The One Steal At The Show

For the second time in 30 years, I went to a card show last weekend.

I was happy to see another one after the success of last year's show.

However, this year's show had a much different feel to it.

*takes a sip of steamy, hot coffee with a dot of hazelnut creamer*

It started out just like usual, a quiet hour-long drive to an Elks Lodge a few towns away from me.

I arrived about 45 minutes into the show, but you would have thought I was a few hours late. The parking lot was pretty packed already which was already completely different than the previous year's show.

Which immediately had me concerned about how it was going to go.

After finding a parking spot, I went inside and once again paid the $10 to get in which immediately cut into my limited budget for the show.

But I stuck on the wristband and tried to be on my merry way and look for tables worth checking out. This time instead of fifteen or so tables, there may have been closer to double that. Double the tables and double the crowd to start.

 

I never would have expected to find the things I wanted the most at the first table, but that's just the way the cookie crumbled at this show. I hit up the first table I went to and found the $1 bin and dug,dug and dug through. I found some goodies, spent $10 on 11 cards and moved onto the next tables. 

Sadly, I am sure most of you who attend shows where you are probably would have found this stuff in the dime boxes or a little more. But those kinds of boxes didn't exist here at this show.

The problem I had after the first table's stuff, it all went downhill.

Flippers, Pokemon and TCG and "recent sellers" made up the rest of the show. There was so much stuff overpriced. For example, a 2025 Prizm Jaxson Dart rookie you could get on eBay for under $6, were priced for $25-$25 at the show. And that was just some of the overpricing. It was quite depressing and really made me think of where the hobby is heading even more so.

Not to mention, about 95% of the show was all modern cards and anytime I asked a seller if they had any cards from 1995-1999 they just stared at me and shook their head no. This time the show was about modern overpriced, overproduced junk.

What happened to the hobby being a hobby? I remember in the 90's when we had card shows all of the time here that cards were actually affordable and made sense.

It had gotten so bad after the first table, I wasn't sure if I was going to find anything else to bring home.

And I almost didn't.

Until I decided to check out two other boxes from that first table and landed a few 90's hockey insert/parallel cards end my show visit. I spent $10 to get in and $20 in cards overall. I went there with $40 and there was no way I was going to force myself to spend the last $10 just to say I spent it. There wasn't anything priced well enough for me to do so.

Instead that last $10 went into a little over two gallons of gas along with $30 more to fill my tank again.

That's really sad.

So, let's not turn this into a depressing post and show off my scores all from that one table. After spending an hour to dig not only did I find some great 90's goodness, but I also found a cheap surprise that was a steal at the show.

Here are my pickups,

 

(I do have this one, but I couldn't leave it there)

(possible set need)

(I actually overpaid for this one since he wanted $10 but gave me a $5 offer that I accepted, but was worth it. Epic Looney Tunes episode that hit core memory)

(my first hard hats for hockey)

(I never leave Summitt parallels behind)

 

Now drumroll on the big steal of the show......

2022 Mosaic GENESIS parallel rookie of Seiya Suzuki! I don't think the seller knew it was a case hit genesis parallel. This card alone paid for the ticket and the other cards I bought. Right now I am holding onto it until the right trade comes along for it. I paid $1 for it.

Despite the overpricing by everyone, I will say there were a few bright spots. For one, there were actually kids there. Two, some sellers were very friendly and cut some deals. The guy I went to cut prices on a few of the cards above and even gave me a couple free. Three, most sellers that I watched interact with kids were nice. I felt bad for one kid who kept getting shot down sometimes rudely, while trying to trade off an autograph rookie card of Dillion Gabriel. Other than that, it seemed most sellers were treating kids the way they should be treated.

Another cool thing that I wished I had pictures of, was a hockey card sellers table. It was epic. Gretzky rookies, Gretzky autograph, Lemieux autographs, Sidney Crosby autographs, Bobby Orr autograph, Gordie Howe autograph and other legends autographs. It was mind-blowing and probably the best table in the whole show.

Well, that does it for my second show in thirty years. It wasn't as good as last years but was still fun to walk around at. I hope they have it again next year. I know they mentioned something about having another in the fall, but not sure I will attend that one. I guess it depends on how busy I will be recovering still from shoulder surgery, attending school and getting ready to coach basketball again.

Let me know your thoughts on my pickups and how I did. Let me know your favorite one as well. Also, how was the last show you went to in comparison to mine? Lots of conversation can be had in comments.

For now, *takes a sip*, I need to finish up my last project so I can enjoy two weeks off from classes.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

My Top 10 Acquisitions Of 2025

It's been a cold few days here with temps in the single to low teens during the day and below zero at night. Before I can get my fingers going on another new post, I will need a hot cup of joe to warm me up.

*takes a sip, feels it warming the body up already*

I originally was going to tackle my Christmas gifts posts, but thought I must tackle today's post so I can finish up all of my 2025 series posts the first three days of the month.

You must be impressed to be able to come here three days in a row.

I guess this shows what time I have open with school break, we will see how much blogging I do after January 26th.

Today's post is showing off my Top 10 Acquisitions of 2025. There is no particular order below for my Top 10 acquisitions as they are all equal. I could have added more and made this a Top 20. But I just wanted to narrow it down.

*takes a sip trying to get warmer*

First card up is this /5 Rodney Hampton autograph. Low numbered Rodney's are being harder to come by. There seems to be someone else who is chasing them down and competing with me.

Next up, a card with a great story (search for it from last year) and from a fellow blogging friend who saw my Top Want List. This was an obvious choice to make this list.

Following that up is my way of cheating three cards on here. But, I feel the trio of Boy Meets World autographs have to stick together.

The next card was a huge set knocker. thanks to a RAK on Twitter With this one, I should be able to finally complete this set in 2026. Hopefully I can stay focused!

 

Yes, I cheated again, but just like Boy Meets World, Impractical Jokers belong together on this list.

A tough-rare Ken Griffey Jr card that someone just sent me just as a friend and fellow Ken Griffey Jr collector? Yeah, that makes the list.

Lou was one of three major additions to my non-sport autograph PC of 2025.

Geena Davis was another big knockdown of 2025 for my non-sport autograph PC.

Shark Tooth, ooooh haha. For those of you that have seen Finding Nemo you will get that reference. For those of you who haven't, well, it's a cool memorabilia relic, it's worthy of this list.

And finally, Alec Baldwin with his Schweddy balls had to make it since he was one of the three big non-sport autograph adds last year.

Well, there you have them. Let me know which card(s) you thought should have made the list I left out or which one is your favorite and why.

Hope everyone has a great Saturday and.be there for others today. Sometimes we all get caught up in our own lives way too much and forget that others exist.

I also hope it is warmer where you are reading this today.

*takes another sip*

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

side note, my first basketball game as a head coach of the 3rd/4th grade girls is today! Wish me luck! I will let you know how it all went next post.

Ps: If you haven't yet done so, please vote in Trading Card Database Site Awards. Voting ends January 10th with winners being announced on January 11th. There are a great variety of categories to vote in...including Favorite Blog :) You can vote on those HERE.

Unfinished Cup:1997 Pro Line NFL Gems Gems Of The NFL

The last couple of days sitting at home after surgery has freed up some time that I didn't have before. 

So, guess what...I am putting some of that extra time into getting some posts done.

Hope you're ready.

*takes a sip of fresh brewed afternoon brew*

Yes, this is another set on my set chases. It's a fun one from the 90's.

If you didn't know, the 90's were ahead of Panini's time with putting jewels into cards. Of course I feel like the late 90's are still ahead in a lot of categories.

Today's set is a really good looking one that I decided to chase out of nowhere after discovering that I had a couple sitting around.

The front of the card features a stud of a player and a stud itself. From my research, these were mail-in redemptions pulled from packs. I am unsure of the odds on these, but can't imagine they were easy pulls.

The odd numbered cards in the set contain emeralds and the even numbered cards have sapphires.

Also, the front of the card is covered in 23K gold.

  

The back of the card features a write up on the player

Overall, there are 16 cards in the set to chase. I have about 5 of them. There are also two bonus Elway variations, but I only plan on collecting the main 16.

Find which ones I need HERE.

I hope everyone is enjoying an afternoon cup with me for today's post, *takes a sip*, and hope you all have a great rest of your Friday.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

It's About The Firsts

When I read Night Owl Cards blog post When the firsts were mostly fun, I thought what a fun Blog Bat Around subject that the article would make.

I am not sure if that was his intention, but I have seen a couple bloggers now use it, so I said why not join in as well and have a cup of coffee while I am at it.

*takes a sip*

The point of the post was mentioning some firsts both in hobby and in life. We will avoid some "firsts" topics on this blog however ;) 

Nobody wants to read about that. I promise you.

*takes another sip*

For my post on this, I copied Greg's layout but will have to tweak a few parts as my version of some of his topics didn't quite match. You will see this as you read on.

And that begins with the First Blaster. 

 

I don't remember what my first blaster was, but I do remember my first hobby box which was a box of 1997 Pinnacle Inscriptions football back in 1997. A brand-new box of it came in and my father reserved it at the gas station for us. If you are questioning why I said gas station, it's probably because you haven't read any of my stories in the past, our gas station was like a hobby shop with tons of boxes/packs in the 90's.

This product was a lot of fun with trying to chase down the acetate Inscriptions Autographs. It was also an expensive one, so even though we reserved the full hobby box, we could only grab a couple "packs", like the one pictured, at a time.

First what I considered old card in my collection 

 

was the 1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr rookie. This iconic card was my first older card and that's not even close to being the type of older cards I expect to see others post about.

I would call myself the "young" blogger, but I certainly don't feel it.

First parallel I knew was one of the first packs I opened. This one cover two topics.

1994 Topps Football Special Effects. These were very eye pleasing.

First baseball cards I purchased through mail-order . 

 

I never ordered any cards through any mail in offer. I did order these 1992 Kellogg's PVC Darkwing Duck figures though.

First sitcom I saw was....probably..

Home Improvement. I watched soooooooo many sitcoms in the 90's it's really hard to narrow them down to which one I watched first, I do know Home Improvement was definitely up there and was the most watched one.

First "big kid" book I read

Was this. Absolute classic. It was followed up with a couple "sequels", but they weren't as good as the original.

First cartoon that freaked me out, none did I grew up watching horror movies. Instead, my first favorite voice actor that followed my entire childhood.

Everyone should know this legend, Jim Cummings.

First article I wrote as a professional writer.....

Do I consider myself a professional writer, no. But I got to write for a professional magazine and had my first article published in it. Something I will never forget.

First championship I experienced for a favorite team

 

I saw plenty of NY Yankee championships, none of those really hit home as much as the NY Giants beating the New England Patriots in Super Bowl 42. I wasn't a football fan when the Giants won their first two Super Bowls so instead, I got to watch a lot of misery and a blowout Super Bowl loss to the Ravens. Winning this one against one my most despised teams that was undefeated at the time gave me a thrill like no other.

And I guess we can't finish this up without discussing my first cup of coffee. I don't have a date on that, I just know it was with my mother playing the game of war with playing cards sometime in the 90's.

There you have it, a lot of firsts.

Thanks to Night Owl Cards for the idea.

I could have gone on with more posts and more firsts, but I just wanted to keep it related to his theme to fit the Blog Bat Around. Maybe I will do a spinoff or sequel to this someday. For now, I will need a sequel to this cup of coffee.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*