that was a good team break

here's "where it's at" with the 2024 topps series 2 team break i joined. i chose the dodgers, of course, and wound up with a couple of team sets - all 20 cards:

i'll come back to the jason heyward card in a bit.

kiké continues to get decent cards. i like that he and rojas got cards showing them as fielders. we don't need more at bats on cards

see what i mean? i feel like i am missing some candids these days.

especially with pitchers, who do nothing but pitch in today's game. 

we could also use more bat flip cards like teoscar there. 

back to heyward's card

it was obvious to me as soon as i saw the card that his number was photoshopped. it was also obvious that the background is dodger stadium. i was confused and couldn't believe that topps didn't use a photo of heyward as a dodger. it turns out that they used a photo from jackie robinson day when the dodgers were wearing a pre-1952 jersey style that didn't have the red numbers on the front. here's the original photo. i am not sure why topps felt they needed to add the red number at all, but they did. just add that to the list of headscratching decisions they make with seemingly every release.

unfortunately, the photo doesn't show the 42 on heyward's back, so even though i know it is a card from an april 15 game, it doesn't go in the 42 mini-collection. i did get the gold foil parallel

in the break, however, so that's nice.

one more note on one of the base cards (at least in this post). kyle hurt got a card! i mentioned this possibility in an earlier post about dodgers who got cards despite appearing in only one game with the team. hurt only appeared in one game for the dodgers in 2023 as the back of his card attests

so kudos to topps for using a photo from his big league debut and not photoshopping a minor league image. this season, hurt has pitched in three games for the dodgers, and was just activated from the 60-day il yesterday so will likely add to that total, leaving guys from that earlier post in the dust.

i netted two gold parallels - clayton kershaw

and dustin may

but no other parallels. i appreciate the photo topps used for may's card. it's one of the few pitcher cards that doesn't show a windup or delivery.

i did ok for inserts though, picking up both the shohei ohtani

and freddie freeman

1989 all-star inserts. freeman was the player my break landed the most as it turned out with both his covering the field

and fantasy favorites

inserts being pulled.

as for the silver packs, i got a bobby miller card

which was a bonus, really.

i did notice that the price for the dodgers in these breaks has increased with ohtani on the team, but it's still a good way to get a good number of cards to kickstart the team collection. i'll probably hold off on any more team breaks until update, however.

h-town card show, part 2

i'm here to wrap up my visit last month to planet houston and the hotel card show i attended. yesterday's post covered my pick-ups from the first few dealers i worked with, and now here is the rest!

the next dealer i found had a quarter box filled with topps inserts and topps on demand releases. i took 37 cards from him, and he charged me 8 bucks.

here's a lot of 2022 topps 582 montgomery cards from 2020-21 set 1 and 2022 set 2

plus six more from 2022 set 3

and here is a pair of red sox from 2021 topps brooklyn collection

i knew that i already had the ichiro card because of the duke snider mural in the background - i had added the card to my dodger stadium mini-collection as soon as i first saw the card online. i didn't realize, however, that i also already had the trea turner card.

i did find some other dodgers that i did need here, too, including this 2022 topps a&g x freddie freeman mini

i had more luck with dodgers at the next stop. this was a guy in a braves hat who said his boxes were 50% off the marked prices. i made away with 48 cards for a total of 20 bucks. highlights included a 2021 topps update dj peters vintage stock parallel

a 2020 topps heritage 50th anniversary buyback of wes parker's 1971 topps card

a pair of color parallels of clayton kershaw from 2021 topps big league

and 2022 panini donruss optic

a pair of jackie robinson short prints

from 2021 topps gypsy queen and 2010 topps national chicle, respectively, and a pair of autographs from a couple of 2019 topps products

of dennis santana. santana most recently pitched for the yankees, and i will admit that i was a bit sad to see the dodgers get to him during the first two games of their series in new york. after the second game, in which santana was pulled and replaced by a position player, it seemed pretty clear his time was up and the next day the yankees dfa'd him. fortunately, like mitch white in yesterday's post, santana was picked up by a nl central team - in his case, the brewers.

i added five more dodger cards from another seller for 10 bucks, and i was happy with that price. i figured that he would be asking for that much for this card alone - 2024 topps shohei ohtani/mookie betts checklist

i think topps is playing fast and loose with what a hug is. maybe their copy editor has some issues.

the other four cards were inserts and parallels from stadium club chrome and topps chrome releases

at least half of which are unnecessary, but i remain the fool that buys them (on the secondary market).

next up i stopped at a dealer who had pretty much only texas team items and dug through a short stack (is there any other kind?) of jose altuve cards for a trading partner who collects the astro 2nd baseman. i found four cards for 2 bucks, and i am keeping one from 2022 panini donruss optic

since it's a double play turn!

then i stopped at another table and dug through a couple of rows of a monster box that was ambiguously priced. i was on my way out so i didn't look too seriously but, did pick out two autographed cards which totaled 10 bucks, one of which was this 1997 bowman karim garcia auto

he gave them both to me for five which was nice. i guess there is also a "blue ink" version of the garcia card, but i will count my collection complete with this one.

i made one more stop, figuring that i should see if i could pick up some 1955 bowman. there was an older couple with some vintage stacks, including cards from the tv set. i picked out a few and offered ten bucks. the toploaders that the cards were in had prices on them, and ten bucks was a pretty good discount. the guy looked at the cards and countered with the full marked price.  i then reduced my ask to two cards which had a total marked price of six bucks and asked if he would take five. he looked at them and told me "six dollars". it was then that i realized he was hard of hearing. i held up five fingers and he said ok and so i was able to cross off st. paul native fred baczewsi and gil coan

from the want list as i work towards completing the set. i'm making some decent strides in that regard but still have a ways to go.

big thanks to houston for hosting a show that coincided with one of my visits. i have plans to be there again, but don't see any shows scheduled during that time which is too bad for me because i really did have a good time.

a card show in h-town, part 1

i have never travelled out of state for a card show, although i've toyed with the idea of heading into wisconsin once or twice for that purpose. both nationals that i attended were in california where i was living at the time, but maybe i'll get to ohio one of these days. anyway, i didn't travel to texas for a card show, but i did see that one was scheduled during my visit in may, so i took advantage.

it was a good ol' fashioned hotel show at a marriott out near hobby airport, appropriately enough. the tables were full and the people were friendly, even as i was wearing my dodger hat from the 2017 world series. here's what i walked away with:

the first table i stopped at had a dollar box with a bunch of relics and autos and a few other items. i spent $21 for 21 cards. here are a few highlights:

2007 upper deck premier christy mathewson (silver) and jimmie foxx premier stitchings

2022 panini select rookie jumbo swatch holo prizm cards of andre jackson

and lars nootbaar

2021 panini spectra jahmai jones rising rookie gold prizm dual patch relic /10

one of the reasons that i added this card to my stack is that it was in a one-touch case. i posted about another jahmai jones card that i bought for the same reason a while back.

also in a one-touch was this card from a different sport altogether

that's a 2021-22 panini chronicles draft picks donruss optic rated rookie bronze prizm parallel of jalen suggs. it's also a ridiculously long name for a card. i figure i can flip these cards so that i am basically being paid to take the one touch cases.

here's a 1996 pinnacle johnny damon artist's proof

that caught my eye. even though i was still collecting in the 1990's, i didn't go for pinnacle and missed out on all the duflex glory.

there was also a binder of autos and parallels on the table - without prices. i usually don't bother but took a look and asked how much this 2021 topps chrome rookie blue wave refractor autograph of mitch white

would cost. it was just another buck. the seller asked if he was any good and i mentioned that he had just been dfa'd so there was a team out there that didn't think so. i was happy to see later that day that white had been picked up by the brewers.

the next table i stopped at had a bargain box with a twist. they priced the cards such that you get get as many as you could fit into a box (similar to a 1980's box set box) for $10. i wound up getting 61 cards to fit.

these cards included a bunch of 2021 topps finest flashbacks dodger cards

and some other random stuff like a 2001 bowman heritage chase utley rookie card

a non-retail 2022 panini absolute gil hodges card

and a 1998 pacific crown collection chipper jones card featuring dodger catcher tom prince

and i maintained my artist's proof streak by picking up this 1998 score showcase series david segui card

i then added four cards from the higher priced box to my stack, and got those for another $10. these included a couple of panini braves relics

a 2014 panini hall of fame roy campanella elite dominator

and a 1998 donruss signature series ismael valdes millennium marks auto

by this time, this seller's friend had started setting out his wares on the table next to these boxes. i took a quick look at one of the boxes and asked about pricing on this 2022 topps freddie freeman batting helmet commemorative relic

he said five bucks. i told him i would give him a couple bucks for it, but would give him five if he added these two cards - a 2014 topps chrome onelki garcia blue refractor rookie autograph

and a 2022 topps stadium club chrome walker buehler orange refractor

he agreed. the buehler is numbered to 25

it's great to be in non-dodger country!

this wasn't the end of my day, but i'll save the rest for another post. stay tuned!