The $20 Card Show Challenge

Work has been extremely busy lately and what better way to blow off some steam and stress then to hang out with Fuji over at The Chronicles of Fuji.  I recently moved to SoCal and made it a point to meet Fuji since he has an amazing blog and a captivating writing style.  He managed to make it down last month and I decided I needed to take a trip up north to hang out again last weekend at the Crowne Plaza Hotel Sports Card Show in Sacramento.  After my flight was cancelled into San Jose, I managed to snag a flight into San Francisco and as soon as I landed we were off to the races.  For those that have never met Fuji, he is one of the easiest guys to talk to...it was like we were old friends talking about cards, work, life, cards....and before I knew it we were there.  I didn't have too many expectations before we arrived, but this show definitely was worth the trip.  There were about 20 or so venders that had a nice variety of things and boxes to hunt through.  Fuji reminded me about our $20 challenge where we challenged each other on who could stretch their $20 and come away with the best stuff.  Now I knew Fuji was the king of bargains, but watching him work his magic was amazing.  This guy lives for the hunt and I was in minor league ball compared to him, but let's see what my eyes were drawn to:

Purchase #1: Random Baseball and Astronauts $2.50

The first box is always the harshest as far as value for me, but these cards are headed out in care packages.  The Yaz is creased and miscut and will find a nice home in Fuji's Damaged Card PC.  The other baseball are headed to my brother...the astronauts are for me.

Purchase #2: Two super mint 1990-1991 Fleer Basketball Sets - $2

Heck yeah, these sets were in amazing shape and each was only a buck..I pulled out some of the stars to scan here.  This set is full of stars and HOFers so I couldn't pass them up in this condition.  It looks like they have not seen light of day in 29 years.  Although overproduced, a classic look in my book.

Purchase #3: Mid-1990s Inserts - $5

These Topps Finest Main Attractions scream 1990s...and I couldn't pass up this impossible-to-find-back-in-the-day Beam Team card.

Purchase #4: 1953 Topps Who-Z-At-Star? Cards - $4

I've been working on this set for a while and like to pick these up in lower condition if I can.  Couldn't pass them up, but they dented my budget a bit.

Purchase #5: 1966 Topps Batman Bat Laffs - $3

For those that have not seen the new Joker movie, I think Joaquin Phoenix is in for an Oscar.  Cesar Romero did a decent job as well back in the day!

Purchase #6: 1987 Donruss and Fleer Packs - $5

I am a sucker for 1987s unopened product.  This purchase put me over our $20 limit by $1.50, but it was worth it.  Growing up in a small town out West, we never got Donruss and Fleer at the local stores.  These were rare back in the day so a final nostalgia purchase for me.  Let's see who I came away with after opening 2 of the Donruss and 1 of the Fleer!

Back in the day, these Donruss packs would have been huge hits with Benny and Robin....we also had kids chasing David Cone.  The Fleer was less fruitful, but Todd Worrell was a favorite of my buddy so would have come away with a nice trade.

After the show Fuji and I grabbed our traditional Del Taco and then headed over to Teammates to search around for a few things.

Well there you go...how did I do? 

Looking over at Fuji's post, he is an A-lister...I'm a benchwarmer, but definitely appreciate you stopping by.  Looking forward to the next adventure with Fuji!