As promised here is my post in regards to my recent trip to visit my cousin out in AZ. My cousin used to live up in northern PA and went down South for his new job. I always told myself I would visit him and while it may have taken me about a year it finally happened.
Now my cousin is a huge hockey fan and collects hockey cards and anything Pittsburgh. I actually am responsible for him catching the cardboard bug and am happy to have someone that understands the addiction these little things can cause. As soon as we planned this trip we started scouting card shops to hit and we both stopped buying and started saving so that we could go out and do some really fun stuff!
The first day we arrived in AZ we went to this card shop near his home that had been open for only a couple of months.
The shop was fun and was run by this guys named Tony who was very welcoming. We walked in and he was looking through a massive inventory of vintage stamps, but the shop was full of sports cards and memorabilia.
This is Tony and his shop.
When I first walked in I was drawn to a photo of Babe Ruth, Jimmy Foxx, and Lou Gehrig. I've been wanting one for a while and took my opportunity to pick it up. Now its hanging in the Cave. Check it out...
I then decided on a couple of jumbo packs of Topps Series 2 while my cousin picked out a few singles and the one and only pack of hockey cards in the store.
We sat down to crack open our packs. (no boxes to buy here...) My cousin got lucky and pulled a Jersey card from his one and only pack of cards... I got some cool inserts, but no dice on any game used or autos.
However I couldn't leave before I was enticed enough to pick up this little gem.
Roberto Clemente dual Game Used Bat card. My first Clemente relic!
We were having a ton of fun with this guy and before he left he asked my cousin and I to pop a couple of balloons hanging on his wall. Inside each we found a number and he went in the back and grabbed us two bags with each of our numbers on it. They were cool little grab bags and while mine didn't have any baseball hits in it I did get some fun stuff out of it... and did I mention this was free???
A relic of Ben Stiller from Along Came Polly
as well as a...
Manny Lawson rookie auto numbered to 125
The guy was awesome and if I make it back to AZ I'll be sure to hit his shop again!
We didn't end up hitting another shop until our last day in AZ, but I saw a lot of cool stuff while I was out there and I even got a tour of the Oldest Ballpark in America. Warren Ballpark built in 1909. If you ever get out to Bizbee, AZ you must check this place out. Here is the website for more info www.friendsofwarrenballpark.com
Here is a souvenir I got from my tour
aside from the logo this is how old baseballs looked in the "Small ball era"
Some funky threads for sure!
Since we flew in and out of Tucson AZ we hit our last shop on the way home. We headed to Showtime Cards for our box purchases. My cousin picked up a box of hockey product and I went with another box of Topps Archives. However I couldn't resist a killer deal on an Eddie Murray rookie card before I left. A mint version books for $80, mine isn't mint but I did only pay $15 for it!
Note that they actually had an $80 price on this card.
We took our cards over to the Waffle House right next to the airport and enjoyed our final meal together while we busted them open. I had a couple of nice pulls and some 1/1 mojo!
My least favorite pull from the trip simply because Cleon Jones was instrumental in beating my Orioles in the 1969 World Series. In fact he caught the final out off the bat of Davey Johnson.
My next pull I liked alot more.
How is Maury Wills not in the HOF yet? A 7x All Star Selection, Wills won 3 World Series, was a 2x Gold Glover and was both the 1962 NL MVP and ALL STAR MVP. At one time he also had the most steals in a single season until his record was broken by Lou Brock. All I'm saying is he has a case for entry.
Then I pulled a 1/1 printing plate of Adrian Beltre. Here is his actual base card.
and here is my printing plate that helped print this and every card like it in the production run!
I love the wear and tear on this plate to show you just how much use it got during the production of this set.
Over all I had a great time in AZ and had a lot of fun making pulls with one of my closest friends. I was pretty sure this would be it for me as far as making pulls goes for a while. I have the national convention coming to Baltimore in a week and while I plan to go one day this week I don't plan on buying, but hopefully making some trades in my quest to find lost cards as well as complete my lineage project!
HOWEVER...
When I came back to work on my first day I was greeted by a person from our vehicle repair department who gave me a $50 gift card since my office had won a raffle contest for excellent maintenance records. Needless to say I took the gift card to my local hobby shop and was able to pick up another box of Lineage for basically that gift card and an extra $10 bucks. I was able to pull a number of cards I needed for the master set and while I did pull me second John Buck auto I did pull a new relic card and auto that are both welcomed additions to my collection.
My relic card was...
Victor Martinez. I believe this to be my 40th 1975 mini relic on my quest for all 100.
Here is my auto...
Roy Sievers was the AL Rookie Of The Year in 1949. Sweet Pull!
Well that does is for my recent pullskies. If you saw anything you are interested in reach out to me for a possible trade. Stay tuned as I post about my trip to the National and what deals I was able to pull off as well as a major update on the Lineage Project.
Thanks for reading!
