November 11, 2023, Virginia Beach Card Show Recap

On Saturday, my friend, Josh, and I went to a card show in Virginia Beach.  I had heard about the show from my friend, Ryan, since a couple former Orioles were going to be there doing signings.  I had a very limited budget, but was still able to come away with a few cards for each vintage set I'm working on (lists have been updated). I also picked up a lot of stuff for TTMs.  The coolest thing I found was the above 1983 Donruss Diamond King signed by Hall of Famer, Carl Hubbell.  I got the card for $20. I couldn't pass that up.

The signers at the show were Mickey Tettleton and Rudy May (there were some other signers, but May and Tettleton were the ones we were going after).  I got Tettleton on a nice 1999 Topps Gallery (above).  I had to get May on a card showing him as an Oriole, so the above 1977 Topps fit the bill.

I was going to settle on two May cards, but then found this 1971 Topps that I had to get done.  I loved the action shot on this card, and it looks great in the album. 

The above 1991 Crown Orioles card was the main one that I wanted to get May on, and it turned out great.

This 1988 Topps Big was the other card that I got Tettleton on.  I wanted to continue to fill out some of the 8-card pages that I have, so this helped that cause. 

I didn't realize, but May has been living in NC.  I heard him talk about being near Edenton, so I naturally had to talk to him about the sandwiches at Westover General Store.  It was so cool that he knew where I was talking about and had lunch there last week.

Tettleon was really cool, as well.  He commented on my Hartford hat.  The hat made me stand out at the show, which is why I bought it.

I got the following (in person) autographs: Rudy May x 5 and Mickey Tettleton x 2 (7).

TTM Success - Sid Bream

There are a few players in my "to be TTMed" box that have sat in there for quite a while, now.  Mostly because the player charges a fee for an auto and I rarely have cash.  I finally was able to send off for one player recently, Sid Bream.  Bream signs for $1.00 per card, and I had $7.00 that I could send, so I went ahead and knocked him off of my list.

The above 1995 Score Gold Rush didn't scan all that great, but it was a card that I was most excited to see come back.  It looks great, in person.

I got a box of cards from my brother, John, a while back that had a ton of these Topps Big cards.  I pulled quite a few of the guys that I knew signed TTM, and one of these made the cut when I was selecting Bream cards to send out.  I'm really glad I sent this one because not only does it look good when signed, but it also scanned great as well.

I have a soft spot for 1992 Donruss Triple Play.  I had built the complete set once as a kid, only to leave it lying around and it got displaced.  Oops.  The cards aren't worth much at all, but they look great when scanned, and turn out really well when signed.

I had so many Bream cards, I had a bit of a hard time deciding which to send off.  I decided on a couple Topps cards to add to my yearly tallies, and a couple under-represented Donruss cards.  The 1988 Donruss turned out really nice.  I have cards from that year coming out of my ears, so it was nice to be able to take at least one of them and give it a home in my TTM/IP album.

Bream (b. 1960) played in the majors from 1983 to 1994 for the Dodgers, Pirates, Braves and Astros.  He had 819 hits, 90 home runs and a career average of .264.  He is best known for beating Barry Bonds's throw in Game 7 of the 1992 NLCS that put the Braves over the Pirates.  I just watched the Youtube video of the slide, and it was a great play!

I mailed to Bream on November 1 and got the cards back on November 10, for a 9-day TAT.  He charges $1.00 per card and includes a bible verse on each card.  He also has a really nice signature.