10/31 and 11/2/25 card show report: a November to remember

Now that I'm caught up on November trades, let's take a look at what I came home with after spending two days at that month's Taylor Town show.

First, I went on Friday as usual, which was actually Halloween, but for all intents and purposes, that was the first day of the November show so that's how I'm treating it here. Also, as is often the case, I spent all of my time and money at the tables of the seller I usually see since he's only there on Fridays and Saturdays. I dropped $60 there and was happy with what I got, including these keepers:

90s(ish!) inserts rule when it comes to the Gwynn and Maddux cards I picked out. Mr. Padre is from a 2000 UD insert named Cooperstown Calling, which wasn't exactly a reach for the legendary hitter, and the shiny rainbow foil and overall design really grabbed me. Mad Dog's insert is from the same year's Stadium Club Chrome product, and it's an acetate chase card called Clear Shots that very much lives up to its name.

The other baseball item was a 2020 Absolute Black autograph card of Tigers C Jake Rogers. These manuball inserts are perfect for signatures and the price was right when I factored this into my total cost. I know Rogers has pretty much given way to Dillon Dingler as the future of the franchise at the position, but I still appreciate the stability Jake brought behind the plate. Plus the card just looks cool!

As for football, I scored a Topps Resurgence RC of Michigan (via Indiana) TE AJ Barner (who caught another TD for Seattle today), a Prizm parallel of Devin Bush, and my first autograph of Josh Uche, which is a 2020 Panini Contenders Draft Picks card and therefore features a college action photo. Uche put up some nice defensive numbers in his junior and senior years (2018-19) and got himself selected in the 2020 second round, #60 overall, by New England. He had a career year in '22 with 11.5 sacks for the Pats, and has since bounced to KC and now Philly. As it turns out his signature is fairly legible by today's standards!

I then headed back on Sunday afternoon to meet up with Angus of Dawg Day Cards as I explained in this trade post.

Not only did I have a great time meeting him for the first time in person and swapping some cards, plus having a like-minded person to flip through boxes with, but spending a second day at the show gave me an opportunity to look around at the other tables I rarely see. I think my purchases were split up between something like five or six other sellers, so I can thank Angus for getting me back out there to the benefit of my collections (in addition to the time he put in driving over from Canada).

You'll see a few cards from my favorite vintage seller who I do make sure to stop by when he's around, plus a mix of a few others. Oddly enough, I spent another $60 exactly on day two. Here's what I grabbed:

Four of the cards in this image were courtesy of the guy who specializes in vintage (plus one more in the last scan), though one of them will surprise you. First is the '63 Topps League Leaders card which includes former Tiger Jim Bunning, whose 19 wins in '62 were the fifth best behind the other four on the card who all had 20+. Harvey Kuenn may be in a Giants uni but like Bunning I'll collect him regardless, and he's seen on the fun '63 Post design. Below him is a '70 Fleer World Series card of the '07 Fall Classic, just the fourth played, in which the Cubs defeated Detroit (the first of three straight Tigers pennants that ended in defeat for them). And lastly, the '23 Topps Museum Collection jersey of future HOFer Max Scherzer came from one of his boxes as well, one that often has some more modern odds and ends, though usually not hits like this. I probably would have grabbed it even with him on another team, but the large swatch of the Detroit star grabbed my eye and I knew I had to have it.

Meanwhile I grabbed a few cheapies elsewhere including an '86 Sportflics six-player card where Tiger Darrell Evans was one of the bunch (most AL HR) along with Wade Boggs, Don Mattingly, Willie McGee, Dale Murphy, and Dave Parker. Henneman is a '94 SP Die-Cut, Magglio is a 2006 Bowman Gold, Scherzer (again) is a 2019 Finest Refractor, and JV is from 2021 Topps 70 Years of Topps.

I think one of the last tables we stopped at had one or two tubs of very random things that were something like a buck each or six for $5. Angus and I both grabbed shrink-wrapped stacks of Fleer Stamps which you probably saw on Night Owl's blog since we each sent some to him. I scored a few other items for collecting pals too, but kept one for myself: this unopened box of 12 1990 Collect-A-Books. You can see on the back that the bunch includes Griffey, who I already have, but I thought it would be fun to keep this unopened and maybe try to find the other two boxes. Also, the other 11 players are solid to fantastic, and you can't beat that for a buck!

The lone basketball single I picked up was a Ruby Wave Prizm of Duncan Robinson, whom I may have mentioned once or twice is now with the Pistons.

As for football, my second signature of FB Ben Mason hails from '21 Contenders, and it's a bit goofy as he's pictured with Baltimore but noted as having been signed by the Pats. Considering his position it's a bit surprising that he was drafted at all but Baltimore took him in round 5 in 2021, and he got into one game with them a couple years later in the midst of bouncing around various practice squads. His signature isn't bad and this is my first pro uniform auto of him, so that's cool.

He's joined from the sport by a legendary name in Elroy Hirsch. "Crazy Legs" of course is a HOF multi-position guy who played for both Wisconsin and Michigan, and he suited up for the Chicago Rockets and LA Rams in the 40s and 50s. I love finding vintage stuff of him such as the '57 Topps you see above, which is simply a classic design. It's my second oldest card of Hirsch as I already have his '56 base, but I still need his Bowman issues from 1950-54, including his RC.

And we'll close out with hockey. A dime (or maybe cheaper?) box turned up 24-25 Artifacts base cards of Hobey Baker winner Adam Fantilli plus Owen Power, and then I spend a couple bucks on my 11th relic and 16th hit of Jack Johnson, this one from 2007-08 UD.

Clearly I had a great (and productive) time spending a couple days at this show, including one with Angus. And happily the in-person show hangouts didn't end there since I got to do another one the following weekend, which I'll cover next time.

Until then, I hope everyone enjoyed the holiday, including those of you who received cards from me, and that some of you are getting some days off of work like I am!