Flea Market Finds- Hall of Fame Alert!

Budget: $40
Mission: Good deals & player collection finds
Results: See for yourself

2008 Bowman Sterling Joe Flacco blue refractor

Total cost: $8.00. It's probably worth less than that after last night's stinker. Thanks to New Card Smell, I now know where this card comes from. Until spotting this one at the flea market, I'd never seen one like this before.

2008 Topps Finest Nick Markakis green refractor #'d /199

Total cost: $2.00. One step close to the rainbow. I now have the green, gold and black variations of this card.

2005 Upper Deck Classic Fantasy Team Dennis Eckersley

Total cost: $1.00. It's a card of a Hall of Famer, and it's made out of wood. For a dollar? No brainer.

1973 Topps Hank Aaron

Total cost: $5.00. My first Aaron, and it was found in the five dollar bin.

1951 Bowman George Stirnweiss

Total cost: $4.00. I mainly bought this cards cause off this guy's nickname. It's my first '51 Bowman, and aside from the staining there on the bottom, is in pretty good shape. Oh, and that tape spot there on the back. It could be worse though.

1934 Goudey Charlie Grimm

Total cost: $10.00. My first '34 Goudey! It's only one of the most iconic sets of all time. That white spot on the back is part of the price tag that I didn't remove from the penny sleeve.

1955 Bowman Eddie Mathews

Total cost: $10.00. I was pretty thrilled to see this in the ten dollar bin. There was a '59 Topps Mathews in there as well, but it was in slightly worse shape than this creased up '55 Bowman.

Once again, the Dundalk flea market has yielded some great cards, and sweet deals. Needless to say I'm pretty psyched about being able to add all of these cards to my collection, but especially that '34 Goudey, as beat as it is.

I have officially edited the Beard-O-Meter, due to popular demand, and also have hereby accepted the term Beardometer as an acceptable alternative.

A Ginter Free Post

Fear not, I'll be back with more A&G in a few days, but in the meantime I wanted to show off a couple of new additions to the ol' collection.

This first card I purchased from eBay. I can hardly believe it was only a dollar and change. This was the season before Kell played with the Orioles, but that doesn't mean I like the card any less. Kell is a Hall of Famer, and anytime you can pick up a vintage card of someone enshrined in Cooperstown for a dollar, you've got to feel good about it. This is not only my first George Kell card, but also my first '55 Bowman. Hard to believe I hadn't previously picked up any of these, especially considering how much I enjoy the totally cheesy yet iconic "what's on television" design.

1955 #213 Bowman George Kell

Next up is a card I still cannot believe was actually offered to me in a trade. Previously, I've mentioned the insane amount of generosity that is constantly shown to me by the card blogging community, and the card below is yet another shining example. Grant of the fabulous Old School Pack Buster blog emailed me last week and said that if he couldn't trade this card, he was just going to put it up on eBay, and that he'd much rather see it go to someone who would appreciate it. Well, I sent over game used cards of Ichiro, a Griffey chrome, and some other random Junior inserts, and in return not only did I receive this card, but several others as well. Grant, you've got more Mariners heading your way shortly, and thanks for this beaut!

2009 Upper Deck SPX #GJA-BR Brian Roberts Game Patch Autograph
This is the first Brian Roberts auto I've ever owned, and check out that 3-color patch! Mr. Roberts has a pretty nice signature, don't you think?


This is probably the last you'll hear from the bearded one for a few days. I'm heading to the beach for a little vacation, and should have some news for everyone when I return, along with some more Ginter.

For anyone thinking about possibly robbing me while I am gone, I'll have you know that Grandmagroomer was nice enough to let me borrow his helldog. So that, coupled with my vicious attack kitties will make any intruder very sorry for even having thought about it.

Oh, I almost forgot.... TOMORROW IS MY BIRFDAY! I am old.