Quick Hobby Shop Stop - Part 1

Had a few minutes free after work today, and managed to stop by my local shop for the second time this month, after going probably 6 months or more without a visit prior to that.  Spent $19 on quarter and dollar cards, many of which are ear-marked for trade packages.  Here are a few I'll be hanging onto for now though...

This mini card from the non-sport 2013 Topps 75th Anniversary set was unique enough for me to pluck it from a dollar box.  It's a reprint of a 1954 Scoops card, and is quite a bit smaller than an average modern-day trading card.  I don't have any original Scoops cards, so this is the closest I've got for now.

There was a giant stack of 2015-16 Upper Deck Ice base cards in a box on the counter, looked like maybe someone busted a hobby box or two and left all the regular cards though I'm not sure about that.

Since I'm a total sucker for anything acetate I grabbed a few including two of my favorite current players in Vladimir Tarasenko and the great Jaromir Jagr.

I also threw a quartet of retired stars into my stack.  I was both surprised and pleased to see Marcel Dionne included in this release, as I feel like he doesn't seem to get a lot of hobby love for a guy who is 6th on the career points list.  Would have been perfect had they featured him in one of those retro yellow Kings sweaters, but I'll take what I can get.

I already miss having Teemu Selanne in the league.  He's an absolute lock for HOF induction when his time comes.

I've been a Jari Kurri fan since the days when his Topps rookie card was among my most prized hockey cards as a kid.

Lastly, Paul Coffey from his time with the Pens.  At a quarter a piece, I probably should have snagged some more cards from this set.  Maybe next time.

Speaking of quarter cards, I ended up with a few off-condition vintage cards from the 25 cent boxes.  I have a hard time avoiding cards from the mid-'60s or earlier at a quarter or less because they make good placeholders until I someday upgrade.

I picked this one up because it was one of the better condition vintage cards in the quarter boxes, and also because Milt Pappas has been appearing frequently on this blog of late.

It should be fairly easy to tell what attracted me to this one...that glorious All-Star Rookie trophy.

Though I'm certain I could have found this next trio for less than a quarter each, I really don't stress over trying to save a few pennies.  This is supposed to be fun, after all.

Besides, I love a good oddball, and I have fond memories of the K-Mart boxed sets from the '80s.

It's getting a bit late here, so I'll wrap it up for tonight with two more cards plucked from a dollar box:

Dunkin Donuts used to (not sure if they still do) print up perforated, uncut sheets of cards for the Red Sox AAA team, the Pawtucket Red Sox.  This card of pitching coach Rich Sauveur was autographed, most likely at a PawSox game given that this card shop is located right in Pawtucket.  Rich pitched for half a dozen MLB teams over a career that lasted from 1986 through 2000 before he got into coaching.  A nice, obscure addition to my Red Sox collection for a buck.

Last card for tonight is probably my favorite in this entire post.  I love the giant Angels logo in the background on this one, and I'm an absolute sucker for the colored Topps parallels (bring back the borders in the flagship set PLEASE!).  These green parallels were retail-exclusive in the 2014 set.  Not that I have very many, but I think this may be my new favorite Pujols card.

This might not be the most mind-blowing batch of 15 cards you've ever seen, but I think I did okay for $6 total.  I've got plenty more great cards from this stop-off and I plan to show the rest over the weekend, along with a great surprise package I received this week from my buddy Gavin at Baseball Card Breakdown.  Until then!