Saturday, June 27, 2009

Refractor Lust

I'm going to just go ahead and blatantly show off some of the Cardinals I picked up at the monthly card show a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, the card show seems to be taking the rest of the summer off, but that's probably a good thing as far as my wallet is concerned.

There was the usual array of cheapie cards, and I picked up a variety of 10 cent Cardinals from a few different tables. I didn't go as wild on these as I have in the past because there were tons of other things to buy (packs, boxes, etc.) and, unfortunately, the 1 cent cards guy wasn't there this time. Someday I'll probably find that guy at a card show again, spend the entire day at a terrible mall and pass out from an eye strain induced headache.

I got a few 2009 Bowman Cardinals. I need to figure out what I'm missing and put it up on my want list. I thought I might buy a few Bowman packs this year after I was reasonably pleased with the first one, but I should probably save my money.

Ditto for Goudey. I think I've kicked the habit. Of course, I have a ton of last year's Goudey, but that's coming at a later time.

Actual 1986 Donruss card. I got a few of these, although I probably owned them all already. I'm hoping some of them will be condition upgrades.

Fake 1986 Donruss card. This is from some silly Donruss Originals set. I also got a Rolen card that looked like 1982 Donruss. One guy had a ton of Rolen cards... I think people are trying to dump him thinking that his career is almost over even though he's playing really well for the Jays right now.

The guy with the biggest selection of 10 cent cards also had an unpriced box of shiny baseball stuff. I didn't dare ask how much the cards were until I had already picked out some that I wanted, and it turned out his price scale was extremely reasonable (for the buyer, that is.) This Yadi card is numbered 200/250 and is going to my girlfriend for sure.

All of the refractors and most of the serial numbered cards ended up being 50 cents. He charged me a buck for the Pujols refractor, though, because it's Pujols. Not bad, though! Of course, no scanner seems to be able to capture the shiny rainbow effect of these cards.

This is my first Danny Haren card in Cardinals uniform, and it happens to be his Bowman Chrome Refractor rookie card... for 50 cents!

I picked up a couple of jersey cards, which he decided would cost $1.50. The t-shirt window for Bryan Anderson's jersey piece is really silly. I have a feeling Anderson will eventually be traded, as I don't think he hits well enough to move to another position and Yadi will be a Cardinal for life. The other jersey card was snagged for a blogger, and is a much bigger name than a Cardinal catching prospect.

At another table, a guy had a box full of 1993 Topps Finest cards that apparently were taken from a set he broke up. I now own all of the Cardinals from this pricey set but Lee Smith. He went on about how 1993 Finest produced the first refractor cards and how to this day they sell for a ton of money, but I was more interested in how much he was going to charge me for the cards I picked out. The Ozzie was price tagged at $5, and I also scooped up a handful of 1983 Topps cards, a few of the aforementioned 1986 Donruss as well as a few glossy 1987 Fleers.

The total price for that lot? $5.00 - and that included a Willie McGee rookie card. I am actually lacking in the '80s Cardinals rookies department, especially with McGee because my best friend from the neighborhood collected McGee cards and I was always trying to help him out. His Topps rookie is one of my favorite all-time '80s cards, because the photos are just a great balance of amazing and ridiculous. I hope someday the Cardinals forego their policy of only retiring numbers of Hall of Famers and just go ahead and retire #51. I don't think anyone has worn it since, anyway.

2 comments :

  1. I just got a Bowman Chrome Refractor Matt Rigoli (4/299), would you like it?

    ReplyDelete

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