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 almost daily dodger - andre jackson

today's dodger is andre jackson, featured on a 2022 topps stadium club red foil parallel:

i chose this card because i am reminded that 2023 topps stadium club still hasn't been released, and it will likely include cards of dodgers who are no longer dodgers.

jackson was still a dodger when this card was released, but he finished the 2023 season in pittsburgh. he was released just before christmas, and i don't think he's signed on with anyone yet. i have to give the dodgers credit, as the pitchers that they have traded away or released in recent years haven't blossomed - think of jackson, mitch white, dennis santana - although i am a bit concerned about what clayton beeter and ryan pepiot might do in the coming years.

hey jesse! now chrome!

there is no jessie, but as far as chrome goes, every "time" it is released, i am resigned to purchasing a box or some packs because "i think i want to know ya".  that was the case this year, although i was once again reminded that there is not much new there. i like the refractors fine, but it gets repetitive. anyway, before i show some 2023 stuff i realized that i didn't say much about 2022 topps chrome last year (which probably says all you need to know), but i scanned a bunch of the cards and "i need to show ya" so "check it out".

i'll start off with some of the non-parallel inserts, like this mookie betts "pinstriped" card

i have no idea why this insert set is call "pinstriped". the dodgers, of course, do not have a pinstriped uniform.

max muncy "heart of the city"

i am a bit turned around with the photo of downtown los angeles, but it looks like the photo was taken from the east looking west, perhaps somewhere between the 1st street viaduct and the 101. this would put giant max muncy in westlake, a bit north of macarthur park.

trea turner "new classics"

the back of the card compares turner to hall of famer tim raines, who i guess would then be considered an "old classic", or i suppose just "classic"

here's turner's base card

which is his base and not the chrome sonic base, even thought the topps chrome logo is on the left.

as i mentioned, i still go for refractors, so here are some base refractors - andre jackson

and justin turner

plus muncy paired with his sepia refractor

i have sepia refractors of clayton kershaw

and julio urias

as well.

pink refractors are still provided in retail stuff (blasters, i think), and here's justin turner's

and kershaw's

here's a prism refractor of mookie betts

and the xfractor of kershaw

there are, of course, way more refractor parallels out there, including a large number of numbered parallels.

chrome update is also still a thing, with their exclusive purple refractors like freddie freeman's here

and this nice josh rojas double play turn here

and then there are the extra chrome sets, like chrome sapphire edition

which is a true parallel set to flagship - series 1, 2, and update. i only have a few, including will smith's card, which features a whole lot of blue!

another chrome set issued the last couple of years has been chrome black. i have a couple base cards that i've picked up, but mostly what i've added from these releases are more steve garvey autograph cards. here are the ones from 2022 that i've picked up

"base"

refractor /199

green refractor /99

gold refractor /50

the "wormhole" background shows up pretty well on the refractors. i always wonder about chrome cards that don't look very appealing in their non-refractor format - like what is the point?

aside from chome sonic (and, i suppose, chrome ben baller) perhaps the most useless chrome release in 2022 was "logofractor". i found a kershaw card cheap 

i think the seller got it confused with an xfractor. topps is just a step away from the panini-esque emoji parallels. in fact, i wonder if this is them flaunting their license in panini's face.

as for 2023 topps chrome, here's kershaw's base card

which is just the chrome-ified version of his base card. i picked up a base dodger team set, and didn't see any differences between the other cards and their flagship versions, either. however, i also picked up a couple of packs and did notice that michael harris ii got a different photo in chrome

so at least that is different.  i really do hope fanatics is going to pull back on some of the chrome releases in 2023 - only (the) "time" will tell.

just like fire would

as the saints sang, it burns out. ("all fools day" is one of my favorite albums. it's really good stuff.)

back to cards...

fanatics announced earlier this year that the "fire" release would not be returning to shelves in 2023 which is fine by me. it was kind of a throwaway set that i would pick up singles from in bargain boxes at shows later in the calendar year. 

here are some 2022 topps fire cards that i've had sitting around in my scanned folder for awhile.

clayton kershaw

and clayton kershaw, flame parallel

and also, clayton kershaw (and walker buehler), gold minted parallel

more gold minted dodger parallels - cody bellinger, andre jackson, justin turner

i guess those are now non-dodger gold minted parallels.

i assure you all of those cards are from 2022. fire used different designs in the same set, but in a way more annoying fashion than what we see in archives or back in 2001 with topps fusion. the only real comparisons i can make are to 1995 fleer and fleer's 2003 fall classic release. it's like they couldn't decide on a single design and just said "screw it - use 'em all".

for me, i have way more blue chip and gold minted insert parallels than i do base inserts, and maybe that's what retail will do for you instead of hobby. anyway, here's a trea turner "fired up" gold minted insert parallel

that uses the same main photo seen on his "on fire" die-cut insert.

turner's card also has a "liar, liar, pants on fire" vibe to it, while walker buehler seems largely unscathed by flames.  those two inserts are the rare exception to my blue chip/gold minted insert success. case in point, here's mookie betts' "on fire" insert all gold minted up:

hard to tell if he's burning or not.

another easy pun for an insert in a fire themed release is "flame throwers", and walker buehler was included

i can't say that i will miss topps fire as it was fairly repetitive year after year. i guess i got burned out on it. just like fire would.