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Tuesday, June, 4, 2024
Flea Market Finds #162: A Binder Full of Cards
It's officially flea market season. Last weekend... I hit up the De Anza Flea Market with my brother and his wife. The weather was nice (cool and sunny). In fact... it might have been too nice... because it lured the largest crowd in years. That's a good thing for vendors, but I wasn't a fan. Large crowds mean more people. More people mean less personal space. And less personal space means I'm trying to rush through things in an effort to get out of there.
Anyways... you're not here to listen to me complain. Let's show off my purchases...
Purchase #1: Baseball Card Binder $35
Walked up to a booth and noticed a guy flipping through a binder of cards. The vendor also had some action figures and video games, so I checked them out and waited to see if the guy was going to buy the binder. He didn't.
After he left, I walked over, picked it up, and opened it. Here's what I saw:
The first few pages were filled with Aaron Judge cards... followed by eight to ten pages of Derek Jeter cards. Here are some of the highlights:
As much as I dislike the New York Yankees... I love collecting Derek Jeter cards. I didn't take an official count, but I'd say I added at least sixty new ones to my collection.
The vendor mentioned that the binder belonged to a family member who is a New York Yankees fan. That makes sense, because the vast majority of the cards in the binder were Yankees.
Included in the pages was one of those World Series team sets that Topps produces:
2009 Topps New York Yankees World Series Set
The vendor marked the binder with a $50 price tag, but after flipping through about 15 pages, he told me to make an offer. Then I saw this page:
Overall the binder mostly contained inserts and base cards, but there were a few other rookie cards I didn't own:
Actually... I own a copy of that Freeman, but this is my first raw copy.
Okay... I spent enough time on this purchase. Moving along...
Purchase #2: March Graphic Novel Trilogy $10
These three books are about the life of Congressman John Lewis, who played a key role in the civil rights movement. I already own hardcover copies. But when I saw this set of paper back copies for $10, I grabbed it for my classroom.
Purchase #3: Puffy Stickers $1
Saw this sitting in a guy's dollar box. Don't normally seek out puffy stickers, but I thought the North Stars sticker was pretty cool. Worst case scenario, I pass this along to my buddy who is a Blackhawks fan.
At that point, I knew I wanted the binder. I have a pretty nice Ichiro collection, but I didn't own his Topps rookie card. So I tossed out a $30 offer. The seller countered with $35 and now I own this card:
2001 Topps #726
I love this card so much. I even took the extra time to scan the back:
1994 Bowman's Best #29
2007 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects #BDPP12
2014 Bowman Chrome Prospects #BCP25
The other cool thing included in this purchase was a complete run of Joe Torre Topps manager cards:
1978 Topps #109
Did you know that he's the only person in MLB history to have 2,000 hits as a player and 2,000 wins as a manager?
Purchase #2: March Graphic Novel Trilogy $10
Purchase #3: Puffy Stickers $1
1983 Funmate Norris Division
Well that wraps up another trip to my local flea market. Thanks for coming along on the ride. I know I didn't buy a lot this time around, but there's always next time.
Happy Wednesday and sayonara!
