h-town card show, part 2

i'm here to wrap up my visit last month to planet houston and the hotel card show i attended. yesterday's post covered my pick-ups from the first few dealers i worked with, and now here is the rest!

the next dealer i found had a quarter box filled with topps inserts and topps on demand releases. i took 37 cards from him, and he charged me 8 bucks.

here's a lot of 2022 topps 582 montgomery cards from 2020-21 set 1 and 2022 set 2

plus six more from 2022 set 3

and here is a pair of red sox from 2021 topps brooklyn collection

i knew that i already had the ichiro card because of the duke snider mural in the background - i had added the card to my dodger stadium mini-collection as soon as i first saw the card online. i didn't realize, however, that i also already had the trea turner card.

i did find some other dodgers that i did need here, too, including this 2022 topps a&g x freddie freeman mini

i had more luck with dodgers at the next stop. this was a guy in a braves hat who said his boxes were 50% off the marked prices. i made away with 48 cards for a total of 20 bucks. highlights included a 2021 topps update dj peters vintage stock parallel

a 2020 topps heritage 50th anniversary buyback of wes parker's 1971 topps card

a pair of color parallels of clayton kershaw from 2021 topps big league

and 2022 panini donruss optic

a pair of jackie robinson short prints

from 2021 topps gypsy queen and 2010 topps national chicle, respectively, and a pair of autographs from a couple of 2019 topps products

of dennis santana. santana most recently pitched for the yankees, and i will admit that i was a bit sad to see the dodgers get to him during the first two games of their series in new york. after the second game, in which santana was pulled and replaced by a position player, it seemed pretty clear his time was up and the next day the yankees dfa'd him. fortunately, like mitch white in yesterday's post, santana was picked up by a nl central team - in his case, the brewers.

i added five more dodger cards from another seller for 10 bucks, and i was happy with that price. i figured that he would be asking for that much for this card alone - 2024 topps shohei ohtani/mookie betts checklist

i think topps is playing fast and loose with what a hug is. maybe their copy editor has some issues.

the other four cards were inserts and parallels from stadium club chrome and topps chrome releases

at least half of which are unnecessary, but i remain the fool that buys them (on the secondary market).

next up i stopped at a dealer who had pretty much only texas team items and dug through a short stack (is there any other kind?) of jose altuve cards for a trading partner who collects the astro 2nd baseman. i found four cards for 2 bucks, and i am keeping one from 2022 panini donruss optic

since it's a double play turn!

then i stopped at another table and dug through a couple of rows of a monster box that was ambiguously priced. i was on my way out so i didn't look too seriously but, did pick out two autographed cards which totaled 10 bucks, one of which was this 1997 bowman karim garcia auto

he gave them both to me for five which was nice. i guess there is also a "blue ink" version of the garcia card, but i will count my collection complete with this one.

i made one more stop, figuring that i should see if i could pick up some 1955 bowman. there was an older couple with some vintage stacks, including cards from the tv set. i picked out a few and offered ten bucks. the toploaders that the cards were in had prices on them, and ten bucks was a pretty good discount. the guy looked at the cards and countered with the full marked price.  i then reduced my ask to two cards which had a total marked price of six bucks and asked if he would take five. he looked at them and told me "six dollars". it was then that i realized he was hard of hearing. i held up five fingers and he said ok and so i was able to cross off st. paul native fred baczewsi and gil coan

from the want list as i work towards completing the set. i'm making some decent strides in that regard but still have a ways to go.

big thanks to houston for hosting a show that coincided with one of my visits. i have plans to be there again, but don't see any shows scheduled during that time which is too bad for me because i really did have a good time.

42 today

i just read last night that mlb would be celebrating jackie robinson day today, which marks the 75th anniversary of his signing by the brooklyn dodgers. this is due to the fact that there were no games played on april 15th, the anniversary of jackie's mlb debut and the day that is usually reserved for the celebration, due to the pandemic. as one of the dodgers who followed in jackie's footsteps, tommy davis, said, jackie "has to be remembered every year".  this year it is especially important, i think, as there is so much yet to be done to eliminate racial injustice in our society.

i have no idea what it means to be anything other than what i am, but i try to understand. i recognize that i was born on third base (white, male, american), but i am blessed with parents and friends who have taught me empathy and prevented me from having a ego or false sense of entitlement. i read and research and don't knee-jerk reactions to events but it is hard these days to not lose hope that there can be justice for all. i will proudly vote for joe biden in november after proudly voting for hillary in 2016. this shit has got to stop, and i believe it will only get worse with four more years of the jackass currently at 1600 west pennsylvania avenue and his band of assholes. not that these issues will magically go away or be fixed, but at least there would be some acknowledgement from leadership that they exist and must be addressed.

in card related news, i've been adding some cards to my '42' collection. at least to the part of the collection that features jackie's retired number in the background. but first, i came across a duplicate of this 2004 upper deck sweet spot classic card

that commemorates the retirement of 42 across major league baseball. i decided to use this card as a 'header' for my 42 collection. the other cards i've found to add include this 1998 upper deck mark wohlers card (card back, actually)

as it shows the retired number in the background. not sure what stadium wohlers is pitching in there, but i don't think it is busch  as much as i want the photo to match the caption text.

here's a 2000 upper deck mvp card of derek jeter

with a photo from the oakland coliseum showing number 42. the a's have done well displaying their retired numbers as they show up on a number of cards.

it's harder to find the retired number 42 on these next two cards from 2009 upper deck o-pee-chee

but it is there out in centerfield on a banner next to the two world championship banners. i really liked how jackie was honored in the metrodome - it was good to see dodger blue everytime i attended a game there.

moving to target field, the twins placed their retired numbers on the facade in foul territory down the left field line. this 2019 topps stadium club eddie rosario card

gives a good look at them, with 42 being the one on the far left.  and, this 2020 topps opening day insert of tc bear

also shows the number 42, along with the newly added number 7 for joe mauer.

i've taken time today to think about jackie's legacy and what i can do to positively impact the lives of others. i invite you to do the same.

thank you, jackie robinson.