C.A.: 1990 Topps Career Batting Leaders Keith Hernandez

(I got to view four MLB playoff games yesterday -- college football, what's that? -- and I have to say I was pretty pleased with the results across the board. No chance of that continuing I guess, right? -- OK, well, the Blue Jays are doing their part. Let's move on to Cardboard Appreciation. This is the 357th in a series):

 

Last weekend I went to the flea market in town. I finally had some time to kill and I don't get over there nearly as much as I should.

 

This is the place where I found my 1970 Topps Roberto Clemente a few years ago, and that particular card spot in the flea market is still there. While I find cards here and there at other parts of the market -- it's a fairly large place and seems to get bigger all the time -- it's not a cardboard mecca. But that one spot is remarkably consistent.

 

It always features four rows of cards, what I guess you would call a dollar box. Most of the cards are a dollar, though you'll find some that are more and some that are less. It's a bit overrun by football and basketball, so I don't expect much when I'm there (there is a glass case with more significant cards -- where I found the Clemente -- but those are usually Yankees or autographs or otherwise uninteresting to me).

 

This time I found even less than usual. I pulled a 2022 Clayton Kershaw UK card. But I came home to realize I had it already. I found a Mets card I'd never seen before. That's reserved for a trade partner. And I pulled this Keith Hernandez card. I knew instantly what it was.

 

It's one of the 1990 Topps Career Batting Leaders cards that are notoriously tough to find. I wrote about this set when I was searching for the Eddie Murray card -- he's in both the 1989 and 1990 Career Batting Leaders sets. It felt like a true accomplishment to get both. These cards were issued one-per in blister packages only at Kmart. Usually you're going to pay at least 5 bucks -- for a junk-wax era card -- if you can find one.

 

So, yes, Keith Hernandez as a Cleveland Indian for a buck. Gimme.

 

Hernandez still looks weird as a Cleveland Indian. He played only 43 games for them, but still has about a dozen different cards of his Cleveland days, thanks to how many cards were produced then. In fact I'm sure there are some collectors who think of Hernandez as an Indian first, which makes me extraordinarily sad for them.

 

But yeah, I thought this was a nice find. But it was dwarfed on that visit by something else I brought home.

 

 

I am not about to become an audiophile. It's too expensive and I don't have the room -- cards, you know.

 

But old records do fascinate me, particularly those from the 1970s.

 

My album-buying days were mostly from 1980-85, and almost everything that I bought were albums that were out during those years (probably ELO is the only exception). I didn't care about anything before then -- that was ancient stuff to me. Then, quickly, tapes and CDs took over and I bought tapes and CDs. Then there was CD burning and MP3 players and streaming and, look, record albums are back again.

 

I got a record player a few years ago -- just a small one. And I bought a few records, here and there. And then at this flea market were several spots with large stashes of old records. Much of the time when you find old discounted records at places like this, you get what you pay for -- painful compilations, "the hits as sung by ..." records, country singers you've never heard of, etc. But this was good stuff -- albums from the '70s, mostly.

 

I regard 1970s rock albums as the peak of record-production. I'm sure jazz or heavy metal fans have a better argument but I didn't grow up with that. I heard '70s music on the radio every day of my life -- what is now called "classic rock" -- but at the time, the songs from Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, Boston, etc., were only 3, 5 years old. There is something about the production of those '70s albums -- the sound of them, that nothing that has been created since can replicate. 

 

There was no Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Aerosmith or Steely Dan in those rows and rows of records. But that's OK. What I brought home is exciting enough:

 

1. Linda Ronstadt's "Heart Like a Wheel," the album with "You're No Good" and "When Will I Be Loved". I own a few Ronstadt LPs but this one is probably her biggest.

 

2. Boz Scaggs' "Silk Degrees," which features "Lowdown" and "Lido Shuffle". I've always known just Scaggs' hits, so it's cool to see what else is on there.

 

3. James Gang's "Thirds". The last James Gang album to feature Joe Walsh. The album with "Walk Away" on it. I love country rock from the '70s.

 

4. Alan Parsons Project's "Eve". I bought several APP albums during the early '80s, and then cassettes and CDs. But I missed a couple of the early ones. I've heard about this album for a long time.

Getting albums like this -- that were so huge in my mind way back then, much bigger than any '80s album on the record shelf -- and at a discount, no less, is a tremendous hoot. The covers may be beat up a little bit (they look like some of my '80s albums that I bought as a teen), but they sound wonderful. That's always a risk when you buy old records, and is another reason why I won't be doing this regularly.

 

So, for this flea market trip, the coolest thing I got wasn't cards. I know this is a card blog, but I always enjoy Fuji's Flea Market Finds posts, and he shows everything he got, whether it's cards or not. I'm not as interested in as much stuff as he is. But if I ever do another one of my own "flea market finds" posts again, you can be sure there will be a music purchase involved.

 

For this flea market visit, records beat trading cards, 4-3.