Card Show Pickups: Eh

The first time this year I attended a card show. It was, meh and a good reminder why I don't really go to these any more.

If you like old white guys selling you vintage cards of Hank Aaron and Whitey Ford at nearly triple what Beckett prices them at, this show is for you. If you're like me and you're looking for minor leaguers and obscure oddballs, well, good luck.

Of course not everything about the show was bad.

I managed to get another card in the 1979 Topps collection signed. Billy Sample there was the free guest signer.

Sample was very nice and talked a lot with the fans who came up to him to ask for his autograph. Even took pictures with them.
Also, Sample would like to send a message to both Danny Darwin and Pat Putnam, that he is "still the best looking guy on the card" (his words not mine). I'll have to tell Mr. Darwin and Putnam if/when I ever meet them too.

Dale Berra was another signer who was supposed to come but cancelled. He had a card as part of the Pirates Prospects card in the 1979 Topps set, but I didn't have that one so no big loss on my part lol.

So with the free autograph obtained, what else is a guy to do but see if there's something worthwhile at the card show?

Presenting my token vintage Yankees card, one 1940 Play Ball card of George Alexander "Twinkletoes" Selkirk. With a name like Twinkletoes, how could I resist?
The story goes that the Canadian outfielder got his nickname due to how he ran on the bases BTW.

The back of this card says that he's now "ON SENATERS (sic) FARM." After his playing career and military career was over, Selkirk became the General Manager of the Washington Senators (the one that's currently the Texas Rangers). Which means that this card was in the possession of whoever wrote on it between 1940 and 1968 (the year Selkirk got fired). Selkirk continued working baseball related jobs like being a scout for the Yankees after that.

The same vendor had this neat Mike Gonzalez card available for a pretty nice price and I bought it.

Gonzalez's playing career was over by the time this card came out (his playing days were around the time T206es were still new), but he did have a pretty nice coaching/managing career in various parts of the baseball world. The Cuban ex-catcher won four World Series titles with the Cardinals as a coach, and went on to coach/manage various clubs in Cuba too. Gonzalez was temporarily banned from MLB after being involved with a thing that involved major leaguers going to Mexican baseball leagues or something, but he was eventually reinstated (he never returned stateside though).

At the show there was a depressing lack of any deals that could be done with coins. Because I got spoiled in the past I refuse to pay more than a quarter for 1979 Topps (unless it's Ozzie Smith in which case I'd pay a whole $1). The best I could find were some 1979 Topps singles for a quarter each :P. And maybe some older vintage for $1 each.

Although I'm on a hiatus of sorts with the 1979 Topps set, I figure I'd narrow down the focus to something manageable, like maybe completing the Dodgers team set first. I'm a closet Dodgers fan so it should make sense.

If nothing else, I was glad to finally be able to reunite the Ron Cey card I've had for a while with his three teammates in the infield. Normally this would be the part where I declare that I'm going to get all four of these signed, but then I remembered that Bill Russell doesn't sign anymore so there went that idea :P.

And there you have it. A pretty depressing haul, but I could've done a lot worse I suppose.

As always thanks for stopping by and take care :).

2017 IP Autograph Count: 63