Card Show Goodies - the Autos

So, I went to a card show this Sunday with the MLB Collector with the plan of getting commons for my sets - cheap autos, and cheap game used cards (some for me, some for trade). I was able to make good dents in my Topps and Upper Deck base want lists as well as some Heritage SPs. I then wandered back of the room to the supply guy (you know pages/top loaders/binders) etc... and he had a lot of other neat stuff for sale. First - (not pictured) was a fitted Mets cap signed by Howard Johnson - $20 bones - worth every penny. He had a few other Mets and players from every team - but I did not want to go outside my game plan very much so Carlos Gomez and Lastings Milledge (old Mets I know) got left for someone else.

Now, He also had a box about 500 autographed (in person from spring training trips) cards organized by team for $1 each. He offered me the whole box for $200 - but that was well out of my budget - (but I did get his email - after the holidays maybe?). Below you will see the 10 cards that I chose to take home with me from said bin.

First we have a Bowman Heritage first year card of Manny Parra. I picked this card 1) Manny is a good young pitcher with tons of potential 2) I love the Bowman Heritage Series and missed it this year 3) It's just a nice looking signature.

Next up is a string of young talented pitchers with ties to the Rays. First up is Jeff niemann who has had a few cups of coffee with the big club but has yet to really hold his spot down. This card is from the 2005 Donruss Champions set. Next is another Ray prospect from the left side now - Jake McGee. This is his 05 Just Minors card - If you dig into Baseball America - Jake's name is all over the top lefty minor league pitchers top 10s. Its too bad he has an ugly auto. Finally, we have a 2006 Just Minors card of Matt Garza when he was still in the Twins organization. Garza is now an established MLB pitcher with lots of upside - just wish this card did not have that little smear near the end of the sig - oh well - just a buck right?

Now we get to the cards that I am really excited about. first up is a 2005 Bowman heritage Brian Bannister card. Brian has the best auto in all of baseball that I have seen. If you can show me a better sig - please try. I'm not so much sad that Brian is no longer a Met - sadder that we traded him for a scumbag wife biting hit and run killer Ambiorix Burgos.Next up is a 2003 Donruss Diamond King signed by Al Leiter. Al was the ace of the staff in the early 00's and really was a great pitcher for us - you have to love Diamond King cards and it's a nice sig to boot. Finally - a Bowman Heritage prospect card of the recently departed Mike Carp - I have a bunch of cards of his I bought last year to get signed and just never did - so when I saw this card I had to grab it since he was just sent off to the Mariners as part of the JJ Putz deal.

I had the chance to bowl and have a beer with Mike during his last season here in Binghamton and he was a great guy, easy to talk to, not at all a jerk and really hopeful about his future- I hope its a good one too - also - smoking hot girlfriend.

And finally - the centerpieces of my haul - 3 HoJo autos from when he was a coach here in Binghamton - Like I said in prior posts, I was not collecting when Hojo was here, or i would undoubtedly have a lot more of these - but I think that these three are a great start.

So thats it for now - I've has Mets GU set up for another post as wel as some of other random game used cards that I picked up to throw on the trade block. See you tomorrow!