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One man's trash...
Is another man's treasure. Or so I've heard...
Last Saturday, I emailed a gentleman about a Craigslist ad he posted. He was giving away a bunch of sports cards and I figured they were long gone, since he posted the ad earlier in the week.
But to my surprise, I received a response Sunday evening that I could have them if I picked them up by 8pm. So, I downloaded a map to his house and when I arrived there were several boxes of cards sitting in his driveway. I was pretty excited because as I loaded my car, I noticed there was a box labeled 1984 Donruss, while another box had a 5x7 of Tony Gwynn, that I'd never seen.
When I got home, I piled everything into my garage. Normally, I'd dive into the collection, but I didn't want to open up Pandora's Box, since I had to go back to work the next day.
The next day, I rushed home to sift through the boxes. I was like a little boy on Christmas morning tearing through presents. And although I didn't discover any vintage Mickey Mantles... I found these:
Completed Sets
1988 Score Baseball Set (1-660)
1988 Topps Baseball Set (1-792)
1990 Score Football Factory Set – Opened (1-660 + 5 bonus cards)
1991-92 Bowman Hockey Factory Set (1-429)
1991 Comic Images Boris Set (1-90)
1991 Impel U.S. Olympic Cards Set (1-90)
1993 Fleer Football Set (1-500)
1993 Studio Baseball Set (1-220)
1994 Fleer Baseball Set (1-720)
1994 Fleer Football Set (1-480)
1994 Upper Deck Football Set (1-330)
1995 Collector’s Choice Football Set (1-348)
1988 Score Baseball Set (1-660)
1988 Topps Baseball Set (1-792)
1990 Score Football Factory Set – Opened (1-660 + 5 bonus cards)
1991-92 Bowman Hockey Factory Set (1-429)
1991 Comic Images Boris Set (1-90)
1991 Impel U.S. Olympic Cards Set (1-90)
1993 Fleer Football Set (1-500)
1993 Studio Baseball Set (1-220)
1994 Fleer Baseball Set (1-720)
1994 Fleer Football Set (1-480)
1994 Upper Deck Football Set (1-330)
1995 Collector’s Choice Football Set (1-348)
Partial Sets
1982 Topps E.T. The Extraterrestrial Set (86/87 cards)
1983 Topps A-Team Set (57/66 cards)
1984 Topps Supergirl Set (38/44 stickers)
1988 Donruss Awesome! All-Stars Text Back Set (57/71 stickers)
1988 Donruss Awesome! All-Stars Puzzle Back Set (41/56 stickers)
1988 Topps Dinosaurs Attack Set (51/55 cards)
1988 Topps Dinosurs Attack Sticker Set (10/11 stickers)
1989 Topps Batman Series 1 Set (122/132 cards)
1990 Topps The Simpsons Sticker Set (20/22 stickers)
1991 Comic Images Boris Set (86/90 cards)
1991 Pro Set Super Stars Musicards Series 1 Set (247/260 cards)
1991 Pro Set Super Stars Musicards Series 1 Promo Set (4/6 cards)
1992 Topps Batman Returns Set (83/88 cards)
1982 Topps E.T. The Extraterrestrial Set (86/87 cards)
1983 Topps A-Team Set (57/66 cards)
1984 Topps Supergirl Set (38/44 stickers)
1988 Donruss Awesome! All-Stars Text Back Set (57/71 stickers)
1988 Donruss Awesome! All-Stars Puzzle Back Set (41/56 stickers)
1988 Topps Dinosaurs Attack Set (51/55 cards)
1988 Topps Dinosurs Attack Sticker Set (10/11 stickers)
1989 Topps Batman Series 1 Set (122/132 cards)
1990 Topps The Simpsons Sticker Set (20/22 stickers)
1991 Comic Images Boris Set (86/90 cards)
1991 Pro Set Super Stars Musicards Series 1 Set (247/260 cards)
1991 Pro Set Super Stars Musicards Series 1 Promo Set (4/6 cards)
1992 Topps Batman Returns Set (83/88 cards)
A bunch of unopened non-sport wax packs...
These three unopened packs of 1988 Maxx Racing...
As well as this sweet addition to my Tony Gwynn collection...
If you don't recognize this behemoth... it's a 5x7 Lite Beer card commemorating his 1984 batting crown. If anyone out there knows the history behind this piece... I'd love to hear it.
And if these cards weren't enough... there's almost 25,000 additional sports cards and non-sport cards sitting in storage boxes. It took two days to go through them and although there were some minor rookie cards, a few cheap inserts & parallels, and a bunch of star cards... most of the boxes were filled with common cards from the junk wax era.
I did find these...
Which I'll be adding to my "not so mint... but definitely cool vintage" PC.
Plus, I'll be keeping a few of the sets, like the 1993 Studio baseball set and the 1994 Upper Deck football set. And I'll be attempting to build all of those cool non-sports sets... which I'm sure will be interesting and challenging.
The rest of the cards will be given away. Some will be thrown into team bags and given to my students and the rest will be donated to Goodwill.
But before I wrap this up... I want to share one last treasure with all of you.
I know what you're thinking... this haul is no treasure. And I couldn't agree with you more. However... there was a hidden treasure I failed to mention and it's nothing Beckett can place a value on... but at the same time it's something most of us hold dear.
It's the entertainment and joy I obtained, while sitting on my office floor sorting through boxes and boxes of cards... just like when I was a little kid.
Have a great week everyone. Sayonara!
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