Thursday, October 12, 2023

2nd trip to Albuquerque and a new card store

 This was my second trip to Albuquerque, NM in the past 2 months. Last time I was able to visit a couple of local card stores and wasn't overly impressed or dissatisfied either. This trip I only got in one more card store of the 5 or 6 that I've seen in town. 

Last time, I intentionally did not mention the card store names. This time, however, I want to tell you about my visit to New Mexico Sports Cards. 

New Mexico Sports Cards is a very neat and organized store. It's not real big, but has plenty of room. They've got $1.00 and $5.00 boxes and lower priced slabs for collectors to peruse. The cases are organized by sport and have both graded and ungraded cards. Yep, that's right, a typical local card store. The big difference for me was the guy working counter. 

Now, I must admit that I didn't get his name but, I do know that he was the owner.  According to the business card I got, it was either Jeff or Tyler. 

Jeff or Tyler, which ever one it was, was extremely friendly, knowledgeable and a pleasure to talk to. There weren't a ton of vintage cards in the store, but what was there, was in nice condition and reasonably priced. He said that there just didn't seem to be a lot of vintage cards in the area. I was able to pick up a couple of cards that I've been looking for at a really good price. 


That is my first real Willie Mays card! I've got all kinds of reprints and inserts throughout the years, but this is my first real one. 

Ozzie Smith has been one of my favorite ball players since I was watching This Week in Baseball on Saturdays when I was kid. The Wizard was on almost every week with some kind of spectacular play. I've been looking for his rookie card for awhile and I finally got one. I know it's off centered and one of the corners is a little rounded, but the price was right and I pulled the trigger. 

The wife and youngest son was with me, so I didn't have a lot of time to go through the dollar boxes, but I did pull out a couple of Torkelson rookies that the owner threw in with the other cards. 


I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to New Mexico Sports Cards. If you're ever in the Albuquerque area, drop by and check them out. 


That's all for now. Hope to get part 3 of the 1980s up real soon. 

Peace, 
Michael
Isaiah 40:31



 

2 comments:

  1. That Mays is really nice. One wouldn't expect a card like that to be found affordably at a card shop these days. Out of curiosity too, do you have any thoughts on Albuquerque as far as the city itself goes?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I kinda like it. The people seem nice. There does seem to a big homeless population. It seems to be a pretty easy place to navigate.

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Ramblings of an old baseball card collector

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