card shop pregaming

i had some time to kill before a work event one friday evening so i stopped at one of the local card shops to check out their bargain bins and nickel and quarter boxes. i considered the trip a warmup for the monthly card show which would take place the next day. the inventory was a little low, but i still found cards to take home with me.

i know that the shop doesn't typically bust product, so i am guessing they bought some cards from someone who went for a large 2024 topps chrome yankee team break. there was one aaron judge card to be had, although it was the all-etch insert

but i found a juan soto 1989 35th anniversary card, too

among a bunch of other yankee refractor parallels.

there was a random teoscar hernandez refractor parallel

so maybe it wasn't just a yankee thing.

i had not known that 2024 topps finest was out, but i found freddie freeman's base card

and a couple of "baseball's finest" inserts - shohei ohtani

and clayton kershaw

with yoshinobu yamamoto on the injured list, his cards haven't been as tough to find. these two inserts from 2024 topps finest

were a quarter apiece. as was kershaw's 2024 topps museum collection card

his copper parallel was fifty cents

i did grab some non-dodgers, including a 2010 topps factory set limited edition exclusive hanley ramirez card

for the name/number on the back collection. it was a nickel.

this 2022 topps 75 years of the roy nomar garciaparra card

was also a nickel. i recently completed the dodger team set from this release which would have been so much more of a priority if it had featured all 151 or so roys instead of just a handful.

here's a 2021 topps jack flaherty 70 years of topps chrome parallel insert

i am assuming we will see flaherty and his number 0 in update later this year.

i figured there was some sort of shenanigans when i found two different 2024 topps finest jung hoo lee cards

and it turns out one is the base and the other is a "rare" short print. ok topps.

i spent a total of 20 bucks on loose cards - about 90 in total - but couldn't resist picking up one of the blasters of 2024 topps chrome that was in the case. i should have left it alone. i did find a clayton kershaw base card

and a freddie freeman "strokes" insert

but the rest was pretty poor. i figured i would find some 2024 topps chrome at the show the next day, but i was wrong. still, i left with some cards and i will share some of them in a future post. stay tuned!