When I originally got back into collecting in 2014, there was one local card show in a hotel conference room. It would happen maybe once a month, and usually I'd end up at the same one or two tables digging through dime boxes of cards looking for stuff I needed to backfill my collection.
Over time, that show moved to another location. That was for two reasons. The original promoter passed away, removing the tie to the original place. Also, the banquet room next door to the show started being booked by some sort of very upbeat, very loud, very contemporary church service, which meant that the card show room was nearly uninhabitable because it was so loud.
When I got back into collecting in the past year or so, the show had become one held in two locations depending on the weekend. The banquet halls grew in size, as did the number of tables.
Now, the show has moved full-time to a location less than 3 miles from my house. It's great. The downside is that the person who used to have the dime boxes is no longer around--no idea what happened to her. I also have no idea what happened to the dime boxes, as every box now is at least a quarter and most "value" boxes are 50 cents or one dollar.
Today, I stopped over at the show and was gone literally for an hour. There are two vendors that I tend to hang out by the most that have started pulling Brewers for me so I don't even have to dig through the boxes to try to find the cards I want--which is both great and bad. It's great to have that kind of service, but it's bad because the chase is sometimes more fun than the purchase!
In any event, one of those guys kept aside just a fantastic card for me.
This is a 2023 Topps Cosmic Chrome Autograph Variation Card (the back even says so). It's serial numbered 32 out of 50. I really like how all the yellow is something of a nice color match to the yellow front panel on Yelich's batting helmet and to his arm guard.
I got a few other cards as well. One of them is the 2024 Topps Lids 1963 Chrome card that first came out at Fanatics Fest in New York in August of last year:
I also got two Juan Baez 2024 Bowman Draft Chrome cards numbered to 75 each. While I'm not actively seeking out cards that are numbered for my team collection or under 99 for any collection other than Yount, Molitor, and Yelich, I also hate to leave these great cards behind to fend for themselves in the cold wilderness.
Hope y'all have had a good weekend. I spent a lot of my weekend in furniture stores, as my wife and I are taking the opportunity to try to make our house look like adults live here.
