Picking Up Cards - South Dakota Style

 

Last weekend I drove out to the Black Hills in South Dakota to visit my brother, who had moved there a few years back.  I haven't been out that way in a long, long time and I really like the area.  Aside from the obvious national monument, there is a ton of things to do and see.  While sightseeing is always a delight, my brother knows that cards are always on my mind.  Unfortunately the area around Rapid City is not exactly known as a sports card collectors haven.

My brother has scouted the area and had an idea where some cards could be found.  The first place was a small store in a mall.  It was full of new cards and Pokémon, not exactly my cup of tea.  So I struck out there but my brother picked up a couple of boxes of hockey cards.  The mall also had an area where vendors could setup shop and sell antiques and crafts and that sort of thing.  We wandered through and came across a retired couple who were selling a few goodies.  As it turned out, this couple used to own multiple card shops years ago, but the market slowed and they were forced to close.  They didn't have much in the way of cards left but I did a find set of 1991 Impel Line Drive Don Mattingly cards among other things.

I had never seen this set before and they had a stack of these.  At first I was hesitant to buy it, but $2 isn't a terrible deal so I took one home.

The cards are of decent quality and the photos clear, but did they really have to use 25% of the space for the Line Drive logo?

There are a few nice action shots.

This card caught my eye because I've never seen a picture of Mattingly in the minors.

The card backs have a long write up. I like this one because it tells you when the photo was taken. 

Here's another that says Mattingly was a 'slick first baseman'.  I noticed the write ups seem to always have phrases like 'Don displays a textbook swing' or 'There are few players that can match the intensity of Don...' and 'Watching Mattingly take batting practice is a treat...' and then there are these gems; 'Mattingly is well trained on how to wear a ferocious face..' , 'Mattingly is such an outstanding hitter..' and 'he never rests on his laurels'.  I mean the man can do no wrong, so I'm officially renaming this the 'Don Mattingly Suck Up' set.  :)

That was a first post on my trip, I'll highlight a few more pickups in the next post.

In the meantime, enjoy a video from Backseat Breaks!