Why, yes, I had a good National Baseball Card Day

National Baseball Card Day took place a couple weeks ago and this particular year it went down as one of the single greatest Card Days I've ever had as a collector.

Not so much because of the above Aaron Judge, which was this year's "freebie" with a $10 purchase from any LCS (I think officially it's supposed to come with a $10 purchase of Topps products but my shops weren't strict about that). I stopped at two shops and spent over $10 at both, which means I got two copies of said Judge.

A great card, but again, it's not the reason I'll forever remember this National Baseball Card Day.

Nor was it memorable for the four NBCD packs I received (both shop owners were nice enough to give my dad a free pack just for walking in the door).

I'll always take free cards -- especially ones you can't get anywhere else -- but these ended up playing a background role this year.

Maybe it's a little self-aggrandizing, but I feel good knowing that I've done a small part to contribute to a local card shop on National Baseball Card Day.

The first of the two stores I stopped at had this odd Javier Baez tobacco in its dollar bin, and though I'm not a huge dollar-box aficionado, I grabbed it since a) I knew I'd probably never see it again, and b) I had absolutely no idea what it was (any info on the latter would be helpful).

I saw about a dozen people walk in and out of my first LCS during my trip there last weekend, which is both comforting and impressive since I'm usually the only one there on non-NBCDs.

Thankfully none of those other customers snagged these two from the dollar bins, though.

More from the dollar bins.

The two Cubs for a buck per is high but by no means excessive (you wouldn't believe what a lot of shops around here charge for Cubs stuff), while the other two are fairly good deals.

This particular shop owner has a few Cubs/Sox quarter binders on display, and while I've picked through them many times before, I seem to find a few new things with each visit.

Nothing mind-boggling here, though I am ecstatic to finally own a copy of that strange head-to-toe airbrush job on the '77 Solderholm.

Now these two definitely were surprises from the quarter binders -- you'd be hard pressed to find stuff like this at all at a card show, much less for a quarter.

The second card shop also provided something a show couldn't -- a cheap copy of this tough Ichiro Heritage SP from a few years back.

I saw a copy of this very card at the show I attended earlier this month, in fact: the dealer wanted $5 for it -- meanwhile the LCS price ended up being 75 cents(!).

The one downside about this second shop is that almost everything is behind a glass case -- that tactile cardboard enjoyment just isn't there.

One of the owner's glass-case displays advertised large stacks of cards for $1.50 each, but he was offering them at half price as a special NBCD deal. Honestly, most of them weren't steals at 75 cents either (Ichiro aside), but I'm still happy to float a few bucks the owner's way since he's a good dude. (Plus you just can't expect shops to match card show prices very often: it's the exception to the rule.)

No steals of the century or anything, but I certainly didn't mind plunking down a few quarters a pop for these.

But 75 cents per definitely ain't a bad deal for these two -- especially considering the Benintendi is one of the SPs from last year's Update.

And then we have a '58 Topps Yogi Berra.

Wait...what? One minute I was browsing through 75 cent cards and the next minute I was in the process of buying a vintage HOFer. How...? Apparently the shop owner remembered I collected vintage from my prior visits and mentioned he'd just bought a nice lot off a guy. He showed me the stack, and I kid you not, it was big card after big card. Star after star. HOFer after HOFer.

It was nice to see, but never in a million years did I think I'd be buying any of them -- especially not after the LCS owner pulled out his Beckett when I asked him how much they were (his glass-case vintage is horrendously overpriced).

Turns out he wanted 10% of the book value for each card -- standard fare for well-loved vintage cardboard -- which means that I got both the '58 Berra and this beautiful '56 Spahn for just $12 a piece.

Definitely a fair price considering neither are in what I would call "poor" shape, and I certainly didn't expect to come home with anything close to a pair of '50s HOFers. Wow! What a National Baseball Card Day, right? I paid for my purchases and was almost out the door when the shop owner mentioned to let him know if there were any specific guys I was looking for: he could reach out if anything came in.

I said okay and mumbled something about a certain dude I collected...

...and minutes later I was walking out with a FREAKING '56 TOPPS ROBERTO CLEMENTE.

Even I'm not quite sure how this happened. First I couldn't even fathom that I was holding a '56 Clemente. And then somehow I was taking it home. The shop owner wanted $40 for it and eventually accepted the $35 offer I made. The borders are lopped off, as you can see, and there's a huge crease running down the middle, but who cares: THAT'S A '56 ROBERTO CLEMENTE (also a mini-collection hit, no less)! Also known as a card I never thought I'd own, not in a million years.

So, yeah, I had a good National Baseball Card Day, thanks for asking.