralph Sampson on those great mid 80's Houston teams.


Thanks for taking a moment to look at my page.

Card show summary part 2: The non oldies

Hopefully everyone likes pictures, because this will be another image laden post. The only things I'm not showing are the many cards that I was fortunate enough to find for other people (probably some of you reading this).

Since I covered the who, what, and where in the last installment, I'm just going to jump right in.


Seller #5: I didn't know which post this would belong in since there seems to be some debate whether buybacks should be considered old or new. I only saw two at the show and both were overpriced, in my opinion. But I had to have this one for the set, even at the hefty price tag of $2:

For some reason I just don't think they stamped a lot of '62 checklists, so I just couldn't pass it up.


Seller #6: The most expensive thing from this point on is 33 cents (3/$1 box). This seller is at every show and is set up with mostly dime boxes, although this time he had a few more than normal, along with the aforementioned three for a dollar box.

I don't why I bothered scanning this first group of 1994 Action Packed cards. Even though they are in mint condition, because of the gold borders the scans make them look anything but. On the plus side, I now only need a few more cards to complete this set:

I didn't realize there were two of Chuck Daly until after they were scanned.
 

How about some 90's refractors:

I think a few of the baseball one's are doubles (I haven't checked yet), but at 10 cents each I'm not about to leave any behind.

Here are some misc. 90's basketball inserts, which contain a few more bad scans:

You can't tell from the image, but the 1999-00 Skybox Metal card of Scottie Pippen is one of the emerald parallels.

Now is where we get to some stuff that has probably been shown a million times on the blogs, but most of it is new to me, so you'll just have to endure (or skip ahead a little):



These are some really great inserts from the 2012 Cooperstown set.

Some more players of yore sets:

Here are a couple of more contemporary cards from the 3/$1 box:

And finally from the same box, a card from a set I had never seen before:

I now have yet another new-ish set to work on.


Seller #7: This is the only guy at these shows who ever has 20/$1 boxes, along with other various priced boxes.

I will start with a trio of 1996 Leaf Preferred Steel, that were had for 25 cents each:

A few more misc. inserts, parallels, minis, refractors, etc. that ranged in price from 10 to 25 cents each:

Now for something I somehow didn't know even existed until a couple of months ago, when one was featured on Billy's Cardboard History:

These are the xplosion parallels from the 1998-99 Molten Metal set. Considering they came out during my heyday of collecting I don't know how I missed them. I don't recall ever buying any packs, but I should have at least seen them at a card shop or in a Beckett article. The Larry Johnson and Toni Kukoc were a 25 cents each, while the rest were 5 cents apiece.

Rounding out this post is a whole mess of 2001 Archives Reserve, that came courtesy of the 20/$1 box. I had seen these online many times, but never in person. I guess since I was able to get almost 1/4 of the 100 card set I might as well add this to my set building list. For those that don't know these are refractors, so that's why they look a little weird in the scans:

 

That's it for this round of card show acquisitions. At least the next three posts will be very scan heavy with trade recaps, so don't say you weren't warned (if you're the sort who doesn't like lots of pictures).


Thanks for taking a moment to look at my page.

Card show summary part 1: The oldies

Since there was so much to be had this past Saturday, I'm going to break up the swag into two posts. And since vintage cards always seem to be the most popular with readers, I will start with those.

I decided to show them by seller, so other than that there isn't any kind of order here.

Let's get started, shall we?

Seller #1: In one of my earliest posts I showed a bunch of cards I got from a guy who had box about the size of a small moving box that said everything inside was 50% off the marked prices, and I ended up getting some really good stuff that time at some really great prices. Well, he was back with another half off box. Although this time it was some kind of fruit box, but it was just as packed as the previous time. And just like the previous time, I was the first person to look through it, which is somewhat surprising since the show had been going for at least an hour before I got there. So let's see what this box had in store:

Outside of the Al Kaline autograph in the last teaser post, this '62 Topps Eddie Mathews was my only other high dollar item at $7. Everything else from this seller, and every other seller for that matter, ranged in price from free (yes, free!) to $2.

I'm going to speed through the rest of these cards, which are all set needs by the way. Most of these were between 5 cents and a $1 apiece:

You can't beat that price!

These '56 Topps were the only football cards in the box. Not a bad pair though, and not a bad haul from that box.

Seller #2: This guy is quickly becoming one of my favorite people at these shows to talk to. He couldn't be any nicer and anybody that goes out of their way to give free cards (Star Wars) to a small child is alright in my book. It also gives me a little bit of hope for the future when said child is actually excited to get the cards, and says thank you.

I will feature the first two and power through the rest again:

I never expected to see any cards from this set at one of these shows here, as other than Star wars, there is almost never any non sport cards to be had. This will be another card that will be temporarily staying in it's prison, just in case I find another cheap one ungraded.

I think this card was $1, which seems crazy considering how good of shape it's in. This is only my fourth card from the '54 Topps set.  I read up a little on Mr. Bertoia, and it looks like he had pretty decent career in the majors.

On with the rest:

All of the cards from this seller came to a total of $17, which I thought was pretty good, considering nothing was priced.


Seller #3: This was a new dealer at the show and was also the person I got the Kaline auto from. Most of their stuff seemed a little on the high side but I did manage to find this trio of '63 Topps football cards:

Seller #4: This was the table I hit right as I was getting ready to leave, so by this time I didn't have a lot of want left to look through any more boxes. Especially these boxes, because of how tightly they were packed. And there wasn't really any room to take out a stack and set it aside, to make it easier to look through the boxes. There were five 3200ct boxes separated by sport and marked at 50 cents a card. My patience only lasted long enough to find these two:

The Al Kaline is a little rough, but I figured he was worth the 50 cents. And going by the tops of the cards in the rows, I could tell this was the only vintage card in there. I know the Scottie Pippen Starting Lineup card isn't vintage, but as I said, I'm showing them by seller. Such a great image though. I love the look on A.C. Green's face and his pose, especially considering he's in mid-air.

That's it for the vintage portion. I will try to have the post featuring the newer stuff ready for Friday, but it will more likely end up being done on Saturday.

Thanks for taking a moment to look at my page.