Workin' at the Card Shop 4: Duane's SportsCards Part 2

I had a little bit of free time and went back to Duane's SportsCards for a relatively long dig through the boxes there. I hit one player collection pretty hard, but I also picked up some other stuff.

The first card I grabbed for my stack was the Shannon Sharpe Stadium Club Triumvirate card on the right of that picture. It is die-cut on several sides as well as having various patterns cut out of all the circuitry in the background. I just had to have it. I also picked up one Derek Holland card. I wanted to grab a bunch more stuff of his, but they didn't have any of his cards. Well, they had about 55 of the same Bowman card and a couple of faded autographs but they were overpriced and I gave up on chasing his stuff. There was a small stack of Peyton Manning stuff, but the only card that really stood out to me was that shiny Topps Finest Gems card in the center of the scan. It's shiny.

The player collection I really hit hard on this trip was Randy Johnson. I have been a little frustrated over picking the wrong team in the Nachos Grande group break for pulling Randy Johnson cards (although I shouldn't complain as I've come away with some decent Mariners cards), so I thought I'd go after some singles to ease the pain. In the first row are some 1989 cards, Rookie Cards if my memory serves me correctly. On the bottom row are cards that stood out to me for various reasons. That Pinnacle card features a giant camera, the Ovation card has texture all over, especially the laces on the baseball pattern which are raised, and that other card is I believe a Studio card featuring Randy holding some broken bats. I'd go look at the card and verify the set, but it's like three steps away in a box and I'd have to get up out of this warm bed.

It was like 18 degrees in Arlington, Texas today, which is ridiculous. It has no right to be that cold here when I came all the way from Idaho in February/March specifically to get away from winter.

Here are a few more cards I grabbed because they stood out from the rest in some way. That Ionix card is pretty shiny, if I recall correctly. I don't remember why I selected that Topps card in the middle of the top row. There was a reason, though. The Estrellas card on the top right I got because it's all in Spanish and also shiny. I got the SP cards because they are die-cut and I remember the various SP cards being awesome back when I was a lad collecting NBA cards. Also, the little headshot on that middle card features a nice hand-shelf. For the uninitiated, a hand-shelf is a common practice in senior pictures and glamour shots in which the chin is supported on the hand, lending a thoughtful or playful air to the photo. The Metal card I selected because 1) shiny and 2) FLAME ARM!

And here is a Studio card featuring the Locker Backdrop. Randy looks pretty happy here. I think it's a trap.

And for horizontal cards we've got a Select card featuring a nice high-five as well as Johnson taking a break. That middle card has got a fuzzy attempt at 3D or something going on on the front, but features Johnson taking pictures with a camera on the back again, and the UD3 card is a Pitcher at the plate card that is a popular theme on the blogs.

I also purchased a Hobby box of 2012-13 NBA Hoops, as the dude had the cards on sale and I've been itching to build a basketball set for some time now. I haven't collated all of the cards yet, but I think I got most of the set out of the box. There isn't much as far as inserts go, but I did pull this autograph of my favorite current Houston Rockets player, Chandler Parsons. It's a sticker auto, but it is nice enough I guess. The other autograph from the box was a dude who has 36 career NBA games and no real stats to speak of. Boo! I was hoping to pull one of the Hakeem Olajuwon buyback autographs, but that was really a pipe dream. I don't even know what the odds on those are. Anyway, it was interesting to open a box that was all really basic cards and not a million colorful parallels and whiz-bangs. I don't really know how I feel about it. On the one side, it is a little refreshing. On the other hand, it feels a little like something is missing, like why would I pay normal box prices for a product that doesn't have all that stuff? I am still trying to figure out how hard I will pursue the rest of the set. I haven't yet found a site like Just Commons that sells basketball commons at decent prices.