card show date to church

back in may i went to the semi-annual card show at a suburban church. it's held in a gymnasium that seems too small to me to function as a gymasium, but i am not an elementary school child so that might be the issue. anyway, i bought cards from four dealers and found some fun stuff.

the first guy i bought from is a regular at the local shows. i picked up a couple of 1955 bowman cards for the set build, along with this dandy

it turns out that these world series pennants were inserts in the 1961 fleer baseball greats packs. there are then only two dodger world champions pennants (1955 and this one) and i bet that the 1955 version is pretty spendy. cool vintage oddball pickup for the collection for sure.

the next seller i picked up cards from was another regular - the guy who always has bargain boxes with a seemingly neverending variety of cards. i found these three legends variations from 2009 topps update

a yasiel puig variation from 2018 topps

and some numbered dodger parallels from 2022 topps uk edition

turner & turner at your service.

he also had a box of autos and relics that were marked at 50% off sticker which meant most were a buck or two. i took a black parallel of victor gonzalez' 2021 topps update 1986 autograph

and a couple of dodger relics

from his inventory.

this 2009 bowman draft derek jeter card

goes in my name/number on the back collection, and this 2010 topps cards your mom threw out 1969 reggie jackson card

is an original back version

and probably the closest i will come to owning the real thing.

i am not familiar with paw patrol (i can tell you all about the wiggles, however) but i still picked up this 2024 topps update aaron judge thing

did he make a guest appearance on the show? not sure what the crossover is supposed to be.

finally, i chose to buy this 2023 topps mike trout city connect manupatch

i actually like the angels' city connect uniforms, although you don't get too much of it on this card.

there was another seller with a 50 cent box that i stopped to check out. i wound up with a few cards, including a desecrated 1975 topps pete rose card

and a beat up phil garner/keith hernandez rookie card from the same set

i mean no disrespect to bob sheldon and tom veryzer, but those top two guys made this card a hot commodity back when i was trying to complete the oakland a's team sets during the early billy ball days.

i also grabbed this 1979 topps lou brock card

even though i don't have a need for it. it's just such an iconic card from my childhood - seeing the same person as the all-time and season record holder was pretty cool to young gcrl. and it's still cool, even though the player on this card would be different today. looking forward to 2028 topps heritage!

finally, i was on my way out when i saw some monster boxes set up near the doorway. there was a kid - probably late teens - who was set up with a table of toploaded and slabbed stuff. the monster boxes were on the side and clearly not the main thrust of his set up. i didn't want to spend too much more time at the show, but i started looking through one of the boxes.

i wish all sellers were like this one. he came over and told me that he would give me a deal on the singles from the box. i pulled this card out - a 2024 topps holiday shohei ohtani variation 

and asked him how he would price it. he said that it was a variation, and so i was ready for the $5 to $10 price tag. instead, he said a buck or so. um ok. i'll keep digging.

i wound up with quite a stack of cards - parallels and inserts - from various 2023, 2024, and 2025 topps releases. finding a 2024 topps chrome cosmic mookie betts extraterrestrial talent insert

was fun, but most of the cards in the one box i looked through came from topps flagship releases. clearly this person was buying a variety of release formats and looking for the big hits. here's a 2025 topps ohtani 8-bit ballers insert

and a 2025 topps rosie red insert

that both came from the celebration boxes. 

i was able to add the one dodger themed first pitch card to my collection

(that's usc trojan juju watkins) plus some other dodger parallels like a 2023 topps freddie freeman silver pattern foil card

from a collector's box, and some 2024 topps aqua parallels from fanatics packaging - freeman on a league leader card

and walker buehler

as well.

i didn't limit myself to dodgers, as i will always go for a miguel cabrera final tribute parallel

and i also couldn't pass up the color match on the padres team card

the last card i added to my stack was this 2024 topps chrome update jackson holliday stratospheric stars insert

i asked the seller to price the stack and figured i was looking at about 20 bucks. he came back with 10 and it was such a pleasant surprise. i hope to see him at future shows, although he hasn't been at the couple i've attended since then, and i won't be able to get to the next church show.

that's the holiday spirit!

we are currently six months out from christmas, and i am finally getting around to posting some cards that came my way shortly after santa wrapped up his 2024 tour and baby new year ushered in 2025. this is an oversized shohei ohtani ornament

from 2024 topps holiday, and this is a yoshinobu yamamoto christmas light necklace short print variation

from the same set.

the yamamoto came from brian at highly subjective and completely arbitrary at the january club show. he handed over some other yamamoto rookies, including a 2024 topps update duo of foil parallels

plus a "let him cook" insert

which is actually a blue parallel of the insert. i am not familiar with the turn of phrase, but i can guess as to what it means. i also didn't know what "drip" was until big league included some inserts a few years ago. i am old and not hip to these terms.

here's a gold foil parallel of landon knack

and a purple holo foil kyle hurt parallel

which are also from topps update last year.

i was happy to see this 2024 topps rip night mookie betts card

in the stack as i didn't have any of these and really didn't know of any local rip nights. not that i would have participated, but i do like to get oddballs like these. 

to top things off, brian exorcised some of my 2024 topps stadium club demons by giving me six pink parallels!

some big names there, too.

a week or so later, i was inspired by brian's luck to try my hand again at a hanger pack of stadium club, now located on an endcap in the toy section of my target. finally, i found a dodger pack with three needed pink foils!

yay for my collection.

as for the ohtani up top, that was sent by madding of cards on cards around the same time as i was meeting brian at the card show. kerry also sent some 2024 topps archives needs

they were needs and new back then, but old hat now.

here's a 2021 panini contenders zack mckinstry rookie of the year contenders insert

and a 2023 topps chrome platinum anniversary bobby miller refractor

that were needs as well.

i generally steer away from buying bowman product, and i didn't buy any in 2023, so this mairoshendrick martinus green pattern border parallel

was new to me. hailing from curacao, martinus is currently playing third base for the dodgers in a-ball. i suppose his name may bring to mind key & peele college football bits, but in baseball players don't introduce themselves that way.

to bring this post full circle, i ran into brian at the june club show last weekend. rather, he found me at what has become my traditional first stop, the bargain boxes set out by one of the regular sellers at these shows. this time, we had the presence of mind to document the meetup with a photo of our wallet cards

that's twins world champion junior ortiz for brian, and one-time twins draft pick steve garvey for me (he didn't sign). brian told me that he's been running an instagram account in lieu of blogging - check out tradingcardoftheday on insta if you are so inclined - and that his dodger luck in opening packs is still strong. to prove his point, he handed over more cards, including a host of 2025 topps dodger parallels.

austin barnes rainbow foil

will smith confetti

chris taylor holofoil

yoshinobu yamamoto fanatics topps logo foil

teoscar hernandez diamante foil

james outman holiday (sun)

not to mention a freddie freeman ops leaders insert

and a clayton kershaw 1990 35th anniversary insert

that is some good dodger luck, indeed.

brian also gave me a 1997 leaf todd hollandsworth banner seasons insert

a 2023 topps trea turner major league material relic card

a 2024 topps brusdar graterol blue holofoil parallel

and my first look at 2024 topps japan edition with a freddie freeman base

and a yoshinobu yamamoto strikezone heroes insert

brian even hit my tatooine minicollection with a 2019 bowman draft conner capel

and a brand spanking new 2025 topps barry larkin 1990 35th anniversary insert

i gave brian a small team bag of twins that i had been stockpiling and we went about our card show business. i stayed at those bargain boxes for a while but ran into brian again near the exit. i gave him a couple of cards i had found in a dime box and pulled for him, and he handed over another card that he found for me at the show (a 2004 topps brady clark gold parallel)

and then mentioned that he had an oversized card that he had forgotten to give me earlier - it was a 2024 topps holiday mookie betts ornament!

i love it when a post comes together!

thanks brian and kerry! and, only about 182 shopping days until christmas!