Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Nolan Ryan vintage stuff

I've never been a Ryan fan but I happen to have at least 20 different cards of the old man stuffed in a binder somewhere but all of them of the 90's and is that growing up back then I never thougt as possible getting for my PC any of his 70's or not even early 80's cards and not specially in a flea market.

But I managed to get these 3 babies a couple of months ago and without furhther intro here they are:




Friday, December 5, 2008

Carl Yastre$%*& my first vintage card

Long time but I'm back. Trying to catch up on some late work so I haven't given much love to my cards lately.


Back in 1994, just after 2 years collecting baseball cards with some pals, one of my friends from highschool shoved in our face a bunch of 1970's cards of people we had no fuc**** idea who they were.

That same afternoon I ran into my uncle, the only serious baseball player in my family, and asked him about this Yastre$%&*& guy. He was amazed I've actually seen that card and encouraged me to get it for trade which I did. So, a Casio watch rubber protector and $10pesos later I had my first vintage card.

And that's the thing about collecting, certain items in your PC my worth near nothing on the books but mean a hell lot to you.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Hank Aaron MVP 1957 & Homerun King card. Almost left without them

Back again. Today I want to talk about 2 cards that for some reason almost went unnoticed during my last 3 hour long flea market adventure. I'm talking about a Hank Aaron MVP and a Hank Aaron new home run king.


After been seated for 3 hours (at least now they let me use one of the chairs), I was ready to pay and leave when the dealer was interrupted by an old couple looking at some vintage coins and jewelry, so instead of taking MY seat, I reached over the table and found a little box with some baseball cards the dealer keeps in a separate box (Dominican players and others with sentimental value) where I discovered these Aaron's.  He used to take those special cards out and and hand them over to me 1 by 1 but never the whole pkg. 

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Dennis Eckersley 1977 Topps kevlar game used shot card...

I have no idea what happened to this card. Seems like Dennis the menace got his ass kicked on a recent Wax Heaven "cardboard war". He was matched against Suge Knight.



2 holes?
Tape? 
Should I submitt it for grading?  naaaaa

Monday, October 20, 2008

Turn back the clock.... tan-tan-tan...

The first time I got my hands on this card, was the TBC version and really caught my attention. The look in his eyes, so weird, so brokeback mountain, so police academy 3, so Pauly Shore, so, so, so...



C'mon, this guy belted 3,023 hits and YOU, so so so called "decision picture publisher" or whatever is your job title, had to choose this 1979 pic for a FOREVER TO BE REMEMBER TURN BACK THE CLOCK EDITION!! man!! Haven't you seen his Topps 1971? or 1974?

Anyway, during my flea market excursions I have gather some other moldy and creased versions of his cards to share.




Sunday, October 19, 2008

My only Mays... LAMINATED!!!

And there it was... Willy, yes, Willy. Battling, furious, World Series, 1973, Willy. 10-7 final score. Buth then, disaster striked: LAMINATED!! and you have to see how proud was this "genius" owner of his creativity to conservate the card. It was like the "brilliant" Guiness beer adds and not the "beer table" one.



But what could I've said, anyway I was going to buy this card even if it had been run over by Gengis Kan ghetto crew. It was my first and so far only Mays. DOP$15 dominican pesos later (.20c USD) I was on my way home with some other finds I'll talk about on a later post. 

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Team cards

Tks for tuning in. I didn't use to be a team cards collector but since I decided to go vintage, what ta heck. Bring them on!

While hustling through some old cards at the flea market I found a couple of team cards and bought them all for the breakeven amount of .20c each:


 As always, all of them NRMT - MT condition jejeje especially the Braves one.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

A sad day for the hobby.... but Fernando was "in fuego"

Today is a sad day for my FMA, cause for the first time in a couple of weeks, I went to Santo Domingo (where the antique market I shop is at) and my favorite seller was out of town.

I asked, asked and asked but everyone else just had old coins, vintage jewelry and other crap.

Anyway, I want to take the chance and show you why Fernando Valenzuela was so good in the 80's:


I found this one almost 2 months ago. Can you spell V-O-O-D-O
Naaaaa!....




Sunday, September 21, 2008

The oldest one so far...

Hey guys,

Been a couple of weeks since my last post but here we are. Here's the oldest card I've found so far during my Flea Market Adventures:




It's a  Steve or Stephen (depending if you ask mom or dad) Souchock 1954 Bowman. Got it for .40 cents as part of other 41 cards from the same flea seller. Didn't know who Mr. Souchock was when I found it laying there and honestly I don't care that much. It's the oldest one I have in my collection. According to Beckett Baseball Almanac this card has a STAGGERING price tag of USD$12 in N/M condition JUST LIKE MINE :)  

Thursday, September 4, 2008

1965 Houston's Rookies Stars AUTOGRAPH?

Have you ever found a great card and suddenly you realize that its previous owner was sign-o-freak? Well Beckett Almanac, say hello to 1965 topps #16 Joe Morgan / Sonny Jackson AUTOGRAPH VARIATION!!

I was so mad at this card the first time i found it laying with other hundred cards in a huge box, that didn'y buy it right there. I took another visit to make up my mind.

And in case YOU were the owner, next time please get someone else to sign it also so it won't look so obvious with the same handwriting. 



Saturday, August 30, 2008

Flea Market Adventures. How it all began


Welcome to my "Flea Market Adventures" from now on FMA. This blog is intended to share my weekly trips to some local flea markets looking for vintage baseball cards and any cool sports memorabilia I can find without loosing my gas money or getting divorce.
Some important notes about this blog:
  • I live in the Dominican Republic.
  • NO hobby stores here in DR. I get all my boxes and supplies from Blowout Cards and Ebay.
  • I'm tired of today's no secondary market value products and recently decided to chase vintage affordable stuff. Also I have a theory: There have to be some good cards around because this country loves baseball more than politics. I'll keep looking and see what happens.
  • Low budget my friends. Cheap, damaged, weird, creased, spitted, chewed (don't give me that look, you never know) its what I'll pay for and that's how far 40cents per card will take me unless noted.
Just in case one of you guys needs any of the cards I'll find, I DON'T TRADE OR SELL because the shipping rates will kill us cause there's no regular and reliable postal service here in my country. In case it's a white whale situation just email me and we'll work it out.

Feedback will always be welcome.

Enjoy.