Wednesday, July 13, 2016

And that's summer

Well, my summer is over. Most of my vacation time is used and the trips are complete. As you know, my wife and I drove to Denver to see our son for a few days. It was good fun. My wife wants to retire there. It's nice, but it's not Chicago, so I am not keen about it.

Anyway, the other half of my summer was this past weekend. Like P-Town Tom just celebrated his wedding anniversary on July 10th, my wife and I had the big 25 on the 12th. Somehow I haven't killed her yet. Though, if you ask anyone else in the world, they would be surprised she hasn't killed me yet. We'll have to debate about that.

Jane, you are a woman too free with your body that lacks knowledge and intelligence.

Our anniversary was technically yesterday. But I surprised her with tickets to a Broadway show (Beautiful - well worth it!). So it was another road trip on I-80, heading east this time. A little shorter (12.5 hours compared to 16 driving), but I still did it over 4 days. We got back on Sunday and I am still dealing with the effects of all the driving.

But what does all that have to do with this blog? Well, let's look at all the cards I picked on on the trip:

Winter is coming...
 Yup - nothing. That's not to say I didn't try - more on that later. I did get some sports related stuff on the trip. It wasn't a total bust.


I scored a KILLER hotel room for the first night of our ride in the Poconos. Really nice resort and it was just $60. Big room, great beds, amazing breakfast included. Stroudsmoor Country Club; I highly recommend it. Before we checked out (noon), we went into town for some gift shopping. I found the three books above at a used book store. The Mikita was $1.88, the Matle was 98 cents and the Bases Full was printed in 1928 and set me back 6 bucks. I just like the cover on that one, but I'll still try to read it.

I scored another hotel right off Times Square on 46th Street when we stayed the night before the show. We have been to NY once with the kids, but never got to spend any time at Times Square, so it was fun to see it all lit up. Tourist trap? Sure. But something everyone should see, just like everyone should go to the top of the Sears Tower (eat it, Willis) and/or the Handcock, eat in the Walnut Room at Fields on State (eat it, Macy's) and see the U-505 at the Museum of Science and Industry (eat it, Hitler). Before the show, we headed for Rockefeller Plaza and St. Patrick's and ran into the NHL store.


I have a small puck collection (if I can find one at the right price, I'll add it to the collection). The one on the left is just because it says New York on it - souvenir. The one on the right claims to be a game used puck from the 2016 Playoffs. I'm a sucker for relics, so I picked the one that looked a bit more beat up inside the case.

Ok - on to the card shop. On the way back Sunday, I was checking Google Maps for any card stores along the ride home. There was one in Toledo that was just 15 minutes off the path. The wife gave me the thumbs up to stop, so I headed over.

Thinking of the dimensions of the store, I am going to guess like 25x44. Decent sized, single level. Nothing current, that I could find. Warm in the store (needed A/C). And lots of cards. I means lots of cards. Nick, if these were dime boxes, you would have been in heaven.

But.
Holy.
Sh*t.

NO ORGANIZATION! None what so ever. You could barely move in the store with all the cards. And when I mean a lot of cards, I mean a LOT of cards. My guess, and I could be low balling it here: 10.......MILLION. Maybe 15 million.

I am not kidding. Just box after box after box with labels like "FB" and "Rookies" and "Random cards" and some set names. Open a box and it could be a bunch of 87 Topps mixed with 91 Classic, 93 Donruss, 90 Upper Deck and who the hell knows what else. Stacked 7 feet high or more with some of the boxes 3 rows deep. There could have been gold mines of cards that have not been viewed in years. It was impossible to look through anything, and that was a shame, because the one box I found (on top of the glass case that was covered in stacks of cards), had some great vintage. Oh - and the cases - you couldn't see what was inside because of the total vomit of cards all over them, but I caught a peek, and I think I saw singles of 95 Fleer Ultra hockey. No lie.

Anyway, that box of vintage I did go through - nice range of cards. If you wanted to complete an early set of Post cards, that was the box to hit. Along with lots of early 50's and 60's Topps. Now, why didn't I buy anything? I'll sum it up in the one card I remember distinctly.

1957 Richie Ashburn. Looked like it went through the washing machine and the spokes of a bike. Twice. Price?

$40.

So yeah - I spent maybe 20 minutes in there and left. There is probably some amazing cardboard in that store. But it would take a dozen people the best part of a day just to clear it out, and then another few months to organize all the cards by sets. I would love to do that - I should have offered $100 for the store.

Now that I am back, I have cards to post and cards to ship. If you are waiting for something from me, hang tight. I promise I will get a ton of stuff shipped come the weekend. I'll post zip codes when I do. Thanks for your patience. And avoid Toledo card shops.

9 comments:

  1. wives like trips to new york and shows on broadway. this i know.

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    1. I concur....I've made the trip to NYC several times.

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  2. Sounds like that card shop might be appearing on an episode of Hoarders soon.

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  3. I visited Toledo every year from 2003-2008 and could not find a single card shop. There was one in a mall our first trip out but they closed the mall by the second trip.

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  4. That would be the one time I wouldn't want a card shop nearby haha

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  5. Sounds like a good trip to NYC, which I'm sure the wife loved. I've been in a store like the one you described, but probably not as many cards. 20 minutes? You lasted way longer than I did.
    Heads up: there's a mail truck making it's way up I-55 toward your neck of the woods. Hopefully that makes up for coming out empty handed from that card shop!

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  6. Congratulations on making it to the quarter-century mark! That is quite an accomplishment in this day and age.

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  7. Sounds like a great trip! Congrats on 25 years. Collector's wives are special people.

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  8. Twenty-five years? That's truly amazing. Congratulations on your silver anniversary.

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