So this past week of mine was spent in Southern California, taking my son on the fabled "college tour". We pulled into Burbank, CA two Saturdays ago, and somehow after hitting the hotel, my wife & son decided the most important thing to do - I mean it
was 93 degrees - was to go work out in the air-conditioned hotel gym. This, as it happened, left me me with a small window to go visit
Valley Sports Cards in Tarzana, CA, a mere 3 miles from our hotel, right in the heart of the San Fernando Valley.
Unlike my local card shops, Valley Sports Cards had boxes out & ready for people like me to climb all over them and mow right through them. I spent a good 90 minutes there rifling through dollar boxes, quarter boxes and dime boxes - and had a hell of a great time doing so. The staff were extremely helpful and did not begrudge me my San Francisco Giants face mask nor the multiple Giants cards I brought to the counter. Like any good card shop, they rounded down on my purchases, so appx $13.50 worth of cards - I think I got 30 in all - came out to a big $12 at the counter. Great place! You should go there!
I could have easily walked out with a great many more cards but didn't want to alarm the family. My prize find was a $1 Hunter Pence 2007 rookie card, from his time in the Astros organization. Does that look like Hunter Pence to you? Hey, it was a long time ago.
Let's take a look at a few other things I found in the boxes there. First, a couple of older things:
I also cleaned up on a few cheap prospect cards from dudes who having terrific years in the majors right now, and who fit my definition of a "ballplayer worthy of collecting":
As with any dime box, you find yourself just pulling stuff out that you think you might want & reckon you'll count your change later:
I'm not going to show off the Giants fellas I got - you probably don't need to see my new Steven Duggar and Logan Webb cards, right? Anyway, I got some. Then I topped it off with a whole lotta Goldy - Mr. Paul Goldschmidt, a player whom I've decided to collect!
Oh wait - one more that I scanned up. I collect Vladimir Guerrero as well, and I didn't have this #405/799 one with a couple of other Angels. Great way to arrive in LA, let me tell ya.
That looks like it was a fun trip to the LCS.
ReplyDeleteGood haul.
ReplyDeleteNice Arozarena! If I would’ve known you needed that Pence, I would’ve sent it your way. I’ve never cared for that guy after his annoying antics in the 2012 World Series against my Tigers. I’ll throw in some of his stuff in our next trade.
ReplyDeleteGotta love any card shop with a dime box! I like going through those Heritage Minor League checklists a few years after the fact and seeing how many of the guys I've actually heard of by then. It's usually a fairly small percentage.
ReplyDeleteI remember a former blogger who lived in South California talking about frequenting Valley Sports Cards. He had a lot of good things to say about it, too, and I was jealous then as well.
ReplyDeleteLooks like a good place to go. And college tour?! Holy moly. Good luck with that.
ReplyDeleteA SoCal card shop with 10¢ Ohtanis? Nice.
ReplyDelete