12/1/18 card show report: Saturday shopping

This past Saturday's monthly show was a return to the norm for me in that the vast majority of what I picked up will be heading out in upcoming packages instead of going to my PC.  I mention that because the opposite was true last month.

Though I had more time on my hands than I did in November I think I stayed for around the same duration, meaning I was much more efficient.  Besides that I was quite happy with the results:  80 quarter cards, 12 that were $1 apiece or six for $5, and five $2 pickups.  For those of you that don't feel like doing the math that adds up to $40 and the seller, cool dude that he is, asked for $35.

So I was thrilled to add more nice fodder to my Christmas card packages that will be going out later this month.  I'll probably talk about those a bit more in a future post, but right now it looks like I'll be  getting something under the trees of around 20 of you, so stay tuned.

As for me, I've got four cards headed to my PCs to show off here and a lone addition over on TMM, so don't forget to check that out as well!

Here's that quartet for your viewing pleasure:

We'll start off with Gibby on an insert I was unfamiliar with:  Calling the Shots, a manager-centric set from a product I do know well, Panini's 2013 Hometown Heroes.  Kirk finished a bit under .500 over parts of five seasons managing Arizona, including a 94-68 record and playoff appearance in 2011 that earned him NL Manager of the Year honors.  Consecutive 81-81 finishes preceded a terrible 2014 that spelled the end of his career as a skipper, but it was still fun to see a former Tiger leading a team.

That card you see of Tony Gwynn is a base offering from Topps' 2014 Museum Collection, yet another of their high-end products geared toward breakers (though aren't they all at this point?).  I definitely wouldn't have wasted money buying it in any unopened form but do think the base set looks quite nice.  Still, give me the Pinnacle version of Museum Collection any day!

Frank Kostro is a brand new name here but he won't be unfamiliar for long as he's one of several Michigan Baseball alumni soon to join my collection after I scoured Baseball Reference to turn up such players I'd missed.  As a matter of fact, the Pennsylvania native has my favorite pedigree:  a Wolverine who debuted with the Tigers!  He spent most of his career, which spanned a good part of the 60s, with the Twins, and amassed five Topps/O-Pee-Chee cards I'm chasing.  The first addition to his PC, though, isn't part of that mainstream checklist, but is instead a 2017 Topps Heritage buyback of his '68 Topps base.  Normally I wouldn't throw a buck at a buyback like this, but I hold a higher opinion of the Heritage versions compared to the much less useful Million Card Giveaway and Rediscover Topps garbage.  Expect to see a bit more of Kostro in the future as I chase his cards.

Last up is the Iron Man on a relatively recent release.  While it doesn't hold a candle to the heyday of its original run, 2017's version of Topps Gold Label still looks quite nice.  A couple differences between this version and the originals:  it eschews the thicker card stock, and notes the version (in this case Class 1) up front instead of on the back, though that's difficult to see in this scan.  "Class 1" runs perpendicularly near the left edge, so it's very clear which variation this is.

For now I have nothing else in-hand to show off but within a few weeks I should have new items from COMC and Sportlots, plus news of Christmas Cards, so stay tuned!