So there I was minding my own business in the toy aisle of one of the local thrift shops when I saw dozens of little bags filled with sports cards, some of which were actually in Card Saver II’s. What’s that? Google it, kid.
Anyway, I was intrigued. I picked up each bag and checked as best I could to get an idea of what was inside of each. Was this going to be a baggy of 1990 Donruss cards, or was there enough intrigue there to get me to buy it? Out of the dozens of bags, four of them said “Buy Me!” I should note that one baggy actually had a certified autograph inside, but when I saw that it was as shiny Topps Platinum auto of former 49ers running back Glenn Coffee tucked into a stack of 1989 Topps baseball, I exercised restraint and left it behind for someone else. Someone else can have the pleasure of owning that treasure.
I resisted the temptation of opening the baggies in the car and later opened them at home. I’ll explain real quickly about why each bag intrigued me.
The one on the left contained hockey cards, but my quick check revealed a Bobby Orr Power Deck insert card that I knew was worth the $2.99 purchase alone. On top of the second bag there was a Juan Gonzalez Donruss Preferred die-cut insert card that I believed to be numbered to like 1,500 copies as well as a San Jose Sabercats team set and a San Jose Giants team set. In the third bag I could see a Reggie Miller gold portrait card that I had never seen before. And the fourth bag contained a stack of cards in Card Savers as I mentioned earlier.
In all, the baggies revealed the following … and three surprises.
The Bobby Orr insert mentioned above …
The Juan Gonzalez …
A Reggie Miller Skybox USA Gold Portrait…
The team set of the San Jose SaberCats of the Arena Football League … a set that contains four cards of players who played at San Jose State University when I was there.
A 2006 San Jose Giants minor league team set …
Some random star cards …
And a stack of 1994 Donruss ‘Special Edition” parallel cards of the sets biggest stars …
So, about those surprises.
Well, there was this shiny Upper Deck Roadrunner hologram…
SANTA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And … just an autograph of San Francisco 49ers legendary quarterback Steve Young.
The Young is not certified and does not come with a Certificate of Authenticity (which is good in my opinion), but if you compare the signature to any of the certified autographs he has, it’s spot on. That’s a hell of a score … no pun intended.
Total Cost of these treasures: $11.96
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