Card Shop Fun, Pt. 1 (WOW, what a find!!)

Just got back from a night in downtown Chicago with a bunch of my friends. Chicago is a beautiful place (as long as you're not driving), especially around this time of year. Usually, there's a crapload of Christmas lights up around now. Not this year, though. I guess the fact that there's no snow on the ground four days before Christmas is taking away from everyone's "Christmas cheer". But can you blame them?

Earlier today, I went to a local mall with one of my other friends. It's the same mall that I missed out on going to on Sunday (which I've previously posted about). I finally got to hit the little card shop there.

This particular card shop has a little rack of team bags, which contain 30 cards a piece. The bags are 3/$1, so it amounts to a little more than a penny per card. I bought what he had left, 16 of these "packs" in all. Plus, he had some 1993 Conlon Collection packs on the rack as well, also 3/$1. (I've mentioned how much I love this set before.) I would've bought more of the Conlons if I had more cash on me (darn!). All this cost me about $7.

I'll feature four of the bags per post. I've also already opened the Conlon packs, but I didn't get a chance to scan them before my night out, so I'll save them for the next post.

You probably won't believe what I pulled from one of these things. It came from the fourth and final one of these I opened today. Keep in mind that these cards were a little more than a penny a piece, all tolled. Now stay with me and don't scroll all the way down to the last pack! (I know you're probably going to, though.)

Pack #1

Pack #1 was a dud. These two cards were the best two I got. When I was younger, I got this Cris Carpenter confused with Chris Carpenter, star pitcher of the Cardinals, so I ended up collecting the wrong Carpenter. 

About half the pack was this:

 

The atrocious 1990 Donruss set. 

Pack #2

 

This was the second most interesting card I pulled from the first four packs, and my second favorite as well. I had no idea that Mike Scioscia was ever affiliated with the Padres organization. It must be a scary sight for Dodgers fans. He never played a game in San Diego, though (a possible "zero-year" nominee, perhaps?).

 

1993 Upper Deck is a terrific set, and this pack was almost all '93 UD. After the Scioscia, these were my favorites from pack #2. That's a young Tim Wakefield on the left of the Pirates card.

As I said, '93 Upper Deck is a great set. Some of the greatest photography to ever be witnessed on baseball cards.

Pack #3

 

Not as good as pack #2, but not a complete bust, either. I pulled cards I needed of two guys I collect, Steve Howe and Jeff Nelson. I think Collector's Choice sets get overlooked sometimes. The "shadow" baseball figures in the bottom corners of the cards are a nod to the '70s Topps issues, and about 95% of the fronts of these are reserved for the photos.

The Ozzie Smith card is cool, but it's a prime example of why those weird double-images in '94 UD take away from the look. Instead of seeing the rest of the player sliding into second, we just see a smaller version of the exact same cut-off image. And then there's some guy named Alex Cole doing his best not to turn into a superhero, like Clark Kent or something. Look at those glasses!

Pack #4

These two were among the first two to fall out of the last pack I opened. Both are neat additions to my PC. How could I not collect a guy named "Gookie"?

This last one was mostly newer cards. There's a couple more that look like they're mostly new as well, and I can't wait to open those because of what I pulled in this one. 

Here's me going through the rest of this pack:

"Cool, cool. Oh, that's a pretty neat one."

"Don't need it. Hmm, whatever happened to Shannon Stewart?"

"Need it. Got it. Need...wait, WHAT?"

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!"

"A Jose Reyes rookie? In here?! Ohmigod!"

Yup, that's a 2001 Topps Stars Jose Reyes rookie card. Which is mine for the paltry price of about a penny. I'm thinking these have been sitting on that shelf for a while, maybe around 10 years ago when Reyes wasn't a name yet. Maybe there's a Pujols rookie or something in one of the others! 

Ooooh, I can't wait to open the rest of these tomorrow.