The 2nd Grand Slam visit begins NOW!

 The second trip (there were 3 in 5 days) was on a Friday. I had decided before I got there to go through all of the baseball cards in the wooden bin. I did that, and it cost me a few dollars. I was most excited about a near set of loose singles for the 1980 Laughlin set. I was thinking the $1.00 price on the majority of them was good and few others at 2, 3, and a couple were $5.00. Turns out that I had it wrong, lost my shirt on the batch. The condition was not great, and turns out you could get nearly any of them for less than a buck NM. Oh well. Here is what I got from the set.

This set is slightly taller than a standard baseball card, more like a "tall boy" if you will.

The Babe was one of the 3 key cards in the set.

That is what I got. 26 of the 40 cards. I did already own 3 all of which were in much better condition than these. I was so excited about this set until I got home and did some research. UGH!  Good thing I got a slew of other cards too. I'll do one more post from the 2nd trip exclusive and are PC guys (7 scans), and then one combined post with the remaining cards and the only cards I bought on the third trip. I picked up a lot of Braves "stuff" on that 3rd trip and will take 5 posts to cover that material.

Have a great night!

GRAND SLAM: 1st visit wrap up

 Hey folks, I hope that everyone had a great weekend. It is storming right now so I am going to be quick.

A couple of month back I had posted some cards from this set I picked up at the Webster card show. They were ugly.....very ugly.   These are so much better, they too are from the 2024 2025 Historic Autograph set (whichever one it is).

Extremely pleased to add those Bowman's for a nickel a piece.

And more than extremely happy to add these for a nickel!

See ya gotta go.

Shadow Shots!

 Hopefully, everyone has enjoyed this Saturday....at least thus far.

I really don't know what to make of this shadow. You can't see Champ's shadow. It is obviously the portable net shadow. Maybe a candidate for removal. What do you think?

This one is similar to one last week. I see a guy fishing or maybe a soldier.

Someone taking a gold swing.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

How about an after the ASG Grand Slam post.

 Congrats to my National Leaguer's for the win (even if it was decided by the "swing off". I'm not really sure just how I feel about not playing extra innings. Let me explain.

I understand the primary reason is not to put additional wear and tear on the players if it really isn't necessary. However, with the both teams you basically have 18 players in an extra inning, the swing off still involved 10 players (technically 9 this year because Alonso wasn't needed), so I am in limbo on this one. Either way, I am happy and will take a win (you know I can't get one with my Braves these days, lol). I consider myself an optimist for the most part.... most of the time, so who knows maybe the Braves will go on a 40 game win streak. 

Here are tonight's half of the quarter box cards from Grand Slam Collectibles 

(1st visit).

I added a handful of cards for the pretty ladies binder (plus the kid skate boarder/surfer)

I didn't know these Kellogg's cards existed until I found them, and because I do have an Olympic binder....... FANTASTIC FIND! 

BTW: did you know that Kellogg's just sold the company? (it was a trivia question last night, but the question made it an easy answer). We did not win last night.

There was a stack of the grouped together in the box, all but Zimmerman (#d/29) are PC guys, so how could I go wrong.

The Albies rookie isn't counting as a Braves, or even a set build need for that matter. I just wasn't going to leave it in the box (I actually grabbed 2 of them). I wasn't leaving the auto either even though it  is a guy I collect. Remember when the dust settled I only paid a nickel for it.

Low and behold the same can be said for these 6 relic cards (I know the bottom are dupes).  The Scherzer is a PC guy, and the Hurston Waldrep Braves card was certainly a needed Braves card, and it's a parallel too. 

I'll finish the dig on Monday, see y'all in the shadows.

WACKY WEDNESDAY

 Hump Day wackiness is at your service. These are cards that (when I put them in the binder) I found interesting for one reason or another. Some are obvious and some may not be. I'll try to explain any of those if and when they appear in this weekly theme. (Also so for note: I have two 3 inch binders full of these and I very seldom add to it these days. However, once completed I typically keep this THEME running but with ACTUAL Wacky Packages beginning with their beginning which BTW was not with the 1973 series 1 set).  Ha. We are a long way from getting there, but we will eventually.

I will explain cards 8 and 9. You have a pitcher getting down and dirty at home plate. We're not likely to see any more cards like that in the coming future. For the Dibble card it was that very high leg kick.

Adios amigos!

Grand Slam Collectibles: Ocala, Florida

 HERE WE GO>>>>>>>>>>>

I have mentioned for about 3 or 4 weeks now about the new local card shop for me. Because I do not have any SOCIALS, nor cable, and rarely listen to the radio (unless I am in my vehicle) I had no idea of their existence. They opened in February of this year. I found them in June. Not far from me (15 minutes) and I love that. They have all kinds of stuff as you seen in the photos I posted previously. They are not the cheapest cards to find, but considering no travel and the pricing of late at that "other place" I consider it a win because the travel time alone is priceless. Not to mention, deals can be made. I made THREE trips that first week whereas I spent 4 hours on each of those trips. I already showed you the 1977 Star Wars lunchbox I picked up on day one. Tonight I will start the posts of the cards I also grabbed on day 1. 

Needless to say I was excited, thrilled, and very happy to find this shop especially considering reconnecting with an old hobbyist buddy (the store manager) from before I started this blog or maybe it was at the very beginning of this blog. WARNING: (more like advice) Don't go grocery shopping when you are hungry and likewise buying cards when excited is also troublesome, lol.

I haven't been back since those 3 trips 2 weeks now and I do plan on going either this week, but probably next week. I have posts from these 3 trips that will last easily the next 4 weeks. 4 Weeks. So, if you have graciously sent me cards recently, those posts will follow once I have completed the initial GRAND SLAM stuff. I'm also thinking of going to the Tampa card show this coming Saturday (might go Friday night instead). 

With all of that said let us get to some of the cards I pulled from those quarter boxes right at the front of the shop that stopped me in my tracks.  I will do the Braves tonight plus a couple of scans of set build needs, and then Thursday and next Monday do the rest of the quarter box cards which buy the way I made a DEAL on that first batch. Basically paid a nickel each.

That are the Braves, and yes I di already have some on those sitting in my Sport Lots box, but these were put in my hands first and were all needs.

All cards here were needs and the next 2 posts from Grand Slam were too.

I am looking forward to hanging out at the shop from time to time, and with literally no drive time to weigh in a monthly visit sounds pretty good to me now that I have already done the "go crazy" purchases out of the way.

Have a great night folks!

Last of the Mohican's.....so to speak.

 Alrighty then, we have made to the last of the last trip over to Ormond Beach. The PC additions.

I paid roughly 50 cents for these cards. Figuring far less than that (I was thinking they'd be .33) and hoping for a quarter, otherwise I would have left them. Yes, some are good deals at .50 for sure, but some of these could of just as easily been in a dime-box too or more than likely a quarter box.

Three Roki's, certainly a good deal at .50 at least for now.

I already had most of these, so I would have most certainly left them.

A Nolan Ryan card #d to just 100 is also a very good deal for .50.

That covers it. I'll be hitting the first trip to my new LCS (Grand Slam) tomorrow!

Have a great night!

Shadow SHOTS (with a wrinkle).

 Another week has come and gone, and now a new weekend is here. I'm putting in a 'NEW" wrinkle to the Shadow Shots posts. Going forward (from this post on), when you are commenting on what YOU see in the shadows, also LMK if there is a card that really needs removed from the binder. I've already pulled those from the previous posts'. Let's face it some of the shadows suck. Let's get them out of book.

Here I just see a really nice shadow. I don't see anything out of the ordinary.

This one looks a lot like one from the last post.  I see nothing.

Easily the best one today. I see a man wearing a derby hat and I see his shadow too!

Ormond Beach: round 2

 Tonight is all set build needs pulled from the dollar boxes, whereas in "the old days" I'd get them for 3 for a buck at worst. Yeah these cost me .50 each. Still a good deal, but I am spoiled. The majority of the cards are from the 2025 Topps Chrome Black.

The hobby boxes jumped in price from $180.00 last year to an average of $250.00, most going for $310.00. What's in the box? 1 encased auto and two 6 card packs whereas 2 of those will probably be a parallel, so in reality 10 base cards for 3 Benjamins make them valued (lol-haha) $30.00 a piece (the set is 150 cards). Yeah I'll never pay that. I still like finding them in the dime boxes (if I ever see another one of those), but I'll be happy in the quarter boxes. In reality again, I usually find them in dollar boxes and buying bulk used to get me at .33. - .50 the most which is what this batch cost. Not complaining because I didn't buy a box to build the set.

That's 39 of the 150 cards in the set. I know less than $20.00 for 26% of the set is a good deal. Will I ever complete the set? I doubt it, but that is the way is with all of those high end sets I build. I'll live with.

I won't complain about 50 cent high end Ted Williams and Nolan Ryan cards either. That covers round two of the Ormond trip. All that is left are PC additions. Should have that for you on Monday and then we can start working those Grand Slam visits into the blog.

Have a fantastic weekend! See ya Saturday.