Sunday, November 10, 2013

Day 2 at the Expo: Sakics and Chevys

I really enjoyed myself on the 2nd day of the Expo, partly because I decided to free myself of the need to complete sets, and just go after stuff that I really wanted. 

Kind of similar to impulse shopping at the grocery store, but without the junk food making me fatter than I already am.

I saw one table that had piles of $1 cards, nothing of which I was really interested in.  Around the corner from those dollar cards were stacks of cards for $3, and when I saw a bunch of 50's and 60's Parkies, I was interested. 


I only plucked two of them for myself, because I was just getting started when I hit this table.  But at $3 apiece for a 57-58 and a 60-61 pair of Maple Leaf commons, I had to have them.  Gerry James didn't have a long and storied career with the Leafs, 149 games over parts of 5 seasons.  Ehman was also a part timer over his first few seasons in the NHL, but expansion gave him a chance to play full time for 4 years with the Golden Seals.   Ehman was also part of the Leafs Stanley Cup winning team in 63-64.

OK, enough of the history lessons.  You may or may not remember that I went to Toronto a few months ago hoping to get a "nice" addition for my Joe Sakic collection, but came away empty handed.  I lucked out yesterday, and picked up this nice 2 color jersey card of Joe...


I've never been a big proponent of paying larger sums of money for a jersey or autograph card.  A few dollars I can stomach, but when you get into the realms of the Cup or other "luxury" products that are on the market, I usually will pass.  This card is #'d 17/25 (the first hook for this sucker), and the nice blue stripe on the jersey swatch made the card too good to pass up, even for $20. 

The next table that I hit was a boon for my Sakic collection, as I picked up 15 cards at 50 cents apiece.  The funny thing about me hitting this table was that the Sakic cards weren't the first cards that I noticed in the 50 cent boxes.  I had noticed a stack of 95-96 Players Club parallels, which was great, until I opened my backpack.  Yes, the notebook was inside, but the want lists weren't.  

Pissed!!  You better believe it.  Instead of moping, I started digging through the boxes, finding the odd Sakic card here and there...


I was very happy to find a Post Pinnacle Sakic card, I don't think I had ever seen it before until yesterday.    By the time I arrived at this table, I had been walking for over an hour, and was getting a little weary.  This table actually gave me the time to rest, as I spent about half an hour sitting at these boxes going through them. It also allowed me to empty out my pockets of a bunch of change that I had been accumulating since I walked in.  Win-win indeed...

You're probably wondering what the Chevy portion of the title of this post is about.  It's really about another opportunity to laugh at myself, which I've already done twice while telling the story to people.

Friday, I had no problem recalling where I parked my truck, because it was near a bright yellow Penske rental truck.  Easy peasy.

Yesterday was a totally different story.  Usually when I park in bigger lots, I take the time to find some kind of landmark so I can remember where my vehicle is when I leave.   I failed to do this yesterday.   So I spent the better part of 20 minutes walking up and down the aisles, looking for a grey Chevy Equinox with PA plates.  What's even better, I pretty much ate crow 3 or 4 times while looking, because the place was so packed, that people were asking me if I was leaving.  Each time I said "as soon as I find my truck, I will be!!".

I couldn't believe how many people in Canada drive grey Chevys.

Another successful Expo in the books....

thanks for reading, Robert

2 comments:

  1. Nice hockey pick-ups...I'm jealous. As for finding your rental...That's one of the reasons they make the panic buttons on the keys. The one on my key has bailed me out more than a few times.

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  2. Can't go wrong with 60's Maple Leafs - especially for a buck. I am a sucker for cereal and food issues, but I wish I was having cereal for breakfast when I pulled a nice hockey card like that. Glad you did well at the Expo !

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