Card Store Trip Report: 1952 Topps and more!

Let's get this out of the way first. You love seeing vintage cards. You love 1952 Topps. You hate the Cardinals. Or maybe not. But you came here to stare at two pretty 1952 Topps cards, so why should I deny you the pleasure?

My aunt and uncle are in town for the rest of my American life, and on (do you know) the way to San Jose, I made a couple card store stops.

First was Peninsula Sports Cards, the store I love to visit most often. There are cases of great cards (remember that 2011 Allen & Ginter State Relic?) and value binders ($5 relics, 5/$20). Sure, $5 relics here are usually $1-2 at a card show, but sometimes I find some nice stuff. I didn't look through those binders that afternoon, just the 50%-off-book relic and autograph case. I came away with two cards, one of which is seen here:

For $4, I now have a Tier One hit. Gaby Sanchez may not be as popular Ryan Braun or even a Pablo Sandoval, but he was fourth in Rookie of the Year voting last year and an All-Star this year. Now, I just need base cards, parallels, relics, etc, etc...

Skip to 2:10, and then 3:08. Or watch the whole thing. I've never seen the movie, but
Billy Crystal did a spoof of this with Yul Brynner as Babe Ruth. Funny stuff.

What's the other card? Oh, I can't tell you, since it's a gift. It's a nice card, though!

From Peninsula, I drove down to Stevens Creek Sports Cards, which I've told you was my childhood card store. It was time to get some set singles!

 While I had no luck with the Javier Lopez single I needed for my Update set, I pulled 2009 Upper Deck singles to get me down to two left on my want list.

 I also dug for the rest of the 2011 award winners - Wieters with his Gold Glove, Maddon as Manager of the Year, Kottaras for hittin the cycle, and Isringhausen for joining the 300 Saves Club.

What about the '52 Topps seen at the beginning of the post? Both of those are headed to the projects. And by that I mean crafty projects. The projects won't look like this (totally cool):

Kennedy's going to Japan, so you'll see him again in a couple months when I've settled into my apartment; Rojek's off to my cousin in Chicago for a crafty Christmas/birthday/whatever present she'll put together for me by next year. I wish I could say my project needs are now complete, but after resorting the cards, I've discovered three more needs - a '61 Topps, and '97 and '00 Upper Deck. At least it's an excuse to get back to Stevens Creek one last time!

Ahh, family get togethers...