Not bad for $30 Part 1: A Vintage for the Award Winners

I realized late last week that there are three card shows in the Bay Area this month. The twice-annual show in San Leandro will be the highlight next weekend - it takes over a pretty large space and has a great mix of vintage, plus it's the largest show I know of in the area that isn't about autograph guests. The San Leandro show is bookended by two mall shows, set up on tables in the walkways. Last weekend's show was definitely the smallest of the month. I shopped at three different tables, and spent a total of $30. I've split the post up for the rest of the week, so enjoy!

Today's selection is a collection of cards that fit into my Awards/Leaders Collection. If you're new enough to the blog, the Awards/Leaders is a collection of cards for every MVP, ROY, Cy Young, HOF, No-Hitter, Golden Glove, Silver Slugger, and a whole bunch of other awards ever issued. For example, Jim Kaat won somewhere around 16 Gold Gloves, so when all is said and done, I'll have 16 Jim Kaat cards in the collection.

 The Ripken is one of those 60 Years of Topps or Your Mama reprints. It's amazing how much effort Topps put into its 1992 photography compared to prior years. And somehow I didn't know that Gary Carter was on the Giants, while I was a full-time Giants fan (before my move to Georgia).

As the card in the center states, Puckett won a few Gold Gloves. I'm surprised when I see Puckett insert cards in discount boxes with the following he has - in fact, those two were quarter buys. The Aparicio is vintage '68, another shock - 25 cents. He's seen better days, but come on, it's a great player! He too won some Gold Glove awards.

When I see cards like the Joe Morgan Ultimate Collection for a quarter or less, I pick them up. Luckily, I needed all three of these so my money wasn't "wasted" (although I'm sure I could trade away the Morgan).

Poor Liriano, he pitches a no-hitter but still has an ERA near 5. I had not yet picked up a card to commemorate his no-no, and didn't have any on hand, so I grabbed this one for less than a nickel.

Finishing out the Awards loot is a card I totally didn't expect to use.

I grabbed this card because it's pretty, shiny, and I thought I needed it for another collection. I didn't, but Bobby Crosby managed to win the Rookie of the Year award in 2004 with a .239 batting average. That's probably a good thing, since I doubt he'd find a home otherwise. (Speaking of finding a home, despite being ROY in 2004, he faded out of service last year, and is currently a free agent.)