He did good

Last weekend I was out of town, in an attempt to erase the travesties of the previous week from my brain.

I was successful. And that's because a box filled with 6,000 cards can cure just about any suburban woe on the planet.

Remember that box of cards my brother-in-law found for me at the flea market? Well, it contained six smaller boxes, the majority of which were 1,000-count trading card boxes, packed full. I brought home with me between 6,000-7,000 cards. I am not going to to reveal the price he paid until the end of the post, for that is the most interesting part of the box.

Also, there will be a short-and-sweet contest at the end of this post, so pay attention.

OK, now I know what you're thinking after hearing I received up to 7,000 cards from a flea market. You're thinking, "how's that 1991 Donruss set coming?"

And I am replying with "very well, thank you. How nice of you to ask. I may be close to completing the whole thing."

Yes, there were about 600 cards of '91 Donruss. I am currently going through them to see how close I am to finishing off the set. I have never wanted to complete the '91 Donruss ever for even a nanosecond. But I am in the middle of a collecting crisis. Part of me has philosophical issues with putting any effort into such a pathetic set. The other part of me is a collector and feels obligated to finish off a set if I'm only 50 cards away from the entire thing. Therein lies the conflict.

But while I am conflicted, I have a simple request:

DON'T SEND ME ANY 1991 DONRUSS!!!!

And if you ever see a want list for 1991 Donruss on this here blog, send for medical help immediately.

OK, so what else was in the box?

Well, there were probably about 500 cards of '91 Score. That's another set staring me in the face that I have no desire to complete. Also there were about 400 cards from '88 Topps, which means I'm pretty darn close to finishing off a second set of that.

Not looking so good so far, huh?

It gets a little better.

But not yet.

There was a good amount of other junk wax staples. 1992 Score. 1990 Fleer. 1989 Topps. 1991 Bowman. 1990 Topps, 1990 Donruss, 1987 Topps, 1989 Donruss, 1990 Score. Cards you never want to see for the rest of your life. Even if there are $100 bills attached to each card.

But there was also this from the junk wax era:

A handful of 1989 Topps Traded cards. I've seen very few of those in person. I think the only time I ever see them is on Airbrushed Fridays.

There were also a dozen or so of the random late '80s sets that were out at that time -- Donruss Baseball's Best, especially.

Even though these sets are from junk wax central, too, I respect them because they feature old-timers that you rarely see on tribute sets today. There were maybe a dozen of these in the boxes.

A couple of all-time greats from a 1991 Kellogg's set that I never knew existed.

Whoever was selling these cards had a subscription to Baseball Cards Magazine and Topps Magazine and cut out seemingly every card ever made by those magazines. There are a good two dozen of these, and I have to say this dude cut the cards out very carefully.

Here are a few of my favorites:

There were also cards cut from the bottom of Topps boxes, too. Some carefully. Some not so much.

And there were other cards that I had no idea existed, which really is my favorite kind of card.

As for Dodgers, I did find a handful that I needed, which automatically makes any card purchase a successful one.

There were quite a few of the '91 Classic cards. It's a nice shiny set, not like the other Classic cards. I feel stupid being so ignorant about sets like this, yet I'm too lazy to look them up in my American Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards.

I know what you're asking. Was there O-Pee-Chee? O-Yes-There-Was. About a couple dozen of 1988 OPC.

It was obvious going through the cards that this collector was a Yankees fan (which you'll soon see). But at some point in the mid-1990s, he became a Mariners fan. That's not too surprising because a lot of people became Mariners fans in the mid-90s. There were several 1997 Mariners in the lot.

And this card, which amuses me. Nothing like a half-dressed man representing your baseball team.

I found quite a few cards from the 1998 Leaf Rookies & Stars set in the box. A number of dupes, too. Lots of steroid rumors floating through this set.

And there were four or five cards from 2000 Fleer Brilliants, back when everything had to be silver or gold.

Going back to the early '80s now. There were a few 1983 Fleer cards. There was a good amount of 1981 and 1984 Topps, as well as '85 and '86 Topps.

That's a card of a man who lost three games to the Dodgers in the World Series that immediately preceded '82 Donruss. I like this card a lot.

A 1982 Topps card that I did not have. Success!

This card means something only to me, I'm sure. As someone who has talked to Jim Deshaies several times, I know him to be a pleasant, witty, accommodating former major league pitcher. He's also a successful announcer. But when you get right down to it, he's really just a big dork. His relatives and friends back in his hometown of Massena would likely agree. This card completely sums that up. Love it.

Almost the entire set of the 1983 Donruss Hall of Fame Heroes cards was in this box. Only Ty Cobb is missing. That's kind of heartbreaking, actually.

Baseball dominated the box. But there were other sports featured, too. Shockingly, there were a few WNBA cards. There was a handful of basketball. There was a fair amount of football, although my brother-in-law took some of those for himself.

And there was hockey. I really like the few '70s cards that I found. Here is the design used with the 1974-75 Topps hockey set, later stolen for the 1982 baseball set.

I had a few of these as a kid. It's from 78-79.

I had even more of these. I think Topps 75-76 hockey is just a classic design.

Yikes.

As mentioned before, this collector liked the Yankees. There weren't a lot of vintage cards. The few that were wore pinstripes.

I need all six of these cards for my new quest to complete the 1977 set. You would not believe how scarce Yankees were in my neighborhood in 1977. Before last weekend, I had only the Roy White, Thurman Munson and Willie Randolph cards for the last 32 YEARS!

Yes, I have this card already. You can't have too many.

I appreciate any cards from the 1973 set. Even Yankees.

A whole bunch more from the '70s. Just about all of the Yankees pictured here are doubles. That's right, Yankees collectors. I will trade these.

Just one more card, and then I'll get to the contest.

I also found this in the box:

Fred Lynn's rookie card from 1975 Topps. That was one of the more difficult cards for me to get when I completed the '75 set. And now here it was sitting in a lot of cards purchased by a relative.

There are many, many other cards that I did not feature here. Some cool. Some not so much.

I suppose you're wondering how much all of this cost my brother-in-law.

Ready?

5 bucks.

Yup.

And I thought he didn't know what he was doing. It turns out he did good.

OK, contest time:

If you remember the post "What's in the box?", you know that I guessed which cards would be in the box. I listed six possibilities and scanned images of the cards that I thought would be in the box.

It turns out only one of those cards was in the box.

The first person who guesses which card it was, wins a bunch of cards from this flea market lot.

Sure, some of the cards will be junk wax. But others will not be. And if I know what team you root for, I can tailor the cards to your interests. Either way, you'll be getting a couple hundred cards. At least.

If there ends up being some you don't want, put them up in a rummage sale. My brother-in-law will find you. But he drives a hard bargain.