Sunday, March 1, 2015

Look, I know you don't care about basketball cards, but for reals, check this out!

I picked up some big-name vintage basketball goodness for cheap at the card show yesterday.

To set the scene: when I arrived at the show, the baseball bins from the main dealer I gravitate to were pretty full with people. To bide my time, I half-heartedly got a stack going from his football dimebox, but ended up abandoning it when the two guys beside me were getting a little annoying.

So I inched closer to the baseball area, waiting for a spot to open up, and my attention was grabbed by some sweet vintage front and center in the basketball 50¢ section.


So many Larry Bird rookies for 50 cents each! (1980-81 Topps Basketball is a weird set with each card being 3 attached minis with various player combinations.) Sure, none are the most desirable version shared with Magic Johnson, but still! 50 cents! Not reprints! Vintage! I don't need all of these. I'll probably Listia off the extras, but if any of you out there want one, let me know about a trade.


A couple early "Pistol Pete" Maravich cards. That fantastic Dr. J is an All-Star card from his rookie year. The Wilt is great too, though I believe I already have it, so it's also available for trade. The 1987-88 Fleer Magic and Bird ain't too shabby either.


A bunch of Bill Bradley cards (with a dupe available for trade). Keith Wilkes rookie card (a.k.a. Jamaal Abdul-Lateef). Bob McAdoo rookie card. LL card with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Nate Archibald, and John Havlicek. Some damn fine cards there.

I'd be remiss if I didn't show a few backs of these cards so you can enjoy the cartoons:


Gotta love vintage cardboard.

So yeah, quite an impressive haul for 50¢ a pop. Turns out the baseball section being full was a blessing in disguise, since otherwise I would never have stumbled upon these screaming deals. I'm not a huge basketball collector by any means, but I do like to have a well-rounded card collection with a bit of everything, and these cards definitely bolster the basketball portion of my collection nicely. (That said, I'd be willing to listen to trade offers for most of these; really only the Dr. J card is untouchable.)

Back to baseball tomorrow.

7 comments:

  1. Those are all real great (yup, gotta love vintage !), and some cards (Maravich) are a real steal at .50ct each ! well done !

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  2. Wow, that's one terrible photo of Keith Wilkes.

    I've recently given some thought to starting a "type collection" of different Topps basketball sets... these cards are pushing me a little more into that direction.

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  3. I'd definitely be interested in any one of the Bird cards that you'd be willing to trade, and I really like the '71 Maravich. If you're interested in setting up a trade, please email me at tim dot trisomenc at gmail dot com. Thanks. GREAT finds!

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  4. Wow! Great cards! I don't do much basketball, but I'm interested in trading for the Maravich cards. Looks like Tim B. beat me to the punch, but if that doesn't work out let me know. Thanks!

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  5. Such great designs in vintage basketball. Love it!

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  6. Great stuff. Any time you can find 1980-81 Topps for 50 cents is a good day. I have NEVER found any of the for under $5. Let alone 50 cents! It looks like they were never even bent along the perforations, either! I'm jealous now, honestly.

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  7. Awesome stuff! I am starting vintage Knicks collection and would be interested in the Bradley double. Please let me know what you need for it. Thanks.

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