November Card Show Part 2

As noted in my previous post, this past weekend was the monthly Urbandale American Legion Card Show. As always, I almost always find some really nice Padres cards.

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For starters, here's a 1998 Skybox Dugout Access Dishwashers Kevin Brown, 1992 Ultra All-Stars Gary Sheffield, 1993 Topps Gold Jose Melendez, 1996 Bowman Ken Caminiti, 1996 Select Ken Caminiti, 1995 Ultra Second Year Standouts Joey Hamilton.

 

You have to love the back of that Select Caminiti card and the fact Pinnacle included this particular picture on the card. You have to wonder, though,  whose hand that is...

 

 

November's show also provided me the opportunity to load up on 2014 San Diego Padres cards.

Here's 2014 Bowman Chrome cards of Austin Hedges, Huston Street, Andrew Cashner, Ian Kennedy and Everth Cabrera. I know San Diego gave up Street to the Angels clear back in July, but all the same, it's a bit weird seeing Street in this team set, wearing Padres colors;

I've always enjoyed the Bowman Platinum product, and here's four cards from the 2014 set, including Austin Hedges, Max Fried, Nelson Liriano, and Hunter Renfroe.

 

2014 Donruss Everth Cabrera, Ian Kennedy, Tommy Medica RC,  Jedd Gyorko, Andrew Cashner and Chase Headley.

 

2014 Topps Rene Rivera, Joaquin Benoit, Troy Patton, Jeff Francoeur, Seth Smith and Alexei Amarista. Francoueur and Rivera, who I've always liked behind the plate, we saw play in Des Moines when the Chihuahua's were in town. Patton, a left-handed reliever the Padres picked up from Baltimore in the Nick Hundley trade, was recently suspended 80 games for amphetamines. He was also suspended for the first 25 games of the 2014 season after taking Adderall just four days before the end of the 2013 season. In September, San Diego outrighted him to Triple-A El Paso. and Patton refused the assignment becoming a free agent. Lots of luck with that, Troy.

 

 

And finally, how about a 2014 Panini Prizm Reymond Fuentes RC, 2014 Bowman Chrome Fire Diecut Refractors Austin Hedges and a 2014 Topps Chrome Tommy Medica RC. I really like those Bowman Chrome fire diecuts.

There will be yet another card show December 21 and I hope to be there yet again. Hopefully, there'll be a full complement of dealers in attendance that close to Christmas.

November Urbandale Monthly Show Part 1

Being it was about the second weekend of the month, this past weekend was the monthly Urbandale American Legion Card Show. I always enjoy hitting this one-day show. Not only do I find some really nice Padres cards, but I always track down a few good hockey cards and some pretty awesome trade bait.

 

Unfortunately, a few inches of snow fell across the state the night before (I know, snow in Iowa in November? Who'd have thought...), so several of the regular sellers were missing on this Sunday. Among those missing in action were a couple of my favorite sellers, including one who has some really nice hockey and baseball nickel boxes.

 

As I've stated before, I've been there often enough, that I've even gotten to know several of the dealers. Just last month, dealer Myron had a bunch of the 1974 San Diego Padres/Washington, Nat'l League cards. He said he'd gotten them in a box at an estate sale and was willing to let me have them for $1 each. To me this was a fantastic find. He also mentioned he'd start sticking Padres aside for me whenever he came across them.

 

Myron didn't disappoint, as he had the following Padres "oldies but goodies" for me.

 

1973 Topps Fred Norman, Clay Kirby, Mike Caldwell, Fred Kendall, and Leron Lee. 1974 Topps Leron Lee and Dave Roberts. 1972 ToppsTom Phoebus and Johnny Jeter. He also had some hard-to-find Tony Gwynn Tek cards, as well.

 

 

There were still a couple of dealers at the show with the inevitable 5 cent and 10 cent boxes. So, I took the opportunity to load up on these 2011 Topps Heritage Minors  cards. Featured from the Lake Elsinore set are 3B Edinson Rincon, P Jerry Sullivan, P Matt Lollis, OF Reymond Fuentes, 3B Jedd Gyorko, SS Jeudy Valdez, and C Jason Hagerty.

 

There were still plenty of 2011 Topps Heritage Minors card for San Diego's affiliates, including Fort Wayne Tincaps cards of P Kevyvis Sampson and P Adys Portillo, San Antonio Missions cards of P Casey Kelly and OF Blake Tekotte, and a Tucson Padres card of P Simon Castro.

The last cards I'll feature in this post are the 2013 Bowman Draft Draft Picks Silver Ice Hunter Renfroe and Dustin Peterson and a 2014 Pacific Coast League Prospects Burch Smith.

While there may be a love/hate relationship with minor league cards, I've always liked them. For many players, it may be the only cardboard of their professional baseball career. Just imagine your grandkids finding your minor league cards in the attic one day, realizing that you DID actually play professional baseball. It's especially cool when that player goes on to more than just a cup of coffee in MLB. It's fun to see their young, impressionable expressions, especially since they have their entire career ahead of them.

Gwynn and other goodies from COMC

As most of you are aware, I hit up the COMC website on occasion and earn a few free cards through their COMC Challenges. I do them a favor by helping inventory their cards, and they repay my efforts by rewarding me with $1 towards cards for every 1,000 points I accumulate.  

 

While it's been a while since I've ordered cards from them, I've earned enough points/dollars that I was able to find 15 that I just felt I had to have for my personal collection.

 

Being the die-hard San Diego Padres fan that I am (this is "Bleedin' Brown and Gold" after all), I'll start out with the 10 Friars cards I picked up.

 

While rumors abound that Andrew Cashner is quite possibly on the Padres trading block, I thought he did a heck of job with San Diego. So, I picked up his 2013 Topps Tier One On the Rise Autographs S/N 340/399 and 2014 Bowman Blue S/N 14/500. I also found a card featuring the best mascot in MLB, San Diego's Swinging Friar, ala his 2007 Topps Opening Day Gold S/N 1761/2007.

 

At the September Urbandale American Legion card show, I had a dealer give me a great deal on Topps' 1974 "Washington Nat'l League" Padres cards. That year Topps included 15 cards with the yellow San Diego padres uniforms and caps, but with "Washington," in the top left corner and "Nat'l Lea." in the bottom right since it appeared that San Diego was going to be sold and moved. They also released those same cards with the regular San Diego title.

 

I was able to add the Fred Kendall and Dave Hilton Washington cards, as well as a Vicente Romo San Diego card.

 

Of course, any Padres baseball card collection is just a pile of cardboard, without the inclusion of "Mr. Padre," the late Tony Gwynn. Here's his 1994 Fleer All-Stars, 2013 Upper Deck National Convention and a 1999 Upper Deck PowerDeck Auxiliary. I thought it was rather nice (albeit belated) that MLB recognized Gwynn during the 2014 World Series.

 

My last Padres purchase was this 2008 Topps Heritage Black Back Trevor Hoffman. While I don't normally collect football, I've been a Packers fan since I was a wee lad and only pick up cards for players from the Lombardi era, so getting this 2001 Topps Gallery Bart Starr was a no-brainer.

 

Hockey is my only other card collecting vice. And yes, I am a hockey geek - we have season tickets for the Iowa Wild, help out as goal judge or statistician at Iowa State Club hockey games and I still occasionally play roller hockey. The first card, the 1993 Classic Pro Hockey Prospects Autograph Dmitri Kvartalnov S/N 3387/4000 combines my love for San Diego with my passion for hockey. We used to watch the Mariners play in the old World Hockey Association (WHA) at the San Diego Sports Arena, but have yet to catch a Gulls game. Once a semi-pro team, the Gulls are now a junior hockey team playing at the Ice Plex in Escondido.

 

My other hockey cards include a 2011-12 Panini Contenders Jonathan Toews, 2010-11 Zenith Crease is the Word Corey Crawford, and a 1996 Zenith Champion Salute Joe Sakic. I started collecting the Zenith cards about six months ago and already have half the set, including the hard-to-find Mario Lemieux card.