Free Samples

Costco is insanely crowded in my area on the weekends.  That's why my brother and I hit up the business center as soon as it opens every 2nd Saturday of the month.  It's a routine and it's never failed us.  We're in and out within twenty minutes.  No fighting for parking.  No long lines.  No traffic jams getting out of the parking lot.  But there's one huge downside.  No free samples.

Oh well.  Can't have it all.  Luckily today, I came home to four samples sitting on my office desk:

1995 Select Certified Sample #50

1995 Select Certified Sample #89

The first two are mid 90's samples from Pinnacle that were included in Reader X's January care package.  Sorry about the five month delay Xavier.

Next up are a pair of early 2000's Donruss Diamond Kings samples:

2002 Donruss Diamond Kings Silver Sample #073

2002 Donruss Diamond Kings Silver Sample #077

Both of these were part of a care package that John @ Johnny's Trading Spot sent me back in March.

As much as people enjoy their Costco samples, I'm not gonna lie... I prefer the cardboard versions 100x more.  I was fortunate to have worked at a card shop in the late 90's, so I had access to a bunch of different promo cards.  One of these days I'll sit down, organize them by sport, manufacturer, and year... then slide them into 9-pocket pages.

For now, they're going into my promo box... which trumps my Athletics box.  But don't worry... Xavier and John sent me plenty for that PC.  Unfortunately, I'm a little strapped for time.  So for today, you'll just have to settle for these samples.

Thank you Xavier and John!

I know it's been awhile, but here's your question of the day:

Do you get excited for free samples at Costco?

Do you get excited for promo cards?

If you said yes to both, which do you prefer more?

Happy Saturday and sayonara!

Extra Innings

Rough week for baseball fans.  First Ted Turner, now Bobby Cox.  Thoughts and prayers are with their families, friends, and fans.  Both played instrumental roles in my baseball fandom.

1991 Face to Face #668

Turner in the 80's by provided me and millions of others with Braves baseball on TBS.

2010 Topps Tribute Relic Auto #TAR-BC2

And Cox for managing one of the most entertaining teams of the 90's... which we enjoyed on TBS.

While I Was Away

Sometime in late 2000 or early 2001, I made the decision to sell the bulk of my collection in an effort to pay the debt I had accumulated.  In some regards, it was one of the best decisions I ever made, because it eventually opened up the opportunity to buy a home.  On the other hand, I sold off most of my childhood collection.

Right around the same time, I also stopped working at the card shop across the street from the elementary school I taught at.  Within a year, the owners closed that shop and I pretty much lost touch with all of those guys.

I pretty much walked away from the hobby.  I had to.  When I purchased my place, all of my discretionary funds went towards furnishing this place. rebuilding a savings, and learning how to become a financially responsible adult.

That's why when it comes to card products from early to mid aughts, I'm not as proficient as some of you.  But the beautiful thing about our hobby is the more you are exposed to something... the more you learn and soak in.

Today's post recaps a PWE I received last week from Matt over at Diamond Jesters.

Four of the five cards he sent were from my time away from the hobby.  Let's check them out and see if I'm more knowledgeable because of them.

2000 Topps MVP Promotion #242

I was probably still hanging out at the LCS when collectors were ripping into packs of 2000 Topps baseball.  However, I don't remember opening any of this stuff myself.

This particular card is a very rare parallel which doubled as a contest card.  I was vaguely familiar with these parallels, but I'm pretty sure I learned about it in recent years from someone on YouTube or in the blogosphere.

I definitely missed out on this product:

2002 Donruss Originals Silver Sample #82

I've never opened up a pack of this stuff, but according to Baseballcardpedia... it's a tribute to a few Donruss sets from the 80's.

This particular card is a "sample" card that was originally inserted into a copy of Beckett Baseball Card Monthly #212.  What's interesting about this "sample" set is the size.  Donruss produced 100 different "samples" plus "gold" parallels which were distributed in the same manner, but at much lower quantities.

Next up is an insert I am familiar with...

2002 UD Piece of History Tape Measure Heroes #TM14

I wrote about the Tony Gwynn from this set last fall, but don't remember opening up this product myself.

That being said... I definitely remember the home run this card is referring to.  I'll try to include a YouTube clip, but if it's blocked out here's a link.

According to Baseball Monkey this is one of the longest home runs in MLB history.

The next card is very familiar...

2007 Topps Turkey Red #33

But that's because Topps has produced a bunch of different Turkey Red products and inserts over the years.  This particular card was from a product released right around my return to the hobby.  Unfortunately, I doubt I opened any of this product back then.

That year Topps released a 200 card base set that was loaded with SP's and "Ad Back" variations.  This Kurt Suzuki is one of the SP's on the checklist which were inserted into one out of every four packs.

My return to the hobby in late 2007 or early 2008 was inspired by YouTubers opening up boxes of high end products like UD Black and Topps Triple Threads.  I was drawn to the autographs and relics being released at the time.  Unfortunately stuff like that was way out of my hobby budget, but that's what molded me into the "bargain bin" collector that I am today.

Speaking of today, here's the final card from Matt's PWE:

2021 Topps X Derek Jeter #15

This card is from one of those Topps Online Exclusive products.  I wasn't too familiar with this set, but it looks like Topps released it on March 9th.  That's right around the time I returned to my classroom after a year of "distance" learning due the pandemic.

Ironically... the pandemic led to the hobby boom... which led to me selling a bunch of cards on eBay and at my buddy's card shows.

There have been two times in my life when I went out of my way to sell cards... and both of them relate to cards from Matt's PWE.  Don't worry Matt... all of these cards have been integrated into my collection and I zero plans to sell cards anytime soon.

Happy Saturday and sayonara!

Flea Market Finds #171: Magazines w/Cards and Some Turtles

Another start to a new month and another trip to the De Anza Flea Market.

Last month at the flea market, my childhood buddy texted me and asked if I was out walking around.  He told me he saw me, but that I blended into the crowd and he lost me.  We decided to meet up this time around.

It was cool to catch up with him since it had been a couple of years since we last hung out.  Unfortunately whenever there's someone with me, I feel obligated to match their pace (which is usually faster than me), so I may or may not have missed out on stuff.

For example, this vendor had some packs and boxes.  Do I really need a box of 1988 Donruss or 1990 Topps?  Of course not.  But if they were $5 each, I would have grabbed them.  The problem is I didn't have a chance to ask, because my buddy was already a few vendors down and I didn't want to hold him up.  There were at least two other vendors with cards that I barely checked out, but I did manage to make two purchases.

Purchase #1:  Magazines w/Cards  $20

Last month... my buddy Tony sold me two SI for Kids issues from the early 90's.  He mentioned that he might have more at his house, so when we were coming up to his booth... I warned my friend that I might need a few minutes with him.

He indeed had another SI for Kids issue:

Sports Illustrated for Kids (September 1991)

Here's the sheet of cards that were inside:

This is a solid sheet of athletes.  Seven of them are in the hall of fame for their respective sports.

Tony also had one of these Alan Kaye's Sports Cards News & Price Guides:

Alan Kaye's Sports Cards News & Price Guides (July 1992)

If you're familiar with this magazine, the cover doubles as an oversized card:

Depending on the condition of these magazines, I will either keep them intact or cut them up.  This particular one had some water damage, so I went with the latter.

Each issue also includes two nine-card sheets (similar to the SI for Kids magazines).  The first one included The Bash Brothers, The Great One, and a second year Thome:

The other sheet had cards of Bo, Boomer, Barry, Morris, Mully, and Ryno:

In addition to those two sheets, there was another sheet with an oversized card of Mickey Mantle and five tobacco sized cards of Negro League stars:

And if that weren't enough... Mr. Kayes tossed in these two Rookies of the Year holograms:

Next up is a 1989 issue of Baseball Cards featuring The Kid:

Baseball Cards (November 1989)

This magazine was pretty beat up, but the rookie year card of Griffey was pretty clean:

Here are the other three "rookie cards":

The final magazine was the only issue I decided to keep intact:

SCD Baseball Card Price Guide Monthly (November 1990)

I thought about cutting out the cards... especially the Jordan baseball card.  But the magazine was in nice condition, so I kept the issue intact and grabbed some images off of eBay:

Twenty bucks probably seems like a lot for four magazines from the 90's, but the Jordan issue by itself can often sell for that amount.  I figured the rest is gravy.

Purchase #2:  TMNT Graphic Novel  $10

1989 First Graphic TMNT (5th Printing)

Found this graphic novel sitting in a crate.  The vendor had a bunch of toys and comics.  I probably would have dug around a little longer had I been alone.  Anyways... saw this and figured I'd grab it for my co-worker's daughter.  She's a huge Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan.

Well that's it.  Two purchases and only one of them was for myself.

It was nice catching up with my friend, but if we do this again... I'll probably go back and walk around the flea market a second time on my own.  Either that or I'll have him show up an hour or two later.

Well that's it for now.  There's another flea market in ten days at a nearby high school, so stay tuned.

Until then...

Happy Wednesday and sayonara!

Extra Innings

Last year Dennis over at Too Many Verlanders sent me some programs and magazines.  Since they relate to today's flea market post, I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone.

Let's start off with this issue of Legends from 1991:

Legends (May/June 1991)

This issue comes with a really cool sheet of cards that includes Michael Jordan, Rickey Henderson, and Barry Sanders.  There's also another sheet containing Reggie Jackson, Gayle Sayers, and Nolan Ryan postcards.

I've been slowly building a collection of Legends issues for over a decade now and needed this one, so I didn't have it in me to cut out the cards.

Luckily, Dennis included some examples from other issues:

Legends Postcards

Here's a closer look at the Gwynn:

And here's a look at some cards that were carefully cut from other Legends issues:

1990 Legends #20

1991 Legends #53

Dennis also sent me this Rickey Henderson:

1990 Topps Magazine #TM30

1990 was the first year Topps released their magazine.  They published four issues and each one contained eight cards.  This Rickey came out of the final issue of 1990.  They would go on to produce Topps Magazine for three more years with a total of sixteen issues.  If you're interested in reading a little more about them, I showed off my collection back in 2013.

Dennis also tossed in a pair of sports programs:

1987 MLB All-Star Game Program

This is a pretty cool piece of history, since 1987 was the only year the Oakland Coliseum hosted the MLB All-Star Game.

This program honored another stadium...

Before Petco Park, the Padres played at Jack Murphy Stadium.  This program honors their thirty-four year tenure there.  If the hobby gods are looking down on me, then you might see this program make an appearance in a future post.  It has to do with tracking down two more cards mentioned on the back cover:

Thank you Dennis for these really cool additions to my collection!