I went to the local card show last weekend at Regency Mall. The mall itself actually used to be named Regency Square back when I was a kid and I remember going back to school shopping quite a few times there. When I was a kid, we were probably about an hour and a half away and going to Richmond was a big deal. Regency Square was awesome back then like most were back in the late 80s and early 90's.
The Penthouse if you will.
It's no secret that shopping malls have slowly declined in the last 15 or so years and Regency has not been an exception. Regency actually started to decline in the mid 90's with new malls springing up in the area and the changing consumer tastes. Not that Regency became a Dump by any means but it definitely went into a steep decline until it was redeveloped a few years ago. It has been turned into somewhat of a mixed use development but it still is around. Not quite the Penthouse it once was but at least its not totally gone.
What does the history of the mall have to do with baseball cards? Not too much but it does somewhat tell the story of my experience on Saturday. I apologize for the weird mix of phone pics and scans. I'm lazy today.
I arrived around 11ish since I had a few errands to do beforehand (blowing leaves, free document shredding.. to name a few). The first table I came to had an assortment of dime, quarter and dollar boxes. My kind of table. I started off with these from the dime box:
We don't leave rookies of star players to rot in the dime boxes. The Big Unit insert is the blue bordered parallel that definitely wasn't going to be left for other vultures. Most any of these cards pictured can be had in trade if you'd like to strike up something.
I also picked up these 3 cards of Japanese players. I recently started a binder of only MLB Japanese players and these will fit nicely into it. For a dime a piece I'm happy.
I moved through the show being a bit choosy with my smaller budget. I picked up the trio of cards for 3 bucks at another table. It seemed the seller was just more of a football and basketball guy and really just wanted rid of the baseball stuff. I'll take a rookie card of Mike Cuellar and two numbered Orioles HOFers for 3 Washingtons anyday.
The next table I came to was a guy who I'd never seen before at local shows. He says he only sets up to get rid of his excess cards and that Regency has the most affordable table cost. We talked for a bit and I found out that he was also an Orioles fan. He is a big Jackson Holliday fan, whereas I've taken a liking to Jordan Westburg. He was very reasonable on prices on his other Orioles cards. I picked up the following for 10 bucks:
I think the Hobby Rip Night Gunnar is somewhat rare. The Hobby Rip night cards are only issued at special events at official Topps Hobby Shops as far as I know and haven't seen many in the wild. Maybe its because there has been no official Topps Hobby Shops in Richmond for quite some time, but I believe that is going to change with Graybo's opening recently. The other cards in the scan are the red parallel Gunnar SC rookie, Chrome Cosmic Adley, Rainbow Foil Grayson, and a black parallel '88 of Moose. Cannot complain for 10 dollars.
The next batch of cards is a culmination of pickups during the day. The All-Aces insert from 2023 Topps flagship products caught my eye and decided to collect the entire run much like Chris of
Nachos Grande. The guy running his table wanted $5 a piece but I talked him into 6 dollars for the trio and another 2 for the Harper Black Gold from 2023 Topps Update. The 2024 Topps Update Black Gold set is pretty much hot off the presses and I found the 7 you see here for a buck a piece. What luck knocking some of the biggest names off the
WANTLIST in one fell swoop. With Judge, Ohtani, Soto, Jackie, Mantle, etc off the list early I might finish 2024 before either of the past 3 years of sets!
I also found this beauty in the same row as the all of the Black Gold inserts. I had been seeing Yamamoto rookies all day and I knew this one was different. SSP different. We don't leave cards like this behind!
The show had begun to wind down for me at least and I wandered back over to my bathrobe Blakes table and hung out and helped him run his table for the rest of the afternoon. Blake's good buddy Tom who also helps him out was also there and we talked sports and random stuff between the spurts of business coming by the table. Tom had cracked a box of 2024 Stadium Club baseball and a box of 2024 Donruss football. and was kind enough to give me the stack of base cards he didn't want. He also gave me the Chrome Orange parallel of Felix Bautista that he pulled. I'll hand the Donruss Football cards off to my nephew. I can safely say Tom is now my friend too! I'll keep on the lookout for good Cubs stuff for him .
One of Blakes customers brought a stack of cards for sale and I cherry picked the following two cards for my last 5 bucks in my pocket.
The show wound down and as I was helping break down the table, I noticed a table near the mall entrance had a small sign that said FREE. Right in my price range. I tried to not be greedy but once again, I could't resist some of them. I've removed them from the top loaders so you can see them.
These toploaders are literal toast (worse than a Crackhead Gary toploader) but will be fine for me shipping out Sportlots Orders. Check out my store
HERE.
Also at the same FREE table, I there was a showcase that had a small hole in the bottom wood that was up for grabs. Once again, as a bottom feeder, I grabbed it and carried it to my car for my nephew. He's setting up at card shows in his local mall (in Roanoke, VA.) selling his excess cards to fuel his cardboard card addiction.
I had not planned on staying for trade night but I was Peer Pressured into it by Tom and Blake. The Card Show and Trade night was put on by
Three Point RVA, the card shop in Regency mall. The had free pizza. How could I resist free pizza and trading sports cards?
I helped Blake go through the pickups that he purchased to fuel his business and even did a trade myself. I was able to trade the Yamamoto SSP for this card to a younger guy who had some killer cards in his trade box. He went to the National this past summer and got a free pack of '24 Topps Heritage. I need to hang out with him because maybe his pack ripping luck will rub off on me. This is the card he traded to me for the Yamamoto:
I'll take an autograph of a PC guy for a buck (my purchase price of the Yamamoto SP)!
So, overall, a great show for me. I spent about 40 dollars total and ended up with a bonanza of pickups. It feels great to be in the Penthouse of card collecting and having some good people to share it with. A big thanks to
Three Point RVA for the show and trade night, Blake and Tom for putting up with me Saturday and you readers for checking out my card show haul.
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