it wasn't too early for the bargain box

i went to the monthly card show here in the twin cities in february. it was the first time i had been to the show in its new location (it was the second month being held at the bloomington armory), and i am glad i got there when it opened. by the time i left, the place was packed - elbow to elbow inside and no parking available in the lots. i also was the first person to roll up to a dealer with a bunch of 2023 topps inserts.

2023 topps series 1 had only been out for 3 or 4 days, but i was hoping to find some to dig through. after learning that the dealer whose bargain boxes i typically check out first was not there, i walked up to a table that had two monster boxes filled with 2023 topps inserts. the post-its on the front of the box said "2/$1". 

i started on the side that had the 1988 inserts, and quickly found that, while the seller had removed all of the adley rutschman, michael harris, and miguel vargas cards, there were plenty left behind. i found a blue parallel of julio rodriguez's 1988 insert, along with a couple copies of his base

the blue cards are limited to a print run of 600, although they are not numbered.

there were a few of the blue parallels to be found, so i also grabbed an aaron judge

among others.

i picked up a couple of the regular versions, including shohei ohtani

i think the angels' city connect uniforms are my favorite so far. i am looking forward to seeing the twins' in person this season, however.

i also grabbed a couple for my double play collection - wander franco

and brendan rogers

i think that most reviews of 2023 topps that i have read note the "all aces" insert set as the best in the group. i like them, too, and picked up a few including nolan ryan

i could have easily built this set from the box, but decided not to. i did build the "aces of the diamond" insert set from 2000 pacific invincible, but won't be building this set.

more insert sets to represent! i picked up a few of the 2022 greatest hits cards, including mike trout

plus a couple of the blue parallels including rafael devers

i realized when i got home that i only picked up one "base" version of the welcome to the club inserts, instead grabbing a few of the blue parallels including trout again

i wound up grabbing all of the colored foil inserts as i do like the look of them. there were maybe 10 of them, including this red foil parallel of royals' pitcher scott barlow

i considered using this card in my memorial patch collection, but ultimately decided not to. i'll have a post about the 2022 memorial patches in the near future.

the seller was actually selling these cards for a friend who opened multiple cases of hobby jumbo packs. as a result, there were a bunch of the gold foil parallels available. one of the non-dodger parallels i grabbed was this josh smith card

for the double play collection. looks like byron buxton sliding in there!

i was able to add three cards to my vladimir guerrero collection, including the silver pack card

speaking of which, i also picked up fernando tatis jr's silver pack card to represent him in my "favorite non-dodger" mini-collection.

i am not completely sold on tatis being my favorite non-dodger much longer, but will wait and see how he does when he returns from his suspension. he's still on my fantasy team, so i will be paying close attention!

i did buy a few non-2023 cards from another seller, including this 1994 upper deck american epic card of steve yeager

ok, reggie jackson is on the card, too. this one is the "food issue" version which just means the number on the back is different from the regular card that i already have in the lurker collection.

back to 2023 and the insert guy. i joined a hobby case group break for the dodgers, but it hadn't taken place before this show so i didn't know which inserts i would wind up with. i decided to pull a bunch at the show just in case. 

i found quite a few rainbow foil parallels

they are nice, but the gold foil parallels are nicer

and i actually found more of them

i will say that the "gold-ness" seems to vary

the basic gold parallels are more consistent, and there were quite a few of them, too

there was only one other dodger parallel that i found - this tony gonsolin red foil

which is numbered to 199. so much parallel goodness for fifty cents a pop!

the other inserts were well represented, too. here are some of the dodgers' 1988 inserts:

with those same four players showing up on silver pack cards

i was surprised to find a james outman silver pack card in the box

and i quickly set it in my stack. the other silver pack dodger is miguel vargas, but his cards were not to be found in these boxes.

there was no james outman (or vargas) in the base 1988 checklist, but there was another dodger - julio urias

i even found a blue parallel of mookie betts' card

not quite dodger blue, unfortunately.

as for the other inserts, i picked up complete dodger team sets of the all aces

and the one-two punch

while it's nice to see a new zack greinke dodger card, i was hoping to find a sandy koufax/don drysdale card here. 

more team sets completed with the 2022 greatest hits

and home run challenge 

cards of betts and freddie freeman.

i will finish up with two more cards of that duo that came from a different seller

that's the complete dodger team set of the series 1 stars of mlb inserts. since these are retail only, the hobby busting guy didn't have them and i found them at the stall of a longtime dealer who i once saw in a target pack searching. anyway, the two cards wound up being fifty cents apiece (i purchased two other 2023 topps cards from him at that price as well). i made the purchase after initially including this 2022 topps stadium club clayton kershaw master photo box topper

in the deal. he told me that the kershaw was "a ten dollar card" but he would give it to me for six. ha. no thanks. i just asked him to price the other four cards and he asked for two bucks. i promptly went home and purchased the kershaw on ebay for $2.49 shipped. not all the bargain bins are at the shows!

i did get the spoils from my group break, but this post is way long so i will show the highlights (and there are highlights) of that haul another time. stay tuned!