Apopka Card Show

 Last Friday afternoon, I was able to take a trip to Apopka with my friend Jim and go to the first night of the monthly Orlando Card Show. The show is always Friday night and Saturday morning, and it had been a few years since I had gone. My main hope was to finish off a few pesky sets from teh past few years, including the last remaining 2026 Topps cards. 

Jim picked me up and we drove to the show and had a great time talking abouot life and baseball. It rained a little on the way, but stopped when we got to the venue. Jim had a longtime dealer friend who he said he had been buying from for 30 years, and he told me he had tons of cheap vintage. Boy was he right. He introduced us as soon as we got in (can't remember what his name was), and I spent probably the first hour or so going through a binder and box of nothing but $1.00 cards. There were so many ways I could've purchased things from him. I could've done nothing but buy 1958 Topps needs. I could've just purchased stars or Hall of Famers. I could've done All-Stars, League Leaders, and postseason highlights cards if I had wanted to. I decided to just go for Tigers, players I enjoyed, and Hall of Famers I could find, and any cards I thought were rookies. I think I did a pretty good job. 

I'll highlight the non-Tigers, as you probably don't need an explanation on why I picked the Tigers I did. Not that you need a reason to pick up a '55 Topps card for a buck, but I got Amalfitano because he was a coach on the '88 Dodgers World Series winning team, and I remember reading about him in Orel Hershiser's autobiography. Back in 3rd grade, I got one of those Topps books that showed all of the Topps cards for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1952-1988, and remember the Johnny Riddle card from one of the first pages of the book. Solly Drake gave an interview in Sports Spectrum magazine, which was a magazine I had a subscription to from about 1996-2001. I'll have to do a post about the magazine. I have a ton of posters from the magazine, including ones I got signed in person from 1998 NLCS MVP Sterling Hitchcock and Super Bowl winning football coach Tony Dungy. I also had the Red Sox book, but really just got the 1958 Red Sox team card because it was a team card. I got the Granny Hamner because how many people are named 'Granny'?  I got the Ernie Broglio because I remember him being a good pitcher from that Cardinals book, and it turned out to be his rookie. The Billy Jurges was another one from the Red Sox book, but I feel like subset cards will always command a premium, so I try to scoop them up when I see them. 

I always loved those 1960 Topps Rookie Star subsets, so I picked up the Deron Johnson. The unibrow Wally Moon was probably the best card I got from the show. The Keane was another inspired by the Cardinals book. Sammy Drake was Solly's brother. Cardinal or not, Ray Washburn was a decent pitcher, so why not pick up his rookie. I don't care who you are, if I find an All-Star card of a '60's player for a buck, it is a good deal. I wish I would've picked up that 1962 Braves team combo card before I organized the binder, but I'm still happy to add a '60's subset card to the collection. I always like picking up old manager cards, so the '62 Hutchinson and '63 Birdie Tebbetts cards were no-brainers. I always admired Billy Pierce for signing through the mail so graciously when he was alive, so to pick up a World Series highlight card of him was cool. Dave DeBusschere is an NBA Hall of Famer, and I wasn't sure if the '64 Topps was his rookie or not, but I picked it up. Aparently he was in the '63 set, but it still wasn't a bad pickup. Bobby Shantz was also a great signer ttm, and I'm always happy to add a card of him to my collection. 

Another playoff highlight card, this one of the Dodgers in 1964. I knew the 1965 Tim McCarver was an early one, so I had to add it to the pile. Fred Whitfield signed for me when he was alive, and included a signed photo and a nice note, so I have collected him ever since. The first time I went to a card show with Jim, Sam McDowell was signing autographs, so I look out for his cards whenever I see them. I figured the Bando and Murcer rookies would have higher prices on them when I added them to TCDB, but they weren't as high as I figured. I just have felt that Bando got hype for the World Series MVP, and for some reason Murcer got TONS of hype for being a Yankee. Alston is justified for the hype he gets, because he was a great manager, borderline HOF-type. 

I figured the Niekro '68 League Leader was a good pickup for a buck. The first '68 League Leader card didn't have big names, but getting another McDowell card was fine with me. Ken Boyer was a great player in the '50's and '60's. I figured that Sutton had to be a 2nd or 3rd year card. Anytime you see 3 Hall of Famers on a League Leader card, you have to pick it up. The '70 Sparky Anderson was an early card of him, and I had to pick up a '70 Pilots card. I figured the '72 Lou Brock was a steal for a buck. I wasn't too sure on which playoff cards I had from the '70's, so I tried to concentrate on card I for sure didn't have, and picked up 2 from 1973 and 1976. I still have a handful of needs from 1977, but knocked off some bigger names with Fred Lynn, Dave Parker, and Minnie Minoso. I have a friend who knows Denny Martinez, and can't wait to show him his rookie card. 

I counted 96 cards, and the guy told me 85. I tried to use my inner Johnny's Trading Spot, and countered with 80, which he accepted. 

I made my way to some of the other tables, not really finding too much that I would collect. 

There was one nearby that had some parallels in boxes organized by teams. This group was closer to 14, and I countered with 10 and the cards were mine. 

I hope Simpson can hit consistantly, because he could be Carl Crawford if he can. If not, he could be Billy Hamilton. I swear I have 4-5 parallels of Jackson Jobe's 2025 Topps RC. Why not add more?  The Simson '26 Purple was numbered to 75, I believe, and I thought a parallel of Carson Williams' 2026 Topps rookie was  agood pickup. 

There were absolutely no tables with 26 dime box cards, so I was unable to finish any sets. There were a number of tables with slabs and expensive stuff, and surprisingly, a ton with just hoops and football. I found 1 last table with some cards in a box that looked like they were unmarked, but had some nice rookies in them. I guessed they might be a buck each, and believe I offered the guy $15. 

The '90 Donruss Best Nolan Ryan just screamed 'buy me!'. I already have the '91 Fleer Phil Clark, but I had to add the miscut one. A friend that played Little League in 1994 had a teammate who was Clark's kid, so I was able to get Phl's autograph back then, and have been collecting him ever since. 

Most of these were just Tigers, Rays, and guys I collect. I thought for sure that the Spencer Strider was a new card, but apparently, I have a copy. I'll just add it to my Braves binder. I'm stoked I found a '25 Chrome rookie of (should've been Starting) All-Star catcher Dillon Dingler. 

As much as a I didn't want to, there was a table that had boxes and boxes of product, like the kind of guy you could tell was a scalper but didn't care, and I ended up getting something from his table. I have really needed binder pages, so I ended up getting  a pack from him. I hope my 25 bucks nets him a Jack Flaherty 1/1 SuperFractor autograph from '26 Topps Chrome. 

That was it for the show. A decent haul of vintage, and some great Tigers. 

Sunday, I was back on the piano for the first time in like a month, and the had was fine, no pain at all. 

I was surprised to go into Wal-Mart the other day and find 2026 Topps Finest on the shelves. I never have seen it on retail shelves in the 33 years the product has existed. It definitely was a worse deal than anything else on the shelf, but it was interesting to see a product like that in a retail store. ‘26 Topps Chrome will probably be there next time, but I just can’t bring myself to pay 35 bucks for a blaster. I’m going to have to find something to open while I wait for Update. 

I guess I’ll have to do a SportLots order to finish off my 2026 Topps set (and the few other cards I need to get that 1980-2026 run finished). I do have a trade in the works on TCDB that will basically be some junk wax needs for the price of shipping, and I’m hoping that will include some Topps needs as well. I will post on how that goes. 

Thanks for checking out my latest post. 

-Jeremy