Nutter Center 25th Anniversary Card Show Recap

This past Saturday was the 25th anniversary of the monthly card show at the Nutter Center. Lately, this show has become my show of choice to attend simply because it's easy to get to and it's not overly crowded. A while back, I specifically earmarked this show to attend since it was the 25th anniversary show and I knew the promoter was going to go all out. For this show, he doubled the number of usual tables to 99, gave away some big prizes, and, as always, made sure to personally thank and chat with every person he saw come through the doors.

I've already sorted and organized my purchases so I don't remember what cards came from what table but these came from one of the first tables I visited. Along with a bunch of high dollar inserts and what not (which I wisely strayed away from), this particular dealer had a bunch of cheap vintage cards he said he picked up at an auction recently. A quick thumb through the box yielded these for about 25 cents each. 

These came from the same vintage box that the 75 Topps cards came from, again at 25 cents each. At that price, you really can't pass up names like these on 70s cardboard.

Continuing with the vintage, these were the only two cards I purchased out of a showcase all day, at a cost of $5 for the pair. This is my first card of Billy Williams and maybe only my second or third of Rod Carew in his prime. 

A few more bargain vintage cards. Robin Yount is severely under represented in my collection and an old school Fleer card will fit in nicely. The bottom two cards I just absolutely couldn't pass up. The dark blue card is a 1981 Fleer Star sticker of longtime Mets pitcher Jerry Koosman in a Twins uniform of all things. The other is a wonderful Drake's card of Gary Carter.

The bargain bins were not plentiful but there were still some decent deals to be had. I found a few that were nothing but Reds cards at various tables and also some good deals in a few dime boxes. The top three cards came from the same place the 75 and 77 cards from earlier did, the Foster Drake's card was from a 50 cent bin, and the Duvall and Morgan were dime box finds.

Some more Reds dime box finds. Two new cards for the Bronson Arroyo collection, some mid-90s action with Bret Boone and Jeff Shaw, plus Edwin Encarnacion and Dave Concepcion!

These Kellogg's cards were four of my best finds of the day and they only ran me a quarter each, since they suffered from some severe curling. As soon as I got home, I stuffed them in top loaders and penny sleeves to (hopefully) flatten them out. Curling issues or not, I just couldn't pass these up.

Last year's Diamond Kings cards have already found their way into the dime boxes as well. The Griffey Jr. card was going to cost me $4 last year, eight months later though? Purchased for mere pennies.

I'll wrap up the baseball portion with a bunch of random cards I purchased at various points throughout the show. My favorite of this batch just has to be the card of Metropolitan Stadium. I might have to consider putting together that whole subset from Allen & Ginter.

With the Blue Jackets doing so well this year, the number of vendors selling hockey cards was pretty much crazy. Last time I went to this show, the closest person selling hockey cards was probably in Kalamazoo. This time, every other vendor had something hockey related. These I picked up for a buck each from a guy who kept trying to push Blue Jackets relic cards on me. The top three cards are from the 1973-74 Topps hockey set. I just had to get them because they featured two defunct teams, the North Stars and the Golden Seals. The bottom two cards are 1972-73 Topps cards. While I'm not familiar with the players, they are definitely some fun looking cards.

Some more random hockey cards, including two from the 2015-16 SP Authentic line. All the cards on the top third are UD Canvas cards that were acquired again for a buck each from a 10-year old kid that was there selling cards with his dad.

Two new cards for the Brodeur collection. As soon as I saw that the one on the right was a National Hockey Card Day card from Canada, I knew it must come home with me.

Here's something pretty unique ... a six card set of the 2009-10 Dayton Gems. If you're not familiar with the Dayton Gems, it's quite alright. The Gems were a short lived team that replaced the long running Dayton Bombers. They debuted in the 2009-10 season as part of the original IHL and then played two more seasons in the Central Hockey League (CHL) before folding. In time, I'll go through these players one by one as these are just too unique to just gloss over here.

I don't really collect basketball cards but I couldn't pass these up, especially the Prizm cards, for a dime each. Old school players on current cards is always a winner.

More cards from the dime boxes, this time of the Bengals variety. I tried to focus on players from the 90s but the A.J. Green card was too good to pass up. I think my favorites were the Topps Finest cards of Darnay Scott and Corey Dillon.

Ok, moving on from the dime box cards now. This was my most expensive single card purchase of the day at five bucks. I'm not a soccer card collector at all and don't follow it but this is a big, yellow swatch and I just couldn't resist.

Now for my best finds of the day. First was this Martin Brodeur Starting Lineup figure for just a buck. That's right, this only cost me one whole dollar for a figure of one of my favorite players ever.

At one table, there was a box full of packs listed at two for a dollar. Did I comb through that box numerous times? You bet I did! There was all kinds of random baseball packs, mainly from the late 80s to the early 90s but I found some gems ... just look at this pile! There's a rack pack of 1989 Topps, a jumbo pack of 1983 Topps, a jumbo pack and a wax pack of 1986 Topps, a pack of 1986 Donruss, plus some random stuff from the mid 90s and 2000s. I plan on opening these one by one and sharing the contents of each on the blog.

Finally, my best finds of the day ... two WHA media guides for $5 each, which I managed to talk down from the asking price of $8 each. I haven't really had the time to dive deep into these but just flipping through them on the surface, there's all kinds of team rosters, stats, and lots more. There are two interesting tidbits on these you can see just by looking at the covers. First, one the 1977-78 guide, WHA MVP Robbie Ftorek wearing a Cincinnati Stingers uniform. Second, is the 1978-79 guide by itself. That season was the final season for the WHA as they merged with the NHL after that season.

While most dealers had lots of cool stuff, most of it out of my price range, I still think I managed to find some pretty good deals. Most of the cards I was able to get for less than a buck each and my biggest purchases were the media guides. After the show, I stopped by the card shop ten minutes from the show venue but that's another story for another day.

Card Shop Chronicles: Magic City Sports Cards (Akron, OH)

Gosh, it's been a while since I've done one of these.

Anyway, I was visiting family in Akron (well, Copley ... which is near Akron) over the weekend and as usual, my uncle and I do a card shop trip. Instead of opting for the two regular shops, I decided to look and see if there were any others in the area. As it turns out, there was.

On a street just off Interstate 76, there is a place called Magic City Sports Cards. I found it via a Google Search but wasn't sure it was actually still in business. I called a few days before I visited to confirm its existence and sure enough, they were still there. The shop is in an old brick building in an old part of Akron on Kenmore Blvd. It was a little hard to find but we found it.

Here's the main wax area filled with recent and semi-recent stuff. There was a lot of selection, from 2001 Topps to lots of stuff from last year but strangely, no hockey wax. I asked about that and they said they don't carry hockey because it doesn't sell. I saw very little basketball as well, which is strange considering the area is rife with Cavs fans.

There were lots of cases filled with loads of singles from all time frames ranging from relic and autograph cards of present day to high dollar vintage singles and random other cards. Pretty much what you would find in any card shop.

Any shop that had junk wax is aces in my book. While the selection here wasn't the best, everything in the case was $10 each. I almost considered getting a box of the Upper Deck hockey cards or the box of 1990 Topps baseball but the last thing I need right now is more clutter when I'm trying to get rid of the excess.

If you're into oddballs or old non-sport cards, this is the place for you. This case was nothing but old non-sport wax packs and boxes. Look closely at the picture above, you'll seen packs of cards for Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Mork and Mindy, The Gong Show, and Planet of the Apes.

Here's a bunch of oddball and oversized cards including some random old hockey cards.

Behind the counters, the shelves were stacked with boxes and boxes of stuff. Too much stuff to even keep track of.

The rest of the cases had tons and tons of miscellaneous stuff. Just check out the variety of this case for example, the Johnny Bench that can be seen is a stack of 1970 Topps Posters. There's also some 1986 Topps minis, a stack of 1970 Topps Supers, a Cal Ripken Jr. commemorative plaque, and some 1987 O-Pee-Chee uncut sheets.

This really caught my attention. For five dollars each, you could get an actual Meadow Gold ice cream box, complete with the card still attached. I'm not sure if they were the blank back variety or the stat back variety though. The one thing though is that the boxes are in immaculate shape.

This case has all manner of crazy stuff from collectable Corgi cars to U.S. Presidents cards and 1964 Topps JFK cards to 1965 Philadelphia James Bond cards. My uncle said that when he worked in the toy shop at an amusement park when he was a kid, they sold Corgi cars.

Aside from the showcases, the tables in the middle of the shop had pretty much anything you could think of from nickel and dime boxes to oddball memorabilia to these autographed items. I would have  sifted through the dime and nickel boxes but we had to meet back up for lunch with the rest of the family at 1:00.

As for what I bought, the main thing I wanted was some 2017 Topps. I nabbed 10 packs at $2.00 a pack. I'm going to wait to open these until tomorrow or next weekend when I have some free time.

The other cool thing I purchased was this 1979 Cleveland Indians team photo. My uncle said that "that looks like the team picture from Major League" and to be honest, it sort of does. I've got a fun idea for an article based on this picture but I've got some research to do first.

Of the three card shops I've visited up here, this one definitely had the biggest variety of just random stuff but there was just a lot to digest. I think maybe next time I'll stick with my regular shops but this was a nice detour off the beaten path.

Back Packs: Two Packs of 1988 Topps

Happy May everyone! Before diving back into the the Super Traders packages, I thought I would share what I found when I tore into some old 1988 Topps packs I had. These were just taking up space in my "to be sorted box" which I'm slowly starting to whittle down but I felt the need to open them, if nothing else to free up some space.

There was a "team leaders" card in each pack and would you look at that, it's two teams I collect! I know it's a lost art form but it'd be nice if Topps brought these back in the base set in at least some aspect.

Two minor stars in Mike Felder and Mark Langston. Langston pitched for 16 years for the Mariners, Expos, Angels, Padres, and briefly with the Indians. The only other Mike Felder card I have that actually stands out to me is his 1992 Topps card with him in an old-style Giants uniform.

Got a few all-star cards as well, These will most likely find their way into the trade box.

Not a big fan of the Santiago "record breakers" card as it's bright red and just has a gaudy appearance. On the other hand, the base card on the left will slot right into my collection perfectly.

The Reds included in the two packs. Pretty cool to get a card of Terry Francona is his playing days and as a member of the Reds no less.

Finally, two guys who would make one year and done appearances for the Reds in the mid-90s. Fernandez got into 104 games for the Reds in 1994, primarily at third base as Chris Sabo left after the 1993 season. Reardon pitched the 1993 season with the Reds (but without his trademark beard), going 4-6 with a 4.09 ERA in 58 games.

This was a pretty fun rip, although I didn't pull any superstars, I did add a few cards for the personal collection and everything else will be going to the trade bin.

Awesomeness From 2016 Donruss!

First off, Happy Opening Day to everyone! Today is the day where baseball games start to matter and the game we all love is with us every single until the World Series concludes in late October.

Now then, on my last visit to the card shop (detailed here), I picked up a few packs of some of the early 2016 releases. I've shown what I got from the four Topps Series 1 packs and it wasn't anything all that great. Donruss though, they brought it this year. Sure the design looks very similar to the last few years but each pack I opened contained at least one cool thing. 

First off the base cards. The absence of team names and logos doesn't really bother me as most of the pictures hide that fact. The design is very basic but at least the backgrounds aren't blurred and smoky like Series 1. I also like the fact there are legends mixed in with the current players, the Cal Ripken card above is a good example.

One thing Panini started doing last year with Donruss was having cards harkening back to past releases. Last year it was 1981, this year it's 1982. The Escobar card is really cool and I'm guessing that picture was taken right after the Royals won the Series.

Something else Panini threw in with Donruss this year is Team USA inserts. I'm not too familiar with either of these guys but it is pretty cool to cards like this in a release.

Now it's time to get to the good stuff. First, there's the 1982 pink parallel of Zack Greinke, which is pretty cool. Next, this Ichiro is just sweet. It's serial numbered and has a nice refractor-ish shine to it. I would have been happy with just these if they were the only two neat cards I pulled out of the packs but that was not to be.

Boom, Maikel Franco jersey card. It think this is some sort of parallel version as well as it's numbered to 150. Ok, cool, a jersey card. I'll take that.

Wait, another jersey card? This time it's Nomar Mazara from the Promising Pros line. I'm a fan of this concept as it's featuring nice big swatches from up and coming players. Two jersey cards is completely unexpected as I never have that kind of luck from packs.

What's this? A Rated Rookie manu-relic of Rob Refsnyder? Ok, that's pretty cool. This one is numbered to 999 and has a really cool die-cut design to it.

After opening these four packs, Donruss is so far my favorite product of 2016 as you at least get something neat in every pack. I'll definitely by buying more of this.

Now, time to sit back and watch some baseball!