Card Show Report - St. Francis American Legion - St. Francis, MN

Thanks to several refund checks that appeared in my name over the past month or so, I had a couple of extra bucks to shuffle into the baseball card fund. 

Instead of just another trip to the LCS, I decided to look online to see if there were any card shows within driving distance that coming weekend. As luck would have it, there were two shows running that Saturday (August 12, 2023, for the record).

The first would be across town in Bloomington, MN, at the Armory. This show was promoted by the Twin Cities Collectors Club, who ran the monthly show at the Valley West Shopping Center, that I wrote about a couple years ago. While I had a good time at that show, and added a good amount of cards I'd been looking for, subsequent shows left an unfavorable impression. 

Since it's being promoted by a club, and only club members are allowed to rent tables at their shows, you know what you're getting before you go. If you've been to several shows, you see the same dealers with the same inventory. And there's a few of them I found to be unpleasant to deal with, if not somewhat rude. 

When it came down to it, there was usually only a couple of tables I spent money at. And too many others that were content in showing off their highest grade PSA whatever, that no one walking around the show would ever buy. So I wasn't overly interested in driving down for that.

Would have liked to hit up this guy's tables. He brought a huge amount of Twins singles, and usually got 60% (or more) of the money I was planning on spending. The whole point of going to the card show was to try and find new and old cards to fill various niches of my collection. Wasn't likely to find much for Expos and Rockies, but I'm looking for a wide variety of Twins cards. And I could count on this guy to have a nice amount to choose from.

Not so much with the rest of the room.

Competing with the Twin Cities Collectors Club show in Bloomington, was an upstart promoting a show at the American Legion, in the small town of St. Francis, MN. Roughly 14 miles due north from my house. I wouldn't even need to drive on a freeway to get there! Since it was competing with the TCCC show, it would have dealers that weren't members of an exclusive club, meaning a room full of inventory I haven't seen before. 

Add all of those factors together, and it sounds like I'm going to St. Francis!

On the lookout for Twins, Expos and Rockies, and anything that catches my eye...

2023 Prizm - Rod Carew - Green Optic

Like brand new cards of old Hall of Fame Legends.

2023 Prizm - Justin Morneau - Gold Wave

Or local fan favorites...

My mom chose to drive since she wanted to see what was at the show, and also didn't care for what the Twin Cities Collectors Club was doing in Bloomington. Meaning I could relax and take pictures out the window, on the way.

The building that is partially obscured by trees is now known as the Muddy Paws Doggy Daycare. Six years ago, it was an abandoned liquor store, that I took pictures of and wrote a pretty quick story about. It wasn't very notable, but it's nice to see the property getting a new and useful life, in the original structures. 

Andover Liquor in 2017. 

2023 Finest - Seth Brown - Blue Refractor Autograph

I find myself paying attention to Oakland A's cards at the LCS and shows, thanks to Super A's Fan Rob. Seeing this nice looking autographed serial numbered Blue Refractor parallel of Seth Brown for only $10, became my token Oakland card purchase of the day. 

2023 Finest - Max Meyer - Aqua Shimmer Refractor

I've been on and off debating collecting the Marlins as a team, over the past few years. (Possibly replacing the Colorado Rockies as my number 3 team?) Minnesota native Max Meyer has been a Marlins card target since he was drafted 3rd overall in 2020. His career is on hold as he recovers from Tommy John Surgery, which he caught during just his second major league start in 2022. This photo was taken during his first career game. Too bad Nike had to ruin that with the ugly jersey they made him wear...

The Marlins need to stick to their roots, meaning bring back the Skull Crushing TEAL!!!

1993 SP - Gary Sheffield - Platinum Power

I will always have a soft spot for 1993 SP, from buying a bunch of packs immediately upon release. The foil rookie and prospect subset was a big hit with me, and these Platinum Power inserts were a big deal back then. This one cost me 25 cents today. I already had one, but for a quarter, it wasn't wasted...

1997 Leaf - Gary Sheffield - Dressed For Success

Never saw these Dressed For Success inserts. Of course I bought very little 1997 Leaf... This is serial numbered out of 3500, but I've never seen one in person before. It was also 25 cents. 

I spent 50 cents twice on Gary Sheffield cards in 2023.

Wouldn't have guessed that going into today...

At some point on the way to St. Francis, Round Lake Blvd. magically becomes Lake George Road. Somewhere around when you cross the city limits of Oak Grove.

Oak Grove is home to the Lake George Regional Park.

Which makes sense, because that's where Lake George is.

Lake George itself isn't looking very good these days...

Oh wait... This isn't Lake George. This is Hickey Lake...

Which isn't looking very good these days... 

Today's (smaller) Junk Wax Twins box. Featuring some of the junkiest of the junk wax. Fringe stuff that didn't see wide release. Oddball stuff like this:

1986 All-Time Twins - Jim Kaat

1986 Home Run Legends - Harmon Killebrew

Looks like you can buy Kettle Corn here?

They were closed when we drove by, and parking looks to be a bit difficult.

And a few miles north of absentee Kettle Corn was an old abandoned Metz Bakery Truck. No wonder the Kettle Corn trailer is closed, the bakery truck broke down on it's way to deliver product. If their Kettle Corn was indeed baked...

Unless the Metz truck was on it's way to the St. Francis Bowling Alley, sitting next door to the St. Francis American Legion. Their sign advertises Tasty Pizza. Which is a bit more likely to need a bakery delivery than a Kettle Corn trainer. Judging from the full parking lot, they must have other sources.

The parking lot of the St. Francis American Legion has an old military plane on display. 

And an old restored Marine Corps supply truck.

The Legion bar was on the right side of the building, with a large meeting room on the left side. 

Today, this room was holding a cards and collectibles show!

A very small and intimate one. Which was all dealers with their own inventory, that I'd never seen before. 

Including that great box of Junk Wax Era Oddball Twins cards, for 25 cents each!

1987 Broder - Kirby Puckett

Back in the height of the Junk Wax Era, card shows always had a table or two of these cheap, unlicensed "Broder" cards. Unlike today's unlicensed Panini lines, they didn't even attempt to airbrush the logos off the photos. They were usually offered for sale for anywhere from 50 cents to $2, but I never bought them, because of their suspect origins. 

1987 Broder - Kirby Puckett

Back in the late 1980's, You'd often see reader mail regarding Broder cards, in the monthly Becketts or whatever title Krause Publications was running at the time. Their answer was always something along the lines of: "They're unlicensed cards, and have near infinite print runs, so they'll never be worth the paper they're printed on." I'm not sure why they disappeared, if it was pressure from the 5 manufacturers or a heavy handed cease and desist from MLB, but there were very few new Broders on the market by 1993. 

1989 Broder - Kirby Puckett

Only over the last few years have I decided to augment my Junk wax Twins collections with Broders, when I find them. So each time I pick a couple up, I think of my stance on them from 35 years ago, and how the Becketts called them worthless.

Which is kind of ironic that I'm now buying these "Broder" cards for 25 cents apiece, when I wouldn't pay 25 cents for any base Kirby Puckett cards from 1987-1993. Probably because I already have hundreds of them... 

1988 Classic Red - Kirby Puckett

Classic at least had a license to produce cards, that were only distributed as parts of baseball trivia games.

Still legit cards.

1989 Fleer - Kirby Puckett - Box Bottom

Someone did an admirable job in cutting this card from the bottom of a 1989 Fleer Wax Box.

Good enough that it's worth a quarter from me.

1992 Jimmy Dean - Chuck Knoblauch

I did need a Chuck Knoblauch Jimmy Dean Pork Sausage card.

And I didn't even find that it's got hairs growing all over it. 

The table with the black covering hanging down, was the home of the Junk Wax Twins quarter box. Conveniently located between the double doors leading into the bar, and the door and window accessing the kitchen. The guy in the MN Gophers hat was responsible for bringing my favorite boxes to the show today. 

1982 Donruss - Roy Smalley - Diamond King

I bought a duplicate Smalley because I thought I didn't have this card. Now I have an extra. Which is fine, I do like his commentary when he shows up on Twins broadcasts. Gives Dick (Bremer) someone his age to relate to, when the young whippersnappers like Justin Morneau and Glen Perkins aren't working those games.

1986 Fleer Team Logo Stickers - Minnesota Twins

Heheheheheh... I even bought Team Logo Stickers for a quarter...

1976 Topps - Minnesota Twins

I planned on buying this card as a duplicate because I can't get enough Twins team photos taken at Met Stadium. Plus ample bonus points for that weird flaccid C, airbrushed on Gene Mauch's cap. 

Then I found out when I looked at the Twins binders, that I never owned this card.

1973 Topps - Jim Nettles

This one either.

I suspected that I needed it, but with that sweet batting cage behind Nettles, for a quarter, I wanted another.  

1987 Topps - Kent Hrbek - Glossy All-Stars

Never seen this one before, but there's something slightly off about it. Almost like Hrbek is standing in front of a blue screen, and the Technicolor park was added in around him. The trapping isn't quite right looking at his uniform and the Astroturf. 

I demand a do-over, Topps.

2001 Fleer Greats Of The Game - Walter Johnson

I so miss the days where Topps had legitimate competition... That's a photo of the Big Train that hasn't been used often. Hard to make out, but I wonder if that's the old Griffith Stadium serving as the backdrop. This was such a cool set.

In addition to a very quality Twins quarter box, Mr. Gophers Hat also had these three 50 Cent Boxes. While a lot of it was football that doesn't interest me in the least, my philosophy on these boxes was in effect. I'll keep digging as long as I find stuff I want. And I dug through all three boxes. 

Which was responsible for both those 1990's Gary Sheffield Florida Marlins cards, from earlier in this post.

As well as this...

1992 Score - Stan Musial - The Franchise

At 50 cents, this is still probably the most I've ever paid for a single 1992 Score card. Given it's status as a relatively "rare" card from the peak of overproduction, it's one I've wanted. Yeah, the Mantle would be better, but I do like this.

2004 Finest - Orlando Cabrera - Refractor

There wasn't a great deal of Montreal Expos to be found, but this was a gem. Also happens to be the first Refractor of any card in the 2004 Finest set, that I've picked up. I really like it. So much that it found a home in the Expos Top Loaders, instead of going into one of the Expos albums.

1999 Skybox - Vladimir Guerrero - Spring Fling

1997-2004 represent the years that I collected the least amount of cards. Seems I'm always finding cards that I didn't know existed from those years, in boxes like this. I can easily say that I never bought even one pack of 1999 Skybox. I doubt my LCS in those days even stocked it. Either way, this is a great Vladdy to add into the Expos binder.

Almost as cool as this...

1997 MLB Premier Instant Replay - Vladimir Guerrero

I mentioned to Mr. Gophers Hat that I was always looking for Expos cards, and he pulled this out of a box. Excuse the terrible scan, this is actually a really cool piece. The Sportflics style moving image isn't as clear as I'd like, but it's mounted on a linoleum-like sheet, with gold foil stamping at the bottom. Which you can see none of in this scan.

Vaguely remember seeing advertising for these in Becketts of that era, but I hadn't seen any in person before today. He gave a $5 price for it and I quickly agreed. This is an oddball item that doesn't come around much.

Flipping it over to the back reveals it's serial number, out of 5,000. The checklist of Premier Instant Replay cards reads like a who's who of 1997 MLB. No Twins made the cut, nor any Rockies. Interestingly enough, this information is all printed on a screened image of a USA Today MLB Notes feature, that used to run daily in those newspapers. If you look closely, there's a Twins news blurb under the serial number.

ENHANCE!!!

Heheheh... A story where the 1996 Twins had to admit that Rick Aguilera as a starting pitcher was a failure for all involved. He was ineffective and got hurt. However, even if Aguilera pitched like a Cy Young candidate, the 1996 (and 1997 and 1998 and 1999 and 2000) Twins were doomed from Kirby Puckett's unfortunate career ending injury, added to a never ending string of terrible moves by the front office. 

As Mr. Gophers Hat was digging out the MLB Premier Instant Replay Vladimir Guerrero print, he was talking about how kids dig through cards now and don't know what the Expos were. He said that some kids ask if they were a minor league team. (Well, actually...) Guess it's been almost 20 years since the Expos final season in Montreal. Time really flies. 

"And almost everyone is confused by Seattle Pilots cards..." Yeah, and that was over 50 years ago now. I mentioned that I'm only a few cards away from completing both the 1969 and 1970 Topps Seattle Pilots team sets.

"I know for sure there is one Seattle Pilots card in those boxes. Maybe it's one you need?"

1969 Topps - Tommy Davis

I already have Tommy Davis, arguably Seattle's best player in their lone season. But it's in great condition and absolutely mine for 50 cents. 

While I was overjoyed at the older Twins (and others) cards I picked up at Mr. Gophers Hat's table, I also needed to satisfy the desire for newer Twins singles. At least I didn't have far to go...

The table immediately to his left had a fair amount of 2022 Bowman's Best, 2023 Bowman and 2023 Finest Top Loadered Twins cards, at various price points.

2023 Bowman Chrome - Edouard Julien - Green Pattern Refractor

This was a good buy at $10, even if the Photoshoppery wasn't laughably awful. For all of the misplaced anger over the Twins trading Luis Arraez, has anyone noticed that Edouard Julien has nearly the same OPS as Arraez? Exactly why I was in favor of trading Arraez. He's a good player, but redundant in our system. Trade surplus for needs. And we needed Pablo Lopez.

2023 Bowman Chrome - Bryan Acuna - Purple Crater? Meteor? I Don't Know? Refractor

When Topps gets overly gimmicky, they make their product confusing as hell. Maybe tell me on the back of the card, exactly what I'm looking at on the front? For that matter, will Ronald Jr.'s younger brother have anywhere near as good of a career? Is his hair still Skull Crushing Teal? Still, a beautiful card. $10 may be a little steep for someone barely old enough to drive, but he's got a good last name...

2023 Bowman Chrome - Brooks Lee - Purple Wave Refractor

$20 for this one. But I know what it is because it's distinct. I'd say it's at least twice as nice looking as the Acuna card, and Brooks Lee (at this point) is easily twice the prospect as Acuna. Using this iron-clad logic, I should have probably paid $30 for this.

2022 Bowman’s Best - Yasser Mercedes - Autograph

I don't know how his path through the minor leagues will go, but at least Yasser put a little effort into his signature...

2022 Bowman’s Best - Yasser Mercedes - Refractor

Let's pick up his base Refractor for another couple bucks.

2022 Bowman’s Best - Danny DeAndrade - Blue Autograph

Yasser... That's a terribly lazy autograph...

2022 Bowman’s Best - Bryan Acuna - Refractor

There's that Acuna fella again.

This time in base Refractor form.

2022 Bowman’s Best - Brooks Lee - Refractor

And Brooks Lee was here as well!

It was nice of the Twins to promote Lee to AAA St. Paul, coinciding with the last few games of this guy's rehab stint:

2022 Bowman’s Best - Royce Lewis - Refractor

When Lewis plays, he's been a difference make for the Twins. A bright spot on an underachieving team, that really has no business winning a division. Maybe Lewis and Lee will end up as teammates on the Twins, at some point next season? 

Several years back, I was able to pick up nearly the full base set of Bowman's Best Twins, including a few Refractors, Inserts and Autographs, in one shot, from the LCS. All for well under the price of one mini-box. And I was really happy to not have to try and look for them individually, or spend on a box to hopefully get ONE of those cards.

That was how today felt after I snapped up all of these 2022 Bowman’s Best Twins cards. I completely missed the week or so that boxes were available at an affordable rate. And the LCS has long been sold out of them. 

2023 Finest - Carlos Correa - Blue Refractor

I also missed out on the few minutes that 2023 Finest was at the LCS.

But I was able to get the base and several colored Refractors, for cheap as well.

2023 Finest - Simeon Woods-Richardson - Purple Refractor

Even a purple one!

Had I more time, I would have attempted to tackle this dense collection of Top Loaders. At those prices, there was certain to be stuff of interest. But how much of it was baseball, and how much was football and/or basketball? May have needed to borrow one of those high chairs to sit on, since I wasn't feeling so great after hunching over at the Mr. Gophers Hat's 50 cent boxes, and 25 cent Twins box.

Where I found more stuff like this! 

1999 SP Authentic - David Ortiz

That's a Big Papi card I didn't have, from a set that I didn't have a single card from!

2001 Topps Opening Day - Adrian Gonzalez - Adam Johnson

The first and second overall Draft Picks in the 2000 MLB Draft. Gonzalez became a star with the San Diego Padres, and Johnson became a star in only his own head. He was considered a polished college starter with upside. Which was what the Twins really needed, going into a draft with the number 2 pick. But Johnson wasn't a number 2 talent. He was predicted as more of a middle first round pitcher, but would sign cheap. And that was a more important factor to the twins teams of that era. 

He started off fast and made his Major League debut in the 2001 season. But he quickly flamed out and never reached his potential. Despite throwing a tantrum when he didn't make the Twins coming out of Spring Training in 2002. You get what you pay for. Which sums up the 1997-2001 Twins accurately.

2001 Topps Post - Harmon Killebrew

I didn't know Topps produced a small set of cards for Post Cereals in 2001, and had certainly never seen this card before. Mr. Gophers Hat told me about the set, and now I regret not buying some of the non-Killebrew cards he had...

That final season line with the Kansas City Royals stands out like a sore thumb...

2004 Fleer Authentix - Torii Hunter

Hadn't seen this Hunter card before either.

This was exactly why I wanted to try out a new card show. Inventory unlike what I knew I'd see if I'd gone out to the Bloomington show. Without having to drive on several freeways to get across town to the show itself.

Instead, I gave St. Francis a chance to leave a new impression on me. Since the only previous experience I had with St. Francis, came a mile or so west of here...

(Cue the flashback waves...)

On June 17, 2018. At the corner of Bridge St. and Ambassador Blvd.

An old wooden church building stood on the northeast corner of this intersection. 

I'd seen this church a week before I took these pictures. Laura and I had just moved back to Minnesota, and I was on a late night drive because I had nothing else to do. Driving north up Ambassador, I saw the outline of the steeple in the darkness of night. There wasn't a great deal of street lights to make out much detail.

When I took these pictures, I didn't know anything about it. Then a few months later, someone shared a video of it being demolished, on Facebook. The a shovel smashing the wooden structure away with ease.

Well, so much for that...

Searching the Googles, I found a real estate site listing the former church as being built in 1933. And that was all I found until an entry on the city of St. Francis website. They posted two PDF files about the church, for the purpose of soliciting demolition bids on the property, back in September 2018. 

You can still read (and/or download these PDF's) from the city's website.

At some point (looks like the 1970's), the church was converted into a single family home, with a garage and additional office/work space built onto the back. One of the files contains a bunch of interior pictures of what the house looked like in 2018. The church itself was wide open, with a large bedroom loft above the front entrance. 

It's really sad this was just knocked over, and nothing built in it's place. Bummed out that I couldn't even find the demolition video. Watching that shovel absolutely flatten this structure as easily as it did, was just sad to see.

From the looks of it, I would have absolutely loved to have lived here. Sure, it needed an awful lot of work, that I would be incapable of doing, but it was just a cool looking place to live. You absolutely should go check out those pictures. Especially the very 1970's main floor restroom, with a half used roll of TP, still hanging on the wall!

I'd feel more welcome in St. Francis, if you left that cool ass former church house standing.

Meanwhile, back at the St. Francis American Legion... 

I found it amusing this table was being run by just a little basketball guy...

Who didn't have anything to offer me, unlike Mr. Gophers Hat. Shortly after I mentioned that I was trying to fill gaps in my Twins collection asked if I was looking for 1990 Star minor leagues sets for the AA Orlando Sun Rays and low A Kenosha Twins, for $2 a piece.

ABSOLUTELY!!! 

I remember turning down these sets over 30 years ago when they were at least three times that price. But soon after I agreed to buy them, I started thinking about who was in these team sets. The Orlando Sun Rays feature a good percentage of players that played key roles of the 1991 World Champion Minnesota Twins.

Led by second baseman and 1991 American league Rookie of the Year, Chuck Knoblauch.

1990 Star - Orlando Sun Rays - Chuck Knoblauch

I would have paid $2 for just this card, since I didn't have it and it was needed for the Chuck Knoblauch collection.

1990 Star - Orlando Sun Rays - Johnny Ard

Minnesota's first round draft pick (20th overall) in the 1988 MLB Draft. Ard pitched well for his first two seasons in the Twins system. After the 1990 season, Ard was traded to the San Francisco Giants for relief pitcher, Steve Bedrosian. Who was a dependable piece in the 1991 Twins bullpen. 

Ard never made it to the major leagues. His walk rate increased and his strikeout rate plummeted as the Giants tried to advance him to AAA. Ard retired after the 1993 season, but did attempt a comeback in 1996 with the independent Aberdeen Pheasants. He pitched well, but it didn't lead to anything and Ard walked away from baseball, after the season.

Johnny Ard passed away in May, 2018.

1990 Star - Orlando Sun Rays - Scott Erickson

The Twins plucked Erickson from Orlando in mid Summer 1990. We badly needed pitching at the major league level. Erickson not only held his own as a 22 year old in 1990, by 1991, he was a full blown star. Winning 20 games and co-headlining a World Series winning rotation (with some guy named Jack Morris).

1990 Star - Orlando Sun Rays - Jeff Reboulet

While Reboulet didn't make it to the Major Leagues until 1992, he did manage to play parts of 12 seasons with the Twins, Orioles, Dodgers, Royals and Pirates. 

1990 Star - Orlando Sun Rays - Denny Neagle

Neagle was on the Twins in 1991 for a few appearances, but was traded to Pittsburgh in 1992, for John Smiley. A hired gun pitcher to replace Jack Morris. Neagle pitched in the Major Leagues until 2003. And was pretty good, up until his his last 3 seasons. Coincidentally spent with the Colorado Rockies. Those weren't good seasons by any means. For all sorts of reasons, both basebally and not. 

AHHHHHHCHHHOOOOO whores....

(Oddly enough, his arrest came not all that far from my apartment in Englewood, CO...)

1990 Star - Orlando Sun Rays - Ron Gardenhire

Gardenhire was promoted to Twins third base coach in 1991, and would manage the Twins from 2002-2014.

1990 Star - Orlando Sun Rays - Shawn Gilbert

Shawn Gilbert never played for the Twins, but did get into 51 games with the Mets, Dodgers and Cardinals between 1997 and 2000. The only reason I'm mentioning him here is this 1990 Star card is the only card I own of Shawn Gilbert. However, I did take a picture of his locker with the Scranton Wilkes-Barre Red Barons, at Ned Skeldon Stadium, in Toledo Ohio, back in July 1995.

And you can read about that here!

1990 Star - Orlando Sun Rays - Wayne Hattaway

Wayne Hattaway was featured on several minor league cards, despite being the Equipment Manager. Gotta be that sunglasses and bushy mustache combo. This photo is a but more subdued than his 1989 ProCards Orlando Twins (they became the Sun Rays in 1990) card. I need to scan that one...

Other future Major Leaguers in the 1990 Star Orlando Sun Rays included Willie Banks (pitched for parts of 9 MLB seasons), catcher Lenny Webster (who was a productive backup for several years with the Montreal Expos and Baltimore Orioles) and speedy outfielder Jarvis Brown, who appeared in the 1991 World Series for the Twins.

Looking at the Twins 1990 AA team in Orlando, and seeing the infusion of talent that was on the way to Minnesota, you can see how it lead to a championship. Unfortunately it wasn't sustained because their farm system couldn't consistently produce more talent. The drop off is very evident in looking at the 1990 low A Kenosha Twins...

1990 Star - Kenosha Twins - Steve Dunn

For several years, the Twins tried to push Dunn as a top prospect, but looking at the numbers, I just didn't see it. He did get a couple of chances in 1994 and 1995, but didn't hit anything. Minnesota released him after the 1995 season. He played with Cleveland's AAA team in 1996, but didn't get a call-up, before retiring after the season.

1990 Star - Kenosha Twins - Carlos Pulido

Besides Dunn, Carlos Pulido was the only other member of the 1990 Kenosha Twins to play in the major leagues. Pulido pitched 84 really bad innings for the really bad 1994 Minnesota Twins. Then disappeared for about a decade, then pitched in another 13 Twins games in 2003 and 2004, and didn't play in the major leagues for any team between those seasons. 

Which is really weird...

1990 Star - Kenosha Twins - Rex DeLa Nuez

DeLa Nuez was briefly a top prospect, featuring good plate discipline, some power and great speed. He progressed through the system, but stalled out in AA. He then played many years of independent ball, but never put it all together. I remember hearing his name back in the day, when the Twins would talk about the early 1990's wave of prospects. So it was nice to get a card of his.

And the rest of the 1990 Kenosha Twins didn't warrant a scanning.

One of my favorite parts of going to card shows is seeing what kinds of cards that people are displaying in their glass case.

Even if a lot of them are footbally, this just looks cool.

2019 Bowman’s Best - Matt Wallner - Autograph

With the way he's hit this season in Minnesota, you can open up that case and sell me that Wallner card. I don't think I paid any sort of hometown premium, since Forest Lake is just a few miles southeast of here...

2022 Topps Chrome - Joe Ryan - Sepia

Other than a disastrous stretch in the middle of the season, where he was dealing with an injury and not telling anyone about it, Joe Ryan has been the dependable young starting pitcher the Twins have needed for years. It's nice to go into a season without depending on worn out pitching retreads like Matt Shoemaker, J.A. Happ, or Homer Bailey...

Or Dallas Keuchel, who replaced Joe Ryan in the rotation when he went on the injured list...

2023 Topps Chrome - Byron Buxton - Technicolor

While the Twins are dealing with the 37th consecutive season of Byron Buxton injuries, he continues to get some of the nicest cards Topps can print. And I'll continue to cut him a massive amount of slack, because I like his cards a lot, and am investing in the blind faith that he will someday have a season with healthy knees, back, hamstrings and unbroken wrists.

But for now, it's time for a nutrition break!

Off in the corner of the card show, was a window into the American Legion kitchen. All afternoon, I'd watched both dealers and customers getting baskets of food from the kitchen window, that looked and smelled fantastic. After I finished up my main round of box digging, my mom suggested we place an order and try something from the Legion menu. 

She went with a plain hamburger with onion rings and I opted for a very delicious Patty Melt, with crinkle-cut fries. While I don't know for certain, I'm thinking the St. Francis American Legion cooks up half pound burger patties. Huge and fantastic. Some of the best card show dining I think I've ever had. Sure beats the crock pot full of boiled wieners! Which used to be the best you could get at the old Ice Arena shows of the Junk Wax Era...

Which was enjoyed from the seating and tables placed on the small elevated stage in the corner of the room. Some card show attendees were using this as a trading area. I like it when card shows provide a small seating area off the main floor. Incase you want to take a break, rip some packs, or take a look at what some of the non-dealers are bringing to the shows.

Most importantly, the St. Francis American Legion has clean and easily accessible restrooms! That's not always the case with card shows. Looking at you Valley West Shopping Center in Bloomington...

You know, I've gone this far and haven't mentioned anything about the Colorado Rockies. Not that I expected to find some huge bounty of Rockies stars, but there were a couple I deemed worthy of a purchase.

2017 Optic - Carlos Gonzalez - Diamond Kings Purple Prizm

Found tucked safely inside Mr. Gophers Hat's 50 cent boxes, was both the base card and this purple parallel. I bought both. Purple parallels just work with Rockies cards, and for years, CarGo was one of the best they had. While he didn't get the press of Todd Helton, Troy Tulowitzki or Nolan Arenado, but from 2009-2016, you could count on him to post strong offensive numbers while providing steady defense.

When Matt Holiday made it known he wasn't going to stay in Colorado, trading for CarGo was the best move the Rockies could have made. 

2023 Topps Heritage - Kris Bryant - Clubhouse Collection

Nothing against Bryant, but this is possibly the worst move the Rockies could have made. After crying poverty that forced Nolan Arenado to St. Louis, Colorado spent the equivalent of the money owed to both continue paying Arenado, then signing Kris Bryant to a ridiculous contract he couldn't possibly live down. 

So you didn't have the money to pay the best third baseman in baseball, but you have enough to get that same money to an injury risk with no clear defensive home. Great job Rocks. Keep enjoying those last place finishes, as you dimwit owner thinks you have the talent to win the World Series every year.

As much as I miss going to games at Coors Field, I do not miss the inept management running the Rockies...

Sure could go for a classic grilled Hebrew National Rockies Dog again though...

2023 Topps Silver Pack - Ezequiel Tovar

Too bad he's dressed like an air freshener on what should have been a very nice looking rookie card.

I haven't seen much of Tovar playing, but I'm a big fan of his potential. When Colorado let Trevor Story walk (like there was any chance of him resigning there he watched the team botch the Arenado contract in every way possible), Ezequiel Tovar was still in A ball. But he looked to be a legitimate prospect. Dare I say if Tovar was a Yankees prospect, Anthony Volpe would be taking a backseat to him.

Part of the fun of card shows is you never know what kind of non-card items will be found.

Absolutely wasn't expecting a table with a decent amount of old WCW wrasslin toy cars. I kind of regret not picking one of these up to add the The Home of Happy Playthings, That Bret "Hitman" Hart car would have looked great on the Happy Playthings Pro-Wrasslin Wall of Fame...

With the franchise being somewhat invigorated in the the last few years, you're starting to see some of the old Garbage Pail Kids cards floating around from when I was a kid. Back when they were a little more subtle, less of a parody of a parody, as today's Garbage Pail Kids cards tend to be.

1985 Garbage Pail Kids - Potty Scotty

So when I see some of the earlier original Garbage Pail Kids cards today, I'll pay attention and even buy one or two. Especially of the first couple series, from 1985-86. Despite the bad lower right corner on ol' Potty Scotty, I was willing to drop a few bucks on it. This was one I wanted back in the 1980's, but never had.

Now I do!

Even the card backs are clever, without being a desperate attempt at borderline stupidity.

That Garbage Pail Kids card came from the table at the left center, which was being run by three younger kids. They had a good variety of Garbage Pail Kids cards, both new releases from the last few years, and classic first and second series cards, from when I was their age. 

But my grand prize of the day, coincidentally from 1985 as well...

A complete 13 card set of the 1985 7-11 Minnesota Twins, that I've been trying to find for decades. Only $20 and not a second thought before picking up one of my collecting "grails".

Ever since I collected some of the set in 1985, from the old 7-11 in my hometown (that is now a chiropractic clinic). but since I was 10 years old, I thought the best way of storing these was to scotch tape them inside a Trapper Keeper. 

Yeah, that was pretty stupid...

Flipping the non-numbered header card over reveals the checklist. A couple of years ago, I found 6 of these cards at the Valley West Shopping Center card show in Bloomington. A dealer at that show had a few singles in various boxes at his table, but no complete sets. He did have several of the highly desired Kirby Puckett rookies, that  I bought one of each of the different cards he had, with hopes of find the missing seven down the road. 

Unfortunately there was no sign of the FREE 18" x 24" Twins poster anywhere. I'd still like one of those...

1985 7-11 Minnesota Twins - Kent Hrbek

I had the Kirby Puckett already, but the second biggest name in the set was one I didn't have a few years ago OR 38 years ago. 

1985 7-11 Minnesota Twins - Tim Laudner

Current Twins post game show analyst and long time catcher was the final card in the set. Another one I didn't have as a 10 year old, that didn't understand how collecting cards should work. Curiously, the photo is from a 1981 Twins home game at Metropolitan Stadium, which predated the old HHH Metrodome. I don't think Laudner played in much more than 20 games of his rookie season at the Met, so this photos inclusion in the set was really cool to see.

2022 Topps Five Star - Dave Winfield - Autograph

My last purchase of the day was of St. Paul, MN native and Hall of famer, Dave Winfield. Until now, I didn't have a Winfield autograph, and was specifically looking for one that covered his year plus with the Minnesota Twins. 

The guy promoting the St. Francis American Legion Card Show, was running this table by the entrance. His inventory was about 95% football, and the only baseball item he had, was an autographed 8" x 10" photo of former Milwaukee Brewers shortstop, Pat Listach. Which amused me because I was such a harsh critic of the 1992 American League Rookie of the Year. 

(Now there's a Junk Wax Prospector story to work on!)

He told me that he was trying to establish recurring card shows on the north end of the metro area, focusing on St. Francis, Cambridge and Forest Lake, since everything seems to be geared to the south side of town. Cool! I agree, nearly every hobby related event around Minneapolis/St. Paul seems to go to Bloomington, Eden Prairie, Burnsville or Richfield. I absolutely agree with this notion.

There was something really fun about this small, intimate card show that was really appealing. Seeing these tables set up and the displays that each dealer put together started me thinking about getting back into the game at this level. I'd rented a few tables at card shows between 1991 and 1995, and being here today made me want to do it again.

Before we left the show, I talked to Mr. Football and Listach about getting a table for his next show at the St. Francis American Legion, scheduled for October 14th, 2023. His table rates are very affordable, and he gave me his business card to contact him if I'm interested. While I don't know if that'll leave enough time to properly prepare for it, that's something I'd love to do.

Even if I don't get a table, I'll be back given the ease of access and fun of attending his show. 

Plus that Patty Melt was fantastic and I want another one!

Besides gathering cards to bring to the show, I'd need to do some serious restoration work on my card cases. My dad welded together three aluminum cases that I used for the card shows I did, back in the day. They were really nicely made and high quality, based on specs I found from the various cases in the marketplace. Since my last show in 1995, they had all been stored in the rafters of the garage, at my parents house. During all of the years of sitting untouched, mice had gotten into them and chewed up the lining. 

On May 5, 2020, a fire destroyed much of my childhood home. As we cleaned up the ashes, I found those three cases and brought them to my house. Glass in all three was damaged beyond repair, but the cases themselves were relatively unharmed and could be cleaned up of smoke damage, without too great of effort. They'd all need new glass, but I think that could be something I could figure out without too much difficulty.

March 5, 1995.

My table at the St. Paul Civic Center, Minnesota Moose Card Show. I was assigned a table directly next to the women's restroom. Great location because as the dudes had to wait for their wives/girlfriends to use the facilities, they would hangout looking at my table. I made a few sales from captive husbands/boyfriends, that afternoon. But this was the last card show table I ever ran.

The not yet smoke damaged bulletin board "dice game" was in full effect here, and made me a fair amount of sales that day. One of my cases is sitting next to the dice game on the table, filled with baseball cards that didn't sell that day. But my display looked awesome to sit behind, having people tell me how nice my collection was. My mom's elbow can be seen on the far left side of this photo.

Perhaps it's time to resurrect this experience at a St. Francis American Legion Card Show. One of these tables could hold my restored card cases. Just as soon as I restore them... Not to mention it'll give me a no-brainer story for the blog.

The St. Francis American Legion Card Show was a fun afternoon, and gave me something to possibly plan for in the future. Even if it's not behind a table, I will absolutely come back to spend some money at another show here. I really liked this card show.

And I definitely loved that Patty Melt.

It's almost Burger Time!