post holiday post of pre-holiday card show cards

it's been over two months, and i haven't posted cards from the december 2025 twin cities club card show. i thought about skipping it, as i went to the february show and found some fun cards that i want to post about, but remembered some of the cards i picked up in december were also post worthy so here we are.

one of the regular sellers at this show always has a couple of dime boxes tucked under his table. i always stop and take a look, even though it requires some effort as his table tops is jammed full of shiny stuff and you have to squat and dig under the table. most of the time, it's been worth it. here are some of the cards i found in december

2013 panini golden age evel knievel playing card insert

big nostalgia hit there. evel knievel was a big part of my childhood for a year or two. we had the toys and his snake canyon jump had my neighborhood talking for sure. i've never looked to see if he has any other cards but i am sure panini has put some out.

2025 panini donruss prince fielder rockets parallel

knievel literally jumped over sharks, while panini has done so metaphorically with some pretty ridiculous parallels.

2017 topps gypsy queen matt kemp purple parallel

there were about 10 of these parallels in the box. they are numbered to 250. even as a brave, i can't quit matt kemp.

2017 topps gypsy queen francisco lindor blackless parallel

there were a few of these as well.

2011 bowman chrome clayton kershaw

i picked this one up for my name/number on the back collection

and this 2020 topps chrome jonathan villar sepia refractor

goes into my double play collection, and this 2017 panini donruss 1983 ozzie smith insert

goes into the dodger stadium collection. that glove in the photo belongs to mike scioscia or mike piazza, or carlos hernandez or a number of other dodger catchers. ozzie looks a bit too old for it to be steve yeager though.

the most surprising cards to find in this dime box were some oversized topps big box toppers from 2023 topps update. included in these cards were nolan arenado and vladimir guerrero jr

as well as none other than clayton kershaw!

usually when i find cards like these, the dodgers are nowhere to be seen. not this time.

there was more from that seller, but you get the gist. now on to the primary seller i visit at these shows. he's the guy with quarter and dollar boxes but always gives a great deal when you pull a lot of cards. this time, i took a look at his $2 boxes and found a few cards, including this 2006 fleer (upper deck) flair showcase greg maddux hot gloves die cut

these have a print run of just 150 copies. there are no comps that i could find - i couldn't even find one of these in comc's database. i didn't know all that when i pulled the card - i just thought it was different and i hadn't seen one before. cesar izturis has a card in the set that i will likely seek out.

as for the quarter boxes, they yielded some fun stuff, like a 2011 topps heritage adam dunn green tint parallel

and some topps heritage chrome parallels, like carlos beltran's 2005 issue

and eric gagne's from the same set

those are numbered to 1956 as seen on the back

i found a david wright chrome refractor from 2005 topps heritage 

in the dollar boxes. those are numbered to 556

it seems like more often than not, i find a legends parallel in this seller's boxes, and this was no exception. here's a 2009 topps babe ruth short print

i already have one of these in my retired number collection, but i couldn't leave george herman behind.

i don't always go for political inserts, but i did grab the gold parallels of the 2008 topps presidential nominees - john mccain

and barack obama

it's hard for me to wrap my head around what has become of the republican party since mccain (or even mitt romney) was the nominee. mccain famously defended obama on the campaign trail when a woman referred to him as something that he was not, and that sort of thing just isn't happening from the gop today.

now for some dodgers that i found - here's a 2016 topps heritage high numbers corey seager rookie performers insert

that's missing the rc logo. that logo is present on alex verdugo's 2018 topps finest card

which was the last base card i needed to complete the team set.

these boxes always have a bunch of parallels, so i have a few to show. from 2024 topps, here are a couple of rainbow foil cards

and from 2024 topps update, here are a couple of silver crackle foil cards

bobby miller and emmet sheehan both had silver pack chrome cards

from 2024 topps update and 2024 topps, respectively, while teoscar hernandez' is from 2025 topps

there are so many inserts these days, as you know, and so i was not surprised to learn that i did not already own this freddie freeman insert

from 2023 topps archives. same goes for this 2025 topps summer superstars insert of blake snell

and then there are the 2025 topps series two 1990 all-star inserts. blue and red versions, and this mookie betts card i pulled

was also a need. in fact, i didn't have the blue one of betts, either.

one more item of interest, to me at least. 

that's a 2018 topps holiday starling marte relic card. it was in the $2 box, and i grabbed it because it features a piece of the pirates' 2017 memorial day camoflauge jersey. i know that's not the holiday this set is celebrating, but i thought it was sort of meta having a holiday jersey piece in a holiday insert. 

that's a wrap on 2025 card shows, and as i mentioned, i have cards to show from my first 2026 show - stay tuned!