Collecting...while collecting

For those of you who don't know, I am a collector (I can hear you mumbling duh, we're all collectors..) What I mean is, I took a job as a file clerk almost six years ago and they promoted me to debt collections. Basically, I call people with medical or gambling debts and ask them for money they almost never have while making a part-time salary with no benefits or insurance and barely scraping by myself. Oh, the irony!

Our office was near the end of a busy road, about 50 feet away from where the road becomes a highway on-ramp. Next to our office, on the corner, was a 7-11. 

When I first started working there, the 7-11 sold baseball cards. That is, they had one box of 2013 Topps Heritage on the counter. $3 a pack. I bought at least one, perhaps two packs. Pulled nothing good at all, and didn't buy any more. When that box was gone, 7-11 never sold cards again. Which is probably for the best, since they got enough of my money already.

At times the attorneys would send me down the street to deliver subpoenas to the local banks. There were four on Park Avenue, and we did business with three of them (It turns out that a fifth bank is being built on the site of our old office.) In between these banks was a comic book store, which I have mentioned in this post and possibly others. For as long as I've been popping in for penny sleeves and a Mountain Dew Throwback they've carried packs of Topps baseball cards - and only Topps baseball cards. 

I hadn't bought any until this year. Mostly because this was the first time that a) they carried the current year of flagship, and b) I actually liked the set enough to collect it. (Did not like 2017 at all, already had '15 and '16 nearly complete.) On at least a half-dozen occasions I bought multiple packs of flagship (series 1 and 2) for $2 a pop. It wasn't quite an LCS, but it was close. 


Then, one month ago, our firm went through some major changes. One attorney (my boss) retired, another left to work at another firm. The remaining attorneys (plus one new guy) relocated to a town that under any other circumstances would be too far out of the way. Alas, I'm still here, and I've been exploring my new surroundings when I have the time.

There is no convenience store, nor comic book shop. I miss them every day. There is a pizza place (I've been there once so far) and a Dunkin' Donuts right across from the office, so at least I'll get my junk food and caffeine fix.  But...are there cards nearby?

In the plaza with the pizza place there is a Dollar Tree - or at least there will be; the sign said "Coming Soon - 4 Days" about three days ago. There is also a Walgreens next to the Dunkin' Donuts. Their prices are...not as good as 7-11, which had 2/$3 energy drinks. Those same brands are 2/$5 at Walgreens :/

But I was bored - and thirsty - today, and so I explored because the weather was too nice not to. The Dollar Tree was still not open, and so I tried the Walgreens again. As I approached the toy aisle I thought Wouldn't it be great if they sold cards?

They do.

These were the last two Football repacks hanging on the shelf; there was one baseball box with Felix Hernandez facing, but I've got more than enough of whatever was in it.

I know this is not the best way to spend $10 on sports cards - and if I keep sinking money into my own version of gambling I'll end up like one of those debtors I'm forced to call. ('m being facetious here, I have never nor will I ever spend beyond my means.) But, as a collector, I thought I'd give it a shot since it's not every day that I have access to packs of cards.

Box #1 grabbed my attention right away. Christian McCaffrey is one of the few non-Packers I pay attention to, and though I was certain it was a Leaf Draft Pick card I figured it was better than the Bills team card (Wasn't going to buy that pack at first, but then I thought a comparison post would be fun. So here we are.)

Was I wise to pick both packs? You be the judge.

The McCaffrey pack yielded so many 1989 and 1990 singles I thought about recording an episode of Let's Remember Some Guys.

In fact 63 of the 76 cards in the pack were from 1989 to 1993, and only a couple of them were HOFers.

Mike Webster played for the Chiefs?

Here's the best of the rest.

Send it in, Jerome! I guess that 1:4 "hit" is supposed to balance out the "junk"?

Box #2 contained considerably less overproduction-era cards. Of the 75 cards, only 43 were from 1988 to 1994, and five of them were HOFers.

No autograph in this one, but there were some parallels you don't see every day:

These 1999 Collector's Edge Triumph Galvanized parallels scan horribly, even when I lighten the scan. If you still can't see them they are Michael Irvin, Champ Bailey, and Morten Andersen. These cards were at the back of the box, and each is numbered to 500. Bailey was a rookie in '99, which might explain why the only copy on COMC is listed at $12.

Champ makes another appearance in this pack, along with the first Arena League card I've ever owned (I'd rather have AFL and WLAF cards than those old Collegiate Collection cards any day.)

Box #2 also yielded the oldest card I've ever pulled from a repack:

This 1978 Topps Brian Kelly card is scratched and has a tiny crease, but it is one year older than the previous oldest repack pull in my collection, Graig Nettles:

Overall this repack wasn't a total kick in the junk..but you know what was? 31 NFL teams were represented within these two repacks - including both Houston franchises. The only two teams that did not have a card were the Patriots..and the Packers.

It just so happens those two teams play each other this weekend. I had to root against Los Angeles in two sports last Sunday. This Sunday I have to root against Boston.

 Go Pack Go!


~