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!

the k is for kershaw kountdown continues - house of the mouse edition

yes, the kountdown to 3,000 strikeouts for clayton kershaw continues as he pitched against the angels on tuesday night in anaheim, not too far from disneyland. he struck out 5 batters to give him 103 strikeouts on the season. those 5 halos that he k'd increased his career total to 2,910.

in honor of his performance, here are 5 cards to represent strikeouts 2,906 through 2,910.

2,906 - 2018 bowman sky blue

2,907 - 2019 topps big league gold

2,908 - 2020 topps utz

2,909 - 2021 topps finest flashbacks

2,910 - 2022 topps cosmic chrome

kershaw remains in 21st place on the all-time leader board, and will remain there until he passes zack greinke, who struck out 4 on sunday against these same angels to increase his strikeout total to 2,940. kershaw is now 30 k's behind greinke (although greinke is slated to pitch today) and 90 away from the 3,000 milestone. 

with the game taking place in anaheim - a city that i spent a lot of time in back in the 1990's - i figured this was a good time to show off an oddball card that i added to my dodger collection a few months back:

that's a dodger card - even though it says "mickey mouse all-stars" - from the 2010 all-star game that was held in anaheim. it was a fanfest giveaway that came in packs of five cards. i believe there were ten cards in all - three non-franchise cards (national league, american league, and all-star game) and seven franchise cards (dodgers, angels, braves, cubs, mets, yankees, giants). here is the back of the dodger card:

there's a bit of weirdness on the back as i don't know anyone who refers to 1932 as the first season for the dodger franchise. otherwise, the card presents a nice snapshot in time in terms of franchise leaders. today, kershaw would replace chad billingsley in each of the active leader pitching categories, plus sandy koufax as the all-time whip leader and don sutton in all-time strikeouts with 2,910 and counting. see? this card ties in to the k is for kershaw kountdown quite well!

it would seem that kershaw's next start will come against the rockies next tuesday in colorado. regardless of when he makes his next start, i will be back to update the kountdown soon thereafter. stay tuned!