Last week I was on a business trip to Reno, Nevada. Since this is the first trip to Reno since I've been back into collecting, I decided it would be a good idea to check out the local hobby shop. This was also the last time the company was going to send me there so I'd better clean the joint out of Orioles cards while I had the chance. The shop that I was able to look up was called Action Sports Cards. The shop was only a few blocks away from "The Nugget" (the hotel/casino I stayed in) so I grabbed my co-worker and drove there.
When I had called earlier to ask what time the shop closes, the owner was pretty adamant about not buying anything from me. I quickly reassured him that I was from out of town and a couple thousand miles away from my collection. So I walked in the door and the shop owner greeted me kindly and said if I needed any help, just let him know. This scores big with me because both of the local shops that I visit once or twice a year (for supplies only) the owners barely say hello or even ask if they can help you!
Immediately I noticed in all the display cases that there were bunches and bunches of vintage cards. Being on a somewhat limited budget (I swear I didn't gamble it away), I decided to forgo any big vintage purchases this day... Plus there were no O's in plain view! I noticed about (8) 1600 count boxes behind the counter just simply marked "Baseball #1", "Baseball #2", etc. I asked him what was in those boxes. He said mostly cards from 1998 thru 2005. Perfect! Those are the years where my O's collection is seriously thin. I started digging and here are a few of the nice cards I found:
This 1992 Bowman Mike Mussina card has been eluding me for sometime. It had taken up residence on my sidebar since the inception of the Most Wanted list. This card completes my 92 Bowman team set! Curiously, while checking over all my Bowman lists, I noticed that after '92 I am missing bunches of cards from the Bowman Team sets. It's odd to me because I am a Bowman collector.
Since I didn't have my checklists with me, I had to go from memory at what cards I was missing. I knew for a fact that I didn't have this Gold Medallion Edition of Cal's 1999 Ultra card. This was a nice card I had to have. I hadn't seen another one in person before.
And what post would be complete without me featuring a strange mid-90's card of Brady Anderson. This card is much better in person. You can sort of see in the scan a hint of the Orioles logo behind the mugshot. The hologram actually looks 3D when you turn it in the light. It reminds me of the 2020 insert set in last year's Topps series 2. I was also able to pick up the Ripken card from this set.
After rummaging for these cards and a few others, I ended up chewing the fat with the owner for a little bit. I asked him about why he doesn't buy cards from people. He said that most people bring in their "million dollar" collection of 1988 Donruss or 1990 Topps and expect to get tons of money for them. He said he gets tired of disapointing people so that's why he doesn't even bother... go figure! I get tired of looking at piles and piles of "overproduction era" cards to0!
To wrap things up he asked me if we were going to see the Reno Aces play (Triple-A affiliate of the Diamondbacks) and I told him we were planning on going the next night. He gave us a little bit of advice on where to sit and to dress warmly. Both pieces of advice would come in handy the next night!
Stay tuned for the next installment of my business trip to Reno!
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