My Card Show Haul With William

Wow, what a heck of a weekend. Couldn't have asked for more, really, and besides the rain, it was absolutely perfect. William over at Foulbunt met me at the Raleigh NC card show this past weekend. We browsed the show until about noon, then headed over to a sports bar and had ourselves some great burgers and shot three games of pool. My dad was tagging along the entire time looking for vintage tobacco Indian cards he needs to complete his set, he found none. We all had a blast I think, though. As for the pool games, William seems to have had some mojo clutch shot work going on when we were playing, because he won all three games we played. First game he came back on me when I was desperately trying to shoot the eight ball in, second game I scratched on the eight ball, and the third game was the same as the first. Either way, playing pool with a great friend after having a successful outing at the show and having a nice juicy burger in my stomach was just an awesome experience. After all of this, William and my Dad and I all drove tandem back to my house where we stayed up until three in the morning talking about baseball, cards, and some other things. The rainy car ride up was especially boring, but the conversations we had were FAR from boring.

So you all are probably wondering what the heck I got at the show. Not a lot of David Ortiz stuff, but definitely knocked some things off of my need list. I am creating an autograph set of everyone who was on the roster when the Sox were playing in the World Series. I was able to knock some names off this list, so that was good!

Here is what I got from the show.

These two Ortiz relics were presents from William. The Chasing History relic was given to me before the show, but along the way while browsing, I ran across the all star stitches relic and William got it for me. It is my second Ortiz all star stitches relic from this year, but hey, who cares?? I love them!

This Orange parallel Topps factory set card of David Ortiz was also a present from William. The card is beautiful! Thanks again, man! (142/210)

This Ortiz Golden Moments gold foil card is a little bit hard to identify as being the gold parallel, but clearly it has the serial number on it. Gorgeous card!! (63/99)

This Curt Schilling relic was among the first cards I bought. The card is numbered (96/100) William and I had a conversation about Mr. Schilling when I was buying this card. How could a man like him invest all of his money into video games and lose practically everything?! Actually really depressing if you think about it.

I already had one of these Dustin Pedroia T206 autograph cards, but I like the one I currently own so much I decided I would get another. Not serial numbered, but still a great card. I payed only $15 for this card. That is half as much as I payed for the first one I picked up at the same show a couple years back.

All you need to know about this card was that I picked it up because I felt like I needed to get a card of Damon from 2004 like this one. A World Series force that you simply can't ignore. He helped the Red Sox win their first title in 2004 since 1918. Only payed $5, so didn't spend much on it.

I was never a huge Lackey fan leading up to the postseason, but I am now. Lackey seemed to have really turned up his game a couple notches going into the postseason. He pitched some great baseball, and was a big force on the Championship team. I picked this card up for a whopping $5. I thought it was a great deal for his Bowman draft picks autograph card. Really nice looking bold autograph, too.

Ok, I will admit it. I miss seeing Kevin Youkilis in a Red Sox uniform. Yes, it is true he wasn't getting the job done over at third base, but is Middlebrooks doing any better? I will always be a fan of Youk, he was a real classy guy. This card features a good looking autograph of him. I traded a duplicate relic away for this card, so I really can't complain about this deal!

This card is one heck of a beauty! I found this Golden Moments Jumbo Jersey card of Roberto Alomar shortly after I started browsing ahead of William. It was in a box of cards that I was flipping through, and it caught my eye. I flipped it over and it had no price sticker. I asked the dealer how much he had to have for the card, and he consulted the Beckett book. My heart sank, and I thought for sure I was going to pay the $45-$50 the card is worth. The strange thing about some of the Beckett guides, though, is the fact that the Golden Moments Jumbo Jersey relics are not even IN some of the Beckett price guides. The regular relics, however, are in the book. He didn't find Alomar under the regular golden moments relic names, and rather than researching it further, he considered the card to be a common golden moments relic. Beckett assigns common Golden Moments jersey cards between $3-$8. WE MET IN THE MIDDLE AT $5. I couldn't get into my wallet fast enough. This was by far the best steal of my haul. The card is serial numbered (19/20)

 This Jose Fernandez autograph card was from the same dealer. I didn't get nearly as good a deal on this as I did the Alomar. I only payed $18 for Fernandez's Bowman Inception auto. This is for trade or sale.

I won't get started on Saltalamacchia. Let me just say I'm glad he isn't in Boston anymore, I hope the Marlins have fun with him, and I needed his autograph for the set...

Felix Doubront silver autograph 4 piece relic from 2013 Topps Triple threads. I'm really digging the silver autograph and the card design on this one. The card is serial numbered (16/25). I didn't have this card for my World Series autograph set either, so it was an even better pickup.

This is a great Dennis Eckersley autograph card from Topps Five Star. Not a bad card for $12. I enjoyed having him announce with Don Orsillo when Remdog (Jerry Remy) was out due to the emotional distress he was experiencing due to the incident involving his son. While I hope that Remy is back with Orsillo next year, I wouldn't mind having Eckersley fill in a couple of games next season. I find him very knowledeable and humorous.

I got this nice Brock Holt autograph from a pack of 2013 Topps Jumbo update series I bought. I really like Holt, the only problem is, he is fighting Pedroia for a spot on the field. NOT going to happen my friend. Also, nice facial expression there....

These were all singles that I got at the end of the show with William. The guy we were buying from was really generous with his pricing I would say. For all of these I payed $2. I love the Jackie Bradley Jr. rc's I picked up. Especially the Blue wrapper redemption card. Those are GORGEOUS!

So I would say the card show was a huge hit. I loved the things I got and really enjoyed the time I spent with my friend William. It was a lot of fun, and was something I can't wait to do again!

I have had some trade packages come in as well.

From Drew over at Drewscards

This is a 2008 Topps Stadium Club Triumvirate autograph triple relic card numbered (26/99). I have not been able to find one of these anywhere, so this was an awesome pickup! Thanks Drew!

From Brad Zongetti off of Youtube.

This was a very generous Christmas package that he sent me!

Little did he know, I was actually looking to get on of these prospect autographs of him. Gorgeous looking card!

Will Middlebrooks Bowman Sterling autograph (on card). This checks off another player from my World Series autograph set. This card is gorgeous! Thanks so much Brad!

I have also been lagging behind on pickups I have been making off of eBay an other auction sites. So here are some pictures and discriptions of cards I have been buying. 

This is a Mike Napoli Crowd Pleaser autograph from Topps Tier One. It is on card, and Naps is in a Sox uni! Only cost me $14 on eBay. The card is numbered (246/299)

I bought this Shane Victorino Topps 60 autograph right after he hit his clutch Grand Slam in the World Series. When I say right after, I mean literally had purchased the card before the next batter had finished batting. Victorino didn't need to make me a fan, but if anybody wasn't before that at bat, they were after! Love Victorino - awesome player, and an amazing guy.

Mr. Koji Uehara saved us (Red Sox) both literally and figuratively this year. Tazawa was pitching decently up until the playoffs started, but luckily the Sox had Uehara to back him up. Koji seemed to be literally UNHITTABLE in the playoffs, and on top of his amazing performances, he made history by ending the first World Series baseball game with a pickoff move to first base. Wow! Koji, Koji, Koji, Koji, Koji!!

This is a Topps Lineage autograph of Jonny Gomes. May I send a personal thank-you to Gomes hitting that clutch Homerun in the World Series? It was awesome!!! Thanks Jonny!

Before I wrap this post up, I will say that so far, I have gotten rid of, and picked up every single player that Ben Cherrington (Red Sox GM) has! Looks like my dream job isn't completely out of the equation. Anyway, to say that this postseason hasn't been full of surprises is simply ludicrous! I mean, Robbie Cano to the Mariners? What? Who saw that coming? I am pleased to see though, that the Yankees are yet again trying to buy solutions to their problems. It hasn't been working for them here the past several seasons, and I see another mediocre team full of egos being put together again, so, so far, I am a happy offseason baseball fan. It should be interesting to see these free agent players playing with their new teams, no doubt. Seeing Ellsbury, McCann, and Roberts in pinstripes will be interesting too. I predict that Ellsbury will be the first one on the DL, and following him will be the aging Brian McCann. But as I have said to many, a season that the Yankees play poorly, is a great season whether my team is losing or not. The idea that the front office thinks they can put a team together like they had with Rivera, Posada, Jeter and all of those other recent Yankees stars is simply nuts. That may NEVER happen again. 

So that will about do it for tonight. This post took me two evenings to create, so please, make it worth MY while and comment what you think about things. I would love some feedback from my followers out there! As always go Sox, and thanks for the read!