Saturday, April 23, 2016

Baseball Card Store

Today I found a store that sells baseball cards. It's called, "The Baseball Card Store."  It was just by luck that I found it at all. I was in a part of town I don't normally go to, getting an oil change, because my regular oil change guy has a nasty skydiving habit, and so when I went by his place at 3:00 pm in the afternoon, it was dark and deserted.

So I'm sitting there in this tiny lobby, waiting for my oil change, when I noticed a sign outside advertising all the businesses in the strip mall behind the lube shop, and I saw the words "The Baseball Card Store." Of course I had to check it out.

I am hopelessly attached to cultural practices that predate the internet age and that are in danger of going extinct. Is there any place in today's world for the quaint act of collecting little squares of cardstock bearing baseball players' photos and stats? I don't know....I was just glad to see it hasn't completely died off yet and that there is a whole store devoted to it.


As you walk in, you can see you have found the motherlode:




Where else can you find a baseball card vending machine?




   Of course reverence must be paid to his Royalness George Brett    




Some of the more specialer cards are kept behind glass



They had a whole table-full of Royals World Series bobbleheads, selling for around $30. Not a bad price. I noticed there was an abundance of Johnny Cueto bobbleheads available!    

9 comments:

  1. I like that they were all out of George Brett cards in the vending machine! Baseball card vending! I love it. I'm glad you documented this!

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  2. It is over 60 years later and I can still remember the scent of bubble gum that remained on the cards...forever. I wonder if they still sell cards w/bubble gum?
    I will report back.

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  3. I'm anxiously awaiting your report! Mmmm....bubblegummy smell...forever......

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  4. Read

    http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/10824232/mlb-bubble-gum-baseball-cards

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  5. Awwww.....great story.....puts a tear in my eye...and yeah--they need to bring back the bubblegum!

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  6. H.B., thanks for sharing that memory.

    You can still get baseball cards with bubblegum ---on Ebay:

    http://www.ebay.com/itm/5-1978-O-PEE-CHEE-Baseball-Card-with-BubbleGum-Wax-Wrappers-MLB-Pennant-Ad-/252035876378?hash=item3aae82461a:g:n4YAAOSwjVVVsUCq

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  7. I forgot to add the eBay cards are from 1978.

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  8. Based on the item description, I don't think the "stink" would be quite the same, 38 years later.


    Item condition:

    Like New



    “Cards and gum not included. Wax wrapper only.”


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