My Newest Alfonso Soriano Card

I received this 2007 Fleer card of Alfonso Soriano recently. Best of all, it was free. I signed up for Swagbucks and had enough points for this card in about a day with little effort. You earn points by taking surveys and doing web searches and such. I was shocked that baseball cards were available as an award. That’s kind of why I signed up. I like the 2007 Fleer cards because they weren’t too expensive and didn’t have a glossy front. They’re great for autographs. Sure he is wearing a Nationals uniform on a Cubs card but it doesn’t matter. Soriano has been a bit of a nomad since he left the Yankees. He is not the player that he was several years ago. He is now 35 believe it or not. He hit 26 home runs this year, but at the expense of his batting average which was only .244. However, he did make $19 million this year. That’s pricey.

East Coast National: Part One

I spent the better part of last Sunday attending the East Coast National Card Show in White Plains, NY. Because I had a pretty busy week, I am spending this Sunday going through my loot, scanning cards, and posting about the show. Admission was $8.00 and Parking was $4.00. The free autograph signer was Roy White. I didn’t have anything to get signed so I skipped the autograph line. It’s a good thing that I did because I was still going through the 10 cent boxes as the show ended. I didn’t even have time to eat lunch. A few dealers had 10 cent boxes with some decent cards inside them. I will usually spend at least an hour going through these boxes looking for bargains. I am not a set builder. I just look for cards that I like and buy them. It’s that simple. I also bought a couple of game used jersey and rookie cards. However, I mostly bought certified autographs. I didn’t plan on that – it just happened. I overheard more than one dealer complain that they were not making too many sales. Of course, some dealers can blame that on their ridiculous asking prices. But I suppose the down economy has something to do with that. With this in mind, I was able to haggle with most dealers. Overall, I pretty satisfied with the experience. I just wish the show lasted a little longer. Over the next few days I will show off all of the cool stuff I picked up at the card show. For now, here’s a small purchase from a dealer I met on the stage. I picked up three 1999 Topps Traded rookies of C.C. Sabathia, Carl Crawford, and Alfonso Soriano. Soriano was a Yankee, Sabathia is a Yankee, and Crawford may become a Yankee at some point. These were the only base rookie cards that I bought. I paid a dollar each which seems pretty reasonable. I love the 1999 Topps Traded Set. I actually own two of the Chrome Sets. I never bought a base set though. Those are where the autographed cards are contained. For some reason, the Chrome Set does not have any autographs. I also own various singles, most of which are graded for some reason. Anyway, here is a photo of the cards.