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!

curt schilling is in my hall of famer collection

do i think curt schilling should be in the national baseball hall of fame? yes, i do. do i think he is a jackass? yes, i do. still, he is now in my hall of famer collection with this card as his entry:

that's a 1998 donruss signature series autograph card. here's the back:

i went with schilling as a phillie since that was the uniform he was wearing when i first saw him pitch in person. it was opening day at dodger stadium in 1997, and i was sure to not miss it. schilling wound up stealing the show with 11 strikeouts over 8 shutout innings. he gave up only two hits and 3 walks as the phillies ruined my day with a 3-0 victory.

seeing that dominant performance, along with the fact that schilling has 3,116 career strikeouts, is what compelled me to add him to this collection. just as i had done with the 3,000 hit club members i had overlooked (like craig biggio) when putting my initial hall of famer collection together, i recently did the same for the 3,000 k club. schilling sits in 17th place, and of the 19 who have eclipsed that milestone, only four have done so while issuing fewer than 1,000 walks. schilling is one of them.

to me, 3,000 strikeouts is an automatic ticket to the hall of fame and i am left to believe that schilling was excluded by the writers because of his (in my opinion) ignorant and dumb takes on pretty much everything since he retired. they are certainly not worth rehashing here. still, i respect the talent and success that he had on the field and would expect that one day he gets enshrined in cooperstown.

you can see schilling and the other players in my hall of famer collection here! 

sandy koufax is in my hall of famer collection

how great is it that i, as a dodger fan, can claim sandy koufax (along with jackie robinson, roy campanella, pee wee reese, don drysdale, and even bill russell) while fans of no other teams are able to do so.  i wasn't around when most of those guys were playing, but after learning about the history of my favorite franchise, i became an even bigger fan. what koufax did in the postseason in 1963 and 1965 was unreal, and i desperately hoped in 1977 and 1978 that don sutton or tommy john or rick rhoden would match his performance.  koufax is in my hall of famer collection with this card as his entry:

that's a 1998 donruss signature series significant signatures card, numbered 1707/2000.  here's the back:

my dad saw koufax pitch a few times in person after he moved to southern california in 1962.  he followed his career pretty closely over the next four-plus seasons, and even kept score of some of sandy's games while listening to the radio.  he lived just a tad closer to los angeles than san francisco, but he would also road trip up the coast to see the giants at candlestick once in a while.  as much as he enjoyed seeing willie mays, he chose koufax and the dodgers as his team.  once i came along, we were a dodger household, even though we could also get the giants on tv (sometimes) and radio.

while sandy retired before i was born, i did see koufax in person once. it was in 2004 when the dodgers went to boston for the first time since the 1916 world series.  koufax was there on friday night, and he was on the field talking with vin scully and frank mccourt, who owned the team at the time. there had been a public falling out between the dodgers in their immediate post-o'malley years that saw fox own the club, but koufax came back to the club after they sold to mccourt. somewhere i have a photo of myself with those three guys in the background. anyway, it was pretty cool to see him up close and take a look at someone who directly influenced my dodger fandom, even though he did so years before i was born.

as for my collection, the first koufax card i ever owned was his 1981 tcma minor league card. he was the pitching coach for the albuquerque dukes, and my dad gifted me the complete team set. while the koufax card was the best of the bunch, it was great to have cards of dodger prospects such as mike marshall, candy maldonado, and rudy law.  since then, i have completed the full run of koufax topps cards from his playing days - an accomplishment i never thought i would achieve as a young collector.

i have three different koufax autographed cards in my collection, and this is the only one of which i have duplicates. so, those other three can stay in the dodger collection binders while this one joins the other players in my hall of famer collection.

here's my hall of famer collection as its been documented so far:

babe ruth - 2003 topps tribute world series edition world series tribute relic 351/425

honus wagner - 2001 topps tribute relic

tris speaker - 2011 topps tribute dual relic green parallel 53/75

george sisler - 2004 topps tribute hall of fame tribute relic

dizzy dean - 2001 topps tribute relic

bob feller - 2001 topps archives certified autograph

jackie robinson - 2004 topps clubhouse collection clubhouse relic

ted williams - 1992 upper deck baseball heroes autograph 1067/2000

yogi berra - 1998 donruss signatures significant signatures 1640/2000

sandy koufax - 1998 donruss signatures significant signatures 1707/2000

roberto clemente - 2005 donruss greats hall of fame souvenirs relic

warren spahn - 1999 upper deck century legends epic signatures

mickey mantle - 2000 upper deck legends legendary game jerseys relic

willie mays - 1997 topps willie mays reprints certified autograph

al kaline - 2001 fleer greats of the game autograph

duke snider - 2003 upper deck sp authentic chirography hall of famers 144/250

bob gibson - 2001 fleer greats of the game autograph

hank aaron - 2004 topps originals 1979 topps all-time record holders rbi 03/32

frank robinson - 1995 upper deck autograph

harmon killebrew - 2000 upper deck legends legendary signatures

pee wee reese - 2001 topps tribute relic

jim hunter - 1998 donruss signature series significant signatures 0736/2000

willie stargell - 2000 upper deck legends legendary signatures 

jim palmer - 2001 fleer greats of the game autograph

gaylord perry - 2003 topps finest finest moments autograph

rollie fingers - 2018 topps archives signature series 1978 topps buyback 1/3

reggie jackson - 2018 topps tier one tier one talent autograph 19/60

steve carlton - 2018 topps five star career year autograph 43/45

mike schmidt - 2002 topps archives autoproof 1980 topps buyback 048/147

phil niekro - 2017 panini donruss recollection collection 1983 donruss buyback autograph 13/33

don sutton - 2001 fleer greats of the game autograph

carlton fisk - 1999 upper deck century legends epic signatures

tony perez - 2004 fleer national pastime 2002 fleer greats authentic autograph buyback 30/59

dave winfield - 2003 upper deck sp authentic chirography hall of famers 121/350

ozzie smith - 2019 topps finest finest origins autograph

gary carter - 1999 fleer sports illustrated greats of the game autograph collection

eddie murray - 2004 upper deck sp legendary cuts legendary sigs 45/50 

dennis eckersley - 2017 topps archives signature series 1984 topps buyback 47/99

paul molitor - 2016 topps museum collection archival autographs 021/125

bruce sutter - 2003 topps all-time fan favorites certified autograph

jim rice - 2005 upper deck past time pennants past time signatures

andre dawson - 2000 fleer greats of the game autograph

bert blyleven - 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams autograph

pedro martinez - 2018 topps high tek portraitek autograph 09/60

tim raines - 2018 topps tribute tribute autograph green parallel 26/95

alan trammell - 2001 fleer greats of the game autograph

roy halladay - 2017 topps archives signature series 2004 topps buyback 15/23

pete rose* - 2018 panini flawless legendary signatures 15/25

barry bonds* - 2001 bowman heritage autographs

you can find the full list of hall of famers (and some not - yet) that i aim to include in this collection at my want list site.

*not currently a member of the hall of fame