phillies

In honor of opening day, I thought it would be a good day to share the rest of my stories from the baseball card show I went to last Sunday.

Yes, I know that Thursday was the official Opening Day for baseball, but today is when the Phytin’ Phils open, which, to me, is opening day!

When looking for baseball cards, I’ve come to the conclusion there are basically two types of people — the collector and the investor. A collector can be split off into a couple different versions — one looking for certain players, teams, types of cards etc. But for the most part, the collector knows what he or she wants, has a certain price in their head and can walk away from a deal if needed. After all, eBay is a wonderful friend to the card collector.

Then you have the investor. These are the people who usually buy things with the idea of reselling, or something along those lines. They spend a little more freely. They want to be able to turn things around into a bigger profit, or have the chance to do so.

Me? I’m a collector.

When I go to a show, I usually am looking for a few things — cards of a player I am collecting (though I do most of that on eBay), players on the Phillies (game-used/autograph), players I used to cover in the minor leagues, or something quirky that really catches my eye.

Being I hadn’t been watching things a lot lately, my goal this past weekend was to pick up a few players and see if I could find something kind of fun.

But before I get to the cards, allow me to show something that was incredibly cheap — 15 bucks — of something I’ve wanted for a while. A signed photo of Bob Feller. For those who don’t know, Feller, or “Rapid Robert,” was one of the best pitchers of all-time and one who gave away four years in his prime to serve the United States of America in World War II with the Navy. This is something he often spoke about as his proudest moments.

I got to deal with Feller twice during my time at the local daily newspaper — both during Hall of Fame events. I found him to be an extremely amazing individual. He spoke candidly and honestly. He had his views and his thoughts and stuck with them. His memory, too, was impeccable. The first time I sat to speak with him, I told him where I was from and the first thing he did was ask me about the former owner of a local minor league team. Incredible.

But, in the line of being a newspaper reporter, you can’t (and shouldn’t) ask for autographs. Most of the people I covered, I took the memories of that and went with it.

Dealing with Feller was quite amazing. Though I got to see him throw to a couple of batters in the Legend’s game at the Hall, I can only imagine what it would have been like to see him in his prime. He went 266-162 with a 3.32 ERA and 279 complete games. He had three seasons with 25 or more victories and six total with 20 or more victories. He finished with 2,581 strikeouts, including 348 in 1946. He was an All-Star in eight of his 18 seasons.

At this card show, however, was a wonderful signed photo of Feller. It was certified, so I felt like it was worth and it listed for just $15. (Even though Bob died this past December at age 92, his autos might not be worth as much as some because he was an avid signer. His autograph is readily available, which is a wonderful thing for a Hall of Famer to do).

Here’s the photo:

That started the day. What a way to start, eh?

I already blogged about my Konstanty find, so here are a few others.

Raul Ibanez is one of the only Phillies starting eight (not including pitchers) that I didn’t have an autograph of, so when I saw this I had to nab it as quick as I could. What an ugly autograph though, eh? He’s in the final year of his contract with the Phils and I’ve always been a Raul fan, so hopefully he can have a solid season and help the Phils to another World Series title.

Though Chase Utley is starting the season on the disabled list, I have a hard time passing up a sweet Utley card when I see it. This one was really nice and was a really good price, so I nabbed it. Hopefully, Chase will be back in the lineup as quick as possible (as long as he’s healthy) and help the Phils to their fifth straight NL East title!

As I said, I like certain things.

I have seen these before and wanted one. It really didn’t matter the player and this one was, I believe, five bucks. I liked that it was the patch and the autograph. Jeff Kobernus is in the Nationals organization, so maybe it’ll be worth money some day if he makes it big, eh?

Speaking of quirky…

I’m not a Yankees fan.

Never have been, never will be. But I love the history and tradition of the team. And there’s something about Joe Pepitone. I don’t know if it’s the name, the way he played or what, but I like Joe Pepitone. And I loved this card. Add to it that it was in a half-off bin and I ended up making a bargain to get two cards from that bin for $10 instead of $12, and I was a happy camper!

I picked up a few other cool cards at good prices, too — including two game-used cards of Mike Schmidt and Cole Hamels.

As per normal, too, I broke a box at the show. Me and Rod went half-and-half on a box with three guaranteed hits. Unfortunately, the hits were all game-used and nothing major. Would have been nice to get something really sweet out of it. It’s the 2010 Allen and Ginter, so there were some interesting cards. One in particular I was really happy to get, but I’m going to save that for another time as its own post.

Anyway, the Phytin’ Phils are about to start their season and I’m going to settle into some baseball. Go Phils!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com.