Philly Baseball Card Show Report - Hamels, Stairs, Phillies Oddballs

2018 Chachi Friendly Encounters #19

2018 Chachi Friendly Encounters #20

Doug and I managed to go a full year without attending a baseball card show, so we were excited to make the hour drive to The Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, PA on Saturday.  Doug decided to try something different this time, foregoing any lists and opting instead for a day of free-style picking as he liked to call it.  He tends to favor Phillies certified autograph and memorabilia baseball cards and a picture of the latest additions to his collection is found below.

My goal was to add autographs of Matt Stairs and Cole Hamels (two of the guest autograph signers), get closer to completing my 1971 Topps set and add to my vintage Phillies baseball card collection.  All goals were accomplished.

• Stairs and Hamels were both very pleasant and Doug was extremely excited to meet both of them.  The two former Phillies earn the honor of having the final two 2018 Chachi Friendly Encounters insert cards.
• I picked up a reasonably priced 1960 Phillies Yearbook as well as Phillies Media Guides from 1973 and 1974.
• I hunted down some rarely seen oddball Phillies cards from the 1960s including the two Phillies cards in the 1962 Bazooka set (Johnny Callison and Art Mahaffey) and 3 of the 13 cards from the 1967 Phillies Safe Driving set.
• I crossed another 12 cards off my 1971 Topps list, including the semi-pricey cards of Brooks Robinson and Boog Powell.
• I got a nice discount on a 1956 Topps Richie Ashburn card for my 1950s Phillies binder.
• And my splurge was a terrific condition 1911 T205 Gold Border card of John Bates.

Memory Lane

Valley Forge 1 - September 2010 - Thinking of my Dad
Valley Forge 2 - October 2012 - Doug's first baseball card show
Valley Forge 3 - September 2014 - Meeting Darren Daulton
Oaks 1 - October 2015 - Meeting Pete Rose and Steve Carlton
Valley Forge 4 - September 2016 - Phillies acquisitions and 4 Phillies Legends
Valley Forge 5 - December 2016 - Meeting Don Money
Valley Forge 6 - September 2017 - Doug's big day
Valley Forge 7 - December 2017 - Ben's first baseball card show with Mike Schmidt and Rhys Hoskins!
Oaks 2 - December 2018 - Meeting Matt Stairs and Cole Hamels

Doug's haul for the day