How I accidentally became a Boomer Esiason super collector on purpose.

I love strolling through the aisles of my local Value Village.  I have one fairly close to my house.  I've been avoiding the place like the plague that past couple months as Halloween is a terrible time to try and enjoy yourself treasure hunting.  I have a path I usually follow.  I stroll down by the books to see if there is anything worth adding to my library.  You'd be surprised how many 1st editions and sometimes autographed books show up.  I work my way around the nik-nak aisles and glassware.  Eventually I stroll past the glass cabinet that the store locks up anything of remote value and eventually I find myself in the toy section looking for legos to stockpile for my son.

More often than not all I end up leaving with is a little exercise, but every now and then I find something.  You may remember years ago I blogged about picking up a bag of baseball cards that all turned out to be of Darrell Evans.

I'll be honest Value Village has sacks of cards all the time.  Most being stacks of junk wax like 89 Fleer and Donruss baseball.  If it wasn't for the fact that every card in these bags were stored in top loaders, snaptites, or screwdowns, I would have kept on walking, but not only was every card well protected, the $1.49 price tag is cheap even for loose junk wax.  I figured for that price I'd stock up on top loaders and see what was worthy of being stored in a screw down card case.

Most of the packs contained Boomer Esiason, but there were also a few with Dennis Rodman and Bret Boone.  I did pick up a couple Rodman packs, but I left the Boones alone.

So shall we see what I got?  Prepared to be underwhelmed!  Overall the assortment was pretty good and there were some very cool cards mostly from the mid-90's.  Which while overproduced  was the era of card innovation.  No rookie cards to be had in the packs I picked up, but that doesn't mean there weren't any.  I targeted all of the bags that had the screwdowns and snaptites.  The oldest cards in the batch were a couple 89 Topps.

I have to assume that these cards have been encased for decades, but the previous owner was smart enough to put most of the snaptites and screwdowns in team bags to prevent them from getting scratched up.

I'd love to be able to find a Beckett from the late 90's to see what these cards were going for especially to see if they warranted being encased.  A great variety overall with plenty of doubles in the mix.  You can tell the previous owner was a pretty serious collector who know what they were doing and really liked Boomer.

I also picked up a couple Rodman bags because 90's basketball inserts can be pretty valuable and also are pretty cool.

Nothing earth shattering in the stacks, but a neat collection none the less.  In all I picked up 103 toploaders, 13 Snaptites, and 8, two screw, screwdown cases. All of the storage products are in great shape which is great since they were the driving force behind the purchase.

How I Accidentally Became a Darrell Evans Supercollector

Well not really, but close.  I was walking around the Value Village near my house, checking out books and looking to see if they had any cheap lego base pieces I could use to display my growing Micro Figures collection when I spotted a bunch of baseball cards bagged hanging on a display hook.  Actually the baseball cards were spread out all over the store on random display hooks.  Most of the cards were 2011 Topps baseball or mid 90's junk wax I'm sure someone donated to get a tax deduction.  But one bag stuck out at me.  To be honest I didn't really even realize that Darrell Evans was on the front, but his 89 Donruss cards was right there on top, but when I flipped the bag over I noticed that the back card was a 1974 Topps. As a matter of fact half the bag looked like it was filled with 70's wax!  I also failed to notice whose 74 card was on the back at the time.  But it was Darrell Evans.  As a matter of fact all the cards in the bag were Evans.

Here's the card that got me to by the pack and at $1.99 I have no regrets.  The 74's distinct back could not be denied. I didn't pack search the cards, so I was a little surprised that all the cards in the bag were of Evans.  More than half of the cards were his '89 Donruss card.

1989 was Darrell's last year, he actually finished his career with the team he started with, the Braves. the rest of the cards were a nice collection of 70's and early 80's cards. Darrell did have cards issued in the 1990's with him in his Braves uniform again.

1977 was Darrell's scruffy phase.

Yikes that '85 Fleer didn't scan so good.

Not a bad little collection of cards for under 2 bucks.  I think I might have to send a couple of the 70's cards to Darrell and see if he'll sign them.  Since I started collecting back in the 80's I mainly remember Darrell as a Tiger, but I'm sure there are plenty of fans out there that remember him as a Brave and Giant.  Darrell retired after the 1989 season and went to coach for the Yankees. Darrell is now the Commissioner  and an instructor for the California Winter League.  

Author Bill James was quoted as saying that Evan's was "the most underrated player in baseball history, absolutely number one on the list."  

And for most of his career poor Darrell was overshadowed by another 3rd baseman, Mike Schmidt.

Are you the ultimate supercollector?

So last week I get this email from some guy named Chris Butler.  And he wants me to do something.  Now since I started this blog and my other blogs I've got quite a few emails like this asking me to add a link to there site or product, ect.  I usually delete and forget.  I'm not writing to make money, I write to share.

But it was an interesting email.  One I guess is legit.  Okay I didn't call the guy or email him back but I figured I'd see if his description fits you.   Edit: Ok, I emailed him back.

Here's the email:

Greetings!



My name is Chris Butler and I am a Casting Associate in Los Angeles. I'm currently working on a new docu-series for a major cable network (which I can disclose over the phone) that is produced by acclaimed and Emmy-nominated production company: Asylum Entertainment


During my research I came across your blog and really enjoyed it. Thus, I am contacting you in hopes of spreading the word to any potentially interested individuals for a project I'm casting. I'm currently seeking "Extreme" Collectors that “Shop Over the Top” for their collections. I’m looking for individuals who shop all the time and to excess; an "Ultimate Shopper." This person could shop for items to complete a collection or developed collections from simply seek retail therapy. The show will explore the issues of men and women who shop beyond what most people consider normal, highlighting those with large and unique collections.


I've attached a flyer about the show with instructions on how any interested individuals can submit. I'm hoping that you would help to spread the word, (ie. post, email, forward) and that you might be able to refer any potential candidates. Any help in this area would be greatly appreciated, as these types of shows are most successful by word of mouth!


Thank you in advance for taking the time to read this message. I look forward to hearing back from you or anyone you share this information with. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,
Chris Butler
Asylum Entertainment
Casting Associate
O: 310-696-4494

Here is the flyer he mentioned.

Here is the link to Asylum's website.  Like I said I haven't talked to Chris, but it seems  legit, I have no idea why someone would email me this if it weren't. Sorry to harp on this point, but in this day and age of Nigerian princes who want to give me money and Pfishing I must make the comment. 

 The reason I even desided to post this, other than not having anything to post about was that it got me thinking about my collecting habits. 

 

I'm not an Extreme Collector.  I might have an excessive card collection, but I shop and acquire my cards from pretty mainstream sources.  I buy from my LCS's, online at sites like eBay, JustCommons, and Checkoutmycards, to name a few, and trade with fellow bloggers and collectors.  There's really nothing too extreme here. 

 

As a matter of fact the only extreme collector I've seen in the blogs might be Jeff over at I am Joe Collector.  That man is crazy for UD Masterpieces.

 

So I pass this along for whatever it's worth, and to help Chris out here to find his supercollectors.  You can find his number in the email and his email in the flyer. 

 

CB out.