Saturday, May 21, 2011

So I Was Feeling a Bit Better...

I was laying on the couch earlier today, and the sewingmachinedog came over and gave me the "I want a walk stare".
I got up, put on the shoes. All the while smd was prancing and yipping with excitement. I have been pretty much bedridden since Tuesday with this f-ing virus. As a result, smd hasn't got as much outside play time with me as she's used to.
On our walk, we came upon a garage sale. There was a couple of kids bikes, a ton of kids clothes, some old Marantz speakers, other crap, and a fat lady in a too small top. I asked if she had any baseball cards. "No, but my boyfriend might", she replied.
"Hey Eddie, you got any baseball cards? This guy wants to know!", she howled to some unseen fellow.
And then Eddie appears...
"I got a shit load at my step-moms place. There's like 6 pizza boxes full. With dividers and everything."
I think he wiped his nose on his forearm at that point.
"Um, ok. Any idea what years they are from?", I inquired.
"Mostly 80's, and some 90's. I had some older stuff, but some guy took them. I can go get them, you can have them for $20 bucks. I just want to get rid of shit, ya know?"
"Yeah, can't have shit piling up", I said agreeably. With some hesitation, I gave the guy my cell number.
Around six o'clock, my phone rings. It's the dude from the yard sale.
"Hey man, it's the guy from the yard sale that you gave your number to. I have those cards."
I grabbed a twenty, and headed two blocks over. Here's what I saw. This stack of boxes in the back of a pick-up truck. Eight 5000 count boxes. Dude called them pizza boxes with dividers. Awesome!
 I immediately am drawn to the two that say 1981 Topps and 1982 Topps. 89 Score football, nice.
"Here's that 20 spot.", I say as I hand over the cabbage.
 The 81 box is stuffed full of mint condition cards. These things have not seen the light of day in 30 years. I have not sifted yet to see if the stars have been pulled.
The 82 box was about half full. Again, have not sifted. Maybe there will be a Ripken in there...
The only box that I did a quick look through of was the 1993 SP football box. It was pretty organized, and just about every card was in a penny sleeve. Would there be a plethora of Bettis or Bledsoe rookie cards? No. There were a ton of hall of famers though. About 100 Michael Irvins, Lawrence Taylors, Jerry Rices, Jim Kellys, Reggie Whites, and others. There was also a bipping of sorts...

 Yup, that's the most hated Lions QB of recent memory, Scott Mitchell. Whoever had these cards sure thought Mitchell was a keeper. There are about 150 of them. I see a Mitchell kindling in my near future.
There are a couple of Early 90's boxes of Bowman. I don't know if there will be anything of value there.

I am glad the sewingmachinedog came over to nudge me off the couch today. I needed to get out, and I found baseball cards. Not a bad day.

10 comments:

  1. Fun story. Your dog looks like a real good pal

    I hope you're turning the corner with this crappy virus dude.

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  2. It appears it was $20 well spent.....nice haul!!!

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  3. Wow! Can't have too many cards!

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  4. Holy cow. Nicely done. I'd have cringed and said no thanks when he said 80s and 90s in pizza boxes.

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  5. Love reading stories like this. If there does happen to be multiple 82 Ripkens in the box I ask that you remember your good ol' buddy in SC (that me by the way).

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  6. OK, I am officially going to every garage sale I see and asking "any baseball cards?" from now on. It's never worked before, but, DAMN, that is inspiring.

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  7. So I was looking through my Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards tonight, at 2am, and it occurred to me that 1992 Bowman is one of the best sets of the 90s. There could very well be multiple Mike Piazza and Manny Ramirez rookies in that box. Crazy.

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  8. Great find. Well worth the twenty bucks. Don't ever see anything like that around here.

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