right back where i started from

i took a detour while returning from texas in may and headed west to my hometown. while i was there, i stopped into the local card shop which is located on the same street but a couple miles south of the card and comic shop i frequented as a kid.

i'd been to this shop once before, and i went straight to their dollar boxes. one of the first things i found was a complete 1992 front row roy campanella all-time greats set

this was contained in a single sleeve, so it was a buck. same for this 1993 spectrum diamond club boston red sox set

yaz, doerr, dewey, freddie lynn, and luis tiant for a buck. this 1992 front row all-time greats set featuring buck leonard

was also a buck, and was still factory sealed.

as for singles, this purple parallel of vladimir guerrero's 2023 topps stadium club card

numbered to 75

was the card that convinced me to go through each of the boxes they had on the counter. i went on to find a few more decent cards, including a red parallel of aaron judge's virtuosos of velocity insert

from the same set, and this 2019 topps heritage high numbers juan soto candy lid insert

it's always nice to find a photo variation short print in the dollar box, even if it is from the 2021 topps set

and black border topps heritage parallels are great, too

even when they are a's.

i certainly didn't expect to find an elly de la cruz card in the dollar box, but there it was

it's a 2023 panini prizm insert, so not considered a true rookie card but still a good deal for a buck. and i will always pick up a numbered willie mays parallel for that price

especially when it's a (dodger) blue prizm parallel.

being in dodger country, i didn't expect to find many dodger cards in these boxes, but i did find a few. i was happy to find this 2023 panini prizm jim gilliam purple prizm parallel

which is also serial numbered, and a red foil parallel of will smith's 2023 topps stadium club card

i thought that maybe this 2022 topps gold label clayton kershaw card

was a parallel, but it's just the base class 2 design.

this 2010 donruss elite extra edition shawn tolleson status red die-cut signatures auto /50

is considered a dodger card because it says "los angeles" on the back. it's one of five autos i took from the boxes, and here's one of the others - a 1996 leaf signature series auto of two time dodger mike maddux

after i was through those boxes - i had pulled 45 cards - the owner of the shop brought out a consignment dollar box from which i took another five cards. one was this 2023 panini donruss pink fireworks jackson holliday insert parallel

holliday was back in the minors by this time, but i was still pretty surprised to see this for a dollar.

as i walked to the checkout, i felt the need to open a pack of something and 2024 bowman was really the only new release available at the time. i should have passed on the pack. the only card that was of any interest (and mild at that) was this justin crawford chrome prospects mini diamonds parallel

i was hoping for a paul skenes or even better, the pete rose short print, but came up empty. the shop owner gave me a bit of a discount, so i wound up getting the pack for almost free.

on my way out of town the next day, i stopped for gas and picked up a 2024 dodgers pocket schedule

i find it interesting that they went with neon this year. i guess it is the trendiest noble gas in 2024. it's always good to be on the west coast and i can't wait to get back there again!