Cards From Across The Bay: Trading Places

This post officially begins my show-and-tell from the past weekend's card show in San Leandro. It runs twice annually, with the other show in late November. This is a vintage collector's haven. There are plenty of cards from older Topps issues, but what impressed me last time I went was the amount of pre-war cards.

Before you get excited about seeing some 1930s Goudey, know that I didn't buy anything that old on this trip. You'll see a little bit of vintage in a future post.

I did catch a glimpse of some original Ruths and Gehrigs. I didn't want to stare, but I watched one person buy two different Ruths and a Gehrig, plus an additional card from the 1930s Goudey sets, and he dropped a good $1600 cash for the sale. Yowsers.

What I bring you today didn't come from any tables. They come from Jim, a local resident and reader of my blog. Along with some kind words, he presented me with a very nice stack of Sportscasters featuring various sports with women as the focus!

 Sportscasters were fairly popular when these were produced in the late 1970s. They're about 5x7, with rounded corners, on thin card stock. As you can see the photography isn't great compared to current cards, but most of them feature action shots at a time when Topps was still using Spring Training headshots for many of its baseball cards.

 There are some big names that even I recognize. Olga Korbut was an Olympic gymnast who won three gold medals and one silver medal. Dorothy Hamill won two gold medals and two silver medals. I have a program signed by Dorothy Hamill, so this was a nice addition.

The cards featured smaller sports in addition to the big ones. Lacrosse was still a very minor sport when this card was issued that now has high school teams across the country, though field hockey still has not gained major acceptance here in the US.

Sportscasters cards like this are hard to find, and Jim surprised me with them when we met on Saturday. I'm very grateful for him bringing them to me and now I owe him in trade! He mentioned he's a Schmidt fan so I'll have to find something real nice for him. Thanks, Jim!

On the "not purchased but still picked up at the show" was this media guide from 1999:

At the show entry, they had a table with a bunch of freebies, so I grabbed this one. It features a nice art cover, and the title/theme of the guide "Generation A's" is similar to a book I have "Generation A's Fans" that I haven't read.

More soon!