Liberación!!!!!!!!

I woke up this morning with a fresh cup of coffee and a a little World Cup preview show-knowing that until my wife is able to watch with me I will be on a media blackout as we say so we can watch together. So, knowing I would need to avoid the computer, my phone, and any T.V or radio that would possibly mention who won but I needed to get an update on what is going on out there.

As a result I decided to read through Yahoo and Google news-to my great joy this guy is no more and the madness of his reign is over! Now I can go back to watch the Birds. Yeah, they are one game over .500 but this season was lost the day the organization resigned Madd Mike the day after the Cubs won the World Series. Possible replacement is Joe Girardi-former Redbird.

Still here!

Hi Everyone, I am still here and will be back in the saddle after I go incognito for a couple of more weeks. I am missing the Serramonte show today-but for good reason. Did the Cardinals fire Matheny yet? And I want to write a tribute the Red when I return.

Cheers Everyone!

Holiday Weekend TriStar Relics

There were a number of dealers with reasonable prices for relics-I even mangled to pick up a Yadi! It didn't cost me an arm and a leg. I hope everyone has a safe weekend and that we all keep in mind that freedom isn't free.

A few weeks ago we took in a Portland Timbers (my adopted MLS team) and the SJ Earthquakes. We bought tickets that allows us to sit in the Audi Club at field level-bingo! But man was it cold, I actually had to buy a blanket and my wife a scarf. Of course I recorded the nationally broadcasted game-and alas I spotted us.

TriStar Autos Royal Wedding Edition

Been pretty busy lately and I am a little behind in postings. As I sit here with the Royal Wedding on in the background I find myself with much time. Here are the autos picked up at the April TriStar show. I picked up several for $3 or less from "Relic Guy", and the Weaver, De Jong autos from another dealer for $5 while I talked with Cardinals' fan David. Then last but not least a number of others from the COMC dude for .75 cents. Yes, that is cents. All images are borrowed as I am having issues with our new scanner.

Except for the Fred Lynn all of these were had for .75 cents-not sure why there are so many Pirates but I can't resist these throw back issues.

TriStar "Vintage"

Truth be told I didn't really look for vintage at this year's show for a few reasons:

1. I find the show's lighting to be too dark to be able to detect flaws on ungraded cards

2. I haven't found too many bargains at this show. One dealer asked me what I was looking for when I was flipping through his Bowman. I said "1955 Red Shoendienst" expecting to be told sorry don't have. But alas, he had one he marked at $30 which was way to steep for me in that I can locate other copies on the Bay that are graded PSA 6-7 for not too much more. I could have bargained with him a little I am sure but see #1 as to why I didn't.

3. There were a ton of bargain vintage but I am condition sensitive and I wouldn't be satisfied with what ever I bought, forcing me to buy another more desirable copy.

However, I did pick up a few "vintage" non-baseball cards. There was one dealer next to Mr.Haverkamps' friend that had much vintage basketball and I was able to whittle down my ABA St. Louis Spirits' needs list to one for the '74-75 and three for the '75-76 team sets.

The three cards Spirits' 1975-76 Topps cards picked up are-

Fly Williams RC , Team Leaders (Marvin Barnes / Freddie Lewis), and Team Card

The other "vintage" non-baseball card was a 1983 Topps Football Ottis Anderson-which is helping complete that issue.

The same dealer I picked up the Ottis Anderson card was also the one I grabbed a slabbed PSA 8 1979 Cardinals (baseball) rookies (Terry Kennedy) $3! Yep $3. Who could resist? This was also the last table I hit for the day.

Contest time-come one, come all

Hi everyone, friend of the blog and our favorite A's collector, Mr. Fuji, is holding a contest for his loyal and new readers. Pease click here for all the juicy details. Many thanks Mr. Fuji! Hope to see you at Serramonte.

Good Luck!

TriStar Intermezzo

Time for a quick brief TriStar post-as usual the show had plenty of sports stars, HOFers, and local players to sign for a few days. This year Matt Williams and Goose Gossage were among them and spent some time talking baseball on stage with a TriStar interviewer. I heard some of it and it was interesting to say the least. Following the show I drove about 2.2 miles further in to San Francisco and hit two new breweries, to me at least. Mr. Haverkamp they were real close. First up-Laughing Monk. Solid lineup of interesting beers-I tried a Mango Gose and a Salted Caramel beer on nitro-have to say the second beer wasn't bad, but should have been a smaller pour since it was on the rich side. The day I visited it was their second anniversary-so I picked a 750ML of the anniversary beer and walked about 10 yards-more or less to Seven Stills Brewing and Distillery. Nice place, interesting concept-when they brew a batch they put half of it in a still to make some whiskey. The other half the finish off as beer. The beer I had was good-the glass even better, and the whiskey even better. I tried a sampler, picked up some whiskey-one made with Russian Imperial Stout,  a Framboise, an IPA, and a bottle of vodka and a four pack-then headed on home.

Tis the time for TriStar Part 1

Saturday was the annual TriStar show at the Cow Palace. This year it opened on Saturday at 930am which I really appreciated. When it opened I walked up a couple of isles on the look out for "Relic Guy". Relic Guy is at the thrice annual Serramonte show and always has a ton of Relics, Game Used, and Autos for three bucks, and less than that if you buy several. He also bought a sports card store out in Santa Monica so he has some better regular and insert singles. Honestly I think my approach to the TriStar and Serramonte shows is to think of them as an opportunity to purchase relics, game used, and autos at a reasonable price because there are no such thing as dime boxes here. What I see are quarter, fifty cent, and dollar boxes most often filled with base cards of recent issues. Sorry I am not that gullible. Below are the few singles I picked up.

So this show provided just a few modern singles to add to the collection some of my favs below. Of course adding a new Yadi is always good-Paul DeJong is exciting to watch and he will appear in a follow-up post. I bought in Nacho Grande's Heritage Break but didn't land the Brock and Carlton Flashback cards. Last card I want to show is the 2015 Stadium Club Orange Cepeda.

Yadier Molina 2018 Topps Opening Day OD-10

Paul DeJong 2017 Topps Chrome Update Target & 2018 Gypsy Queen Blue #113/250

Lou Brock & Steve Carlton 2018 Topps Heritage Flashbacks

Yep that is it. There are probably 20 more regular, insert, parallel cards I picked up but aren't as exciting. Next TriStar post will feature some game used/relics. I was able to chat with friend of the blog Mr Haverkamp-which is always a pleasure. I spent a total of two hours at the show.