Tuesday, June 11, 2013

My little slice of Puig-Mania

It has been nearly a week since my family have gone anywhere - because we have all been sick as dogs.  Today, we are feeling like we are on the upswing collectively, and decided to run a few errands.  While we were out, I decided to try and catch some Yasiel Puig fever, like I did with Strasburg a few years back.  1 blaster box of 2013 Bowman for $21.50 @ Walmart. 

First of all, kudos to Bowman for making clean cards now!  Sorry, but 2011 and before were just plain ugly.  These look slick. 

As chants of Yasiel Puig ran through my head (and some slipped out audibly as well) while I was opening them up in the car, WHAMMO ....

2013 Bowman Chrome Top 100 Yasiel Puig


Yay!!!  I remembered hearing a mini refractor of his had gone for $50-$70, so I thought this may be $10-20.  Nope ... A mere handful of hours after opening it up, I sold it for $45 shipped! 

Why, oh why, do people buy these singles when they are at the peak of their popularity?  I would be willing to bet that within 30 days, this card will not even be selling for half of that. 

Oh well - thanks Puig!  Not only do you drop my jaw when watching you on tv, you also got me a free box of Bowman, and a $20 bill in my pocket.  You are alright by me!  #puigmania

Monday, June 3, 2013

A Mid-Summer's Christmas

After buying a huge collection, and dealing with a bunch of other stuff in life, I found myself just last week for the first time, wondering if I should even go to the show this past weekend.  I met Jose Canseco last time ... how can I top that?  Short answer: it can't, and ... it didn't. 

As a matter of fact, Friday was probably one of the weaker shows I went to.  I still had fun though.  I brought a few boxes of unopened cards to wheel and deal with.  Within 5 minutes of walking through the doors, a few dealers bought 4 off of me, so that was pretty cool. 

A little further in, I saw these mini Jurickson Profar bats that were autographed for sale.  I picked up all six of them.  5 minutes later after walking around a bit, I was able to sell 5 to another dealer for $20 more than I paid for all of them, so that basically paid for my parking/ticket to the show, plus I got a free Profar autographed mini bat out of it!  I got a kick out of that, because it was the first time I remember flipping something from one table to another since I was a kid. 


Moving along, I picked up 80 autographed prospects for cheap, as well as this nice Triple Threads auto/jersey of Zach Britton.  I'm a sucker for TTT's!

 

The same table had a 2010 Topps purple chrome refractor Mike Stanton rookie, but we just couldn't agree on a price, so I had to walk.  Truth be known, it was $5, and I wanted it for $3.  (Should I really had admitted that?)

A dealer who I do lots of business with actually had brought 26 autographed baseballs.  One was of Barry Bonds, one was of Jose Canseco ... on a '99 All Star game ball, one was of Jurickson Profar, a Josh Hamilton, a Lance Berkman, and there were several hall of famers like Bob Feller, Orlando Cepeda, Warren Spahn, etc.  Again, we just couldn't come to a price.  I told him I would visit him again on Sunday if he hadn't moved them to see if we could do anything.

Up to this point, I hadn't dug into people's boxes much.  I think it was for fear of missing out on deals elsewhere.  I finally buckled down and checked out one table.  I found two very interesting cards:

Original 1909-11 T-206 Buy back
Roy Halladay ATOMIC REFRACTOR!
I got both these puppies for $13.  The T206 just sold for $40, and the Halladay ... the only other one besides mine online is for sale for $200 obo.  I'd say I did pretty swell on those two pickups!

Saturday, no card show was to be had for me, because I was wrapped up from morning to night with birthday parties for my son. 

The next morning, it was storming but I was not going to let that deter me from an afternoon of cardboard bliss. 

But then, my car had other ideas. 

When I was down the road, the battery light came on.  With it storming, I thought it would be smart to go back and pop the hood to see what I could see.  Yup, battery corrosion and lots of it!  I decided to feed it some diet mountain dew, and go on my merry way. 

I made it there, and was happy I was able to.  I brought a few more boxes to deal with.  I was sure selling a few of my '08 Goudey and Masterpieces would be a hit with a previous customer, but he passed.  I then asked if I could dive into his quarter boxes and grab around 100 for an unopened 2007 Upper Deck retail box and he agreed.  Here is what I pulled out.  I was very happy with the swap!




Part of me felt like I had not invested my time wisely sitting pulling out tiny cards like these, but this is kind of my wheel house.  I love the Shaq classic rookie, the King Felix finest refractor, the Arod and Biggio rookies, the classic Chipper rookie, etc. 

I stopped at the dealer with the baseballs.  He said he sold one, so he had 25 left.  We made a deal!  Here is what I got. 


Moving on, I hit a few places and dug to get some cheap cards that I loved.  One in particular ... the purple Stanton!  Hurray!  Such a purty card. As well as some vintage goodness.

 

What is not to love?  Some hall of fame vintage cards, and some new shiny goodness.  I love the Stanton, the Rizzo purples, the '13 Topps Griffey/Ripken inserts and the Chipper orange refractor oh-so-much.

I went back to the place where I got the Profar bats, and noticed they had a bunch of lower dollar 8x10 autographs.  I was able to buy 97 of them total, but that wasn't all.  I had a good conversation with the owner, and they said they brought in Jose Canseco to do a private signing.  Let's just say, it was intriguing enough to me, that I may consider doing that myself in the future.  Stay tuned! 


At the end of the show, I went to dive in the quarter boxes of another dealer I know, so I could trade a box of 2007 Upper Deck.  100 cards.  I told him I think I can find enough stuff I want for 2 boxes worth if he was game.  He said yes, and I was quite happy. 

Then he said ... "Can you believe this?  I offered this guy the entire lot of my boxes to blow it all out, and he didn't even take it!" 

That stopped me in my tracks.  Should I really be satisfied with walking away with just 2 handfuls of cards for 2 boxes, or should I offer him all 6 of the boxes I brought ('07 UD, '08 Goudey & '08 Masterpieces) plus some cash to wipe him out of his quarter stuff?  DUH!

Go big, or go home, baby!  And I did both. 

I made my pitch, and he accepted.  I requested the use of his trolley to haul my newly acquired batch to the car, after I made one pit stop to the dealer who was holding the autographed baseballs for me. 

He brought up his quarter boxes also, and after talking a while, I was able to get him down to less than half of what he was asking initially, so I wound up taking home everything. 


It's not as if I didn't have enough already, heck - I still have 20 boxes left from the same dealer from the last show!  I was able to make really good money off them though, and that is why I am such a sucker for these quarter boxes. 

All in all, it ended up being a good show - the last 5 minutes ended up being the most action, in terms of quantity, but I really did have fun...as always!