Parent/Teacher Conference

**I'm trying to get through my backlog of pending blog posts, so you may see me have 1 or 2 more posts before 2024 hits. Enjoy!**

November 2, 2023  

I had a Friday off and it just so happened to be on a day when there was a card show at a nearby mall. My wife and I had a parent/teacher conference first before we ventured inside for our 5-year-old who is excelling in his kindergarten class. His teacher had a glowing review and also added how polite he is. Looks like we are doing something right!

When we walked into the mall, we walked past Auntie Anne’s pretzel shop just so I could smell the cinnamon goodness! It was delightful. Since I have lost 34.6 lbs. since May, I used my willpower and just walked by without buying a thing. My wife was proud of me. I am finally at the weight I was when I got married almost 10 years ago. 

Finally, we made our way down the escalator and to the middle of the mall where the show was located. We got there right at 10am so a lot of vendors were still setting up. It was a small show, but I like it that way because I feel like I browsed everything I wanted to and came home with exactly what I wanted. 

My wife took this photo of the show:

The first table we stopped at was a nice gentleman named Joe who had a $1 box set out with hockey parallels and inserts along with some unopened boxes. I went through his hockey box and then hit his 4 for $10 auto and game used stuff that was a mix of all sports. I ended up picking up 6 cards. My wife also noticed he had some 2023/24 Upper Deck Series 1 hobby boxes for sale and she bought one for me. I think we spent a total of $140 there. Before I go any further, I should add that everything I picked up is going to be my Christmas from my wife since she had no idea what to get me. 

The next vendor whose name I believe was also Joe had some nicer hockey set out. However, when I grabbed a stack of stuff to look at it was all backwards. I had to let him know that his box was backwards and I flipped it around for him and he fixed his sign and thanked me. After 20 mins or so I found some autographs and game used cards I liked and using his color coded stickers on the team bags he had each card in, my total was $45. When he added them up, he said since I helped him out he knocked $10 off my price so I paid $35! Fellas, listen, it pays to be nice to everyone. Seriously. 

The next vendor we stopped at was Smog City Cards. I am pretty sure he said his name was Eric. If it isn’t, I’m sorry about that. He had a small batch of hockey to look at and a few 5200 count boxes of 10 cent cards. A guy had set up shop at the 10 cent card boxes, so I moved over to the $2 box of hockey cards and began to look. In the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of a 10-cent card the guy next to me threw in his pile that piqued my interest. After I pulled out a stack of hockey cards that should have totaled me $18, Smog City Eric told me $10. Wow! My wife and I chatted with him about his kids and our kids a little bit, and after a few minutes I asked the guy looking through the 10-cent stuff if I could buy one of the cards in his pile. He said, “Sure thing, which one?” So, I showed him, and he handed the card to me, and Eric said it was free and to just take it, so I handed the guy looking through the 10-cent bin a $1 and told him that I’d like to buy 10 of his cards for being so kind as to giving up this card for me. Which I will be using for a later post.

So, I left the card show with a decent haul and a fantastic review from my son's teacher. All in all, a great day to be a dad and a card collector. Here is my card show haul:

Cool pictures bro, but what cards did you get? Well, glad you asked. Here are my top 10 pickups from the show:

10. 1998 Upper Deck Star Rookie Jason Peter RC #12

Grabbed this for a future blog post. This is the 10 cent card that I paid the guy $1 for since it was in the stack of cards he was buying. Might look like a crappy common rookie card to you, but it means something to me!

9. 1995 Upper Deck Collector's Choice Update Craig Powell Gold RC #U13

Who? Well, this guy was a 1st round draft pick if you believe it. Also grabbed this for a future blog post. Really excited for this one as well! Got it in a 25-cent bin over towards the left of the photo my wife snapped of the show. It was the only card I purchased from this particular seller.

8. 2019/20 SP Game Used Nolan Patrick Stadium Series Jersey #SSNP

I did the calculations and I actually got this from Smog City Cards for $1.Thanks again to Eric (once again, if I am saying the wrong name, I apologize!). Nolan Patrick has since retired from the game of hockey, and with me being a Brandon Wheat Kings fan, this made me sad. I was still happy to get this one to add to my collection though. 

7. 2018 Topps Chrome Anthony Santander Refractor Auto RC /499

Got this from Joe in his 4 for $10 auto bin. I actually didn't realize this was the refractor version until we got home. I had Santander as a fill-in for a few weeks this year in my fantasy baseball league, so I didn't want to leave this one at the show. Glad I didn't. It appears to be a decent buy!



6. 2001 SP Authentic Future Watch Josh Heupel Patch RC /800

Back in the day, I did enjoy watching Heupel play college football. I also got this in the 4 for $10 bin from Joe. I had this card back in 2001 and traded it, I was happy to own it once again. I ended up selling this on November 29th for $14 + shipping once something shiny I saw popped up on eBay. I figured this would be an easy sell and I was right. I don't think I had it on eBay for more than 2 days before it sold. It did help fund my PC purchase later on, so it climbed the list a bit more than other cards.

5. 1995 Action Packed Ki-Jana Carter 24Kt Gold RC #21G

I grew up a PSU fan. My cousin Amy went there and made sure my brother and I were always decked out in PSU gear when the school year started. Due to this, I will always have a soft spot for PSU. Carter was a beast and I remember vividly watching him and wanting to root for him in the NFL. Well, after tearing his ACL before his rookie season, he never really made a real impact in the NFL and that just sucks. I got this thing for $1 from an older guy who had a lot of overpriced stuff. This was the only one I found with a more than reasonable price tag, so I gave him my dollar bill. I now own 3 of this exact card. 13 year old me would also be super stoked about this one!

4. 2010 Bowman Chrome Prospects Stephen Strasburg Refractor RC #1 /777

I paid $2 for this one. I am pretty sure it was mis-marked, but I did ask the guy what he wanted for it and he took it from me, looked at it and said, "It has a yellow sticker on the back, so it's $2." I didn't hesitate and gave him the $2 he wanted. My wife said I lit up when I saw it in the stack of cards I was looking through. I don't remember doing that, but maybe I did, who knows? Anyways, I'm happy with this for $2 for sure. What do you think this thing costed someone back in 2010? Also, my laser printer scanner doesn't scan refractors very well, but I assure you it's the refractor version.

3. 2016 Panini Prizm Josh Doctson Gold Prizm RC #259 /10

This was found in Joe's parallel box. I think he may have overlooked this one because I paid $3 for it. The card is not a $100 card or anything, but surely you agree it's not $3 either. Maybe he is the type of person who leaves easter eggs in each of his boxes for people to find? If that's the case, I definitely found it and was glad to be one of the first people to show up to look at his stuff. Does this qualify for a card that should be in a one-touch? Would I be crazy to put this in a one-touch? I was a fan of Doctson in college, but his career wasn't anything special. Prizm gold's are pretty hard to find, I think I am putting this in a one-touch. 

2. 2018/19 Upper Deck Ice Rinkside Signings Wilf Paiement Autograph #RS-WP

For some reason I am a big Paiement fan. I remember him when he played for the Penguins when I was 5. He was a bit of a dirty player, but he also had a lot of skill. If you google him, you will find that there are a lot of people out there that hate the guy, but I don't. He had a short career here in Pittsburgh, but my dad and his friends liked him, so I guess it just got passed down to me. He did have a decent career of 814 points in 946 games, so he wasn't a bum by any means. This is my first autographed card of Wilf. The other auto I have of him is on a puck. If you YouTube him, you can definitely see some vintage fights. I recommend it if you want to go down a rabbit hole. You will definitely see a lot of mustaches. Enjoy.

1. 2002/03 Parkhurst NHL Heroes Dany Heatley/Brett Hull Dual Jersey #NH-11

I grabbed this one from Joe #2 for $8. Growing up, I loved Brett Hull and Pat LaFontaine. Those guys were my favorite players. I even wore #16 playing varsity hockey in high school to honor them. So, of course this would land at the #1 spot. From what I remember these cards were hard to pull and I think they have a print run of 90? I might be wrong, so don't quote me on that one. Anyways, for $8, I'll buy this card all day long. Heatley was a guy I loved watching play as well, so a total no-brainer here. I miss the days when jersey cards were a big pull and back in 2002, this was kind of a big pull. Sad that in 2023 no one sees this card as something cool. Well, I do. 

I hope you enjoyed my card show trip. Also, I do recommend the one dealer if you ever need something, here is his business card. He was really good to me and was fun to chat with. Smog City Cards: