Going Broke Ten Cents at a Time

With some cash in my pocket and a cool breeze in the air I visited the ol’ flea market. For $13.00 I walked away with 60-some cards and 3 “hits”. I figure that’s better odds then plunking down $10.00 for a blaster. Most of the cards were for my personal collection, but I also saw some cards that fellow bloggers might find intriguing. If you see anything you like just let me know!

Let’s start off with a couple of cards for my player collections.



2007 SP Carl Crawford. The nice thing about Mike is that he doesn’t always sort his 10 cent boxes very well. Chances are he would have this one in the $1.00 “Rays” Box normally.

1997 Donruss Studio Peter Bondra. Look at the hair. LOOK AT IT! Glorious! Bondra is my new project. He was one of the more underrated players in the 90’s, the dead puck era of hockey, and he was one of my favorites early in my hockey fandom. Since his hey day was before the proliferation of inserts, autos and game worn relics I figure I have a reasonable chance of collecting most of his cards.


Next up are a couple of Eddie Murray’s. Sadly, these cards are post mutton chops for Eddie, but I didn’t have them so I picked them up.



1986 Topps All Star - Is that a smile? Nice to see on the normally reserved hall of famer.

1987 Fleer “Limited Edition” Was anything limited in the late 80’s?


The quest draws closer to an end



2008 Allen & Ginter Coco Crisp. Another card off the list. Mike had a bunch of Ginters this week, sadly only one that I needed. I’m starting to think I might actually finish this thing off.

Random Orioles and cards for bloggers - This was the bulk of the cheap cards that I bought today. Always nice to add O’s cards to the pile.

I have an idea of where the others are going, but if you see something you like send me an email.




1994 Stadium Club Mike Mussina - He’s in an igloo with ice picks behind him. O.K.

1979 Topps Billy Smith - This reminds me of the poses we had on photo day during my rec league days.

2004 Upper Deck Play Ball Luis Matos - Hopefully the days of thinking that Luis Matos and his ilk are the “answer” to the O’s problems are over. The outfield seems set for the next few years with Markakis, Jones, Reimold and Pie running around the lush green grass of Camden Yards.


The “Hits”



2004 Topps Blue Chip Clint Nageotte Auto - This card was basically free. I don’t know why I picked it, perhaps it’s the horrible looking auto or the fact that the back states that he is a “master of a hard slider”.

1967 Topps John Miller - When I have a couple of extra bucks in my pocket I tend to buy the oldest Oriole card Mike has. Today’s winner - John Miller

2008 A& G Jay Gibbons Bat Relic - He may be a disgraced former supplement user who wrote a letter to every major league team asking for a tryout, but he’s still an Oriole and it’s still a cheap relic.




Those were just a random selection. I also picked up some 1983 Topps (including a Kent Hrbek for 10 cents) and a couple of 2007 Allen & Ginters.

The old guy looking for cards next to me had a laugh when I whipped out the circa-2000 Palm that I keep my list of cards needed to check the Ginters. He had an old spiral notebook that he kept his needed’s in. A difference in generations I guess. I assume some kid out there has the info on his iPhone, wonder if there’s an app for that?